Month: November 2019

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How to Hire An App Developer

Finding an application programmer isn’t that difficult these days, it’s finding just the best one for your company that can be complicated.

As somebody who has built an app development company as well as collaborated with clients throughout sectors on their applications, I can inform you that locating the appropriate companion is more important than conserving a couple of hundred or thousand dollars in constructing your product. The best partner can include value in even more means than simply advancement, which will certainly aid you to make the best use of earnings for your app business.

Allow’s get going with what you need to look for in an application programmer to make the appropriate decision for your application organisation.

Seek a programmer that thinks about your company, not just the advancement.

An excellent growth business ought to have the ability to not only direct you with the procedure of growth, however likewise provide you imaginative input based upon their experience with comparable apps.The good ones recognize what jobs and also what doesn’t on the app shop due to the fact that they’ve worked with lots of clients.

Analyze their portfolio.

A great developer has to also have exceptional U/UX skills. When looking at their profile, watch out for attractive looking applications with exceptional user interfaces. Sixty percent of your application is about how an individual connects with it.

Inspect client recommendations.

Search for designers that will conveniently extend client contact details so that you can get actual responses on their company.

Pick someone you can construct a relationship with.

Mobile app growth is not a one-time activity. Apps need to go with numerous advancements and also cycles based on constant customer responses. Try to find a designer that will certainly stick to you via the lifecycle of the item as well as not abandon ship once the first development is done and the app is hosted.

Don’t let rate drive you.

Do not, as well as I repeat, do not choose a growth partner based upon an estimate. You need a fantastic product, not the least expensive product.

Every start-up or entrepreneur has a budget. However commonly the most affordable cost choice can turn out to be more expensive in the future, if, say, for example, it’s essential to renovate the app with another programmer because it really did not turn out as anticipated.

Think of the entire plan, not just the coding.

Building an app is not almost coding. It’s likewise concerning developing a functional design as well as thinking about the individual experience. Do not select independent app developers unless you currently have access to a team that will certainly do the rest of the features such as layout, usability, and screening.

Make design a leading concern.

Just how a web site or an application looks is as crucial as just how it works. Go an action additionally as well as take a look at partners that can add worth to the used facet of your web site or mobile app, which will certainly specify how individuals engage with your product.

Concentrate on the appropriate aspects of your business and you’ll have a far better shot at choosing the ideal app programmer. It’s an essential decision. The awareness of your vision frequents your designer’s hands. Pick wisely.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechProductsSaaS

Creating Push Notifications That Improve The User Experience

Do you really know what push notification means?

Push notifications are messages that are sent through the server of a mobile app to notify about news, offers or updates. Every type of business always has some news or last-minute information that it wants to share with its customers. Before now, reaching all your audience takes time and was complicated. Thanks to the technological advancement that has taken place in recent years, we no longer have to wait for the courier company to deliver the correspondence, or for our commercials to call all customers to comment on the offers. Today we have the famous Push Notifications!

Push notifications can be a very effective communication channel for your business, since, unlike emails, which can often be blocked by anti-spam filters, they can speak directly with the users through their most personal device.

We are all attracted to our mobile devices and this becomes something that we hardly manage to control. The impulse to look at it appears especially when we receive a push notification. However, it should be noted that our curiosity continues to insist on looking at our mobile phones, even without receiving any notification.

Given this change in behavior and receiving information, brands must learn to take advantage of the enormous potential that communication using mobile app offers. However, special care must be taken, since no one likes to receive notification that adds no value. Brands can take advantage of this marketing channel in several ways, including to:

  • Promote and advertise products and services
  • Increase sales and brand awareness
  • Improve the experience with the brand and ensure loyalty
  • Turn app users into loyal customers

Currently, people, having access to the internet from their mobile devices receive numerous notifications not only from their social networks and applications but also from the system itself. This, as expected, becomes frustrating for users as there is no way of knowing if that notification is of importance to them unless they review it.

However, as app developers, you know that notifications are necessary, not only to report critical errors or new available versions, but they can also be used as a form of marketing. If you deliver the correct information at the right time, your users will develop a link with your application and that way, the user experience will be improved.

We list 5 points to keep in mind to improve your notifications and therefore the user experience.

1. Importance

Before designing notifications, you should ask yourself if it is really necessary. Previously, we have said that keeping the user informed is essential to improve their experience with your application. But many times the user does not need to know, that is, many times the notifications are purely informative and there is no action that the user can take. On the other hand, if these are critical errors of application performance that could result in loss of data and that depends on some user action, in that case, notifications are necessary.

2. Relevance

The best form to determine the relevance of your push notification is to analyze user information. When designing notifications, pay special attention to the behavior patterns of your users, any other type of information about your target audience will help you at this stage.

Designing relevant notifications also requires you to be timely and those notifications are sent at times when the user is less likely to ignore them.

3. Customization

It is a good idea to give users some control over the notifications they want to see. This is especially useful if you don’t have enough information about your target audience and you don’t know which notification might be relevant to your users. In a while, you can see which notifications your users consider more useful and timely and which not.

The option to customize notifications also generates user satisfaction, since they will never see a notification they don’t want. This will greatly improve the user experience which is important in every interface.

4. Clear and understandable message

Regardless of the type of content of your notification, be sure to use a language that the user understands. The message must be clear, concise and completely understandable. Remember that notifications are just one more part of your image as a brand or company, so you must take into account the communication tone, and above all, be creative.

5. Effective delivery

There are many ways to send notifications: by text message, by email, pop-up windows, etc. To determine which delivery method is appropriate for your notifications, it is important to differentiate two types of interaction: “Product to user notifications” and “user to user notifications”. Depending on the purpose of your application, these notifications have different levels of priority. For example, a Facebook user would be more interested in seeing their notifications about the photos they have been tagged in than seeing a notification about a survey.

You should contact app developers for animated, personalized, interactive and geolocated images push notification through your application. It has become the most efficient digital channel for your communications and helps you improve customer loyalty and conversion. App developers can create push notification service for your application and website that integrates with all major CRM and CMS platforms.

Improve the loyalty, retention, and conversion of your users and increase the value of your brand, especially before your brand with strategy well suited to ensure that you use notifications that improve user experience.

Author Bio

Ricky Brown is an energetic content strategist and marketer at App Development Companies, the platform that helps you to find best IT Partner for your app, web and software requirements across the globe.

InsightsProductsSaaS

How To Perform Test Order On Shopify

Do you want to make sure that your order settings are correct or not?

Say no more!

There are a lot of situations when people get issues with their orders on Shopify. The sole reason for these problems is the lack of testing and pre-planning. A good Shopify store needs to make sure that the process of checking out and other order settings are working well.

Shopify test order can certainly help you with this. With it, you can check various things such as inventory, shipping, taxes, notifications, etc.

Moreover, you will not be charged even a penny to make a test order. Therefore, it is recommended for every shop owner to make at least one test order before setting up the store, or at the time when you make some changes in the payment system.

  • You can use these three ways to make a Shopify test order:
  • Using bogus gateway by Shopify to make a pseudo transaction
  • Placing an actual order and canceling it afterward immediately

Using Shopify payments

To learn how to set up configurations for testing orders using Shopify payments, refer to this article.

Let us have a look at the first method in a detailed manner:

Placing a test order with bogus transaction

The bogus gateway provided by Shopify can be utilized for simulating a transaction in it. It acts as a payment provider and with the help of this; any store can be used for test order.

Moreover, all the orders will be treated as test orders when the bogus gateway is settled up.

Note that you are still required to provide the payment information in order to checkout. The information details are provided in the latter part of this post.

Here are the necessary steps that are required for setting up the Shopify test order:

1. First off, visit the settings panel in your Shopify admin dashboard and then navigate to the option that says “Payment providers”.

2. Make sure that you deactivate any credit card service that you’ve enabled. Also, deactivate the Shopify payments service and then confirm the action through a prompt.

3. This should provide you an option that says “accept credit cards”. Navigate to add a provider button in that section.

4. From there you are required to navigate to the section that says “third party credit card provider” and then you need to open the drop-down menu of providers.

5. Then you have to select the category that says “others” under the drop-down of providers section. There you will see the bogus gateway option, select it.

6. Then just click on the continue button followed by the activate button.

7. Then just visit your store and make an order as a customer. At the time of checkout, you are required to put credit card details. The fun thing is that these details act as the controller of the simulation. To know-how, keep reading.

The details of the credit card

The first field is the name field where you are required to enter a bogus gateway as the value.

Next up is the number of credit cards and that is where the real fun part comes. Here are the different inputs that show a different output every time you enter them:

  • If you will enter 1 as the input then the simulation will be for a successful transaction.
  • If you will enter 2 then it will land you to a failed transaction.
  • Upon entering 3 as the input, there will be a unique error that will indicate that the problem exists due to the provider.

Rest all the details can be put random.

Conclusion

So that was all about Shopify bogus orders. If you are looking for an online Shopify store builder, then Liquidblox certainly fits the bill.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaS

5 Helpful Tools for Software Development Startups

You have a great idea, drive, and you’re ready to get your feet wet with a startup. But where do you begin? And how are you going to figure out how to run all the complex areas of a business?

Trying to get a company off the ground can be overwhelming. And keeping costs low while making sure you have all of your operational tools in line can be a challenge.

Fortunately, there are a number of tools to assist you in getting your startup off and running. From financials to marketing, creating a virtual team of tools will give you a well-rounded business plan. Here are 5 that are worth checking out.

1. Track Tasks with Asana

Created by two Facebook founders, there is a reason Asana is used by over 70,000 companies worldwide. The user-friendly, social media-style format and intuitive tools are essential in staying organized. It’s a great tool for teams to track and collaborate who is doing what and when. It is essential to communicating and delegating among your team.

Like a virtual project manager, Asana makes large projects more manageable. Bigger projects can be easily broken into smaller tasks. Assigning and transferring tasks among employees is easy and convenient. Timelines and milestones can be created to manage deadlines. The activity feed, to-do list, and reminders will keep employees on track.

Asana can be used for communication and meeting planning. You can make managing schedules easier with Asana’s calendar tool. With everything from marketing tools to sales tracking, Asana is the well-rounded tool your startup needs to function efficiently.

The basic version is free but is limited in features. Higher priced plans are reasonable in cost but include access to more features and greater customization. A free trial is available so you can check it out before committing.

2. Manage Your Finances with Wave

One of the most intimidating tasks in starting a business is managing the financials. Especially if you don’t have any background in accounting or banking. Wave is a reasonably priced option to take the guesswork out of the large variety of financial tasks involved with running a business.

Wave’s payroll system can manage internal financial needs like direct deposit. Employees have access to tools for budgeting, investments, and other personal finance needs. 

Wave can also be used for billing with customizable invoice templates. Sales tax can be added easily, and the generated invoices can be easily mailed to customers. Customers then have the option to pay their invoice by credit card.

The reconciliation tool gives businesses the ability to connect their bank, PayPal, and other financial accounts. Receipts can be recorded in the system, and transactions can be easily categorized. This combination of features makes generating accounting reports quick and efficient.

Wave is incredibly affordable. The accounting, invoicing, and receipt features are free. Each credit card and ACH transaction is charged a service fee. Payroll features have a monthly subscription cost with a per-employee fee.

3. Using Mailchimp for Marketing

Letting customers know that you exist is a huge hurdle in the startup world. Get the word out about your company using Mailchimp. Design and send your company’s emails from this easy to use program. The program allows you to create eye-catching, professional-looking emails with little to no design experience.

Priced reasonably, the company even has a free version of the program available. This option has a 10,000 email per month sending limit and access to basic email templates. Still, it may be enough to meet the needs of a start-up at no cost.

The paid versions gain you access to great features. Additional email templates are available for customizing messages. The plan also includes chat and email support. The ability to target on social media is a valuable feature of the paid plans. 

Not ready for the commitment? Mailchimp offers a pay as you go option. Credits can be purchased, then applied to your communications individually. This is a great option for a startup that’s not emailing a ton yet.

4. Handling HR with Recruiterflow

Good employees can be tough to find. Finding and attracting high-quality applicants can be challenging, especially when trying to avoid the costs associated with agencies. Simplify your recruiting process and keep costs low with Recruiterflow. The simple to use interface makes the hiring process more efficient, and the low cost makes it an attractive option.

Recruiterflow makes it easy for you to post job openings and track their engagement. It also stores easily-searchable resumes to keep a candidate database. You can quickly screen applicants by qualifications and reach out to candidates. Interview instructions, as well as candidate scorecards, can be managed in the system.

The system enhances the communication of everyone on the hiring team with email and calendar synchronization. Reports can be generated to find potential improvements in your recruiting process.

There are several plan options available. Recruiterflow even has a plan tailored to new and growing businesses. There is a 14-day trial available before committing to a monthly plan.

5. Manage Documents with ContractZen

You don’t need a full legal team to keep your company secure and in compliance. ContractZen can manage your legal documents and help you minimize risk. Use this cloud-based program to transfer, sign, and store documents securely.

You can send and request signatures on contracts digitally with the E-signature feature. This makes getting legal documents signed from third parties safer and more efficient.

The unique Virtual Data Room feature gives you the ability to access your company’s documents from anywhere. The Full-text search feature allows you to search for documents easily. Tax documents are stored securely, and easy to find should an audit arise. 

The program also gives you the ability to better coordinate meetings. The scheduler allows meeting attendees to agree on the best time. Meeting documents can be exchanged, and meeting minutes can be signed right in the program. 

This easy-to-use service also comes with a reasonable price tag. The less than $10 per month is worth the legal peace of mind. A thirty-day trial is available before committing.

6. Administrate Employee’s Attendance With factoHR

The difficulties that occur in recruiting a top talent continue as well in retaining them for a longer span. With factoHR’s attendance management system, the crucial and daily task of employees’ attendance marking will be simplified. How will it remain if you can bring more flexibility and engagement in performing such actions? Surely you can get such benefits using this attendance management tool.

It is an integrated and automated platform that determines the total working hours of the employees by allowing them to punch in and out using a mobile app, web portal, and biometric machines with geo-tracking, geo-fencing, and face recognition authenticity features. All these features together enhance punctuality in the workplace and make the employees more efficient.  

Moreover, employees can be involved in the attendance management process using the mobile application and ESS portal. Here they can perform attendance regularization, request for OT and comp-off, manage late coming and early going actions with the leave balance.

The system enhances its usability by allowing you to download various reports related to the employees’ attendance, like in/out punches, late coming, and early going based on specified months. What’s more? You can directly link the attendance data with payroll to accurately calculate employees’ salaries. Thus, factoHR is a unified solution that entirely handles all the aspects related to the workforce, making it a perfect choice for your organization.         

Conclusion

Starting a business can be a scary feat. There are so many working parts and pieces to fit together. Like the CICD pipeline, you have to make sure you’re being organized, especially when the business you’re starting involves software development.

There’s a lot of effort involved in researching what tools are best for you, and the effort can be a little daunting at times. You might be tempted to go with whatever tools you find first on a Google search, but it’s best to forgo that idea. Making sure you have the right tools in your arsenal will give you confidence and be your best chance for success.

DevelopmentInsightsProductsSaaS

Reasons to Choose Flutter for Next Mobile App Development Project

Mobile applications are the newest way to promote business along with expanding the reach of a product or service to the maximum number of users. Seeing the potential of mobile applications, many businesses as well startups are making up their minds to invest in the mobile app development project.

Also, businesses, on the other hand, are expecting that mobile app development companies should bring up something to them so that they can easily target a different set of audiences from a single application. In short, businesses seeking better growth in the market are willing to target iOS and Android users at the same time or better say a cross-platform application.

Seeing the constant demand for the same, Flutter mobile app development companies are continuously evolving their way of developing an application in order to provide maximum benefit to the clients that too in their estimated budget.

Meanwhile, developing a cross-platform application sometimes looks a bit problematic for mobile app developers as users experience lags behind in comparison to actual native apps. To give a cure to such issues, various mobile frameworks like React Native, Xamarin, AngularJS, and now Google’s Flutter are making a big around the Flutter mobile app development industry. 

Among many frameworks, Flutter is taking the lead and entering the app development industry in a full form making it mandatory for users to know its introduction to the core. Here are the reasons showcasing how Flutter is flourishing in the app development company giving ease, and comfort to the mobile app developers.

Reasons to choose Flutter mobile app development

1. Flutter is overcoming traditional cross-platform approaches

Earlier it was difficult to go ahead with offering one app on two different approaches (Android and iOS) for users who often complain of great user experience in comparison with native applications. 

This is the reason, with Flutter the headache of writing too many substitutes with a “write once” approach. By using so, one can create a high-performance application and in return offer a native experience to the users due to Ahead of time compiled, machine binary executable.

2. Productivity increases in mobile app developers

Due to the feature of hot reload in Flutter and Hot Restart, it allows developers to notice and see changes when developing an app that too in less than one second. Also, using Flutter, it is easier for developers to make changes in the overall app structure in a few seconds.

3. Coding for both- Backend and Frontend

As compared to Android coding which uses View for frontend and Java for backend, Flutter uses a single language called Dart for both frontend and backend.

Dart has been built from the amalgamation of popular features of other languages without losing the essence of Java while keeping the developer’s ease in mind.

4. It is more powerful

Flutter offers the ease of creating powerful UI experiences that too out of the box. Thus, it helps mobile app developers in producing a smooth, glitch-free, lag-free, crisp experience similar to the experience one gets when using native application.

Also, flutter consists of widgets that implement Human Interface Design specifications for iOS offering a great native feel on Apple’s devices.

5. It got the support of various IDEs

When using Flutter, developers can choose the codes from a number of Integrated Development Environments. This is the reason, Flutter is everywhere, be it in the process of developing an application or putting it in the process of MVP app development.

6. It got widgets too

Almost everything in Flutter is said to be a widget like Appbar, Snackbar, Drawer, Scaffold, etc. Also, by using Flutter, it is easy to wrap one widget inside another. This is the reason, Flutter thus offers a great experience to the users.

7. 2Dimension Flare makes Animation easy

Animations give actual life to the overall mobile application. 2Dimension is the tool that creates extraordinary UI or animations that too with ease to the app developers. Furthermore, it tapes the gap between the UI designer and the developers by reducing the overall time required to apply UI or animation related changes.

8. Flutter is for both- Web and App

Flutter also has prototype flutter apps that work in a web browser too. A top-secret project called hummingbird was unveiled during the flutter live to prove its potential in the market. Sooner, Flutter will be able to use the same codes for creating apps for mobile, desktop and web in an effective and easeful manner.

9. Support from team and community

Flutter is getting a lot of support and encouragement from the flutter team as well as the community formed for it. It has been said that every Wednesday, many of the Flutter community comes up on Zoom to offer live help to the people around the globe. By doing so, it is easy to get the necessary information and required help in a collaborative manner.

These are a few of the reasons which made Flutter the most prominent part of the mobile app development industry. Also, in the coming years, it is also true that Flutter is going to get a huge fan base and developers’ interest all the more.