App Commerce Trends of the Future

The mobile app industry is thriving due to the high uptake of smartphone technology. The increased consumption of smartphone devices alongside higher internet penetration rates leads to a corresponding growth in mobile apps.

According to published statistics, there are 6.3 billion smartphone users globally. And if you factor in the 1.14 billion tablet users globally which are growing exponentially at a rate of 26%, you realize just how reputable and promising the mobile app market is.

In 2022 alone e-commerce sales are slated to exceed $430 billion. The e-commerce sector is growing as retailers respond to consumers’ increased uptake of smartphone devices and mobile apps.

So, retailers that want to maintain a competitive advantage must watch out for new trends that will define and shape the mobile app landscape.

Let’s take a look at some app commerce trends of the future.

1. Shopping via mobile apps

Credible statistics show that 72% of e-commerce sales happen on mobile devices, with 85% of customers opting for mobile apps for their day-to-day shopping. Evidence has shown that the continued adoption and the rising preference for mobile app shopping are due to the speed these apps function. Already, consumers are finding mobile apps speedier, agile, robust, and ultimately convenient.

2. One-click purchasing

One-click is a term first postulated by the world’s leading retail giant Amazon to mean ‘making all purchases with one click. One-click purchasing allows consumers to buy all products from a store without necessarily having to key in their personal or purchasing information.

You only have to click and all information keyed in including:

  • Billing address
  • Shipping address
  • Credit card number
  • Email address
  • Card verification number
  • Customer name

Retail outlets that use one-click purchase options allow customers to complete all purchases using data from previous purchases. So, you don’t have to key in all the personal and credit card information anytime you make a purchase.

Point to note: Although the one-click app commerce trend is a convenient option with many benefits, the biggest question is security. Consumers must remember that the one-click drift relies on an intermediary getaway payment system.

This intermediary getaway is PCI-certified, so your information is safe and secure. So, you don’t have to worry because there are sufficient security configurations to protect your personal and credit card information.

3. Social commerce

Customers are converging on social networking channels now more than ever before. Your customers, too, are always on social media – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many more. So, it’s easier for your product (or service) to catch their eyes on social media sites than on your website.

One of 2022 leading mobile commerce trends is using social media for mobile commerce. Brands and businesses are increasingly converting their social media following into actual sales by reinventing how they communicate to this social audience.

While many e-commerce enterprises have tried and succeeded, most enterprises find that converting social traffic into product sales is a conundrum. Navigating from a social media conversation or post to product sales appears an uphill task that requires remediation processes.

Luckily, the social commerce trend has come to solve this challenge.

4. Augmented reality

Augmented reality is one of the latest kids on the block in technology and user experience. Augmented reality continues to elevate the mobile commerce market by giving it a complete sensory experience.

Augmented reality allows users or viewers to virtually try on, personalize, and even fit products at the convenience of their homes or offices. In addition, consumers can augment the real world using real products while seated back at home.

The four key strategic benefits of augmented reality in shaping app commerce include:

  • Unique customer experiences. The first benefit of augmented reality in transforming mobile commerce is that it provides the best customer experience by blending both the physical and virtual worlds.
  • Eliminates cognitive overload. Have you ever tried repairing something by referring to a manual? Well, the process can be tedious and mind-boggling, especially considering that you have to refer to technical drawings or specifications to arrive at the desired outcome. Augmented reality presents information in easy-to-process digital snippets, sparing the user from processing complex pieces of information or data.
  • Heightens user engagement. When augmented reality first became popular, it was confined to gaming and entertainment. However, today, augmented reality has extended its use to many other applications that add tangible business value.
  • Competitive differentiation. It’s critical to differentiate yourself in a market where every seller offers the same products or a homogenous line of products at the same price band. Augmented reality lets mobile apps set themselves apart with creative campaigns and attractive snippets. The 360-degree visual and sensory experience offered by augmented reality sets most apps aside from their competitors.

There’s no denying that recent developments have revealed something exciting about us as humans. As a human race, we spend more time immersing ourselves in screens.

And so with time, our realities become deeply integrated or ingrained with digital experiences. Indeed, we tend to see a product as superior or inferior based on its ability to indulge or conform to our digital experiences.

As a result, building your app by considering this aspect of human nature may help you achieve the desired results, especially when embedding augmented reality in your m-commerce app.

5. M-Commerce

Aside from e-commerce, there’s a corresponding growth in m-commerce. M-commerce refers to buying using smartphone or tablet devices. M-commerce has grown because of the growth and uptake of smartphone devices or endpoints.

As a result, with 6.3 billion smartphone users globally, it’s now possible to understand why mobile commerce is the new frontier in a world with a web of heavily interconnected endpoints – mobile phones, laptops, tablets, computers, and even wearables.

6. Voice shopping

Voice apps like Alexa and Siri have been growing over the last decade, thanks to massive improvements in artificial intelligence and machine learning. In addition, how voice search is used and applied in different contexts has changed drastically.

Today, home appliances are utilizing voice search in day-to-day tasks like changing channels using remotes, switching lights, and controlling entry points like gates, doors, and entrances.

People also use voice search to check weather conditions and to tell their audio systems to stream music.

However, today, voice search has gradually penetrated the e-commerce market. Indeed, credible research shows that the voice market is expected to reach $40 billion by 2023, up from $2 billion less than half a decade ago. This growth represents a 1000% increase in just four years.

So, it’s possible to see that voice search and personalization, in general, are critical trends in the mobile commerce market.

7. Mobile chatbots

Chatbots have existed for decades. And perhaps you’ve ever interacted with a chatbot at some point in your life. In fact, we are already interacting with chatbots anytime we order from our favorite restaurants or even speak with an agent for a TV or cable company.

And while chatbots have become a common scenario in our day-to-day lives, these bots have not fully penetrated the mobile commerce market. However, this is likely to change in 2022 and beyond.

Just think about all the benefits of chatbots. Imagine if you can integrate chatbots with mobile apps to help improve the customers’ shopping experience.

So, in 2022, e-commerce stores will be embedding chatbot features in smartphone apps. This new trend will revolutionize e-commerce, making bots the center of focus in consumer interactions and customer support in general.

NS804 – Futuristic Approach to Mobile App Commerce

NS804 is a leading provider of mobile app solutions. NS804 provides mobile app design and development solutions – from inception to completion.

Today, NS804 believes that the mobile commerce market is changing, and businesses must adopt new trends in app adoption and use.

So, at NS804, we believe the best way for businesses and brands to grow and evolve is by adopting a futuristic mindset to app commerce.

Contact NS804 for mobile app design and development solutions.

 

Mobile App Design Process: How To Get Started

The mobile app development and design process can become complex if you rely on disparate teams or freelancers to create your app. But if you work with an experienced development studio, such as NS804, it’s a streamlined process. At least, that’s the case on your end. Even so, it’s still crucial to understand what this entails to best plan your next move.

And whatever you do, you’ll need to consider your mobile app design process from the get-go and in its entirety. Don’t write a single line of code or start hiring developers without doing the following first!

Start By Asking The Hard Questions

You may have formed a mental picture in your mind’s eye of what your app will look like and how it should function. Moreover, you may be using a popular app that’s left a good impression and want to emulate its better qualities.

But is it wise to invest time and money in an app based on the above criteria? The short answer is a clear no!

Instead, you need to identify what problem your app aims to solve. You can start by asking yourself what problem you’ve faced in your daily life and how an app could solve it effectively.

But don’t stop there. Ask a series of questions that will help you identify all the possible pain points users may encounter and how your tentative app will solve all of these. And while this seems simple, it’s the first and most vital step in the mobile app design process, so don’t ignore it.

Design Your App

Now, it’s time to design your app, but it will likely take the form of wireframes, a series of 2D diagrams that act as a blueprint. And you’ll ignore elements such as colors, fonts, graphics, and styling for now.

However, you may need to build a more elaborate prototype if requested by stakeholders before they greenlight the app’s development. If that’s the case, you’ll likely spend more time on the prototype’s user interface (UI) and user experience (UX).

But you also need to understand that app design never ends, as it’s an iterative process. Thus, you’ll do this near the beginning of the mobile app design process and whenever you give your app a UI/UX refresh.

Conduct Market Research And Competitive Analysis

At this point, you have a vague idea of what form your app will take. But you’re still unsure if there’s a market for your app. And even if there is, you don’t yet know what will make it appealing to users. Furthermore, your brand positioning strategy and business considerations will impact the direction of your app.

So, you’ll need to conduct market research and competitive analysis that help answer the following questions:

  • What pain points are users regularly experiencing?
  • Does my app address these pain points?
  • What will make my app appealing to these users?
  • What market am I entering? (e.g., entertainment, productivity, social)
  • How competitive is the market segment that I’m entering?
  • What are the top performing apps in my category?
  • What makes my app better than these top performers?
  • What sets my app apart from those released by competitors? (not necessarily top performers)

And you can take things a step further by building user personas and asking the following questions:

  • What type of person will use my app?
  • Where does this person live?
  • What are the demographics of this person?
  • What pain points does this person regularly experience?
  • What are this person’s likes and dislikes?

The Bottom Line

Whether you’re an appreneur or an organization releasing your first or hundredth app, you always start with the mobile app design process. And that’s because you need to know how your app will look and function early on.

Furthermore, you need to know whether your app truly addresses users’ needs and if there’s a sizable market that will make it feasible. Contact NS804 to learn how we’ll help you create best-in-class apps by following tried and true practices!

Cost of Developing a Fitness App

A fitness app is a mobile, desktop, or web application that lets users track their health and fitness activities or workouts.

A fitness app meets your health and fitness activities. Fitness apps mainly consist of features for tracking workouts, monitoring physiological body rates, and logging exercises.

Fitness apps share one or more features with health and wellness apps. Some popular fitness apps include Fooducate, MyFitnessPal, Glo, Zones for Training, and Sworkit.

What’s the Typical Cost of Building a Fitness App?

The cost of a fitness app will vary depending on depth, scope, and target users. In addition, app development costs will vary from one app development partner to another.

However, although there are variations in the cost of fitness apps, most vendors or designers will charge an average of $15,000 to develop a solid fitness app. However, this cost is variable. A fitness app can range from as high as $30,000 to as low as $5,000.

In addition, an app with a limited number of features, also called a minimum viable product MVP, will be more affordable and easy to test than an app with extended functionality.

So, it’s advisable to weigh your options before settling for a fitness app.

Factors Affecting the Cost of a Fitness App

Many factors affect the cost of a fitness app. It’s crucial to understand the average hours and total costs (or individual costs) incurred in developing a fitness app to account for the total costs.

Building an efficient and fully scalable fitness app demands an end-to-end understanding of individual material costs as well as the hours of labor. Here are additional factors that will ultimately affect your fitness app development cost.

1. Platform choice

The platform where you’ll launch your app – whether Android or Ios is a defining factor in estimating the cost of your fitness app. Android and IOS are two leading platforms dominating the mobile app marketplace.

Creating an app for each version will take double the time and cost. That’s because you need specific programming languages for the web, mobile, and desktop computers. It’s advisable to choose cross-platform development solutions unless your project is large-scale or whether it targets specific Android and IOS users.

Fitness App Development Costs – Cross-Platform vs. Native
Platform Cross Platform Native
Development Hours Development Costs Development Hours Development Costs
Android + IOS + Web 600 – 800 $150,000 – $250,000 750 – 1000 $200,000 to $300,000 (and $20,000 extra for additional platforms).

 

2. Type of fitness app

You can also calculate the cost of your fitness app based on fitness category levels. Knowing the fitness app type you want to develop can substantially improve your expenditure throughout the project.

Here are some popular fitness app categories and their average costs.

Fitness app category Fitness app sub-category Average cost
Wearable apps Heart monitoring $15,000 – $50,000
Oxygen monitoring
Pulse monitoring
Fitness activity tracking apps Run tracking apps $30,000 – $125,000
Cycling tracking apps
Gym tracking apps
Workout and fitness apps Personal training apps $50,000 – $100,000
Exercise apps
Gym workout apps
Nutrition and diet apps Diet apps $15,000 – $90,000
Food intake app
Nutrition app
Yoga apps Mixed yoga apps $10,000 – $25,000
Yoga workouts
Yoga for beginners
Meditation apps For breathing $20,000 – $100,000
For sleep
For mindfulness

 

3. Location of the developer

Finally, the location of your fitness app developer will affect your app development costs. Developers from different regions tend to have different hourly rates.

Generally, countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia tend to charge on the higher end, while developers from India and Ukraine charge relatively lower.

Always work with trusted experts for the best possible solution for your fitness app.

Launching a New Product? 11 Reasons to Have a Mobile App

The product life cycle stages provide a benchmark for understanding the product development process. The product life cycle stages include a market introduction, market growth, market maturity, and market decline.

The different stages of a product’s lifecycle pose discrete challenges. The commonly cited challenges with launching a new product include ideation, product roadmap problems, market viability, workflow management, product engineering issues, and the pace of innovation.

So, when launching a new product, you want to be careful not to miss out on any vital points that may affect its adoption. A mobile app is critical for launching a new product, be it software, hardware, consumer electronics, or merchandise.

Mobile apps allow brands and business leaders to actively connect and engage with their target audiences, building the base for future business. Mobile apps provide an interaction platform, connecting prospective customers (and markets) with brand owners.

So, here are eleven reasons to have a mobile app when launching a new product:

1. Customer loyalty

Enterprises operating in competitive market landscapes must go an extra mile to remain visible and competitively positioned. For brands starting in fresh markets, it’s important to think of something to stand out: a gem that distinguishes you from the rest.

Mobile apps can offer start-ups and brands leverage when launching a new product. For instance, apps can lead to repeat business and bolster referrals. In addition, apps can foster new product and service adoption, especially when users share promotions, new products, and new deals.

There’s no doubt that your brand can accurately forecast long-term business outcomes when it has a loyal customer base. So, aim for a well-designed and customized app for your target customers. When launching products, this app may make a difference between a successful product launch and a failure!

2. Improved communication

Mobile apps act as crucial avenues for marketing communication. With mobile apps, you don’t have to overburden your email support because you have an extra communication channel.

In essence, mobile apps can communicate to a wide range of stakeholders, internal and external. With tailored communication and strategic response forums, mobile apps provide the convenience and flexibility of responding on the go. So, regardless of whether you’re catching a flight or traveling by train, you can always follow up on crucial office proceedings with a mobile app.

3. Marketing outreach

Mobile apps are indisputably the best single source of marketing truth. With mobile apps, you don’t have to worry about reaching hundreds, maybe thousands of potential customers, brands, partners, and suppliers. You can do that at a go.

Mobile apps afford enterprises and brands the flexibility, convenience, and agility of connecting with markets and other brands. It’s through mobile apps that you can foster your marketing outreach. Today, most consumers are connected to digital mobile platforms, making mobile a frontier in marketing communications.

4. Online shopping

When launching a new product, brands specify authorized suppliers, including stores, malls, shops, and hypermarkets that stock these specific products. Unfortunately, traditional product launches relied on complex supply chain lines.

The unpredictability and uncertainty of global supply chains continue to impede successful product marketing and distribution. Mobile apps are bridging this gap by offering online shopping options. So, when launching a new product (or service), your mobile app can be utilized as a distribution frontier.

The digitization of supply chain downstream activities has made it easier for brands to connect with customers. Digitizing distribution, sourcing, and supply continue to close gaps between production and consumption, making production and manufacturing seamless and surprisingly rewarding.

5. Brand image

Mobile apps improve brand image by offering interactive and intuitive interfaces to display products. In addition, mobile apps encompass diverse audiences and outreach, enabling emerging brands to reach a diverse audience. Product launches that use mobile apps experience better brand images because of accessibility, outreach, and product scope.

6. Customer visibility

Mobile apps are critical tools for obtaining insightful and actionable feedback, including customer behavioral patterns. Evaluating customer feedback and use patterns is a primary part of launching a new product. However, few brands and enterprises can successfully collect, collate, and report customer behavior to improve product launches and adoption levels.

Mobile apps allow you to collect insightful metrics: customer use patterns, pricing options, user behavior, market adoption, and competition levels. With mobile apps, you can gather and record customer responses, and obtain nifty product usage metrics, including product defects, failures, and inefficiencies.

7. Employee loyalty

There’s no doubt that workplaces are evolving with new technologies – blockchain, virtualization, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, automation, and robotics. The desire for employees to learn, adapt and evolve with time is propelled by new technologies that help organizations automate their workplaces.

Unfortunately, not all organizations are undertaking improvements in technology adoption. Published research shows that employees exposed to new, exciting technologies are more loyal and committed. In addition, the study shows that workplaces that adopt modern equipment, technology, and processes enjoy better employee loyalty.

8. Omnichannel shopping approach

Brands and enterprises are using the omnichannel shopping approach to give customers a seamless shopping experience across all their devices – smartphones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, and smart TVs.

Omnichannel access lets customers shop remotely. This is because customers can access products on-the-go through smartphone devices. With omnichannel access, customers can shop for products online using their mobile phones. Mobile apps reinforce omnichannel shopping, helping customers access products without visiting stores.

9. Customer relationship management

The customer relationship management domain is forever changing. The emergence of technical support software and remote helpdesk support has changed the face of traditional CRM.

However, the most disruptive technology in the customer relationship management domain is the mobile app. The mobile app connects people, places, and platforms. Its interoperability with other channels, including digital social channels, volatility, and versatility make mobile apps critical for connecting customers with technical support teams.

So, when launching a new product, you must view an app as a strategic tool for managing your customer relationships. Brands and organizations are leveraging mobile apps to foster their approach to customer relations. Mobile apps help CRM personnel handle inquiries, process complaints, report issues, and provide timely resolutions.

10. Employee training

Human resources face the challenge of providing upgraded training and learning materials to employees, especially when introducing them to new products, technology, or markets.

However, you can eliminate these challenges by using e-learning apps that allow employees to learn about new products, new work models, and methodologies.

E-learning mobile apps like Huddle, Udemy, Skill Pill, and BoostHQ ensure that employees have access to similar learning materials, regardless of where they’re. So, when launching a new product, a mobile app can streamline the process of educating your workforce on the ins and outs of the product.

11. Fostering employee commitment

The Technology Acceptance Model TAM terms usefulness and ease of use as the two most important factors for successful tech adoption. Your employees or customers will uptake your new product if it’s easy to use and functional or practical to them.

When launching a new product, foster your workforce’s commitment with a mobile app. By deploying a mobile app, you show your employees that you care about modernizing your workplace.

Improving your employee commitment will go a long way in accelerating the adoption and use of a new product. As a result, it’s advisable not to decouple employee engagement from the product initiation and adoption processes.

NS804 – Transforming Enterprises with Mobile Apps

NS804 provides custom-built mobile apps. NS804 designs and deploys functional, easy-to-use mobile apps that answer the trickiest question your business has to ask.

So, if you’re looking to create your first mobile app, don’t hesitate.

Contact NS804 for quotations and inquiries about your next project.

Could Your Teams Really Be More Productive with an App?

The mobile app revolution has taken the world by storm. Organizations, institutions, governments, and businesses have been forced to adapt to this shift to meet ever-changing productivity needs.

Internet penetration rates coupled with an accelerated uptake of smartphone technologies are some of the forces that have propelled the accelerated adoption of mobile apps. Organizations are shifting their focus to target online consumers.

Brands and business leaders view mobile apps as a new frontier of customer engagement and brand loyalty. However, a key highlight of mobile apps has been their ability to improve customer engagement, leading to improved employee productivity.

Today, more than ever, teams are viewing mobile apps as productivity machines.

Here are some of the ways mobile apps are helping employees and teams work more productively:

1. Mobile apps improve employee engagement

Employees are likely to be engaged when they’re immersed in evolving workplaces that use modern tools to simplify and automate processes. New software, new systems, and hardware upgrades help employees be more engaged with the brand and the workplace, boosting performance and productivity.

Similarly, mobile apps help employees be more engaged by providing new communication avenues. When employees communicate via mobile channels, they feel connected and lively. This ignites them and motivates them to contribute the best and grow with the company.

Mobile app adoption is a clear sign that an organization is growing; this is surely an incentive for employee motivation and engagement.

2. Mobile apps improve efficiency

There’s no doubt that mobile apps improve efficiency by eliminating recurring, mundane tasks. Traditional systems took hours to process documents. Machines took hours to process workloads and handle workflows.

However, today, with mobile apps, manufacturing shop floors are improving their efficiency. Programmed instructions are controlled by mobile apps, helping shop floors become more efficient in handling and processing workloads.

Improved efficiency leads to employee motivation and engagement. Eliminating repetitive and mundane tasks helps employees to focus on other value-adding activities. So, the infusion of mobile apps improves operational efficiency, strengthening bonds between employees and their workplaces.

3. Remote accessibility

Mobile apps enable employees to collaborate on shared tasks and projects, regardless of where they’re. Cloud computing enables easy storage and sharing of files and documents remotely, helping teams to be more agile and efficient. The accessibility achieved by cloud technology enables teams to be more progressive, especially when working on field projects.

So, in industries like research, anthropology, metrology, medicine, and even health sciences, remote data collection and data analysis are made possible and more efficient by the cloud.

The presence of cloud storage and computing technologies streamlines the end-to-end process of collecting and processing field data. These and many other capabilities define new productivity trends in contemporary industries.

4. Connected data

Previously, organizations, institutions, and governments banked on different software solutions to store and manage data on many business functions: payroll, customer transactions, security, inventory, supply chain, and accounting.

However, today, the emergence of custom apps enables organizations to integrate their varied data into a single-source platform. Employees can access different information and data from a single interface, improving their productivity and performance on multiple fronts.

So, the easy accessibility of information and data has eliminated siloed departments. The interoperability of information systems afforded by mobile apps continues to free departments and workforces from siloed systems. This form of liberation has helped teams be more productive and efficient in their routine undertakings.

5. Processing complex workflows

The emergence of mobile apps has helped organizations handle complex workflows. For instance, Huddle mobile app enables your workforce to manage and be in control of all the workflows.

Huddle helps employees understand what tasks are in demand, which projects need to be delegated, which tasks need to be reviewed, and what workflows need to be managed. Mobile apps like Huddle enable business leaders to remain in control of complex workflows without going to their office desks.

6. Work-life balance

Social life plays an important role in keeping people connected. Most importantly, your social life detaches you from everyday work or routine. For employees, working from Monday to Friday can be a pain in the rear, especially when the job involves doing routine tasks.

Mobile apps help employees reignite touches with reality. It helps employees detach from that monotonous cycle of work and connect with the social world. This momentary detachment can prove worthwhile when handling complex projects.

So, mobile apps like Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest can enhance workplace productivity by enhancing employees’ moods and feelings.

7. Education and training

Designing, deploying, monitoring, and measuring the performance of an employee training program is time-consuming and costly. Human resources spend countless hours strategizing on employee training and education programs.

Luckily, employees can tap into mobile apps as potential learning avenues. Mobile apps such as Skill Pill, Udemy, Boost HQ, and Design Jot are all classic e-learning apps your employees can use.

Honing your workforce’s skills through readily available tools gives you competitive positioning in a dynamically changing environment. In addition, using mobile apps for knowledge acquisition and skill development may prove advantageous for gaining a strategic competitive advantage.

8. Reduce errors and improve product quality

It’s time to consider upgrading to an automated processing system if your organization still relies on a manual paper-filing system. Organizations are adopting mobile apps to gain visibility into performance metrics, eliminate errors, and improve product quality.

Mobile apps provide transparency helping to identify problems before they occur. In what is known as predictive maintenance, the existence of smart tools that detect inefficiencies, lags, and inaccuracies in machine parts, has helped production workflows be more accurate. So, mobile apps are the new frontier for eliminating errors and improving product quality.

9. Metrics monitoring

There’s a popular saying that states you cannot improve or manage what you cannot measure. This saying is true for most things, business performance, growth, and productivity included.

Business leaders cannot evaluate the progress of their returns, turnovers, and performance without clear and actionable data. In addition, organizations cannot know where to improve without actionable metrics.

Mobile apps collect, collate, process, and report consumer and market data. Some of the datasets that mobile apps can collect and process include but are not limited to: consumer behavior, adoption rates, pricing options, market strategies, and customer and product categorization.

10. Decision-making

Big data has brought intelligence to business decision-making. Organizations are using data to make informed decisions that drive critical business processes.

Case in point, customer behavioral patterns can be used to improve product design processes, especially in clothing, merchandise, and consumer electronics. In addition, procurement patterns drive supply chain decisions, especially on supplier selection and contract management processes.

Mobile apps provide insightful feedback on business processes, helping employees make informed business decisions. Middle-level employees like managers can use mobile app data to obtain meaningful insight into the performance of lower-level employees. So, mobile apps are instrumental in management decision-making.

11. Productivity gains

In a study to analyze the strength of productivity apps, the results showed that mobile apps help improve productivity by helping employees know where they spend their time.

The study notes that recently, productivity apps have become the norm. And while some may feel that these apps work from the placebo effect, productivity apps have three impacts on employees: accountability, improvement, and assessment.

The study found that mobile apps reduced stress and anxiety. In addition, reported evidence has shown that app-based remediation and mindfulness help foster better performance and productivity improvements in employees. This study is evidence that mobile apps provide newer and fresh solutions to performance and productivity in workforces.

You can contact NS804 for mobile app design and development solutions.

Mobile App Upgrade: 5 Signs That Your App Needs Improvements

A mobile app upgrade may either excite or scare you. It may excite you if you’re eager to introduce new features and enhancements. And scare you if you’re anticipating many issues and roadblocks when upgrading your app.

Now, unless you’re not planning on sunsetting your app, it’s best to forego the fear and forge ahead with the upgrade process. And that’s because you want to keep your app relevant to retain existing users and attract new users.

1. A New Design Requires A Mobile App Upgrade

If you haven’t updated your mobile app in a while, it probably has an outdated user interface (UI). And that’s no good, as users may equate an outdated UI with a low-quality app. Furthermore, users accustomed to modern design conventions may have difficulty navigating your app in its current state. 

So you must have a proficient designer on your team or work with an established studio such as NS804 to refresh your app’s design. And then create an easy-to-navigate and modern UI that even non-tech savvy users can comprehend at a glance.

2. Performance Issues 

Most users won’t put up with a poor-performing app and will eventually uninstall it from their devices if performance issues persist. But how do you determine if your app’s performing poorly?

Firstly, you should be asking users for feedback and collecting and diagnosing your app’s crash logs. And secondly, you should be looking out for the following issues: app runs slower than intended, audio and screen glitches, device overheats when the app runs, memory leaks, ongoing crashes, and storage errors, to name a few.

3. The Codebase Is Outdated And Difficult To Maintain

You should move ahead with a mobile app upgrade if you have an outdated codebase. And the reason for this is that it’s a maintenance nightmare to keep code that’s old. Moreover, you may have difficulty scaling your app and introducing new features with an older codebase.

And then, you should also consider migrating to more modern programming languages. For example, an Android app programmed in Java can become more readable and quicker to type if rewritten in Kotlin, a modern counterpart of Java. The same applies to an iOS app if you plan to migrate from Objective-C to Swift.

4. Support For Additional Platforms And Devices

Perhaps your mobile app only supports Android smartphones and tablets. But recently, some users have requested that you target Android TVs and even the latest generation of flip phones. Furthermore, iOS users have heard of your app and have requested a port for their platform. Under such circumstances, it’s a good idea to move ahead with a mobile app upgrade that properly utilizes this wide range of form factors and screen sizes. 

5. Introduce New Features And Tighten Up Security

Every OS update of Android and iOS presents yet another opportunity to move ahead with a mobile app upgrade. And that’s because newer versions of Android and iOS boast new features and enhanced security. So, users will often upgrade to these versions, especially when they purchase newer devices.

Furthermore, users will expect your app to take advantage of the latest OS features and enhancements. And you’d definitely want to do that, especially if you have a premium or paid app and a user base that quickly migrates to the latest OS.

In Conclusion

It may be time to forge ahead with that all-important mobile app upgrade if you’ve noticed any of the five signs mentioned earlier. Contact NS804 to learn how we’ll help you handle this challenging but incredibly rewarding part of a mobile app’s lifecycle.

What Makes a Good UI Design

The user experience is the most common front-end, interactive feature in any app, website, or dashboard. The user interface supports all human-computer interactions.

The user interface provides a navigational platform to control software. Think of a user interface as an application programming interface that links users and a computing system, the back-end.

Although a user interface can take many forms, it accomplishes two fundamental purposes:

  • conveying information from users to machines
  • conveying data from machines to users.

The most important features of a great user interface design are:

1. Simplicity

Simplicity is the centerpiece of any navigation. Easy navigation depends on a highly simplistic user interface. So, the user interface design must be succinct: it must communicate the most with the least. The designer must ensure less navigation and fewer mouse clicks to accomplish any app or website task. It’s important to add new features only if they’re essential and bring substantial value to the application.

2. Consistency

Your user interface must deliver consistent browsing and search results. Consistency achieves stability and eliminates ambiguity and information chaos. Designers should apply size, typeface, and style conventions to screen components to improve readability and learning.

3. Intuitiveness

Intuitiveness is the most important detail of a great UI design. Intuitiveness means that users can easily learn your interface and quickly pick it up. Intuitiveness implies the ability to get accustomed to your app’s interface, element spacing, and overall layout. Intuitiveness means something that can be understood easily and applied with ease.

4. Familiarity

Familiarity is a critical feature of a great UI design. While many designers aim to create intuitive designs, few stop to ask themselves what does an intuitive design mean? Well, intuitiveness means making things understandable and easy to remember. Creating a great user interface concerns familiarity. Designers must aim to create apps that deliver personalized user experiences. Aiming for familiarity will reinforce your app design.

5. Responsiveness

A great user experience must be responsive to users’ needs. Today, most website visits come from mobile endpoints, which is surprising given that it’s convenient to leverage an Android or an iPhone. You encourage users to visit your website frequently and stay longer by having a mobile-responsive interface. Responsiveness is about reducing the latency time and offering a rewarding experience.

6. Clarity

Clarity is an important element in the user interface design process. Clarity signifies that you know what you’re doing and that the interface or platform your users leverage is trustworthy. Achieving clarity in user interface design involves consistency, truth, and simplicity in your messaging. If you aim for consistency, it’ll be simple for users. In addition, if you eliminate ambiguity and incorporate only relevant elements, your interface will be rewarding.

7. Attractiveness

Attraction is about aesthetic appeal. Attraction concerns making elements and layout appealing for prospective and existing users. Attractiveness aims to make the site enjoyable and thrilling to navigate. You can make your site or app efficient, simple, easy to use, and concise – but it will only do well by making it attractive. Your clients or prospective users will not only use a stirring interface; they will look forward to using it once again.

Contact NS804 to achieve a great UI design.

4 Things You Can Learn About Your Clients From Their App Use

Every savvy appreneur should monitor app use to gauge whether an application meets your desired goals and expectations. And that’s easy to do due to the many excellent analytics and monitoring tools available today. Of course, users and various governing bodies, such as the EU, have expressed concern about how companies handle user data and privacy.

As someone that releases or plans to release apps, it’s your job to ensure that you comply with all regulations applicable to the target territory. But the good news is that you don’t need to harvest an extraordinary amount of data to gain a clear picture of app use. After all, you primarily care about your app’s performance and whether users easily complete tasks available to them. 

You don’t want to know users’ home addresses or pet names unless that’s necessary for the functionality of your app. But even for such cases, you’ll need to gain user consent via a mobile opt-in option. Ultimately, you want to operate under an ethical and legal framework that fosters trust with all your users.

We also understand that it’s not always clear what you must look for when monitoring app use. So, we’ve compiled this handy list to help you laser focus on the key indicators that will reveal more about your clients and users.

1. Does Your App Use Data Reveal A Distracted User Base?

Unfortunately, in our information-rich world, attention spans have declined significantly. Digital and social media have played a significant role in reducing attention spans, and so has a constantly online way of life.

But what does this mean for your upcoming app project? Your app should have an easy-to-understand and easy-to-navigate user interface (UI). And keep it simple by making it easy for users to complete tasks quickly. Once you launch your app and monitor app usage, you should achieve favorable results by keeping users engaged.

If that’s not happening, you may have added features and UI elements that cause confusion or distraction. Users will often leave an app and even delete it altogether if they don’t understand how to use it or are not presented with the most crucial information as early as possible.

You’ll also want to know whether your app’s response times lag longer than usual. Therefore, you should monitor all response and system feedback times. If these exceed 50ms for response times and 400ms for web-based system feedback, you need to patch up your app immediately, as most users won’t put up with any application that seems slow and clunky or hinders productivity.

2. Where Are Your Clients Spending Most Of Their Time? 

It’s essential to track the time users spend on your app. And not only that, but you should also track how much time they spend on each page of your app.

For example, you may have created a food delivery app that promises users a one-click checkout experience. Now, users are excited about the prospect of quickly and conveniently ordering their food, so they flock to your app. But then, you notice that few users are completing orders timeously, and many abandon products in their virtual carts.

So you decide to check your analytics to determine what’s causing the bottleneck. You start by analyzing how much time users spend on the homepage of your app and right through to the checkout page. And the data reveals that users quickly find the products they want. Also, they don’t experience any noticeable problems when adding products to their carts. 

Everything seems good so far, but then you get to the data regarding your checkout page. Surprisingly, users spend three times longer on the checkout page than on the rest of your app. And this is not good because it negates the whole purpose of your app, which is to provide a hassle-free checkout.

However, you still don’t have enough information, so you decide to drill down to a more granular view of your data. And doing so reveals information that you didn’t expect, which shows that users spend an excessive amount of time filling in their payment information. Thus, you decide to improve the payment form and enhance its format by refreshing its credit card and other payment method icons.

3. Are Your Users Cheating And Ruining The Experience For Everyone?

If you’re a mobile game developer or creating a competitive and interactive app, you should care whether users cheat. Yes, you heard correctly; users will act in bad faith and cheat in mobile games. And that’s especially true for games that offer money prizes, gems, and in-app purchases. Furthermore, Android games are particularly vulnerable to cheating and game modification apps, such as Creehack, Game Killer, and SB Game Hacker APK, to name a few.

And while it’s common practice to hack and modify PC games, we should bear in mind that the PC is a fairly open platform. On top of that, some PC game developers encourage mods and even provide their own modification tools. And the reason they do this is that it helps extend the longevity of their games, as users will create and share additional content that’s mostly free. 

But even on the PC, hacking a game for the purpose of cheating is unacceptable, causing developers and publishers to ban users that attempt such an action. Therefore, mobile game developers should never take cheaters lightly, as they can cause monetary loss and reputational damage.

You should implement a pattern detection system that analyzes users’ device memory and storage for any cheat apps. Also, some popular cheat apps attach their debugger to a process, so make sure that you’re scanning for these. And if you’re creating a multiplayer game using the Unity engine, then use Guardsquare’s DexGuard and iXGuard to harden the security of your Android and iOS games.

4. Do Your Users Face Too Many Choices? 

The best apps often have a simple UI and are designed to serve a singular purpose. Therefore, you never want to create an app that tries to do too many things. Or it does one thing well but presents users with a plethora of features and options.

Ideally, your app should focus on a singular purpose and its features pared down to the bare minimum. And that’s because users struggle to navigate apps that offer them too many options. They may feel anxious when facing too many options, many of which may be unnecessary or be too complex. 

Furthermore, when users face too many choices, they’re forced to spend more time thinking before coming to a decision. But if they have less choice, users feel less burdened to engage in a complex decision-making process. And navigating the app feels like a more fluid and natural experience, especially if they can complete the most crucial tasks in a short amount of time.

And if users use your app to complete a complex task, then break it down into several smaller and manageable tasks. Always offer an enjoyable and straightforward user experience, as many users may not have the required technical skills.

The Bottom Line 

As we’ve seen, app use can reveal much about your clients, provided you’re using the correct monitoring and detection systems. And this information provides you with greater insight into what you’re doing right or wrong with your apps. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you create phenomenal apps that will amaze even the most demanding users!

What Makes a Good UI Design? 7 Features

The user experience is the most common front-end, interactive feature in any app, website, or dashboard. The user interface supports all human-computer interactions.

The user interface provides a navigational platform to control software. Think of a user interface as an application programming interface that links users and a computing system, the back-end.

Although a user interface can take many forms, it accomplishes two fundamental purposes:

  • conveying information from users to machines
  • conveying data from machines to users.

The most important features of a great user interface design are:

1. Simplicity

Simplicity is the centerpiece of any navigation. Easy navigation depends on a highly simplistic user interface. So, the user interface design must be succinct: it must communicate the most with the least. The designer must ensure less navigation and fewer mouse clicks to accomplish any app or website task. It’s important to add new features only if they’re essential and bring substantial value to the application.

2. Consistency

Your user interface must deliver consistent browsing and search results. Consistency achieves stability and eliminates ambiguity and information chaos. Designers should apply size, typeface, and style conventions to screen components to improve readability and learning.

3. Intuitiveness

Intuitiveness is the most important detail of a great UI design. Intuitiveness means that users can easily learn your interface and quickly pick it up. Intuitiveness implies the ability to get accustomed to your app’s interface, element spacing, and overall layout. Intuitiveness means something that can be understood easily and applied with ease.

4. Familiarity

Familiarity is a critical feature of a great UI design. While many designers aim to create intuitive designs, few stop to ask themselves what does an intuitive design mean? Well, intuitiveness means making things understandable and easy to remember. Creating a great user interface concerns familiarity. Designers must aim to create apps that deliver personalized user experiences. Aiming for familiarity will reinforce your app design.

5. Responsiveness

A great user experience must be responsive to users’ needs. Today, most website visits come from mobile endpoints, which is surprising given that it’s convenient to leverage an Android or an iPhone. You encourage users to visit your website frequently and stay longer by having a mobile-responsive interface. Responsiveness is about reducing the latency time and offering a rewarding experience.

6. Clarity

Clarity is an important element in the user interface design process. Clarity signifies that you know what you’re doing and that the interface or platform your users leverage is trustworthy. Achieving clarity in user interface design involves consistency, truth, and simplicity in your messaging. If you aim for consistency, it’ll be simple for users. In addition, if you eliminate ambiguity and incorporate only relevant elements, your interface will be rewarding.

7. Attractiveness

Attraction is about aesthetic appeal. Attraction concerns making elements and layout appealing for prospective and existing users. Attractiveness aims to make the site enjoyable and thrilling to navigate. You can make your site or app efficient, simple, easy to use, and concise – but it will only do well by making it attractive. Your clients or prospective users will not only use a stirring interface; they will look forward to using it once again.

Contact NS804 to achieve a great UI design.

 

UX Vs. UI: The Differences Explained

All appreneurs and app developers need to know what UX Vs. UI differences mean in detail. And that’s because it’s easy to confuse these two terminologies since they seem so similar. But they’re not, and it’s common to unintentionally misrepresent these two terminologies when explaining them to the ordinary layperson. 

Obviously, as a professional developer, you would never want to do that, so it’s best to have a clear understanding. Below, we’ll briefly delve deeper into the matter and demystify all elements surrounding UX Vs. UI key differences.

What Exactly Is The User Experience (UX)?

Just as the term suggests, the user experience focuses on how the end-user interacts with a company, including its products and services. And yes, this means all aspects thereof. And not just the range of features or whether a product or service is satisfactory, but where it surpasses expectations.

So, the user experience and UX design also focus on delivering a high-quality experience. And that means that a company must excel in multiple disciplines to pull it off successfully. 

A company may need to have staff on hand or outsource for the following: engineering, graphic design, industrial design, interface design, and marketing, to name a few. And then seamlessly merge all these disciplines so that they naturally fit into the company’s business processes and brand image.

What Is The User Interface (UI)?

Most desktop, mobile, and web apps have some form of UI that makes it possible for users to interact with these applications. Every good UI will have easy-to-understand and attractive visual cues consisting of drop-down lists, buttons, icons, images, text, and even 3D objects that await user input. 

And once the user initiates an input action, the UI will provide the relevant feedback. This may result in executing a task, changing a page, or giving an auditory response. 

Usually, the most common input devices include the mouse, keyboard, and touchscreen. And the most common output devices include the monitor and speakers.

UX Vs. UI: What Are The Main Differences?

We’ve briefly explained what defines the user experience and the user interface. But here are the most significant differences between UX and UI: 

  • UX focuses primarily on the entire project, from concept to development and deployment. On the other hand, UI mainly focuses on the design of the app.
  • UX usually includes market research and pinpointing the needs of users. But with UI, it’s more about the design of all visual components and how they impact the user experience. 
  • UX is about ensuring that the app meets its objectives and provides the necessary functionality. And UI centers around the quality of user interaction with the app.

The Bottom Line

Understanding how UI Vs. UX differences can impact a project is essential. Especially, if you need to communicate these differences to clients, staff, and stakeholders clearly and concisely. So bookmark this article and refer to it anytime you need a refresher. Contact NS804 to learn how we’ll help you create apps with outstanding UX/UI that will awe your users!