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Month: June 2020

How to Develop Your Mobile App Idea

Do you have a tech startup idea that’s been rattling around in your brain for a while?

Are you having problems explaining it to people? Or maybe when you discuss it with others, they just don’t understand what you’re talking about. Maybe you feel like you have an idea, but it’s not quite all there yet.

If you need help to validate your business idea, you’ve come to the right place.

I’ve been in the tech industry for more than two decades and have five successful startups under my belt. I’m sure you can imagine what the conversations are like whenever I’m at a dinner party.

Someone always tells me that they have a great idea they want to share with me. So for the next hour, I have to entertain that idea and tell them how great it is (even if it’s not that unique). We talk (they do most of the talking), have a couple of drinks, and say we’ll be 50/50 partners on the idea. For me, dinner parties like this can sometimes be a drag.

But it still begs the question—how do you develop and validate your business idea?

It’s an age-old question that has been addressed in many different schools of thought. Countless speakers have shared their opinions on the subject. Stanford has the NABC method (Need, Approach, Benefit, Competition).

In this guide, I’m going to give you six tips to validate your business idea in a way that’s specifically catered to tech companies and raising money for your startup.

These best practices are based on my first-hand experience in software development. It’s worked for me and it’s worked for my clients who have had success in this space.

Business Validation Tip #1: Explain the Problem and Opportunity

This is always the first thing that you need to do. You must be able to clearly articulate the problem that you’re trying to solve as well as the opportunity at hand.

The number one reason why startups fail is because the market doesn’t need what they’re offering.

You must be able to clearly identify the problem and opportunity in the market. If you can’t do that, it might be time to go back to the drawing board and create a new business plan for your software development venture.

Conduct market research. Get your market validation. What is the market looking for? Is there an existing need that you’re trying to fill? Or are you creating a new need?

If you’re addressing an existing need, this can be split up into two categories—needs that you have and needs that others have.

If you don’t feel the need yourself, the product might suffer a little bit. That’s because the information you’re getting is always one step removed.

The other side of this concept is creating a completely new demand. This is extremely difficult but highly profitable.

Smartphones are the perfect example to explain what I mean.

If you’re old enough to remember, think about the days when nobody had smartphones. We were all just fine. Life continued and operated with no problems.

But now I dare you to put your smartphone down and walk to the end of the block. See what happens. You’ll get anxious, and the addiction to your phone will start to kick in. You need to be with your phone at all times.

This type of need didn’t exist prior to the invention of the smartphone. But once it was created, the need was established.

So if a product can create a new need or functionality, you have the opportunity for limitless profits, but it’s extremely risky.

The next thing that you need to ask yourself is whether your business idea is a “must-have” or “nice to have” product. Is it a consumer luxury item? Or can people do without it?

The loyalty of your customers will differ based on whether or not this is a need or a want.

Business Validation Tip #2: Competitive Advantage Analysis

Once you’ve identified the market need, you must be able to properly articulate your competitive advantage.

If you’re entering an existing market that has competitors, why should the target audience pick you over the competition? There must be a differentiator in your product that improves the user experience.

What is your competitive advantage? If you’re just another “me too” business, then you’re not different.

Your idea must be different enough to stand out from the crowd. Give people a reason to choose you over the other players in the market.

You need to develop a strategy for how you’re going to beat your competitors. Play to win.

The strategy must explain how you’re going to gain ground on the competition. They’ve already been in business for months, years, or potentially decades before you. So you have lots of ground to cover just to catch up; then you can beat them from there.

Business Validation Tip #3: Is Your Idea Defendable?

If you don’t have any competitors, and you’re creating something new, then you need to ask yourself this—”is my idea defendable?”

Here’s what I mean by defendable. Does your product have intellectual property that you can patent to defend against other competitors?

In software, a patent is super easy to obtain and extremely difficult to defend.

This is a common question that I hear from all of my clients. It’s such a common occurrence that I’ll probably write a complete guide on the topic soon. With software, everyone asks, “Can I patent it?”

The answer is yes. But the real question should be, can you defend it? And the answer—you probably can’t. All someone else needs to do is change 20% of your patent, and it’s considered to be different software by law.

It’s much easier to defend a utility patent if you’re an electrical engineer or something like that. But when you’re dealing with software, intellectual property is extremely hard to defend.

So there could be other app developers or app development companies out there creating solutions for the app store with the same functionality as your software.

Think about the electric scooters that we see popping up in all major cities right now. It’s a really good idea, and it’s already out there. However, it’s so difficult to defend. Within months there are three or four other competitors coming to join the party.

Delivery apps available for iOS and Android apps are another example. A mobile app development company or freelancer could create a successful app without another app business in the delivery space getting in their way.

There are just two examples of great application ideas that are tough to defend.

Business Validation Tip #4: Go to Market Strategy

In terms of business validation for your tech startup idea, you must have a very specific go-to-market strategy. What do I mean by this?

When you develop a product or a business, and you’re ready to open up your doors, start selling, taking subscriptions, or whatever else you’re offering—how does the world know that you exist? How are you going to start gaining customers?

If you’re a brick and mortar company, you can do this through guerilla marketing. Make some posters and take out local ads. Maybe you’re in a high traffic area, and people will just randomly see you.

That’s fine for brick and mortar, but technology is a bit different.

You could have the best idea and the wold that nobody has heard about. So you need to have a marketing strategy. Always reserve some of your funds to make sure you have some sort of digital marketing presence.

You might start by creating an MVP (minimum viable product) for your mobile application and promote it via social media.

Consider offering some type of freemium model. Allow people to try your product before they actually purchase anything. Free trials for subscription businesses have a historically high conversion rate.

Lots of times, this strategy will be much cheaper than a full-blown marketing plan. You’ll still need to have some marketing to let people know that there’s a free tier, but it won’t be as involved.

When it comes to your go-to-market strategy, there are lots of different ways to approach this. There is an age-old question for a scenario that shows two different schools of thought.

Let’s say there is a town with two successful Italian restaurants. People love Italian food in this town, and everyone goes to both. You decide to open up a brand new restaurant. Do you open an Italian one? Or something else?

One school of thought says that you already know how much people love Italian food here. If you can do a better job than the others, you’ll be successful.

The other school of thought says that this town is already saturated with Italian food. But obviously, people enjoy going out to eat. You can open up a restaurant offering a different type of cuisine to be successful.

Which method is correct? Drop a comment and let me know what you think.

Business Validation Tip #5: Financial Forecast and Security

You need a very clear financial statement and forecast of how your company is going to operate when it’s losing money in the beginning.

When you first start, you’ve spent lots of money and don’t have any customers.

You need to figure out when you’re going to go from red to black, which is your breakeven point. Then figure out when you’re going to turn profitable and get into the green.

How is this going to happen? How long will it take?

If you don’t know the answer to these questions, then you won’t know how much cash you need in your reserves. How much funding will you need to survive the storm?

So many businesses fail, not because the idea was bad—they just ran out of fuel. They didn’t calculate how long they needed to stay in the market to gather enough critical mass to become profitable.

Remember the graph I showed you earlier about the top reasons why startups fail? I already highlighted the fact that “no market need” ranked first on that list. But let’s look at it again and see some of the other reasons.

Running out of cash is the second most common reason why startups fail.

If you’re in the technology field, you hear about lots of companies operating at a loss on a massive scale until they become profitable.

Think of companies like Amazon. They didn’t make money for the longest time until they dominated the entire market. Think of companies like Twitter or LinkedIn. They lost money for years, and some are still losing money and not profitable.

You need to address these types of scenarios. What type of company are you going to be?

All development costs must be taken into consideration for your new app.

There’s a different strategy from user adoption to profitability that needs to be played out on paper before your company goes live. What’s your monetization strategy? Outline a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C, so you have some contingencies in order.

The financial aspects of your project will be crucial if you’re trying to raise money from potential investors beyond crowdfunding.

Business Validation Tip #6: Does Your Business Scale?

You must be able to explain how your company and idea can scale.

If your company is relying on you and your skillset—you don’t scale. There are only 24 hours in a day. No matter what happens, you can’t add a 25th hour.

Do your costs decrease over time and volume? Do your costs plateau? Do your costs increase?

Some business models are fundamentally flawed from the beginning because they are assuming a fixed cost structure, which is not correct.

At scale, your company will have different logistics. Sometimes one employee can wear several different hats. But at scale, you’ll still need multiple employees. Your costs will go up.

If you’re housing all of your products locally at your office, that’s fine for now. But what happens when you scale and need to rent or buy a warehouse? Your costs will go up. Make sure you play out different scenarios to understand how the idea works at scale.

You also need to identify whether your product and company can cross demographics and markets. If you saturate a particular market, is there a lateral move you can make to gain more customer adoption?

BONUS Tip for Business Validation: Versatility and Resilience

This is more of a long term plan and strategy, but you should be thinking about it from the beginning. Is your company versatile and resilient?

Think of companies like Borders and Barnes & Noble. They’ve become completely obsolete. They had the opportunity to potentially go digital with selling books, but their efforts were too little and too late.

Another great example is car alarm companies. The car alarm itself hasn’t become obsolete. But now all of the car manufacturers build them directly into vehicles. So consumers don’t need to buy an after-market alarm. All of those businesses that opened up to sell car alarms are now obsolete.

Think about accessories for iPhones. Each accessory is so specific for adaptors. Once Apple changes the adaptors for new iPhones, all of your inventory becomes worthless. This is a serious problem if you have a large warehouse full of accessories that can’t be used.

So the question becomes when (not if) something hits your market, are you versatile enough to adjust and shift? Do you have the foresight to make adjustments ahead of time? Can you adapt to ever-changing markets?

Conclusion

Take all of these tips that I’ve explained above and use them to develop your business idea. Be as truthful with yourself as possible.

Maybe vet your best app idea out with some friends. See if there’s anything you forgot or missed. It’s always helpful to get another perspective on things that you might not see on your own.

It’s extremely important to adjust now so your business can see success. Just because you find a hurdle, it doesn’t mean that you have a bad idea.

Sometimes you just need to reshape that idea or rethink your strategy to be successful.  It’s much cheaper to make these adjustments now compared to after you build your company.

I hope this guide was helpful in explaining how to validate your business idea. Now you can hit the market and be successful at everything that you do.

11 Apps to Manage Your Mobile Workforce

Apps make life much easier. We use apps in our personal lives for things like banking online, booking flights, getting directions, or doing dozens of other tasks from the palms of our hands.

But mobile apps are also highly beneficial in the workplace.

Mobile employee apps are perfect for internal communication purposes, managing workflow, and providing your staff with self-service HR tools.

Apps are especially useful for organizations with a deskless workforce. Mobile workers don’t have easy access to computers or laptops at a moment’s notice. But their smartphones never leave their side.

Workforce apps are growing in popularity. In fact, 87% of businesses depend on employees accessing business apps from their smartphones.

That’s not all. Your employees want mobile apps. 59% of workers say that organizations are too slow at incorporating apps into the business model. But 60% of employees say that workforce apps directly improved their personal productivity.

So which apps are the best?

I’ve identified the top 11 apps that your business can use to manage its mobile workforce. I’ll outline the features, benefits, and any potential drawbacks of each one below.

1. Slack

Slack has quickly become one of the world’s most popular business apps for internal communication. This instant messaging tool for iOS and Android is leveraged by large enterprises, small businesses, and everything in between.

It’s trusted by big names like Airbnb, TD Ameritrade, Target, Cole Haan, Zendesk, Fox, and HubSpot.

Slack has over 12 million daily active users across 150+ countries. 65 of the Fortune 100 companies use Slack.

Whether you have remote employees or field workers performing jobs on-site, they’ll always be kept in the loop with their team. Whether they have questions or need assistance related to a particular job, or just want to give a quick status update, Slack delivers messages in real-time.

Slack allows you create communication channels for different teams. Let’s say you’re a contractor. You could create a separate channel for each job or each crew.

Use Slack to communicate with freelancers, third-party contractors, or even staff from other businesses that you’re working with.

This app has a wide range of solutions and use cases for employees related to:

  • Remote work
  • Engineering
  • Distance learning
  • Sales
  • Financial services
  • IT
  • Human resources
  • Customer support
  • Project management
  • Media

Another reason why Slack ranks so high on our list is because it integrates with 2,000+ other apps and tools you might already be using.

In addition to instant messaging, you can leverage Slack for audio and video calls. Let’s say you have an on-site technician making a repair at a customer’s house. They can video chat with someone in the office if they need assistance or want to show them progress in real-time.

The app is so popular that it’s become a verb. We use it here at BuildFire. It’s not uncommon for someone to say something along the lines of “Slack me later.”

With all of this in mind, Slack does have its fair share of restrictions. It is not an all-in-one solution for managing your mobile workforce. It’s simply an effective communication tool.

2. Trello

The Trello app is an exceptional tool for managing productivity in the workplace. For single projects or ongoing work, it’s an ideal project management solution for small and large teams alike.

Here’s how it works.

First, you create a Trello “board.” The board can be used for anything from managing your company’s blog to handling workflow status updates for field service technicians.

Within each board, you can create a list. Lists are columns that can be used to define the progress for different tasks and projects.

Here’s a simple example. Columns for field service workers could be:

  • To be scheduled
  • Scheduled
  • On-site
  • Done

Every time you have a new project, simply create a “card” and place that card in the respective column. You can create subtasks within that card, such as “called client” or “left a message.” Cards can have due dates and be assigned to specific people within your team.

Let’s continue using the example above. If you schedule a new job for a field service technician, you can put the card in the “Scheduled” list and assign it to the designated employee.

The card can include details about the job, including the address, customer name, and anything else that needs to be done.

Once that employee arrives at the job, they can simply move the card to “On-site” to keep the entire team updated. They can take notes on the card, upload documents, pictures, and complete subtasks like “provided estimate” or “fixed broken sink” (or whatever else you’re doing out there).

If your mobile workforce needs an app for project management, Trello is an ideal solution for you. You can join the millions of users leveraging this tool.

It’s worth noting that Trello isn’t perfect. While you can tag team members and add comments to cards, it doesn’t really provide real-time communication, instant messaging, or audio and video calling features.

Like most of the apps on our list, the app is intended for just one specific purpose. In this case, the purpose is project management.

3. allGeo

Formally myGeoTracking, allGeo is a solution designed specifically for field service workers. The platform offers multiple mobile employee apps for different use cases.

  • Field Service Visibility — Monitor time and location on the job.
  • Field Service Time Clock — GPS time and attendance system.
  • Field Service Safety — Monitor employee safety on-site.
  • Field Service Inspection — Collect data with forms and checklists.
  • Field Service Dispatch — Real-time notifications and messaging.
  • Field Service Milage — GPS mileage tracking and real-time location.
  • Field Service EVV — Geofence-based tracking for compliance.
  • Field Service Load — Automatic status updates including ETAs.

As you can see, allGeo has a field service app for nearly every mobile employee management tool that you can think of. Unfortunately, none of these come with internal communication features.

It does have some HR and HCM functionality. The apps can integrate with payroll tools like QuickBooks and Paychex. But it’s somewhat limited in terms of what you can accomplish with this.

Another downside of allGeo is the fact that all of these apps are separate from each other. So if you want multiple features, you’ll have to use more than one app. This can get messy and confusing.

allGeo does have a custom app solution for these purposes. But overall, the individual apps function better on their own.

With all of that said, these are still top mobile employee apps for field service workers if you need just one of the management functions listed above.

4. GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is another mobile employee app with a specific point of emphasis. As the name implies, this app is used for holding virtual meetings.

The app has features for both audio and video meetings that can be managed from smartphones and tablets. It’s an excellent way for remote employees or staff working on different job sites to communicate in real-time.

With a mobile workforce, you lose the ability to hold conference room style meetings at the office. GoToMeeting makes it possible for you to hold virtual conferences.

Top features for GoToMeeting include:

  • No meeting time limits
  • Business messaging
  • Personal meeting rooms
  • Calendar integrations
  • Up to 250 participants
  • Unlimited cloud recording
  • Meeting transcriptions
  • Diagnostic reports
  • Admin center

You can access GoToMeeting from your computer as well, which is very useful. For example, let’s say you’re in the office but want to give a presentation to all of your remote staff. You’ll be able to present from your computer while giving your mobile workforce the ability to join from their smartphones and tablets.

GoToMeeting does have a messager feature as well. But it falls short compared to solutions like Slack, which we discussed earlier.

I like the fact that GoToMeeting seamlessly integrates with Office 365. It’s a nice bonus for those of you who are already using this tool for scheduling and staying organized.

As with most of the other apps on our list, GoToMeeting has its fair share of restrictions and limitations. It’s strictly an app for audio and video meetings or conferences. It’s not going to integrate with your payroll system or give your employees access to timecards, handbooks, benefits, or anything like that.

5. Kronos

Kronos is an all-in-one solution for managing your mobile workforce.

The company was initially founded 40+ years ago back in 1977. At the time, they specialized in time management by revolutionizing employee time clocks. Over the years, Kronos has been able to adapt with the times and modernize its brand with apps and other workforce management tools.

Kronos has solutions for a wide range of business needs, including:

  • Time and attendance
  • Employee scheduling
  • Labor activities and analytics
  • Benefits administration
  • Acquisition and onboarding
  • Talent management
  • Payroll
  • Human resources

The company has mobile employee apps and solutions for businesses across multiple industries. Kronos has tools for health care, retail, banking, higher education, government, manufacturing, and more.

Kronos offers product suites that encompass multiple workforce management tools into single solutions.

While Kronos is undoubtedly a leader in workforce management, the app itself falls short of the desktop solutions. Based on user reviews and ratings, there are lots of performance issues. The Kronos app has just a 1.6/5 rating on the Apple App Store. The 3.2/5 rating on the Google Play Store is a bit better, but still not up to par with what we’d like to see.

6. BambooHR

As the name clearly indicates, BambooHR is a human resources solution.

This mobile employee app is a modern way to manage your mobile workforce. It gives your staff the ability to check and access crucial HR resources from anywhere. From requesting time off to looking up a coworker’s contact information, BambooHR has it all.

One of the best features of the app is the calendar. It gives management and employees clear access to who is working each day, who’s on vacation, and who has time off coming up.

Everyone will have access to phone numbers, email addresses, and other important contact information for their coworkers. This makes it easy for your staff to stay in contact.

Other top features include:

  • Time tracking and payroll tools
  • PTO management
  • Hiring and onboarding
  • Offboarding
  • Employee records
  • Workflows and approvals
  • Reporting and analytics

BambooHR is definitely one of the best mobile employee apps for HR management on the market today. It offers employee self-service tools as well as management and supervisor benefits.

Overall, the app is very easy to use and integrate with any business. Unlike other apps on our list, all of these functions can be managed in a single solution.

With that said, not every feature comes standard with the BambooHR app. Time tracking, payroll, performance management, and other advanced features need to be added separately.

Additionally, BambooHR doesn’t have any features beyond HR functionality. It’s not made for internal communication, task management, or anything else that falls outside the scope of human resources.

7. Google Drive

Google Drive is something that most of you are probably familiar with. Lots of us (including myself) use Google Drive in our personal lives for storing files in the cloud.

But this is an excellent solution for managing files at work as well.

As a cloud-based solution, you can access Google Drive from anywhere. From documents to spreadsheets and images, your entire team can collaborate on files with this app.

While the application of Google Drive’s features aren’t necessarily geared towards specific business functions, you can easily find ways to make the app work for your needs.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you have field service workers that need to take pictures while on a job site. Your staff can simply take photos using the camera on their smartphone and then upload those images to a folder in Google Drive directly from the app.

You can set up folders for each project, client, or organize your files in whatever way you see fit.

Once a file has been uploaded to the drive, anyone with access can see it. So another employee back at the office could see any uploads in real-time from their smartphone or computer.

Set up Google Sheets to manage workflow tasks on a spreadsheet. Or use Google Docs to provide your mobile workforce with important information about clients, jobs, or training material.

If you have a small team and need a simple solution for file storage and communication via mobile employee apps, Google Drive is a free and simple solution. You’ll just have to get creative with how you set everything up to stay organized.

8. Asana

The Asana app is very similar to Trello, which we talked about earlier. It’s a mobile workforce app made for project management.

Simply create a task, drag it to the respective status column in the workflow chain, and assign team members to collaborate.

Asana is a little bit more advanced than Trello in terms of its features and capabilities. Beyond basic workflow management, Asana is better for tasks with multiple action items. The app dashboard makes it easy for your remote staff to manage and clear any action items assigned to them.

With Asana, you’ll also be able to organize projects and tasks based on level of priority. Employees can attach files, add comments, and manage campaigns from a simple and easy to use dashboard within the app.

Asana integrates with other tools, including other solutions on our list, like Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, Dropbox, and more.

I’d say Asana is geared more towards remote digital marketing teams as opposed to field service workers. There are specific tools and features for mapping out and tracking plans that are just better for this type of remote work.

You can use the Asana app to automate certain processes as well. This is ideal for maximizing efficiency and productivity.

If your organization is in a creative industry with remote workers, the Asana app will be a top choice for task management. But it’s not an all-in-one tool for managing a mobile workforce. The communication tools are limited compared to other options on the list, and HR functionality is non-existent.

9. Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat

Hangouts Meet is the new and improved version of Google Hangouts. Commonly referred to as just “Meet” for short, this app is a communication tool that’s included with G Suite.

So for those of you who already have G Suite for other business purposes, you can start using Hangouts Meet for video calls directly from the app.

This app is a basic tool for video meetings and conference calls. It’s better for smaller groups and even one-on-one video calling.

Google offers a separate app called Hangouts Chat for messaging. You can set up different chat rooms for projects, teams, or just use it for one-on-one conversations.

Both of these apps are better for smaller teams who are already using G Suite. It’s unfortunate that the calling and messaging features aren’t integrated into a single solution. Your remote workforce will have to switch back and forth between both, which can be annoying.

For example, let’s say two employees are messaging via Hangouts Chat. Then they decide that it would be more productive if they hopped on a call. Your staff would be forced to switch apps and connect from there instead.

But if you’re a low volume user or working with third-party contractors or freelancers, Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat are both sufficient for basic usage.

10. Dropbox

Dropbox is similar to Google Drive, although it’s a bit more advanced in terms of features designed for managing remote employees.

With Google Drive, you need to get creative in terms of how you organize your files and set them up for business purposes. Dropbox has some of those tools built-in right out of the box (no pun intended).

Dropbox is a top option for those of you who need to share large files with remote workers. Team plans start at 5 TB of storage. You can send files up to 100 GB using Dropbox Transfer.

You’ll also have access to features like:

  • Document watermarks
  • Tiered administrative roles
  • Single sign-on integration
  • Ability to manage multiple teams

450,000+ businesses use Dropbox for managing files and content with employees.

With Dropbox, it’s an easy transition from the app to desktop. Your remote staff can start something on their computer and then access it on the road from their mobile device at a job site, client meeting, or anywhere else.

If Google Drive doesn’t quite meet the needs of your business, use Dropbox for an upgraded (but still very basic) workforce mobile app for content management.

11. Build a Custom Workforce App

Rather than using a cookie-cutter solution with limitations, you can build a custom workforce app with BuildFire.

Custom app development gives you the opportunity to add whatever features you need to manage your mobile workforce. Instead of using one app for HR self-service and another app for internal communication, your custom workforce app can contain both features in a single solution.

Common use cases for BuildFire workforce apps include tools for human resources, safety, compliance, field service workers, and field sales workers.

Popular workforce management capabilities include:

  • Employee training and development
  • Compliance
  • Company news and announcements
  • Employee onboarding
  • Real-time communication for a crisis or emergency
  • Timesheets
  • Time off requests

Custom app development gives you the ability to measure success and improve engagement with your mobile workforce. It’s also an all-in-one solution for to address challenges faced by your HR department.

BuildFire gives you the opportunity to create an app on your own. No coding or development experience is required.

For those of you who want some additional assistance with the development process, you can get the app designed and built by the team of experts at BuildFire. Our platform supports full customization.

Final Thoughts

There’s a common theme with the mobile workforce apps on this list. All of them have limitations and flaws.

Do you need an app for internal communication with remote employees? There’s an app for that. What about an app for managing projects and tasks? There’s another app for that. There are apps for video calling, file management, and field service employees. But none do all of the above.

The only way to get an all-in-one solution for mobile workforce management is with custom app development. Tools like BuildFire make it possible for you to manage employee tasks, real-time communication, payroll, self-service HR features, and more in a single app.

This is the best way to manage your mobile workforce and remote employees.

10 Reasons Why Your App Reseller Program Isn’t Working and How to Fix it

A mobile app reseller program is an excellent way for agencies to add value to their clients and generate recurring revenue. But sometimes getting your program off of the ground can be challenging.

I’m sure you’ve researched all of the benefits and reasons to become a mobile app reseller, so why isn’t the program working?

One thing is for sure—the demand is there, and it’s not going anywhere. Individuals and businesses alike are want to build apps. They are just looking for the right partner to accommodate their needs.

Even if you’re off to a slow start, there are some quick ways to fix your reseller program.

As someone who has been building, selling, and marketing app development for the better part of my entire career, I know what it takes to succeed in this space.

I’ve identified some of the most common problems with agency reseller programs and how to fix them. You can use this guide to identify potential problems with your current offering and make the necessary adjustments to have a profitable white label mobile app reseller program.

1. No Marketing Plan

Reseller programs can fail if they aren’t marketed properly. You could have the best product or service in the world, but it’s useless if nobody knows about it.

Generally speaking, becoming a white label reseller doesn’t require a huge upfront investment. But you still need to put some money into marketing your services.

You can’t expect clients to come find you or stumble upon your website by accident. You’ve got to put yourself out there and develop a complete marketing plan for your mobile app development services.

For this type of service, the majority of your marketing strategy should be digital. You’re probably not going to print flyers, run radio ads, or put up billboards.

Invest in a mix of both inbound and outbound marketing tactics.

The B2B technology space is a highly competitive industry. A recent study highlights the top reasons why marketers in this space are increasing their budgets.

As you can see, an increased priority in marketing ranks first on this list. Customer expansion and product expansion both fall within the top four factors.

If other companies out there are spending more money on marketing, and you’re not, how can you expect to compete?

Even if you’re operating on a tight budget, there are still plenty of cost-effective marketing tactics that you can be using.

Increase your blogging frequency and prioritize SEO. Create video content to explain how your app development program works. Take advantage of social media, email marketing, and other low-cost, high ROI tactics.

For those of you who have been marketing your service but still haven’t found success, it might be time to-revaluate your strategy. Switch up your campaigns and advertising channels, if necessary. Just make sure that you have a clear plan in place.

2. Wrong Pricing Strategy

One of the best parts about being a white label reseller is the ability to set your own prices. You’ll usually pay a fixed rate for the platform you’re using, and the reseller profits can be as high or as low as you determine.

But your prices can make or break the success of your services.

If you set your prices too high, people might be unwilling to pay. If you set them too low, prospects might think the quality is subpar. You need to find that sweet spot that’s the perfect medium between the two.

How did you come up with your pricing strategy? Believe it or not, most agencies can’t answer this question. If you pulled your numbers out of thin air, then it’s unlikely that you guessed the perfect figures.

You need to do some research to see what people are actually willing to pay for the app development services that you’re proving.

My recommendation is to offer tiered pricing based on features and functionality. It should look something like this:

These plans will accommodate the needs of a wide range of potential customers. From individuals to large-scale corporations, there’s an option for everyone.

You can also offer incentives for long-term commitments. For example, the price per month should be higher in a month-to-month plan than an annual commitment.

What would you rather get? $200 a month for two months or $150 per month for 12 months? Obviously, you’d choose the latter.

Your pricing should also be based on your target market. For example, a Fortune 500 company will likely have greater spending power than a college student. We’ll talk more about figuring out who to target as we continue.

3. Failure to Identify the Right Target Market

Who is your app development service for? If you said, everyone—that’s the wrong answer.

This is an agency reseller mistake that I see all of the time. They are convinced that their offering is for everyone and anyone. So their marketing plan and pricing strategy (both previously discussed) are in no man’s land.

I know what some of you are thinking. Anyone can build an app, right? That’s true, but that doesn’t mean that everyone should be targeted.

With that same logic, everyone who eats food should be targeted by McDonald’s. Or anyone who wears clothes should be targeted by Gucci. That’s not the case for either scenario.

There is no such thing as a marketing campaign that’s designed for everyone. So if you don’t have a clearly defined target audience, your marketing efforts will suffer.

You should be able to describe exactly who you’re targeting with a reseller program. These are the components of a target market.

It’s impossible to accommodate the needs of prospective clients if you don’t know who they are. You’ll struggle to reach them in your marketing efforts as well.

For example, let’s say you’re targeting small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs).

If you’re running social media ads on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok, you’re essentially lighting money on fire. Nobody in your target audience is going to see those. Even Facebook would be borderline in this scenario.

To target SMEs via social media, you’d need to create highly targeted ads on LinkedIn, aimed at CTOs and CMOs.

Your marketing strategy and would look very different if you were targeting small business owners instead.

If you haven’t taken the time to properly identify your target and understand their needs, it could be the reason why you’re having problems with your marketing campaigns and pricing strategy.

4. You Don’t Have a Niche

I’ve heard people say that the difference between target market and niche is just semantics. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Once you’ve identified a target audience, you can take that one step further by carving out a niche.

Let’s continue using my previous example of targeting SMEs. The person of interest at those organizations would be different depending on the type of app they want to build.

For example, if they wanted to develop a human resources app, you’d likely be dealing with the CTO. But if they want to build an app to improve the customer experience, you’d probably be dealing with the CMO or director of marketing.

You can get even more specific in that space as well. Maybe you specialize in a particular industry, like healthcare, manufacturing, retail, or food and beverage.

How do you find your niche? Look to your existing clients. If your agency has been around for a while and offers other services, what types of businesses or people have you been working with? If 90% of your current clients are small business retailers, then that’s your area of expertise.

For those of you starting a mobile app reseller agency from scratch, look to your own background to come up with a niche. Maybe you have a legal background—target law firms. Or maybe you have a fitness background—target gym owners and personal trainers.

This will be much easier than trying to target hospitals without any knowledge of the healthcare industry. So stick with what you know best first, and then branch out from there.

5. You’re Not Nurturing Leads

Your mobile app development service won’t necessarily sell itself. But once you’ve identified your target market and niche, it’s easier to align your marketing strategy with your sales strategy.

Understand that there are two forces occurring simultaneously. You are trying to sell while your leads are interesting in buying.

But those leads must be nurtured through the buying process. Just because someone lands on your website or gives you their contact information, it doesn’t automatically mean that they’re going to convert.

Even if they’re interested in what you’re offering, finalizing the sale usually takes a bit more convincing.

Take a look at the different stages of the B2B sales funnel.

The content required to reach a prospect at each stage of the journey will vary depending on where they fall within the funnel.

For example, a landing page with some basic information about your mobile app services would be a top of the funnel campaign strategy. This page could include some client testimonials and clearly explain who would benefit from your services.

If that person fills out a lead-gen form, provides their email address, or sets up a discovery call, they’ll move down the funnel. Now you can provide them with additional information in the form of whitepapers, case studies, or something along those lines.

Continue with follow-up calls and emails to qualified leads.

Most people don’t land on a website on a whim and commit to spending hundreds or thousands of dollars per month for the next few years without taking some time to think about it.

Consider hiring a dedicated sales manager or put someone in charge of this process if you don’t have a strong background in sales. Having highly effective closers will be crucial to your success.

6. Unprofessional Website

This is another common problem that I see with mobile app reseller programs that aren’t working. You could be the top expert in your niche and give away gold for free, but if your website doesn’t look good, it’s going to kill your program.

We live in a day and age where you can’t afford to have this issue. People will judge your brand before they even know what you’re offering.

It takes just 50 milliseconds for visitors to form an opinion about your website. That first impression will be a driving force behind their decision to do business with you.

Take a look at these statistics about web design:

Over 90% of first impressions are related to the design of a website. Nearly eight out of ten people will judge your brand’s credibility based on that design.

In short—your website can make or break your reseller program.

If the site is full of ads, clutter, flashing lights, and other spam-like promotions, people won’t want to work with you. If the site loads slowly and looks like it hasn’t been updated in the last decade, you’ll struggle to sign clients.

We all know what a credible website looks like. And we most certainly know what bad websites look like.

Follow the formula from global leaders like Apple. Keep your site simple, clean, and professional.

Use open space to your advantage. Make sure it has a simple navigation. Your services should be clearly defined with a CTA visible at all times.

Monitor the analytics of your site as well. This information could give you a clear indication of how people feel when they land on your pages. If you have a high bounce rate, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and consult with a professional web designer.

7. You’re Using the Wrong White Label Reseller Platform

Sometimes the product itself is the problem with your reseller program.

Even if you’ve done everything else right, this could crush your agency’s chances of success. You have a great marketing strategy. You’ve identified your target market and carved out a niche. You have an effective sales strategy, and your website is top-notch. But the actual service is no good.

Your clients will eventually find out if the app development platform doesn’t meet the standard they were anticipating.

If they don’t figure it out in the free trial or demo, they’ll quickly learn once they start using it.

There is no substitute for quality. This is definitely not something that you can fake. So don’t choose a white label reseller platform just because it has the lowest prices and gives you the potential for higher profit margins. That won’t be helpful if nobody signs up or everyone is canceling after one month of use.

The best reseller programs need to benefit your clients just as much as they benefit you.

Use a program that has lots of out of the box functionality. The platform should be easy enough for anyone to use, even if they don’t have any experience with development.

Your program should support iOS, Android, and PWA (progressive web apps). There should be unlimited customization, as well.

If your clients feel limited, restricted, or just can’t build what they anticipated with your current platform, it’s probably time for you to shop around for another mobile app reseller platform.

8. Poor Customer Service

In a perfect world, your clients will sign up for your reseller program, pay forever, and you’ll never hear from them again. But you and I both know that’s not realistic.

People are going to have questions and need assistance, especially when it comes to using technology and building a mobile app.

Agencies that can provide excellent customer service will have a massive advantage in this space. But failure to provide quality service will cause you to lose customers.

Furthermore, 86% of people are willing to pay more money for a better customer experience.

The level of customer support you’re able to provide has a direct correlation to our last point about choosing the right reseller platform.

The best mobile app reseller platforms will provide you with excellent support, so you’re able to pass those benefits along to your customers.

For example, you need to know how the platform works yourself. Otherwise, how can you possibly assist your customers with it? If you’re part of the BuildFire mobile app reseller program, you’ll benefit from training and consulting for how everything works. You’ll also get dedicated white label support via phone and email if you have any questions that require an immediate response.

BuildFire will get your clients’ apps published to the app store once they’re done building everything. So you and your customers won’t have to worry about this.

Make sure you’re part of a reseller program that sets you up for success. Otherwise, you’ll have trouble giving your clients the support that they’re expecting.

9. You’re Reactive Instead of Proactive

This reason is often overlooked because it’s not as tangible as some of the other points on our list. But being proactive is something that you really need to pride yourself in if you want to be successful.

What do I mean by this?

You can’t just have the “set it and forget it” mentality. Even if you’re experiencing some success with your program, it could be short-lived if you lack initiative.

The best mobile app resellers are always looking for new opportunities. They follow the latest technology trends and keep up with news in their specialized industries.

Research your competitors to see what kind of changes they are making to their prices or product offerings. Start blogging on a regular basis as a way to generate leads as part of your long-term SEO strategy.

Instead of just assuming that your clients are happy with your services, follow-up with them once a month or more to check in on their progress.

This type of initiative is what separates average agencies from excellence.

10. Your Clients Are Churning

Signing new clients is just a fraction of what it takes to have a successful app reseller program. To get recurring revenue for years to come, you’ll need to make sure that those clients aren’t churning.

I’ve seen this happen all too often with agency resellers. They get so excited about signing a new client, and they end up neglecting that customer moving forward.

Think about all the hard work it took to close that client. It’s an expensive problem if they churn. Just look at your customer acquisition costs.

Your agency needs to prioritize retention. Once you have a few clients on board, you could argue that retention is more important than new client acquisition. Just a small increase in retention can yield significant profits.

It’s also much easier to cross-sell or upsell your existing clients compared to selling to a new client.

Maybe your agency offers other services. You can take one of your app development customers and sell them your social media marketing services or SEO services. Or you can convince your mobile app development customers to upgrade their plan to a higher pricing tier.

Conclusion

If your mobile app reseller program isn’t going as well as you thought it would, don’t get discouraged. You’re not doomed—you just need to identify the problems you’re having.

Use this list of the ten most common reasons why your app reseller program isn’t working. Follow the tips and best practices that I’ve highlighted to help you fix those problems.

If the platform itself is holding you back, you should seek an alternative solution. The BuildFire reseller platform has everything you need to succeed. Check this reseller case study to see how other agencies have benefited from this program.

15 Features Every Mobile Commerce App Needs to Have

Building a mobile commerce app is one of the best ways to drive sales for ecommerce businesses. That’s because mobile apps convert higher than the mobile web.

But simply launching an app isn’t enough to make it successful.

The best ecommerce apps on the market have certain features in common. These specific elements are all focused on improving the customer experience, driving sales, and increasing conversions.

Whether your app is live or still in the early development stages, adding the right features will lead to prosperity, success, and profitability.

After researching the latest mobile commerce trends, mobile commerce tips, and best practices, I’ve identified the top 15 features your m-commerce app must have.

1. Push Notifications

A significant benefit of your mobile commerce app is the ability to communicate with app users. You don’t have this advantage with your mobile site or desktop site for that matter, either.

When leveraged correctly, sending the right push notification at the perfect time can lead to sales.

Push notifications can be treated like your email marketing campaigns. You can send product updates, discounts, promotions, and other offers as well. Except push notifications should be reserved for your best offers.

If the offer is so good that you’d send a text message to your customers about it (since you basically are), then send it as a push.

Power of push notifications

70% of app users find push notifications useful. 40% of people engage with push notifications within an hour, compared to just 8% who ignore them altogether.

Here’s a breakdown of the most desired that content app users want from a push notification:

  • Promotions — 34%
  • New developments — 26%
  • Geotargeted information — 26%
  • Other — 14%

Running a flash sale? Send a push notification. Are you releasing a product with limited availability? Tell users with a push.

Consider using push notifications to update customers about their orders. For example, you can send a “package delivered” message when the order arrives at the front door.

2. Location Tracking

As I briefly mentioned, 26% of app users want push notifications relevant to their locations. Furthermore, 53% of people agree to share their location with mobile apps.

Use this crucial data to your advantage to improve your mobile commerce marketing strategy. There are so many different ways to leverage location tracking for mobile apps.

Here are a few basic examples to showcase how versatile location tracking can be.

For those of you with physical retail locations, you can have a “store locator” feature within your app. Users can use this to find the closest store to their current position.

According to a recent consumer survey, the ability to locate physical stores from an app is one of the most valuable features of a mobile commerce app.

Most valued feature for shoppers

In addition to your store location feature, you can use geofencing technology to send relevant push notifications.

If an app user walks by one of your stores, you can immediately send them a push notification enticing them to buy. Even if you don’t have any physical stores, geofencing can still be extremely useful.

Here’s an obvious example to illustrate my point.

Let’s say your business sells sports equipment. If an app user goes to the beach, you can send them an offer related to surfboards and kayaks. If a user goes to a ski resort, you can send offers related to snowboarding and skiing.

A person’s physical location can also be used to personalize their app home screen.

Customers living in New York City shouldn’t be seeing the same offers as customers living in Los Angeles.

3. User Profiles

Allowing users to log in and make purchases from a customer profile is the ultimate advantage of having a mobile commerce app.

This feature has countless benefits for you as well as your customers.

For starters, a user profile gives you so much insight into the mind of each customer. You’ll be able to recommend relevant products based on their purchase history and browsing history.

Customers are happy because they are getting personalized offers, and you’re pleased because those recommendations will lead to sales.

90% of people find personalization appealing.

affinity towards personalization

As you can see, 80% of consumers say they are more likely to do business with brands that offer a personalized experience.

Personalization aside, customer profiles make the lives of app users much easier.

Since all of their information is saved to the profile, they can shop and checkout in seconds. Think about how much information is required to complete a transaction. At the bare minimum, you’re asking for things like:

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

Each additional step a customer has to take reduces their chances of converting. From a mobile device, entering all of this information is tedious.

However, app users only have to do this once. Then the information can be stored and used for future purchases.

4. Social Media Integration

74% of shoppers are influenced by social media when it comes to purchasing decisions.

I’m assuming (and hoping) that your company already has an active presence on social media. So integrate those channels with your mobile commerce app to get the most out of them.

Here’s why. It’s possible that customers who installed your mobile app do not follow you on social media. Even your top customers won’t be opening your app every day, but it’s likely that they’re using social media daily.

Adding your Facebook wall or Instagram feed to your app can encourage users to follow you.

On days when they aren’t shopping on the app, you can still engage with those people via social media.

Social media integration also saves you time when it comes to adding content to your app. For example, if you install a YouTube plugin, any video uploaded to your YouTube channel will automatically appear in the app. So you won’t have to upload it twice.

5. Discounts and Promotions

Everyone loves to feel like they got a great deal when they’re shopping. So give your customers an incentive to use the app by offering exclusive discounts and promotions.

According to a recent study, 65% of people use ecommerce apps to receive exclusive deals and offers.

use of ecommerce apps

As you can see from the chart, this ranked first on the list of reasons.

This feature will obviously have a lot to do with your brand’s overall image and pricing strategy. I know that some luxury brands never offer discounts or anything like that.

But for the majority of you, this feature will be essential for success.

I like the idea of using a discount or promotional offer as a way to drive app downloads from the beginning. For example, you could offer $20 off or 20% discount off the first purchase using the app.

But beyond the initial offer, discounts are still a great way to drive mobile commerce sales. This is especially true for time-sensitive offers.

Send push notifications for flash sales or deals expiring soon. If you can create FOMO (fear or missing out), it will entice app users to act quickly. People want to get a discount before it’s too late.

6. Customer Loyalty Program

An app is the perfect platform to facilitate your customer loyalty program.

This is a great opportunity for those of you who already have an existing loyalty program, as well as brands starting one from scratch. A mobile commerce app makes it easier for customers to track their loyalty status through their user profile.

There are lots of different ways to promote customer loyalty. All of which entice consumer spending.

You can reward customers based on purchase frequency, total spending, or a combination of the two.

What makes a loyalty program better on an app? Take a look at the results of this recent study by CodeBroker.

customer loyalty program

The vast majority of consumers are more likely to participate in loyalty programs if they can easily access information from their smartphones. Nothing makes this easier than a mobile app.

Mobile ecommerce loyalty programs address other customer wants and needs that we previously discussed as well. Earlier, we learned that the number one reason why consumers use ecommerce apps is to receive exclusive deals and promotions.

A customer loyalty program delivers exactly what those individuals want.

7. Lots of Payment Options

Let me take a moment to paint a picture for you.

Imagine that a customer just got acquainted with your brand. Maybe they stumbled upon a social media advertisement or heard a friend’s recommendation. The customer visits your website, learns about your app’s first purchase promotion, and decides to download it.

With the app installed on their device, the user browses for products and adds a few items to their shopping cart. Time to checkout, right?

As the user continues through the purchase process, they quickly discover that you don’t accept their preferred payment method. The user abandons the cart, and you probably lost them forever.

Don’t let this happen to you. Think about how much work that user just went through and how disappointed they were when they couldn’t complete the order.

You can’t assume that everyone wants to pay with a Visa or Mastercard. Even if the customer owns one of those cards, they might get better rewards or benefits by using an alternative method.

Every ecommerce mobile app should accept:

  • All major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express)
  • Debit cards
  • PayPal
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay
  • Venmo

We haven’t quite reached the point where you need to accept cryptocurrencies, but that might change within the next five or ten years.

8. Speedy Checkout Process

Let’s continue talking about your app’s checkout process. In addition to accepting multiple payment methods, the checkout must be as fast as possible.

The perfect mobile commerce checkout can be completed in seconds. Users should be able to complete the purchase process in one or two clicks at most.

According to Forbes, fewer form fields yield higher conversion rates.

Conversion rates by optimized forms

Think about the information you’re asking from your customers. You don’t need to know their favorite color or mother’s maiden name to complete the purchase.

Earlier, we talked about the significance of user profiles on a mobile app. This gives you a major advantage over your desktop site or mobile site.

After a customer buys something once, you can store their information for future purchases (with their permission, of course). This can drastically reduce checkout times and yield sky-high conversions.

App users will have the ability to checkout in seconds with just one click.

9. Product Search

How do users find what they’re looking for on your app?

Some of you might be selling a handful of products, while others are selling hundreds or thousands. No matter how many products you’re offering, the customer needs to find what they’re looking with as little friction as possible.

Just make sure that your app has an advanced search and filter system. These are the biggest pain points associated with retail site search.

Shoppers biggest frustrations

While this particular study is focused on websites, the same concepts can be applied to mobile commerce apps. If your search isn’t displaying relevant results, it can do more harm than good.

With that said, adding search functionality to your mobile app can yield exceptional results.

Conversion rates from users using the search feature are typically two to four times higher compared to those who don’t. Up to 60% of all transactions come from sessions that used the search function.

Here’s something else to consider. Take a look at the most popular shopping apps in the United States.

Most popular shopping apps

Global giants like Amazon, Walmart, and Target lead the way. What do these apps all have in common? They all have an advanced search and filter function.

Even though thousands of products are sold through these apps, customers can still find what they need with a quick search.

10. Customer Support

No matter how simple your app is, people will always need assistance. Whether it’s questions about particular products, returns, payments, or navigation, you must be available to assist your customers.

Don’t look at this as a negative thing.

86% of users are willing to pay more for great customer service. Excellent service creates customer loyalty and retention as well.

According to HubSpot, 77% of happy customers share positive brand experiences with other people. Your customer service can ultimately lead to free referrals.

With all of this in mind, your app must have features for customer support.

Whether it be live chat, email, ticket support, or phone calls, customer support should be easy to find for all app users.

According to VentureBeat, 77% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 use their smartphones to contact customer support. So it’s only natural that your ecommerce mobile app should have support functions built-in.

11. Retail Integration

This is another feature that’s a must-have for anyone with a physical retail presence.

Your app and stores should not be treated as separate entities. Allow each one to compliment the other. This is something that you can’t really accomplish with a desktop site or mobile site.

Studies show that consumers are already using their mobile devices when browsing in physical stores. Take a look at how those devices are being used.

use of mobile phones in store

Your mobile app can make all of these uses much easier for your customers. Whether this leads to sales through the app itself or at your physical registers, it still benefits your business.

Some shoppers might research products ahead of time on the app, and wait until they see the item in person before making the purchase. Allow app users to create a wish list for this purpose.

Other users might do the opposite. They could see an item while browsing in-store, and ultimately decide to purchase it at a later date.

Remember earlier when we talked about using location tracking to improve your app? Retail store integration is another opportunity to leverage this feature.

Set up beacons throughout your store to track an app user’s movements. If you see that they spend significant time browsing in a particular aisle, you’ll have a better understanding of their needs.

For example, let’s say a user is standing in an aisle for makeup. You can send them a push notification in real-time for a discount on cosmetics.

12. Mobile Optimized Product Descriptions

Every product on your app must have a description. But these descriptions must be optimized for mobile devices.

Desktop users have the benefit of viewing product descriptions on a 13 or 15-inch screen. But that screen is just four or five inches from the app. So if your product description includes lengthy paragraphs, it will be challenging for users to read.

In a perfect world, your app and ecommerce site will have identical descriptions for products. But consider using an alternate description to shorten things on your mobile app. This mobile commerce tip will yield higher conversions.

I recommend short bullet points that render two lines at most from a mobile device.

Analyze your existing product descriptions and determine what can be eliminated to shorten the length.

13. Mobile Optimized Product Images

Let’s continue discussing the way your products are presented in an app. You must include mobile-optimized images as well.

The inability to touch and feel a product is one of the most difficult aspects of making an online purchase. Consumers rely on detailed and accurate photographs to eliminate this barrier.

Research shows that an inaccurate depiction of products is a leading cause of returns.

Product return reasons

Your app should include as many product images as possible. These must be high-quality and show the product from every angle.

If possible, find a way to show the items to scale. Show action shots and people modeling or using the product.

For example, let’s say you’re selling a shirt. A person wearing the shirt would provide more value to a customer than a shirt sitting on a table or plain background.

According to a case study from CXL Institute, product images with a 360-degree spin feature can boost conversions by up to 27%.

14. Simple Returns

In a perfect world, all of your customers will be happy with your products. But we both know that’s not the case.

Returns are part of running an online retail business. Don’t make this a hassle for your customers.

92% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand again if they experience a simple returns process. 67% of people check a company’s return policy before finalizing a purchase.

Furthermore, poor return policies are a leading cause of shopping cart abandonment.

abandonment cart reasons

Always offer free returns.

Allow users to facilitate the return process directly through the app. You can take a page from Amazon’s playbook and generate a QR code in the app. That code can be scanned and processed at UPS or FedEx store.

You know that returns are bound to happen. Making them easy for app users will keep those customers coming back to make more purchases in the future.

15. App Analytics

Use app analytics to make continuous improvements in your mobile commerce app. You can track things like:

  • Product page conversion rates
  • Most popular payment methods
  • Section of the screen that’s clicked the most
  • Geographic location of app users
  • Types of mobile device being used
  • Daily app usage per user
  • Duration of app usage per visit
  • App crashes
  • Bugs and error reports

The list goes on and on. This type of information is extremely valuable. You might learn something about the behavior of app users that could trigger a change in your app.

Don’t assume that your app is perfect the way it is. There’s a good chance that it’s not. App analytics will help you make significant improvements.

Conclusion

If you have an ecommerce mobile app, you need to add these must-have features if you want it to be successful.

All of the information above is based on actual research from high-performing apps.

Subscribe to the BuildFire blog to get insightful mobile commerce tips and best practices delivered to your inbox. We’re constantly publishing updated content to help Shopify store owners and ecommerce apps drive sales.

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