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63 from the obvious factors such as price and fitness for purpose, two integral points in any industry’ s mobile app strategy are boosting awareness and keeping your audience engaged.
# 1: Fitness for purpose and usage: With any management system, fitness for purpose is one of the most important considerations. You need to understand what purpose the new technology( an app in this case) is intended to serve and then make sure it can do that, or at least most of it, and also has the potential to grow with your needs.
Research shows that simplifying the user’ s life and ease of operation are two key drivers of app usage. In fact, 63 % of frequently used apps have an attribute that makes the user’ s life easier. One of the key considerations in deciding whether an app is fit for your purpose is determining how much value that app will add to the community member’ s life.
# 2: Integration: Once introduced, the app will have to be supported and maintained. The multiplicity of databases and systems that need to be co-ordinated is already a massive challenge for community management committees, and you need to take care not to let the app become yet another administrative burden. Making applications part of, or at least smoothly integrated with, the rest of the community’ s management systems should be an important consideration. to carry a price tag of at least R 100 000 and probably more than R 500 000. The upfront development cost is not all, though. The total cost of ownership of the application to the entire community includes the costs to members( subscription fees) and operational costs as well. Research has shown that 82 % of users are price-sensitive when asked to download an app, and that three out of four people expect apps to be free. To ensure good member uptake and usage, we do not recommend charging the members for downloading or using the app.
# 4: App discovery and installation: Apps are different from websites in that members can’ t simply search for it in Google and then start using it. The app needs to be introduced to members, who should then be guided to the app for installation. A decision also needs to be made about what platforms the app should be made available on( e. g. iPhone, Android), as separate apps are required for the different mobile operating systems.
Regardless of the details about platforms, introduction methods and so on, the app will have to be promoted and supported by the management committee. As with any new system, members will have to be educated and assisted on the benefits and uses of the app.
Adriaan Odendaal www. glovent. co. za
# 3: Price( total cost of ownership for the community): Costing a mobile app is very much like costing a website, in that the pricing varies greatly. It is also very difficult to compare quotes, as it is almost impossible to know exactly what will be delivered. Application development is not cheap, though, and developing a good lifestyle application for residential communities is likely
References: www. marketingland. com www. thinkwithgoogle. com www. thenextweb. com www. nielsen. com