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How Radio Stations Are Killing It with Engagement

Customer engagement is one of the most important indicators when evaluating the success of a mobile app.
So, what exactly are radio stations doing today who are already killing it with user engagement?! KSGN 89.7 Family Friendly Radio, Go Media Radio, and The House FM use some unique features that are taking engagement to another level. Here are some of the ways these radio stations are both keeping and gaining users: 
 

Live Streaming

This one’s obvious, but SO powerful. Live streaming allows listeners to listen to their favorite radio stations whenever and wherever they are! Listeners love the portability of mobile apps.
 

Event Calendars

Calendars that list local events and festivals are a huge hit for station listeners. It encourages involvement in your app and allows listeners to access both local events and important tune in dates for artist interviews, live podcasts, and more!
 

Contests

Having a place on your app that involves contests also drives consumer engagement!  This allows customers to become better aware of different contests, and it provides a direct link to your station’s website for instructions to enter the contest or when to listen to the radio for certain winning opportunities!
Radio Apps

Latest News

Being on the go and staying up to date on the latest news can be challenging for a lot of listeners. They may want to know the latest local news, or news about album releases, celebrity updates, upcoming concerts, etc. Your app can allow your users to access information whenever and wherever they are!
 

On Demand Content (podcasts)

Most podcast listening is done on users’ mobile devices. So be sure that your on-demand content is there, so listeners can hear the morning show they missed, or better yet, original content created by your station staff.
 

Open Mic

Your relationship with your listeners doesn’t have to be a one-way street. Using this feature, they can easily send audio, video and photos back to you. Take requests through your app, or better manage listener call-ins. For the user it’s just a couple of easy taps. For you, it’s a way to bring your listeners into your programming.
 

Push Notifications

Having push notifications prohibits your users from missing out on the biggest announcements. These push notifications remind your users about upcoming events, podcasts, music releases, or contests, without even opening the app.

All of these features allow radio stations to rock engagement strategies. These features allow users to have the opportunity to do more than just listen to music. It allows them to be a part of the radio station. Encouraging your users to be me more involved than just listening to music will drive your app usage through the roof!
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.

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App Everywhere B2B Apps Mobile Apps news and press

Designing a Restaurant’s Food Ordering App

What Should a Restaurant’s Food Ordering App Include?

While the smartphone app market is full of general food-delivery-service options, there is still plenty of demand for restaurant-specific apps. Whether you own a chain of fast-food locations or a single high-end restaurant, you can streamline your ordering process and reach more customers by designing a custom app.

Yet a poorly designed restaurant app causes frustration for customers rather than joy. To make sure your food ordering app offers a pleasant experience, include at least these five features.

Menu Photos

You should include text descriptions of each menu item, but a menu that is solely text misses out on some of the best opportunities offered by a food ordering app. Since app users are guaranteed to access the software through a smartphone with a quality display screen, food photos make a big impact.

Don’t just snap low-quality shots of your dishes to add to the app either. Paying for professional photography of your restaurant’s food may increase the total cost of developing the app, but you’ll earn that investment back relatively quickly thanks to increased impulse orders when customers see flattering shots of your best items.

Delivery Tracking

Restaurants that don’t offer delivery can still benefit from ordering apps, but this kind of software development is especially valuable to establishments offering delivery. Your app should communicate clearly with users to let them know when an order is received, the food is prepared, and the delivery is sent out.

This sounds complex, but plenty of coding tricks can automate the process. You don’t necessarily have to increase the workload of your restaurant staff by more than the push of a button with the right design of your app.

Customization Control

One of the biggest reasons restaurant customers sometimes avoid using food ordering apps is due to a lack of customization options. A diner who doesn’t want tomatoes on their burger or who can’t eat a dish with shrimp needs a way to communicate their preferences and needs.

Your app can accomplish this in many ways, from a series of buttons to press to alter the order to text input. Make sure the workers preparing the food actually see the modified order or there’s little reason to offer customization options to your customers.

Previous Orders

Few app users download and install software just to use it once. By tracking a customer’s order history within the app, you’re encouraging repeat use by making orders as easy as possible. If someone always orders the same salad for lunch while they’re at work, the app should make placing that repeat order as easy as possible.

To take order history to the next level, include orders placed in the restaurant without the use of the app. You need to connect the app to a digital point-of-service (POS) software package running on the in-store registers. Integrated POS software offers many benefits on its own, making the upgrade to this kind of software worthwhile regardless of app connectivity.

Review Options

The best restaurants still make mistakes, and you need to hear about those issues from the customer before they turn to a public forum to share them. Integrating a review option directly into the app gives you a chance to capture complaints while they’re easy to remedy. For best results, add a text input area so users can do more than just give a transaction a star or numerical rating.

App development may sound intimidating, but we make the process easy here at jācapps. Let us create a useful and attractive food ordering app for your restaurant. Contact us today to get started.

Categories
App Everywhere B2B Apps Mobile Apps news and press

Designing a Restaurant's Food Ordering App

What Should a Restaurant’s Food Ordering App Include?

While the smartphone app market is full of general food-delivery-service options, there is still plenty of demand for restaurant-specific apps. Whether you own a chain of fast-food locations or a single high-end restaurant, you can streamline your ordering process and reach more customers by designing a custom app.
Yet a poorly designed restaurant app causes frustration for customers rather than joy. To make sure your food ordering app offers a pleasant experience, include at least these five features.

Menu Photos

You should include text descriptions of each menu item, but a menu that is solely text misses out on some of the best opportunities offered by a food ordering app. Since app users are guaranteed to access the software through a smartphone with a quality display screen, food photos make a big impact.
Don’t just snap low-quality shots of your dishes to add to the app either. Paying for professional photography of your restaurant’s food may increase the total cost of developing the app, but you’ll earn that investment back relatively quickly thanks to increased impulse orders when customers see flattering shots of your best items.

Delivery Tracking

Restaurants that don’t offer delivery can still benefit from ordering apps, but this kind of software development is especially valuable to establishments offering delivery. Your app should communicate clearly with users to let them know when an order is received, the food is prepared, and the delivery is sent out.
This sounds complex, but plenty of coding tricks can automate the process. You don’t necessarily have to increase the workload of your restaurant staff by more than the push of a button with the right design of your app.

Customization Control

One of the biggest reasons restaurant customers sometimes avoid using food ordering apps is due to a lack of customization options. A diner who doesn’t want tomatoes on their burger or who can’t eat a dish with shrimp needs a way to communicate their preferences and needs.
Your app can accomplish this in many ways, from a series of buttons to press to alter the order to text input. Make sure the workers preparing the food actually see the modified order or there’s little reason to offer customization options to your customers.

Previous Orders

Few app users download and install software just to use it once. By tracking a customer’s order history within the app, you’re encouraging repeat use by making orders as easy as possible. If someone always orders the same salad for lunch while they’re at work, the app should make placing that repeat order as easy as possible.
To take order history to the next level, include orders placed in the restaurant without the use of the app. You need to connect the app to a digital point-of-service (POS) software package running on the in-store registers. Integrated POS software offers many benefits on its own, making the upgrade to this kind of software worthwhile regardless of app connectivity.

Review Options

The best restaurants still make mistakes, and you need to hear about those issues from the customer before they turn to a public forum to share them. Integrating a review option directly into the app gives you a chance to capture complaints while they’re easy to remedy. For best results, add a text input area so users can do more than just give a transaction a star or numerical rating.
App development may sound intimidating, but we make the process easy here at jācapps. Let us create a useful and attractive food ordering app for your restaurant. Contact us today to get started.

Categories
App Everywhere B2B Apps Mobile Apps Mobile Web Push Notifications

Driving Employee Engagement in the Construction Industries

Employee engagement is key to a successful business. Contractors need to take action to be sure that their professionals are committed to, and care about their business’ success. Engaged employees drive their company to reach its objectives. So, how can construction companies develop this level of enthusiasm among their employees?
Research shows that in the construction industry, momentum in employee engagement can be built through mobile! Sampson Construction launched SampsonHub in 2017, which is an employee app that better connects the company and its employees. The SampsonHub app reaches more than 80 percent of their employees with communications every day. Additionally, SAK Construction launched their employee app, SAK Pipeline, last year with similar adoption results. They reached more than 80 percent of their workers in four different regional locations, as well as crews on sites throughout the country.
So, how do these apps work and drive employee engagement?

Here are five ways to connect your construction workforce:

Safety Resources

Employees can submit forms to evaluate potential hazards on the job through the mobile app. Crews can go into the app to see not only the latest notification, but also to look through a library of job hazards and safety procedures, including video. This is beneficial because employees can access safety information at any given time. The manager can access the recaps of on-site reviews with the crews. Most importantly, if a crew member needs a question answered regarding safety, they can easily access a list of safety managers and their contact info right away.

Emergency Notifications

Construction employee apps can allow companies to push out emergency notifications. For example, a notification can be sent if there is bad weather or to let the team know of an incident or injury. Construction apps also push out safety alerts following incident reports to make crews aware of them, whether it’s something that happened within the company or even within the industry

Safety Awareness Campaigns

Safety awareness campaigns get messages out to construction crews on a daily basis. They can display real reasons why working safe is so important by sharing these images throughout job sites and offices, so they can be remembered!

Operations – Training Programs

Construction employee apps can offer various training courses. This can include the option for employees to have their own login ID and password, so they have the ability to see which courses have been taken, and which need to be done. This will help not only the employees stay on top of their trainings and education, but it will allow management to keep track of each employee’s progress.

Resource management

Apps can even help companies assign workers to the proper projects and keep track of their time spent on those job sites. With geo-location it becomes easy to know who is where, and redeploy them if necessary to new projects.
 
These employee focused apps can drive employee engagement through the roof! By having safety tips, emergency notifications, safety awareness campaigns, and training programs right in the palm of your hands, it will allow the employees in the construction industries to feel safe and heard.
jācapps custom construction apps can support these efforts and so much more. If you are interested in creating a mobile presence to support your business, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or 248-353-9030