Category: Mobile UX

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Android Auto App Everywhere Apple CarPlay B2B Apps Mobile Apps Mobile UX Mobile Web Podcasting Push Notifications Radio Wearables

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 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
Amazon Echo Google Home Mobile UX Voice Commands

What is a “Template” vs. a “Platform” App?

Man using mobile payments online shopping and icon customer network connection on screen, m-banking and omni channel

Each type of app can bring different advantages for your company. Understanding those advantages help shape the goal of your app.

Deciding which type of app is right for your company is crucial  

When jācapps was formed back in 2008, we built every app from scratch. Development took a long time, repairs and updates were tedious, and flexibility was minimal. As we became more sophisticated, our development leaders had a vision to create a platform that would enable us to not only build, service, and update apps faster, but also provide an incredible amount of flexibility to our clients in layout, design, features, and functionality.
Concurrently, other developers were working on their own version, and a few have created a “templated” approach. In this model, app design, features, and functionality are uniform. The only thing different is the content in the app (the stream, links to social media, etc.).
Two approaches – both are credible and deliver on the promise to clients. Our approach is a modular, customizable platform. The other approach is a template.
Here’s why we believe the modular platform approach delivers more advantages to our clients than a template:

  1.  No two radio stations are the same. Sure, most radio station apps have streams, podcasts, social media, and more. But each radio station is its own brand. A Top 40 station in Wichita should reflect their brand and their market, and shouldn’t look like a Christian radio station in Madison. Some stations have huge morning shows that should be featured. Others should highlight social media. A template can’t provide that flexibility. A platform can.
  2. Different formats require different functionality. When our partner company, Jacobs Media, began conducting the TechSurvey, it became clear to us that audiences of different formats interact with their favorite radio station in unique ways. For example, Twitter use by Sports radio fans is through the roof, so our sports station clients can feature that on the main screen in their app. News stations in commercial and public radio feature a headline news feed on their main page, and music-oriented stations feature last-song played. A template can’t provide that flexibility. A platform can.
  3. A platform app can best reflect what’s on the air. One of the main advantages of a platform app is that it can be “programmed” to be responsive to what’s on the air. So, if the morning show has a special guest, the app can instantly be changed to feature a picture of the guest prior to them appearing, and then taken down when the interview is complete. Station promotions, contests and events can be showcased, and removed when the event is over. Templated apps are static, and cannot promote the station in as timely and effective a manner as a platform app.

 There are many other reasons why a flexible platform is the best solution for your mobile strategy. We have been fortunate to work with hundreds of radio stations over the past 8+ years, and they have inspired us to design our platform with the unique needs of their business in mind. The result is the most flexible, customizable, and reasonably priced solution going.
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of the jācapps platform, contact us at sales@jacapps.com.
 

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Amazon Echo Google Home Mobile UX Voice Commands

The Importance of UX Without the Screen

UX

In today’s world, brands must increase user engagement, among other priorities, to stay relevant and meet their goals. These goals can be met with a mobile app, but it goes beyond just having an app for your business.

A good User Experience (UX) can mean the difference between success and failure

Many times, when we think of UX we think of wireframes and pretty colors. We consider whether a button color change would increase the purchase rate. But UX isn’t always on a screen. UX goes beyond the screen with audio products.
Designing for the suite of voice apps (Alexa, Google Home, and the HomePod) moves us away from visual representations and takes us to one single sense – sound.
As with all applications, user testing is critical. There are a few common red flags that come up when testing audio. One must make sure the audio demands make sense to the user. They should feel spontaneous and free of fluff. You must consider all the different accents and how they may be mispronounced. There also needs to be solid evidence that people would use the skill.
Done well, the audio platform takes your company and your product, off the screen and into the home.
At jācapps, we understand the end user and how they use mobile in a variety of settings – at home, at work, in the car, etc. We can help you build a UX strategy that works both on the screen and off the screen to reach your audience and keep them engaged wherever they may be.
Reach out to us today by clicking here. You can also give us a call at 248-353-9030 or email sales@jacapps.com.

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Mobile UX

The Importance of Mobile UX

By: Vince Kattoula

Technology, especially mobile apps, should be easy to use and make life easier, not harder. A good user experience is usually the difference between success and failure in the app world. User experience (UX) involves a person’s behaviors, attitude, and emotions about using a product, system, or service. When UX is well thought out and succeeds, end users are happy. But when it fails, users can become frustrated and end up saying goodbye for good.
Paige Templeton, our Lead UX and PM, had this to say about the work involving UX:

“The work involving UX encompasses a broad collection of things. The research portion gives us a base to make decisions. Competitive analyses, personas, and usability tests all help to create an app that caters to the end user. Taxonomy and information architecture work is vital in making sure users know where to find things. A lost user is a failed experience and results in a deleted app. Then, as most know, there is the user interface design. Interface design focuses on creating a layout that feels intuitive to the user. An interface that follows recognizable patterns lifts the user’s mood and he or she responds more positively. The visual design in UX caters to the look and feel of the app. It helps lead the user to more understanding of what kind of an app it is. Interface choices, such as over-designing, can hurt the app by creating a frustrated user.”

Earlier this year, Paige spoke at Ignite UX Michigan in Ann Arbor. She discussed the good, the bad, and the ugly regarding icon usage. Here are a few key takeaways:

  1. Use labels unless there isn’t enough space.
  2. Use context cues if you cannot fit a label in.
  3. Test, test, test! Use your users.
  4. Use the AIGA universal symbols list when possible.
  5. Don’t assume that making something an icon will make it easier on the user.

Creating an awesome app is more than just great code or flashy looks. After developing more than 1,000 apps for hundreds of clients across multiple industries, one of the best lessons we’ve learned is that the only thing that matters in a mobile app is the experience that it offers end users. To create an excellent user experience one must put on their end user hat and really think about each individual experience with their product. Each button, link, feature, and so on, needs to be carefully considered and designed to delight and engage the end user.
As always, we’ve love to talk mobile with you. Click here to set up a conversation about your brand’s mobile strategy. You can also give us a call at 248-353-9030 or shoot us an email.