Revolut

Revolut is one of the fastest growing and well-known fintech companies. What started as an app for money management allowing to send, receive and spend money has grown into one of the leading European mobile banks. For 3 years the company managed to attract 4 million users and reach a valuation of $1.7bln.  Mobile lays in the heart of its successful business model. It is considered as one of the best fintech apps. Some of the features that put them ahead of the competition are:

Fast onboarding:  The team at Revolut did not only focus on creating cool looking mobile app but one that you could start using as quickly as possible.  It is important to remember that 21% of people use an app only once and then abandon it (Localytics, 2018). One of the reasons is the poor onboarding experience. Revolut however, has a fast sign-on process with a minimum need of information that you could complete under 2 minutes. Compare that to the traditional bank where you’d need to fill in lengthy forms to open your account.

Great Visual Language:  The design team knows their target customers well: the millennials(people under 40. Colours are fresh and vibrant away from the corporate grey of HSBC for example.  Other small touches are the emojis and GIFs in transactions and messages. Although the millennials are tech-savvy: Revolut has also world class UX: the app is easy to navigate and work.

Full control: Customers can decide themselves what level of security they prefer. For example, the user can turn off NFC functionality, block online payments or freeze your card etc. And also unfreeze at any time very easily. This puts the user in control and builds loyalty.

Mint

Mint is one of the forefathers of personal finance management and budgeting apps. It is a classic success story and role model for many.

Security:  Lack of consumer trust is one of the biggest problems in front of fintech app adoption.  If you want to have access to your user financial information, security should be high on the priority list.  Mint protects the sensitive data in a separate database using multi-layered hardware that matches the security standard of banks. All of your data is encrypted with a 256-bit encryption level and the data exchanged with Mint is encrypted with 128-bit SSL. Furthermore, they do a great job explaining to the user on the homepage of their website and in the app that their data is at safe hands.

User engagement and retention: There is a high chance that even downloaded your app is going to be used only once. Mint tackles this problem by sending the right messages at the right time with the right content. For instance, events like withdrawing for ATM would trigger a push notification or email to users to inform them. It goes one step further and in the same message offers you information on how to refund your ATM fees. Suddenly as a user you see more value in the product and your loyalty increases. Furthermore Mint also send recurring messages with an overview of how you spend your money.

3.Yulife

YuLife is a kid on the fintech block.  Their app offers life insurance plus wellbeing tools for businesses and individuals.  Yulife’s aim is to “create lasting, positive lifestyle changes by rewarding simple, everyday activities through insurance and game-based app.

Gamification at its finest:  The app uses some of the perks of your phone like pedometer combined with different game challenges to encourage users to collect their unique wellbeing currency called yucoin. The more users do healthy things, like walking the more yucoins they earn to spend in places like Asos, Amazon, Avios etc.

The app uses an underlying human need: the need to play. Gamification is a huge opportunity and still somewhat underestimated by many fintechs as a viable way to increase user engagement. Some behavioural experts claim that we use super successful apps like Uber not only because of the convenience factor but also because it represents a mini-game: seeing how the driver comes to you on the map etc

These are only 3 examples of the best fintech apps out there. When planning your app you could consider some of the features outlined above that could give you a competitive advantage.
If you are a fintech entrepreneur looking for an experienced design and development team: drop us a line
You could also find us on the Eastern Europe Software Development Company directory.

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اپلیکیشن های موبایل have come to rule the world today. Many companies: from Start-ups to Enterprises are actively launching apps for their businesses. Unlike cars or goods, the cost of developing a mobile app is difficult to estimate in the beginning. There are no online catalogues present that would help you decide whether you need $15k or $150k for the project. There are good reasons for this inconveniences. As with any digital project, there are many factors that come into play. We would examine some of the points you should consider when preparing app development budget.

First rule in Budgeting for a Mobile app

The first rule when preparing app development budget is ”Fast, good or cheap. Pick two.”   Sadly this old rule holds true most of the time and you can’t have the three of them. Building an app is a serious endavaour that entails multiple processes and you should be ready to make a compromise based on your business goals.  Approaching app development with this mindset would save you a lot of headaches no matter if you plan to work in-house or to outsource.

Decide on a platform

The first step is to evaluate the platforms that you need your app. Best case scenario you could go for both of them, but if you are cash strapped Start-up sometimes choosing only one could have much better ROI than going for both. Android has a better global coverage: ideal if you want to reach as many people as possible but iOS generates more revenue from ads and in-app purchases. Furthermore developing for iOS is usually quicker than for Android as there are fewer devices.

Outline  Design and Functionality

Once you have selected platforms, it is time to think about the design and functionality of your app. Before you start budgeting, you should have a  solid business plan including the problems your app is solving, target audience, goals etc. You could try to put it down on paper and communicate it to your team for estimation. One of the easiest ways to do so is via user stories and flows. User stories are short, simple descriptions of a feature written in non-technical language. User Flows are the paths that the user follows through your mobile app in order to complete a task or user journey.

Build Inhouse or Outsource

The biggest expense in your app development budget would be the labour cost. Generally speaking, you have two alternatives either hire in-house engineers or approach a development agency aka outsource. The advantages of hiring in-house are better communication and the opportunity to build a team for longer-term success. However, finding the right people could be very time-consuming and hides a lot of costs. You should account for salary, office equipment, holiday and bonus pays etc. When going for outsourcing it is riskier to find the right team for your needs and adds some overhead to your communication. However, it could be cheaper, you would have access to greater expertise and you would pay only for the resources and work that is done. You could read some benefits of outsourcing here

Account for Post-launch Expenses

Many clients spend all their budget on the design and development of an app without accounting for post-launch expenses. A mobile app is not a work of art, so it needs a constant update: from accommodating user feedback to updates for compatibility with a new OS. Another big topic is marketing. There is no reason for your app to existing if nobody knows about it and nobody uses it. “Build it and they will come” does not work in the competitive app landscape. For that reason, you should spend money on things like advertising, AppStore optimisation, influencer marketing etc. The good rule of thumb is to spend around 30% of your total app budget on marketing related activities.

App development is a serious endeavour that requires solid preparation plan. Following the tips above could help you out in the communication with developers. If you are working on mobile-drop us a line

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Blockchain

Blockchain was one of the big hypes in 2017 and is undoubtedly one of the next big things in finance and technology. Furthermore, the surging prices of crypto cryptocurrencies that operate on the blockchain generate a lot of interest from the public and popularise the idea behind the technology.

The concept of digital decentralization and secure peer-to-peer transactions has attracted a lot of enthusiasm from investors to entrepreneurs. The blockchain is expected to be widely adopted in 2018 and by 2020 20 per cent of trade finance globally will incorporate blockchain/distributed ledger technology(according to IDC). Another interesting development in that area is the common project between Deutsche Bank, UBS, Santander and BNY Mellon to launch their own cryptocurrency in 2018.
Finally away from finance, many Start-ups will try to implement the Blockchain in other fields as well. Potential areas would be: healthcare, manufacturing, ID verification even government: Dubai announced its intention to turn itself into the first blockchain-powered government in the world.

Artificial intelligence

Gartner’s studies show that only 40% of enterprises have adopted AI-based solutions in their IT systems. In 2018 the ability to use AI to enhance decision making, reinvent business models and ecosystems, and remake the customer experience will be a major success factor. AI is becoming ever more mainstream: in the coming years, every app will incorporate AI and Machine learning at some level. They will be in our phones and favourite apps, helping us stay connected and do what we do best in the shortest possible time.

Internet of things

As more consumers around the globe purchase smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets which hook them into the web, the expanse of the IoT will only grow ever-greater. Low-power, short-ranged networked devices will be increasingly pushed by companies hoping to cash in on the boom in tech, and millions of more sensors embedded in our world in just a year’s time.
One of the main issues for companies that invest heavily in IoT is the amount of data they generate and how to make meaningful sense out of it.
One possible solution is creating Digital twins. Digital twin is a virtual/digital representation of a physical entity or system. It is more than a blueprint and schematic. Based on real data collected by the sensors and IoT devices, the Digital Twin is an exact replica of its real-life twin in the cloud. It expresses the same behaviour, qualities and problems. Digital twins, in the context of IoT projects, is a promising area over the next three to five years, Gartner says, especially in the manufacturing sector.

Maybe something more?

One thing is for sure 2018 will mark another peak in the development of the three technologies outlined above. However it is the first time that these technologies could potentially take advantage of the others’ capabilities, and together, they may form the foundation of an ecosystem that will change the way humanity lives, works and plays. Imagine healthcare system built around medical records being stored and communicated via the blockchain, connected health devices collecting data and AI making sense out of all of it: helping doctors, optimizing processes, advising on how to live better etc
Would 2018 would be the year for all of that to happen? Only time will tell…

Sources: Gartner,Inc, NetworkWorld

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Marketing is reaching a variety of customers and trying to influence their decisions. Hence it is important to be where people are engaging and spending time.

With its variety of apps, the mobile phone is one of the things that occupy our attention day and night.

For the majority of millennials, the mobile phone is the first thing they reach for in the morning, and more often than not, the last thing they see before they go to bed. An astonishing 83% claim to sleep with their smartphones and 32% of the younger half even use them in the bathrooms. In 2016 the world population has spent 1 trillion hours using mobile apps. App Annie, an app analytics company has discovered that the average person launches at least 10 apps per day. Clearly, it is a business opportunity for every company and its brand to capitalise on. But what are some of the benefits of having a mobile-first strategy?

Image source: App Annie

Loyalty:

One of the advantages of having your brand on a mobile app is that it fosters loyalty among your customers. Receiving Push notifications or seeing the brand logo every time they unlock their phone increases customer retention rate. Furthermore, apps could improve everyday offline processes. For example, Walmart launched Walmart Pay feature on its app. Wal-Mart is betting that the new payment system will make the checkout process faster and more convenient, though it can’t yet quantify how much time it saves shoppers

Collect Data:

The Wired Magazine wrote that Data is the new oil: DATA IN THE 21st Century is like Oil in the 18th Century: an immensely, untapped valuable asset. Like oil, for those who see Data’s fundamental value and learn to extract and use it there will be huge rewards.

Nowhere is that truer than in brand marketing. اپلیکیشن های موبایل provide companies with tons of additional data that it could use to improve its marketing and brand efforts via facebook, email etc since data could be collected for everyday interactions of the user. Furthermore, companies would cut the cost of having to buy all this data from 3^rd party services that is often not accurate.

Open doors to more marketing channels:

Virtual and Augmented Reality used to be stuff from sci-fi movies. With the advance in mobile devices technology, it is now more common than ever. With the advancement in mobile computing power. Simple cardboard could turn every phone into Virtual Reality headset. That opens a lot of doors to marketing and ways for users to interact with your product.

For example, Ikea created an app that turned its catalogue to interactive platform. This creative approach meant that app got 6.2 million installs, being the number 1 downloaded marketing app for a brand. Users spent an average of eight minutes with the app compared to three minutes with just the catalogue.

Pitfalls for branded mobile apps

Yet sometimes an app is not one size fits all solution to further popularizing your brand. It should be providing value beyond your product or service. Great dose of creativity is required for launching a truly beneficial app- that provide quality content, entertains users or help them in another way. Many branded apps succeed at getting downloads but fail at retention. We can find apps for brands like McDonald’s with really poor rating at the App store.

Do you already have more ideas in your head how a mobile app could benefit your specific business? If yes, give us a
shout

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