7 Mobile Marketing Mistakes You Should Avoid

Get mobile marketing wrong and you can do far more damage to your brand than the worst email or marketing campaign imaginable. When using SMS, be sure to avoid these seven deadly sins in order to ensure maximum impact from your campaign.

1.       Forgetting a call to action

Don’t forget to tell the customers what they have to do next, and remember to include relevant contact details. 75% of people prefer to receive offers over any other form of call to action. Be sure to add either

·         A reply option

·         Address to visit

·         Website to visit

·         Coupon to present in the store and

·         A number to call

2.       Forgetting to test and check

In the haste to send a message, don’t forget to test and check it for errors first. Think you are a customer receiving the message.

·         Does it make sense?

·         Are the details correct?

·         How could it be improved?

Remember to check the text, contact details, web addresses, spelling and grammar and phone numbers.

3.       No Option to Unsubscribe

By omitting an unsubscribe option, you are not only infuriating your clients, you are also breaking the law. Unsubscribe options include a link to a preference centre, a link to automatically unsubscribe, allow replies of ‘stop’ or ‘unsubscribe’. Also, include a number to call.

4.       Treat everyone the same

With mobile you can segment your customers into far smaller and precise categories, allowing you to give your customers services that they want.

5.       Overloading customers

By their very nature, bulk SMS’s are intrusive. So don’t overload customers by sending them lots of text messages all at once. The rules to follow are:

·         Don’t repeat a message exactly

·         Don’t  include a call to action that has been completed

·         Make sure you wait to-3 weeks before sending more texts

6.       Focussing only on selling

Add value to what you do, rather than just relying on sales. Alternate message types by using local information relevant to the recipient, useful information about your niche and interesting videos relevant to your niche.

7.       Developing a pointless app

Unless your app is providing something or genuinely useful to the customer, then it’s really not worth going through the pain, cost and distraction of developing something that most users will ignore.

If you can avoid these, then you can assume that you are well inside the safe zone.

How You Can Ensure Mobile Security in Your Organization?

A majority of IT firms today allow Bring your own device (BYOD) due to the consumerization of IT in the modern workplace. That the mobile phone has become a can’t-do-without in today’s life is a reality that cannot be ignored. When employees are given the choice of using their own consumer-based devices in the workplace, it is imperative to counter theft and move towards ensuring security and control. Recent surveys underscore the seriousness of the problem data pointing out that four out of 10 businesses being affected by a security breach.

Well, Mobile security actually begins with protecting the actual mobile device. Today, a plethora of apps exist to prevent data theft on case a mobile has been stolen. It is also possible to track down the device with iPhone’s having special apps to track them.  But what do businesses actually do when faced with security issues?

1. Maintain and control security settings in one central location. It is important to never rely on devices that allow the user to make security decisions. It would also help if organizations require enforceable access control on all mobile devices i.e. users should not be able to disable the access control that IT has put in place.

2. Always use two-step authentication for devices and apps where possible. This makes it necessary to provide both a password and additional information such as a code sent to an email address in case the device is lost or stolen.

3. Have regular Consultations with various departments such as finance, HR and legal departments about their needs. This is because your mobile device policy doesn’t affect just the IT department.

4. Establishing cloud-based servers or URL filters for websites that are either blocked by the company or known to be malicious. This precaution will help to protect the endpoint by not allowing an employee to visit websites that could compromise security.

5. Frame a policy for mobile devices depending on your requirements and the company’s exposure to risk. Although BYOD has now more or less become the norm, it does pose a higher risk than policies such as choose your own device (CYOD) and corporate-owned, personally enabled (COPE) which may be more appropriate.

How Your Mobile Website Development Should Work?

Mobile development has altered the course of technology, innovation and communication. But behind every successful app, Smartphone, and mobile website is a lot of strategising and nerve-wracking effort. Only a combination of hard-nosed designers, developers and testers along with business analysts can ensure that an efficient and different mobile app is created. This is a complicated process that involves workflows that vary from organization to organization. In this article, we look at some of the basics that your organization should stick to in order to ensure your mobile development is efficient.

1. Inspect the website

You, as the developer should make a careful study of the website’s design and content. Knowledge of the business objective, brand value and service orientation with additional plugins to be integrated would help you redesign the website if necessary. To accommodate mobile users, the major changes necessary are layout of the website and its content framework arrangement.

2. Consult with the client

Post the initial analysis, programmers would typically get back to the client and work out the preferences for the mobile website. Here you must remember that mobile devices are not like desktops. So you need to highlight the areas you want to market first, like the logo or the company’s tagline or its speciality. You need to ask the client if he wants a new image or only the featured content from the mobile website.

3. Design and execution

This is where it gets really technical and the real nitty-gritty work starts. Depending on the demands of the client, the time taken to develop the site can be anywhere between two to four days. But this really depends on the layers of programming the site requires. If the site involves complicated functionality, it would obviously take longer. Some of it also depends on the time taken for the testing of the website.

4. Final product

Once approved, you can test the mobile site live. The final product is the live mobile website. Its effectiveness can be easily monitored by the client. It is the amount of traffic it generates! Further monitoring is not necessary unless the client has asked for CMS etc.

5 Mistakes You Should Avoid In App Development

Creating engaging and innovative apps is an article. It’s also a systematic and steady process that involves ingenuity, perseverance, attention to detail and above all, the zest to achieve. That was about what you needed. But what should you avoid? What are the common pitfalls that developers encounter when they set out to develop mobile apps? And how can you avoid them? That’s what we’ll be looking at in this article.

Mistake #1 Not focusing on end users 

Mobile apps must be building keeping user experience firmly in mind. You must never once take your eyes off it. You may have put a lot of work into building your app but all of it will go down the drain if the end user doesn't find your app engaging. At every stage of development ask yourself, how is this going to benefit the user?

Mistake #2 Not using existing Smartphone functionalities

Don't develop an app just because you want to see a profit. You must come up with an idea that is new and offers some value to the end users. Innovation is very much appreciated by the new mobile users and you should give precedence to this when you develop your app.

Mistake #3 Not understanding the difference between development environment and real world.

An app may work in the lab, but need not do so in the real environment. Mobile app development is typically done in a simulated environment and even tests are carried out on emulators. So, you may not be fully aware of the problems that an end user might encounter. So, do extensive research before your app goes live.

Mistake #4 Ignoring scalability and integration issues

Your apps must be scalable and ‘integrable’. By ‘integrable’ we mean your app should require very few tweaks post release. Your app should be loadable on different devices running the same operating system and users must not feel that the app is actually behaving differently in another device. The mobile app development company should be able to ensure that the app remains usable even after multiple operating system upgrades.

Mistake #5 Not knowing how to limit app features

Extensive mobile apps are good, but there are thousands of feature rich apps that are untouched mainly because they are too complex to comprehend for end users. The mobile phone app development should have a single focus for every single app and adding a few customization options is acceptable. However, pushing it too far will only bore the end users because they won't recognize the purpose of the app.

5 Great Android Apps to Make Money While Shopping

Shopping can either be a truly joyful experience or an extremely harrowing one based on whether you are truly shopping with the right tools. On the app front, Android apps help you save money and increase your efficiency in shopping. These Android apps make shopping a really new experience based on their power and functionality. In this article, we take a look at 5 great Android apps that make your shopping experience a truly memorable one.

 SnapTell

If you ever wanted to know more about something you saw on the rack, just use SnapTell to scan the barcode and you’ll get all the information you possibly needed. Information like how the price compares with other distributors can be done in seconds. This app could be a big time money-saver for you if you take the time to use it.

Key Ring Reward Cards

This app is very handy if you want to consolidate all your clutter in your purse while making sure you don't lose valuable loyalty cards. You just need to take a snapshot of the barcode of your reward card and enter a little basic information about the store and voila! You’re ready to use your phone as your reward card at that store in the future.

Our Groceries

This is the perfect app for the happy family of Android phone users. You can purchase items as easily as you can remove them on this app. This is a must have app to have for the new-age hyper busy, hyper tech families that are looking at efficiency.

OI Shopping list

OI Shopping list, much like the Our Groceries app, is for the singleton folks. Not that a family wouldn’t benefit from the app, but just that it’s got more features and it's not a perfect fit like the other app is for families that need a simple solution to keep up on their latest shopping needs. That being said, this app is a powerful workhorse and can really end up saving you countless hours and some decent cash at year's end.

eBay

This official app brings eBay to your Android phone. It might look a bit odd, but this UI is better than the actual website on my computer. It actually gives you an idea that this Android app was developed correctly and really hits the mark. That is, if you're an eBay fan; if you're not, apologies!

Mistakes to Avoid in Mobile App Development

If you had a killer idea and wanted to make it actionable, you would be developing a mobile app to implement it. That’s the easiest way to ensure that you’re idea is visible, taken note of, and most importantly, put to use by millions. What you require is a clear plan, good strategy, proper programming structure and user friendly implementation. But there are pitfalls even for the trained. We look at some of them in this article.

1. Be very clear about your platform

Android, iOS, Windows....reading them back and forth? Well, just look at who you want to target. If it’s the global market that you’re targeting, android must be your choice. If you are looking at a US centric market, you could go for iOS. Either way, avoid ambiguity on the platform front. If you intend to launch it on both the platforms, know that your engineering costs will double accordingly.

2. Mobile is NOT web experience downsized

A majority of website owners do not focus on developing a mobile application that is optimized for all mobile platforms. All that they do is rely on responsive website features or consider that mobile app development should be done with just few necessary elements and features of a website.

3. Don’t confuse the Designer for the Developer

Whatever it is that the designer creates; it will have to go through a developer. It is important the design follows the functionality since we often find that apps where design dictates functionality inevitable fail.
For example, if your app has been planned to include a search box, but the designer might envision one with a type-ahead search that generates live results as the user types. This is a nice add-on, but could mean significant undertaking for the developer.

4. Avoid overlooking User experience

Say Apple and ask people what comes to their mind first. The reply would be its elegance/user experience. So, it’s important to know that a mobile user is more demanding and intuitive when it comes to UX. This is borne by the fact that 26% of the are opened only to be never used again and 48% are opened less than 10 times. Make sure you test your app with Craigslist or better find early beta testers.

5. The app won’t sell by itself


When your app goes live, thousands of competitors are going to look at it and use it. If you do not have a well planned strategy to increase visibility, you are only increase the risk of your app disappearing into oblivion.

How You Can Execute App Built to Perfection?

How to decide if your mobile app is well-built? How do you know you do not need any external assistance when you build an app amidst all roaming security threats? Irrespective of the Open Source platform under discussion (be it iOS or Android), or other internal mobile app project, a single gifted developer can create simple design and develop the entire app with the available online tutorials, Google searches, and some genuine novelty.

However, it is very important to consult SMEs (subject matter experts) to make sure that the app you build is a successful one that earns you a good profit and satisfies your needs. Are you found wanting in any area where new app development project requires assistance? In this article, we look where you might require external assistance most and why.

Areas where you may require help (specifically on the Execution front)

Multiple Mobile Platforms

It may make sense to build for multiple platforms such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone depending on the type of mobile application you need. Approaching a professional app development company only lets you use a “one-stop-shop” and you can receive valuable advice on the various nuances of each platform too.

Rich Media Tools For User Experience

Features like animations, calculators, Infographics and dynamic data display or visualizations are the best tools that enhance user-experience. Each of these can efficiently execute your vision but anything the same time; can also expose potential errors in the process.

Visual Appeal for Branding

One of the most critical areas for a mobile project is Visual designs. Starting from professional photography, intense branding, illustrations, even videos- to handling visual design on your own without an experienced app developer results in inconsistency.

Complex Back-end Structure

Whether to present data from multiple existing “legacy” systems or to save profile information for your users and customize their interaction with the system or to add e-commerce to your app, you will need to build a back end server system to go with your app for added security measures. This is where you might find the need for external assistance most pressing.

There is no substitute to handle these hurdles. Nerds have and still come up with ingenuous solutions to track issues, identify bugs and troubleshoot them time and again. But for us, building an app that sells must come before everything else and hiring an external firm that specialises in apps won’t be all that bad.

7 Tips for a Successful Mobile App

Creating a successful mobile app is on everyone’s mind. So much so that almost every business has one on either of the mobile platforms these days. But how do you ensure that your app is successful? That’s the question we’ll look to answer in this article. The ingredients of a successful app are:

1.       Emotional connect with end-users

You can’t create an app with a rich user experience by simply replicating the desktop content on a touch screen. So you need to optimize the performance, look and feel of the application according to the mobile device. In short, your app needs to touch an emotional chord with the users.

2.       Compatibility

Most apps target a particular mobile OS. But the user may access the app on a variety of devices like tablets, Smartphone’s, etc. This is why it is necessary for businesses to ensure compatibility and optimization across devices.

3.       Make the app customizable

It is now common experience that customized apps achieve greater popularity as users love to change the app’s colour, font, outlines, and privacy settings according to their preferences. This delivers a user-centric experience.

4.        Make the app work offline

All the users may not have unlimited access to the internet and they will look for apps that can work even in the absence of an internet connection. So, make sure your app works in both the online and offline modes.

5.        Focus on end user-experience

Your app might be simple and easy-to-use. But does it serve the purpose it was designed for? The app must deliver on this count. Optimized and hassle-free user experience is a necessity for a successful app.

6.        Monitor app usage

An app can be used in a number of ways. So you need to understand how your app is exactly being used. Track users using engagement analytics and identify features and functionality that need to be improved in the app.

7.        Focus on high LTV

As a business, you need to focus on the high lifetime value (LTV) of your application. Your advertising revenue directly depends on your LTV. For your app to be successful in the longer run, you need to focus on higher returns on investment (ROI) and average revenue per user (ARPU) to build a solid base of users.

Dos and Don’ts in Making Android Apps

Everyone loves a good Android app. So you want to make it. But what is that you must keep in mind when you develop it? And what should you avoid or rather keep away from? These are some of the questions that we seek to an in this article. So, here are the Android app developer tips:

•DO keep the user in mind when you design your app. Most developers make the mistake of developing their apps solely based on what they think would work and not how others will actually use it. And it's not hard to find out what the end user would feel. You can conduct surveys for instance, do beta testing or have your app checked by an app review blog. 

• DO incorporate integration and scalability in your app. Extensibility must necessarily be taken into consideration in the app's design, particularly if you’re making the first version. Unfortunately, this is often overlooked since many mobile apps nowadays are developed under a short time period to take advantage of a current trends or preferences. But shorn of scalability, this could lead too much re-configuring if a new functionality were released.

• DO take care when you make colour choices. Android phones are today capable of displaying a wide variety of colours, but this doesn’t mean that you choose any colour. Remember that Android phones are designed to be used just about anywhere, so your app's design should incorporate colours that work in environments with different lighting and displays.

• DON'T stick to a single screen size. It’s not advisable. Android platform is used in different types of mobile devices, so designing your app around a specific screen size will not properly scale in other screen sizes. Therefore make sure you have given some thought on your app’s look on different Android devices.

• DON'T design with a specific form factor. An Android developer who designs an app that is touch screen-specific , for example, will have a tough time integrating it to Android phones which use navigation controls rather than a touch screen. You need to visualize how your app would work across different Android devices and ensure you leave enough room for other form factors.

• DON'T do too much. You should give up trying to make your app do everything. Instead, concentrate on specific uses and match those with an intuitive user interface. You will find many success stories in the Android developer community who built apps with a specific focus. And they succeeded because they were good at doing just that one thing. 

How Much On an Average Can We Make Money Selling Free Apps?

In business we don’t just develop app for fun but to show off your business expertise, and make money eventually. Ever since the record of app development one of the widely disregarded topic – how do free apps make money?

Let’s talk about the ways you can make money when your app is free.

1. The Freemium Upsell

Having a second version of your app that’s paid, be it as the “Lite” and “Regular” or “HD” versions of an app, paired together. When the user clicks on the free app link it drives them to the iTunes store on their phone.

Initially, users can download your free app and get a sense of what you have to offer after which the full version could be purchased which will have lots more functionality and game play.

2. In-App Purchases

In-app purchases allow users to unlock features or purchase more as in like get coins. When you build an app, either you should set IAP (in-app purchases) to be a onetime purchase or an ongoing option like purchasing 20 coins for $0.99. Such apps have already drove millions of dollars in sales, even though it was free.

3. CPI Networks (Cost per Install)

Relatively a new marketing mechanism, CPI is the mobile equivalent to CPA (cost per acquisition) in the web marketing world. It is most often seen as a “pop-up” in games and apps through which prompting to “Get It Now.”

This actually works out to be a better deal than most developers report on advertising networks. In precise, it is directly proportional to the number of downloads and grows as your user base grows.

4. Mobile Advertising:

After reaching $31.5 Billion this 2014, many mobile ad companies have sprouted with various revenue models.  It can be used in conjunction with apps that have in-app purchase and consequently allowing a free app to generate revenue even if the user doesn't make any in-app purchases.

The bottom line is the two ad networks are i Ads and Ad-mob – the first being Apple and the second being Google but requires a sizable amount of traffic to make it worth your while.

The Challenges & Opportunities in Developing a Mobile App, 2014

With the increasing number of smart phones and tablets evolution, there is a significant change to the form factor of software solutions. The future looks both bright and positive while demanding more ‘n’ more innovative and sophisticated mobile apps and it seems like the mobile developers are taking advantage of this lucrative opportunity.

Challenges

1.       User Experience

One of the major challenges with mobile application development is user experience. While many app developers treat mobile devices as just another screen, realizing that user interactions and behaviours are vastly different. This makes for an unintuitive and cumbersome experience for users resulting in low adoption and usage of the application.

2.       Development Technology (Native, Hybrid and Web)

Considering the varying capabilities of all the devices and building an app that works well for all of them: one question to consider is, “Should your app be native or hybrid to single platform or whether it should be a web app that runs on all the devices?

This decision is based on the cost as the development budget can escalate if you choose to make your app run on all the devices.

3.       Personalization of Services & Devices

In general, the mobile developers have a presume time within which conversion must be done. This could happen with a quick sign-up process with Facebook or GPS- but still they are not able to turn the potential visitor into an actual customer. The problem is they fail to provide further utilization that can lure the visitor to pay.

Opportunities

1.       Sustainable Advertising

Sustainable advertising help you in generating more revenue which is why app development companies are more focussed on social media, advertising and ecommerce benefits through their apps.

2.       Development of Niche Apps

Developing business apps cater to improvising the efficiency of business and increase the profitability in short period of time, but then this is not applicable for game app development.

All the above mentioned points will surely let you know about the challenges and opportunities involved in the mobile application development world.

Enterprise mobility to Enhance Your Business Reach

Be it any kind of work and personal tasks- from email and schedules to file management and to-do lists, all the tools are conveniently located right in the app store. Enterprise apps allow workers full accessibility to real time data wherever and whenever they need it.

Let’s have a detailed look at how enterprise mobility has become the name of the game.

The Growing New Trend of Implementing Mobile Apps

Employees nowadays are demanding greater connectivity and the flexibility to work from different locations which has influenced many organizations to adapt to enterprise mobility strategy: Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) policies or allowing employees to select from the already available choose-your-own-device (CYOD) options.

Say for instance, hospitals, clinics usually prefer electronic medical records (EMRs) to store and track medical and clinical data. Meanwhile, the retailers depend on mobile apps that help manage their inventory and logistics more effectively. In such a case, mobility serves both customers and employees in a faster phase which result in strengthening customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Another example is mobile apps for Restaurants: These are a few benefits that follows

ü  GPS directions feature to connect and engage with customers faster

ü  Enable online food ordering system, table bookings etc.

ü  Facilitate push notifications to the customer regarding special discounts, offers on food.

ü  Offer  various loyalty programs through the app

ü  Notify the kitchen staff once the customer is seated, helping to take orders faster

ü  Take door orders at one click

ü  Enable to share favourite food with friends and relatives through the social media share option.

These are a few... there are plenty of them out there.

Why Hybrid?

With the right mix of features, performance and platform support at an affordable cost warns organisations to decide between whether to build a native, web and hybrid app.

The recent explosion in tablet and smartphone sales and growth of BYOD encourage providing mobile apps for staff and customers that run across multiple platforms. This is one reason cross app development flourished. A custom app can help reduce the hassles of organising while facilitating sales, and engage more customers thereby providing the best user-experience.

5 Point Check-List for a Successful Enterprise Mobile App

Enterprises have begun to realize that enabling mobile applications can bring in great degree to drive greater productivity. With this aspect coming into play, building a Mobile solution and maintaining it would take a fraction of the overall investment.

Here are some of the crucial aspects you need to consider while developing Enterprise Mobile Applications.

Gathering In-Depth Business Insights

Understanding complete details can help you overlook on certain factors 

·         how functions are executed currently within a department,

·         where exactly lies the bottleneck,

·         how mobile can bridge the gap and

·         how does the mobile application help users to get their jobs done efficiently

Any negligence here might affect the operations in the long run leading to reduction in productivity and effectiveness of the mobile project.

Measuring Business Process & Development

Along with its detailed layout one can come up with a wireframe design of the Mobile application that allows the team to visualize how the Application would look like. Feedback-Refinement cycle can be carried out at multiple stages to ensure the application is built on user-centric design process. 

Choose App Testing

Obviously, one cannot check the app for every possible scenario. However, polishing the app to make it work smoothly, ironing out the bugs & fixing them in different browser versions, devices or operational systems are a huge task. At the same time performance is critical. Therefore, testing using right tool is a crucial aspect before the App is set for its first release.

Phased-Wise Approach

The simplest way to build a mobile app solution is to do it in stages. Trying to implement everything in one-go might lead to a lot of disruption and delays. At the same time, a staged approach also means a smart way to manage the expectations of business teams.

Appropriate Network Connectivity

One of the major concerns influencing the success or failure of an Enterprise Mobile strategy is network connectivity. Various metrics to consider includes: network connectivity options, connection speeds, reliability, throughput and quality of service so that anybody can access any time, from anywhere be it in office, factory or on the road.

3 Careful Steps in Promoting Your iPhone Apps

After considering the different phases of mobile apps development, from design to development, marketing it prior is pointed out to be most important step to reach out to the public. In precise, if they don’t get to know your app, how will they download it?

IPhone is emerging to be one of the most efficient gadgets to use mobile applications and it is said nearly 60% of the apps vanish away even before their users get to know them. That’s why companies are demanded to pin-point with their marketing strategy for better visibility.

These strategies will retaliate to promote your iPhone apps and penetrate Apple market on app store.

Step1: Cross App Promotions

This means launching simultaneous apps under the same category or getting other iPhone Application Development Company to tie up with and promote your app within their app. This is of great benefits to most number of people in the market. And, with the revolution of iOS 7, besides iPhone apps /iPad apps development is becoming compatible due to sublime efforts of developers. – Well, “Smart Option to Advertise a Single App for Multi-Platform”

Step2: App Store Optimization

As you know, Apple store is highly reputed platform with millions of great apps. So, setting peculiar keyword for your apps can help it get optimized and as a result become popular through search. Nowadays, there are many apple app development company NYC with variable packages to perform this ASO and get your app on top. Though this process is slow, it will definitely provide fruitful results.

Step3: Social Media Promotion

Social networking sites and groups are one of the most prominent ways to capture the attention of mobile app users, can say. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and other internet resources help your app reach out to public which not only grows network but get maximum downloads in a considerable way. Since the traffic on these social sites is the highest, your efforts prove worthy.

Other than the above mentioned ones, offline media promotion, press releases and well designed mobile application get the people to groove with your app, automatically.