Month: October 2018

Categories
App Everywhere B2B Apps Mobile Apps Mobile UX Mobile Web Wearables

Tips to Evaluate Mobile App Developers for your Company’s App

Do you have a new idea for a mobile app to improve your business’ efficiency and increase ROI?! Do you have a successful business that could benefit from more streamlined customer service or product processes?!

If so, you need a great team to create the best possible mobile app! How do you know what mobile app development company to choose? Here are some criteria to evaluate mobile application companies for your company’s app:

 

End-to-End Services

It is important that the company you choose offers full service – inclusive of strategy, design, development, and post-launch maintenance. Here at jācapps, we use a 4-step process to make your app and experience the best it can be. We discover, design, develop, and deploy. This full-cycle process includes:

  • Discovery: This starts with understanding the problem you need to solve and understanding where your app will take root, then brainstorming the best solution.
  • Design: Make sure your app looks great, with solid aesthetics and ease-of-use in mind. Make sure your app designer keeps the big picture in mind, so that your app functions well and looks beautiful.
  • Development: Your developer should work from a complete and accurate specification document that describes perfectly how your app should work.
  • Deployment: Rigorous QA testing should happen throughout the development process, but final testing should make you confident that your app will work flawlessly for your users. And finally, the submission of your app and its app store presence should be done with complete professionalism and confidence.

This type of process will ensure that you receive a top-notch app.

But the best developers don’t stop there – they keep a look out for rare potential problems and help you navigate new devices and OS versions as they become available.

 

Design and Development Tailored to Your Needs

You may already have detailed documents that state how you want your app to work. You may just be looking for a company who can just oversee your plans, assist in UI/UX design and the development of the app. Or, you might simply have a business problem and are looking at mobile for a solution! The best firms offer flexibility. You can get as much or as little help as you need. For projects that are less planned out from the start, a product development specialist, along with a UI/UX designer will be necessary for the project! Having both allows you to design and develop your app to the best possible outcome. If your team is well staffed, your development firm should be able to leverage your internal expertise to save you time and money.

 

Comparison Shopping

There are lots of app development companies. Review your candidates’ past client work and case studies. It is also beneficial to determine how, and how much you will communicate with your provider. Do you want a team that is local? Do you require any special technology expertise? There are many factors to consider when selecting a mobile partner.

 

Get Buy-In Across Your Company

After you have narrowed down your options – it is important that you share your plan and vision for your mobile app. You’ll avoid a lot of downstream headaches if everyone on your team is on the same page and shares your vision.

 

Partner Mentality

Developing your app requires a multitude of resources beyond the idea. It requires market research, extensive documentation, designers and developers. If you are researching a mobile app development company to bring your idea to life, look for more than a vendor. You want a company that will partner with you over the long term as your needs and your app evolves.

Take these tips into consideration to help you evaluate the right mobile development company for your mobile project!

jācapps custom apps can support these efforts and much more. If you are interested in exploring a mobile strategy to support your business, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or 248-353-9030

Categories
App Everywhere B2B Apps Mobile Apps Mobile UX Mobile Web Wearables

Tips to Evaluate Mobile App Developers for your Company's App

Do you have a new idea for a mobile app to improve your business’ efficiency and increase ROI?! Do you have a successful business that could benefit from more streamlined customer service or product processes?!
If so, you need a great team to create the best possible mobile app! How do you know what mobile app development company to choose? Here are some criteria to evaluate mobile application companies for your company’s app:
 

End-to-End Services

It is important that the company you choose offers full service – inclusive of strategy, design, development, and post-launch maintenance. Here at jācapps, we use a 4-step process to make your app and experience the best it can be. We discover, design, develop, and deploy. This full-cycle process includes:

  • Discovery: This starts with understanding the problem you need to solve and understanding where your app will take root, then brainstorming the best solution.
  • Design: Make sure your app looks great, with solid aesthetics and ease-of-use in mind. Make sure your app designer keeps the big picture in mind, so that your app functions well and looks beautiful.
  • Development: Your developer should work from a complete and accurate specification document that describes perfectly how your app should work.
  • Deployment: Rigorous QA testing should happen throughout the development process, but final testing should make you confident that your app will work flawlessly for your users. And finally, the submission of your app and its app store presence should be done with complete professionalism and confidence.

This type of process will ensure that you receive a top-notch app.
But the best developers don’t stop there – they keep a look out for rare potential problems and help you navigate new devices and OS versions as they become available.
 

Design and Development Tailored to Your Needs

You may already have detailed documents that state how you want your app to work. You may just be looking for a company who can just oversee your plans, assist in UI/UX design and the development of the app. Or, you might simply have a business problem and are looking at mobile for a solution! The best firms offer flexibility. You can get as much or as little help as you need. For projects that are less planned out from the start, a product development specialist, along with a UI/UX designer will be necessary for the project! Having both allows you to design and develop your app to the best possible outcome. If your team is well staffed, your development firm should be able to leverage your internal expertise to save you time and money.
 

Comparison Shopping

There are lots of app development companies. Review your candidates’ past client work and case studies. It is also beneficial to determine how, and how much you will communicate with your provider. Do you want a team that is local? Do you require any special technology expertise? There are many factors to consider when selecting a mobile partner.
 

Get Buy-In Across Your Company

After you have narrowed down your options – it is important that you share your plan and vision for your mobile app. You’ll avoid a lot of downstream headaches if everyone on your team is on the same page and shares your vision.
 

Partner Mentality

Developing your app requires a multitude of resources beyond the idea. It requires market research, extensive documentation, designers and developers. If you are researching a mobile app development company to bring your idea to life, look for more than a vendor. You want a company that will partner with you over the long term as your needs and your app evolves.
Take these tips into consideration to help you evaluate the right mobile development company for your mobile project!
jācapps custom apps can support these efforts and much more. If you are interested in exploring a mobile strategy to support your business, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or 248-353-9030

Categories
Mobile Apps news and press Uncategorized

jācapps Hires Anne Clark as Vice President of Sales

Bingham Farms, Mich. – October 11, 2018 – To support its ongoing growth initiatives, leading application developer we have hired Anne Clark as its Vice President of Sales. Anne has more than 15 years of experience in sales management working for multiple high-tech companies around the U.S.
In this role, Anne will oversee our’ sales organization, and client-relations activities after serving in a similar position with Cengage Learning, where she managed $105 million in annual revenue and oversaw 40 high-performing sales directors and strategic account managers who engage at all decision-making levels in the for-profit higher education market. Anne has a proven track record of implementing data driven sales strategies and establishing internal sales processes, competencies and metrics that drive efficiency and performance.
“Anne was a perfect hire for us because she has experience fine tuning and scaling a sales organization to perform at a very high level,” said jācapps President Paul Jacobs. “She has the experience and steady hand to really help us get to the next level. Anne’s great at managing complex solutions and will lead our efforts to work with bigger clients in 2019 and beyond.”
Throughout her career in the technology field, Anne has served as a collaborative sales leader focused on driving growth in changing markets.  In driving technology solutions, she has helped turn around underperforming sales teams while transforming them to become highly effective and deliver results. Previous to Cengage, Anne was Vice President of Educational Sales at Wolters Kluwer Health, where she was a key decision maker in shifting the business to an all-digital solution leveraging adaptive technology and simulations which resulted in significant growth.
“I’m proud to be joining a company that has so many opportunities ahead of it as jācapps,” Anne said. “The company has a great brand in the media business and is just now scratching the surface with all types of businesses helping them create innovative mobile solutions that solve real problems. We have the opportunity to apply these mobile technologies in amazing ways and it’s my role to let the market know about it.”

About Us                                        

jācapps is a mobile application development firm in Metro-Detroit. Our company has developed over 1200 apps since its inception in 2008, by team members who are all Michigan-sourced. jācapps developers go beyond common devices by delivering your message through the most used device in the world, as well as in the Connected Car, Tablets, Smart Speakers, Smart TVs, Streaming Devices, Wearables, and whatever comes next.
If you are interested in learning more about us, the apps we’ve build, or a product of your own, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or (248) 353-9030

Categories
B2B Apps Mobile Apps Push Notifications

3 Push Notifications Tactics Increase F&B Loyalty

Push notifications are core to the mobile app experience. Most mobile users have their phone on them at all times, and the ability to get their attention in a meaningful way can make or break your app. A report from Kahuna, a mobile engagement analytics startup, explains why consumers so often turn off push notifications, and how to combat the dreaded opt-out. Read more to see why food and beverage, above other industries, can specifically benefit from this feature.

According to their data, only 39 percent of social media app users opt in to push notifications in at least one category. One industry that seems to fare better is the food and beverage business with 60 percent of users opting in.

A few strategies can help push that opt-in rate up when you’re creating push notifications:

  1. Make a good first impression: Educate your users on your app’s benefits and note how push notifications will enhance their user experience.
  2. Know when: Timing is everything when it comes to scheduling push notifications. Statistically, the best time to send push notifications is between 11am and 1pm, between 2pm and 6pm, and from 8pm to 9pm.
  3. Maintain the customer relationship: Once users have opted in to push notifications, keep the content relevant, personalized and targeted. Sloppy notifications practices can quickly drive users away from your app completely.

When it comes to the food and beverage industry, half of smartphone owners regularly use restaurant loyalty rewards apps. And, according to survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association, building customer loyalty and increasing customer retention through app-based rewards programs is a successful strategy.

Restaurants can ensure continued use of their loyalty app through regular push notifications reminding customers how close they are to earning the next free item or reaching the next tier of the rewards program. These interactions again personalize the experience and encourage repeat app usage.

So, what are the top types of push notification should you use in order to create customer loyalty?

  1. Location triggered messages

“Our closest restaurant is only 500ft away, open the app and receive a special discount coupon!”

  1. Gifting messages

“Congratulations! You have been with us for three months already, and as a thank you, we’d like to give you a 20% discount on any item from our bestseller list!”

  1. Transactional messages

Based on an activity directly related to customer behavior– such as past purchases, reward level advancement, expiring coupons, etc.

Getting your push notifications strategy right requires planning, good copywriting and testing. Do it right, and you will see increased user retention rates, reduced customer churn.

If you are interested in learning more about jācapps, the apps we’ve built, or a product of your own, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or (248) 353-9030

Categories
B2B Apps Mobile Apps Push Notifications

3 Push Notifications Tactics Increase F&B Loyalty

Push notifications are core to the mobile app experience. Most mobile users have their phone on them at all times, and the ability to get their attention in a meaningful way can make or break your app. A report from Kahuna, a mobile engagement analytics startup, explains why consumers so often turn off push notifications, and how to combat the dreaded opt-out. Read more to see why food and beverage, above other industries, can specifically benefit from this feature.
According to their data, only 39 percent of social media app users opt in to push notifications in at least one category. One industry that seems to fare better is the food and beverage business with 60 percent of users opting in.
A few strategies can help push that opt-in rate up when you’re creating push notifications:

  1. Make a good first impression: Educate your users on your app’s benefits and note how push notifications will enhance their user experience.
  2. Know when: Timing is everything when it comes to scheduling push notifications. Statistically, the best time to send push notifications is between 11am and 1pm, between 2pm and 6pm, and from 8pm to 9pm.
  3. Maintain the customer relationship: Once users have opted in to push notifications, keep the content relevant, personalized and targeted. Sloppy notifications practices can quickly drive users away from your app completely.

When it comes to the food and beverage industry, half of smartphone owners regularly use restaurant loyalty rewards apps. And, according to survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association, building customer loyalty and increasing customer retention through app-based rewards programs is a successful strategy.
Restaurants can ensure continued use of their loyalty app through regular push notifications reminding customers how close they are to earning the next free item or reaching the next tier of the rewards program. These interactions again personalize the experience and encourage repeat app usage.
So, what are the top types of push notification should you use in order to create customer loyalty?

  1. Location triggered messages

“Our closest restaurant is only 500ft away, open the app and receive a special discount coupon!”

  1. Gifting messages

“Congratulations! You have been with us for three months already, and as a thank you, we’d like to give you a 20% discount on any item from our bestseller list!”

  1. Transactional messages

Based on an activity directly related to customer behavior– such as past purchases, reward level advancement, expiring coupons, etc.
Getting your push notifications strategy right requires planning, good copywriting and testing. Do it right, and you will see increased user retention rates, reduced customer churn.
If you are interested in learning more about jācapps, the apps we’ve built, or a product of your own, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or (248) 353-9030