Top 4 Features in Your Mobile App That Successful Bike sharing Startups like JUMP, Ofo and Mobike won?t Tell You

by | Jul 17, 2018 | Business

As cities get more congested, bike sharing has emerged as a feasible in-city ride with economic and environmental incentives. Here is what you need to succeed as a bike-sharing startup:

Metropolitans are stuffed with bike-sharing startups. If you live in any such city, there will definitely be one out there. And though the concept has mushroomed across the globe, there are few global success stories and even the unicorns of the segment are till now largely limited to cities like Beijing, Shenzhen, Washington D.C, San Francisco, and others of the same league.

Top 4 Features in Your Mobile App That Successful Bike sharing Startups like JUMP, OfoFor a startup looking to start a bike sharing service, there couldn?t be a better time- the market is neither so nascent that they would have to innovate and build the requisite technologies themselves nor it is so explored for the competition to burn them out. With enough success stories around and ample un-explored markets, the time is just ripe to build a bike sharing app. But before you rush to seize the opportunity, you need to understand that it is a rapidly moving domain and it is essential to get things right at the first go as you may never be able to find another chance. So, to help in the cause, there are 4 absolute necessities that you must incorporate in your bike sharing app:

1.Heatmap
Bike sharing essentially works by fitting bikes by GPS and displaying their location on a map in the app. The moment any users starts a ride, that bike is taken off the list of available bikes and isn?t displayed on the map. If you are building an app, it is almost certain that you would also use the same tech and method. But there is also a crucial addition you can make.
The problem here is that since the users don?t have to set a drop location before they start a ride, once all bike are taken, new users have no way of finding out when a bike will be available or when. To counter this, you can show them a heat map of all your bike activities. This will give them a clear idea of where they are most likely to find bikes at approximately what time.

2.Seamless Experience
Once the user gets to a bike, the process to start riding must be as seamless as possible. QR codes work best in the situation. Each of your bikes should have a QR code that the users can scan from their app to unlock it. While this adds convenience for users, you also get to fend off the intricate task of installing and maintaining any kind of software on the bikes.

3. Simple And Secure Payment
Payments are collected, once all users complete their ride Process should be as simple as possible and of course must be secure as well. A preferred way would be to use some popular mobile wallet that users in that area already use rather than creating your own- to minimize friction during payments. But you must also include traditional payment options like credit and debit cards for the non-tech savvy users.

4. Booking Options
The booking and availability in bike sharing have a crucial problem- a bike is stopped from being displayed on a user?s app the moment another user unlocks it by scanning the QR-code. Now consider this- you see an available bike a couple of yards away and when you are down half the way, it disappears (because someone else took it). Now imagine the same condition during rush hours at any subway station. The service would essentially frustrate more users than it would serve. To overcome, you need to offer users an option to book bikes in advance. They can just select a time and be assured that they will find a bike. Not only would it enhance loyalty to your service also help them occasionally book rides for others as well.

Now you may have some idea of how intricate it can be to develop a bike-sharing app that looks quite simple on the surface. But the startups are lucky in this regard as well because as these technologies go mainstream many app development agencies are starting to offer such services. Just hire an app development agency that fits in your budget and vision to start your journey.

10 Tips to Creating the Next Great App

by | May 16, 2018 | Off Topic

10 Tips to Creating the Next Great App

With millions of apps competing for user attention, the road to success is really steep that only a handful of top mobile application development companies have managed to trace. So, no matter how great an idea you have, unless it takes the shape of an equally appealing app, there is little chance that you will achieve the desired success.

Here are 10 tips to ensure the success of your app, which isn?t left to mere luck:

1. Design to captivate

The first thing that a user experiences after launching your app isn?t its features or performance, but the design. And it is this first impression that largely determines the appreciation it evokes in users, that may later turn into loyalty. So, be it Android?s material design or iOS?s flat design concept, be sure to exploit the full potential of the powerful UI/UX customization they offer.

2. Keep it simple

In a rush to create the most appealing and responsive design of all time, do not underestimate the basics. The first rule of creating an elegant UI is to minimize the number of clicks that it takes to do any particular tasks. Expect for one-click solutions, conventionally, if it is more than 4-5 clicks to reach any particular page or task, it is evident that there is something wrong and you may need to take the design back to the drawing board.

3. Target all platforms

Unless you have some specific users in mind or your app performs some functionality that?s acceptable on any particular platform, your app must be available on all platforms. Be it Android, iOS or iPad, each of these platforms has their own set of users, any of which must not be missed if you wish to create a highly successful app.

That said, you don?t necessarily need to hit all those platforms at once and can take your time to test the feasibility and response on one platform and then use that knowledge for subsequent releases.

4. Keep evolving

As the technology evolves, your users expect your app to provide new features. Because if your app offers the same set of functions even after months or years after they installed it, they have every reason to come out looking for a better, more productive alternative.

5. Do not hesitate to experiment

It doesn?t mean you should force your whims on all your existing users. Be it a new feature or a design change, release them first to certain small test groups across different regions. And if the response is positive, you can proceed to a full-scale release.

6. Keep your goals in sight

Most times, in an effort to offer something refreshing, businesses tend to betray the core concept of an app, which as expected, irks the users. If you wish to offer a new service, a separate app is the better path to take and not treat the existing app as a testing ground.

7. Clear monetization strategy

There are instances when an app starts out as free and after a while, when the user base swells and they struggle with the revenues, they bombard the app with ads and in-app purchases. This is something you must not indulge into. Get your revenue channels figured out from the beginning else it will risk the credibility of your app.

8. Make it secure

Perhaps, this goes without saying- no matter what your app does, if it?s not secure, don?t even bother launching it. Especially, if it collects personal, sensitive information, employ the finest encryption methods and try to store data locally than routing it to servers.

Also read: How to Integrate Security in App Development at Early Stage

9. Go for offline

There is possibly nothing more annoying when an app goes useless the moment internet connection is turned off. Especially if your app does something important, try to make some functionalities available offline to help users when they are off-grid.

10. Retention is the key

If you know anything about mobile app business or even marking in general, you may know that referrals are in fact the cheapest way of customer acquisition. So, instead of burning your resources on acquiring users, focus more on retaining those who are already there. Because if you manage to delight a small number of users, they will work as a catalyst to bring new ones.