5 Tips to Get your Apps Ready for Christmas

The Christmas week is the most important holiday of the year as it coincides with a week-long vacation until New Year’s Eve. From shopping to vacation, consumers engage in a great spending frenzy in the Christmas week. How can this be used to the advantage of your business? Studies show that mCommerce has overtaken eCommerce in terms of the sales volume and is poised to show great trends in the coming months. With this being the case, redirecting your efforts towards app-based sales can be a great way of boosting revenue. 

The following tips can help you boost app sales during the holiday season

1. Holiday-themed designs

The joy of the holiday season needs to be embedded into the website through imagery and relevant designs. A good way to go about this is to incorporate elements such as Christmas hats and Christmas trees into the logo or other relevant places on the websites. A reddish hue to the website can also bring out the holiday mood in the theme of the website!

2. Festive Features

Strategic action items such as buttons and drop down boxes can be redesigned to match the holiday code. Giving a spin to these features can make them interesting to customers and increase the engagement. This goes a long way in boosting conversions.

3. Capturing customer base through contests

Holiday-themed contests and competitions that are promoted through apps can drive app installs ahead of Christmas. The application can also be used to drive engagement on your social media page! User-generated content such as tags, comments, and reviews boost visibility on social media.

4. Push Notifications

Push Notifications are the best marketing tools at your disposal. Using them judiciously to target customers can see great returns as they can be sent free of cost and do not work on “Pay-per-click” mechanisms. This offers an endless opportunity for you to notify your customers of exciting deals and discounts.

5. Coupons and Offers to sweeten the deal

This is the final nail in the deal. Thanks to data capture, it is easy to learn about individual users and segregate them on the basis of their preferences. You can now use the same to personalize deals and discounts and roll them out to customers who show a higher chance of conversion. This can optimize marketing spends and enhance returns!

Looking for a stellar team to execute your app revamp? Get in touch with Openwave, a leading mobile app development company in New York. Our team of app developers can help you develop a mobile app that is well-adapted to aid your holiday sales. 

10 Businesses that will be the Next Focus of On-Demand Mobile Apps

In the era of the Uber and the AirBnB, On-Demand app development is the next big thing. These apps have shown businesses how entire markets can be disrupted by offering services through mobile apps.  As smartphones become more popular in the developing world, newer markets will get opened up that improve the scope of app-based services. The following industries and sectors are expected to be transformed immensely in the coming years with on-demand apps taking center stage:

1. Vehicle Repairs

Applications like CarAdvise which help aggregate a network of automobile mechanics whose services can be availed through a mobile app.

2. Car Rentals

Existing players in this segment include Enterprise who make it easy for drivers to rent a car through their smartphones and pay on a pro-rata basis.

3. Logistics and trucking

Apps like Convoy are now gaining traction in the market due to the relative ease they offer to customers for renting trucks.

4. Warehouse management

Using apps to display a layout of a warehouse location, businesses can rent out spaces and commoditize them with efficiency. 

5. Packers and Movers

Apps like Dolly are offering packers and movers services through smartphone applications making it easy for users to book services and pay for the same with ease.

6. Interior Designs and Home Decor

Applications like Feather and in Lease are in this space where they offer furniture and other Home Decor solutions to consumers through mobile apps.

7. Travel and Ticketing

Some of the biggest names in this industry include Expedia and MakeMyTrip who are now known for having brought together order in the private bus and flight booking space.

8. Daycare and Babysitting

Apps like Zum and UrbanSitter have made it easy to reach out to a daycare center or professional babysitters and avail their services.

9. Tutorials and Coaching

Leading players in this sector include Khan Academy and Coursera. These applications are now making education and tutors accessible to the next generation.

10. Hyper local Food Delivery

Apps like Uber eats are the leading players in this segment and are transforming food delivery by bringing smartphones into the equation.

If you want to be part of the revolution when it takes center stage, then break a sweat and get into this highly competitive industry. Enlist the services of expert mobile app developers and bring new business models to the app market. We, Openwave, lead the globe in on-demand app development. Our team of developers has partnered with several businesses to build apps such as Taxi aggregators and hyper local food-delivery services. Get in touch with our business team today.

4 Benefits that Mobile Apps Offer to the Education System

Ever since the advent of the internet, its influence on the education system has made gradual strides. From early computer labs in schools to the computer-based classroom lessons, the internet has been a major factor in improving the accessibility to good quality education. In the era of smartphones, almost every student in the western world and in rapidly developing economies either own or have access to smartphones. With this, the role of educational apps is quickly ascending from a learning aid to the primary mode of learning. 

Here’s how EdTech apps will transform the education sector

1. Learning on the go

Unlike the traditional model of education where students are usually confined to classrooms or learning centers, learning apps offer a very comfortable mode of education where kids can learn from anywhere they choose to. They can even learn on the commute or from the confines of their bedrooms. This flexibility can help students learn at their leisure. 

2. Immersive and Interactive experience 

Unlike classroom-based learning where the responsibility of making a lesson interesting falls onto the teacher, mobile apps augment videos and animations to provide an immersive learning experience. This makes it easy for students to visualize and relate to concepts. 

3. Round-the-clock availability 

Mobile apps can be accessed at any time of the day. With AI-based learning coming to the fray, students can access video lectures and get their queries handled at any time of the day or night making it a highly flexible mode of learning. It is also useful for students who may have missed an important lesson and may want to access it later. 

4. Personalized Attention 

By conducting assessments and quizzes through the learning app, teachers can get to view individual performances and consolidated performances of each student. This can be later used to identify weak spots in a student’s understanding and personalized lessons or lectures can be imparted through the app medium. This is highly effective for helping out slow learners.

If you are a school or an educational institution that is looking to invest in education app development to improve the value-add for your students; then get in touch with Openwave, a globally acclaimed mobile app development company based out of the US. To know more about our offerings, feel free to call our team of mobile app developers based out of New York.

How to Boost Holiday Sales with Mobile Apps?

The holiday season is the time of the year when brands focus on boosting their revenues. For small businesses that do not boast of a deep pocket, an efficient way of driving holiday sales is by adopting an app-sales strategy that helps them retain customers and see better ROI per customer. The best way to accomplish this is to follow a conservative strategy that is effective at targeting customers individually. 

The following methods have shown to bear better results:

1. Set the festive tone

This is the best way to make your apps attractive and in-tune with the festive mood. Also festive icons that are holiday-themed can generate user interest. This is a great way of keeping customers engaged with the apps and boost eCommerce sales for the holiday season.

2. Launch a loyalty rewards program

Close to the holidays, running a festival scheme or offer that adds lucrative credits and purchase points can increase the number of repeat purchases. Also, incentivizing word-of-mouth promotions through shares and referrals can also bring in more installs and sales. This is a great way of protecting the app investment.

3. Deploy proven promotion tactics

Lucky draw coupons and prizes are an economical way of drawing in user interest. By announcing daily winners and awarding them with lucrative gifts can bring in curious users who may be interested in winning a gift for themselves.

4. Announce contests

Social media is a powerful tool for promoting a brand. By running a contest or trivia that resonates with the festive mood, businesses can get more followers on Social Media. This can be translated into app installs by offering coupon codes and rebates on first purchases.

5. Holiday-themed goods

By promoting seasonal products that have a high demand around the festive season; more user installs can be achieved. Products such as Santa Costumes, Toffees, Pumpkins are in high demand around Halloween or Christmas. Start promotions early with a discount on these products, to reel in more customers.

Being the last quarter before the year draws to close, it is important that you adopt such a strategy to clear stocks. If you are worried about the lack of right developers for such a crucial project, get in touch with Openwave, a leading mobile apps development company with a strong team that specializes in helping small firms scale up operations through apps. Partner with us and increase eCommerce sales for the Holiday season.

Offer your services in all dimensions by developing an AR app

Offer your services in all dimensions by developing an AR app

Do you run an SME or a Startup? Here are 7 ways in which apps can help you

For any startup or mid-sized company, the one hurdle that stands between them and scaling up is money, more specifically, money for marketing. Marketing is the most luxurious investment any company can indulge in, which is exactly why only the large businesses are capable of throwing up marketing campaigns that actually get the word out. For small companies, such exercises are cost prohibitive and ineffective. Hence, the best way for them to scale up is to find innovative means of marketing themselves and getting marketing expense paid for by their customers. Is this possible? Yes. How? Through mobile apps development!

Mobile apps are the best way for small businesses to scale up their operations and reach out to a wide customer at the same. Here’s why small businesses should consider a business app for enhancing customer reach:

1. Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty programs can be executed in a cost-effective manner with personalized features such as loyalty points and analytics of customer activity. This optimizes spends.

2. Geo-Targeted Marketing & Sales

While targeted marketed is prevalent on Social Media, their efficacy on apps is a notch higher due to the facts that push notifications are more effective than pop-up ads.

3. eCommerce ready

The sales process on mobile screens are a lot more effective than on desktops. This makes them more effective for eCommerce (or mCommerce as it is increasingly known as).

4. Simplified Payments

Thanks to mobile wallets and credit cards, eCommerce apps today can be attached to bank accounts directly thereby enabling a smooth and secure transaction medium.

5. Better UX

The user experience that is delivered by apps is several orders of magnitude better than what is offered on websites. Also, the interface is intuitive, thereby making it easier to spend more time on apps.

6. Personalized Customer engagement

Apps today offer the most personalized services by means of push notifications and inbuilt customer feedback mechanisms. All of this makes the customer engagement superior compared to desktop-based methods.

7. Enhanced Visibility 

Smart apps boast of a better visibility than their website counterparts. This is because users spend more time looking at their smartphone screens than on their desktops. This aids in brand recall.

Much like money, time is a valuable resource too! If you are a startup or an SME, don’t waste your time on contemplating and get started with mobile app development. Partner with a reputed developer like Openwave and get your business app built at an affordable price.

Mobile app myths that businesses should not buy into

It is no longer a secret that mobile apps are the next big thing in the B2B and B2C industries. Thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones and the proliferation of Google’s popular Android OS, thousands of companies and millions of users interact with each other through smartphones where each individual company offers a version of its service through a business app. 

The app economy is one that all industries are trying to be a part of, as offering services through mobile applications is the best way for businesses to serve their customers efficiently. This being the case, the demand for dedicated app developers and mobile app development companies are on the rise. However, before setting out to create mobile applications for their services, businesses should take a few precautions and bear a few things in mind.

Here are 4 myths about mobile apps that businesses should be wary of:

1) Users and Customers are synonyms

Contrary to popular belief, not all app users are customers. Market research has shown that most average apps lose close to 90% of their users within one month from installation. The 10% that remains after their period of attrition, these are the customers that businesses should target as these users tend to have a real use for the app.

2) Good apps do not need marketing

This is yet again a myth. Close to 3.3 million applications exist on Google’s Play Store and another 2.2 million on Apple’s app store. Unless businesses market their apps effectively both pre-launch and post-launch, the apps are likely to fade into the marketplace without a trace.

3) Developing mobile apps can be expensive

Not all mobile apps are expensive to develop. The apps that pack in quite a few features, they tend to be expensive to develop owing to their complex mobile app design. However, by partnering with a mobile app development company like Openwave who offer low-cost development packages, the cost of development can be kept low and well within affordability.

4) Mobile apps need high-speed internet

This statement is another wrongly propagated myth. In order to cater to the developing markets such as India and Africa where high-speed internet connectivity is still yet to take off in a big way, several app developers specialize in developing apps that work flawlessly in low-speed internet. 

For firms looking to develop robust business apps to cater to their customers, Openwave offers a highly affordable Mobile app development service. Businesses can get in touch with us to develop effective mobile applications.