Business Archives - Sparkeighteen

January 17, 2022January 17, 2022

Spark Eighteen completes a wonderful decade!

Today, we kick-off our 10th year anniversary celebrations at Spark Eighteen. Not only is it a special milestone but it also marks the beginning to many more wonderful endeavours. To encapsulate all the fun, memories and learnings we went to our founder, Aayush Narang, and asked him a few questions who walked us through this awesome decade. We also got a peek into what new things are being rolled out in the NY 2022 and the decade to come!

“I wholeheartedly wish to thank the entire SP18 family, the crew, each member from 2012 till today. I’m beyond grateful for all the efforts, breakthroughs, and the numerous memories we’ve created along the way. Congratulations on what we’ve accomplished together!

The positive energy we create as one unit is priceless. This energy is what helps us keep the Spark alive!“
– Aayush Narang

How did the Spark Eighteen journey start?

The journey started back in school when I was selling sweatshirts to my passing batch, that’s exactly where I got the knack to be financially independent and not ask money from my parents for my next phone! Further along, in 2011, I decided to take the road less travelled when I realised that engineering school did not have much to offer me. I registered Spark Eighteen as a company through the first cheque I received my first client – it was twelve thousand rupees, and it was for managing their social media page (FB pages were making the rounds at the time). The name Spark Eighteen was symbolic to my age at the time, though the company only got registered once I needed a bank account to get the 12k in!

What were the early years like?

Early years were the most difficult and the most fun. Early on, it was just for the passion of making your own pocket money, I got used to owning up to my decisions which I believe is a very important life skill. It’s never an easy journey, but I do thank everyone who mentally backed me to make the best decisions of my life. Days were long, I used to attend class, take meetings for Spark Eighteen across NCR, then visit Cookfresh kitchens (my second start-up) and deliver packages (at times), simultaneously I tried out my hand at running a night kitchen too with a few friends. It was literally 20 hour days and I was having the time of my life. I believe 20 hour days gets you 2.5 times the learning a normal person gets, and when you’re grinding 5 years ahead in time, it’ll give you enough time to take up the right path for the future.

How did you transition from pursuing your passion for pocket money into a real business?

Image from 2013 while Costa Coffee was office for Spark Eighteen!

To be fair, it wasn’t a eureka moment. College is where it just struck me. This is what I realised – I’m earning double to what any college placement cell would offer me, I am loving all the attention and the work that I’m doing, I am getting exposure from great people who not only help me learn faster but also value my opinions. I was working with HP, Nasscom, Ministry Of Power and doing so much more on the side as well. I was almost certain that no company is going to give me these learnings, nor earnings at this stage. So I decided to continue what I was doing and it started becoming more formal.

It’s amazing how the journey in these 10 years went from replying emails from the lecture hall, to coffee shops, to co-working spaces, to setting up multiple offices across the country today! I still do love to spend time with my laptops in coffee shops. 🙂

How did Spark Eighteen transition from a Digital Marketing Studio to an IT development company?

There were some really interesting curves along the way. At the core, I’ve always been an entrepreneur and a product person – I love creating new things, I always had the interest to get into the finer details of trends (IT, marketing or anything else) that was shaping the user’s experience, regardless of the domain or industry.

Cookfresh (my second start-up) was picking up at the time, we were widely spoken about, covered in the media but somewhere in us (me and my partner) we knew that the concept was too early in the Indian market for it to become a lifestyle business. While we were concerned about this, we got an acquisition offer from a US company who was trying to build out a similar model in the US. Their interest was to acquire the technology which would save them 6-months in their process. We encashed the opportunity, and as I went through the process of this exit, the same company became SP18’s first US client in IT development, as the company wanted to further build and scale the acquired Cookfresh platform. Along the way, I got more references, and met more people who expanded their IT products and practices using our services. In 2017 we took a conscious call to not scale the marketing services and focus entirely on the IT product services side. Although, we still continue to host our digital teams to help our legacy clientele and our in-house requirements.

How rewarding has the journey been?

Words aren’t enough! I’m really thankful for everything that SP18 has become. To be honest, the early start had a lot to do with materialistic aspirations, however, the funny part is that while money was made in abundance over the years, it didn’t matter as much. I think the biggest satisfaction I have today is that directly or indirectly I credit more than 100 salaries every month, that in most cases puts food on the table for families near and far. Personally, I’m very satiated, my work has got me to traveling the world, talking to really interesting people from different industries and walks of life, it has taught me a great about different cultures and continues to challenge me and teach me something new each day! Like we say, it’s so important to Keep the Spark Alive!

We’ve now steadily reached a point where holistic growth is everything to us. At Spark Eighteen today, my job is mostly to ensure that value is being created for everyone. For all the team members, we usually focus on pillars like – career growth, skill growth and the happiness quotient (our metric of making sure that the environment is great to work in). Nonetheless, it’s been a very rewarding journey, and I love the challenges and surprises it throws at me along the way!

How has this last year, 2021, been for Spark Eighteen?

While the pandemic continued with its highs and lows. We took it upon us to be responsible, and at the same time took this as an opportunity to keep us sane with all the work coming towards us. We grew the most since inception. Notable accomplishments to name a few would be – we started working with Zuora (An enterprise USA SaaS giant in the FinTech space) and Twilio (notably the biggest communication PaaS company). We also opened new offices in Pune. Now we’re present in Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Udaipur and Pune. Very excited for the next offices which are already in talks including an on-shore office in the Bay Area.

As you start the new decade of Spark Eighteen, what are the big plans?

In the past 3 years, Spark Eighteen has grown more than 400%. Last year alone we’ve clocked a record 160%. However, while the scorecard till now has remained revenues and profit, the bigger change we’ve thought of bringing in these coming years is to ‘Change the Narrative’. We stand for holistic growth in whatever we do, making lives of the Spark Eighteen family better every day. As we celebrate the end of first 10 years of Spark Eighteen, there are a few exciting things in motion for the new decade already –

Today, we’re officially incorporated in the US as Spark Eighteen, Inc. SP18 (USA) will be an on-shore office for the technology vertical.
We’re internally testing a EdTech platform which is centred around technology as the core subject. Our intent is to nourish upcoming talents from different developing nations and provide them with amazing global opportunities that SP18 hosts.
We’ll be incubating and accelerating start-ups in India. We realise that the technology experience and expertise across our teams has a great potential to support our Indian start-up community.
We’re well budgeted for R&D and training across verticals to facilitate holistic growth and will be growing that as a stream as well.

Here’s to more such rewarding and unforgettable years, can’t wait to see what the coming years have in store for all of us here at SP18.

Let’s Keep the Spark Alive!

April 19, 2021April 19, 2021

Want to measure your website’s performance? Check out these Key Website Performance Metrics!

The last decade has seen a massive surge in offline businesses and industries migrating to the online world. This process of digitization has made websites the new face of modern markets. But how do you determine if the website is driving results for your business? By understanding the key website performance metrics let you determine the website’s performance. Once understood, they’ll help you tie those loose ends!

Measuring your website’s performance might sound intimidating at times but with the right tools, this process can be quite easy.

There are a lot of free tools out there which can help you measure your website’s performance. Tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Pagespeed insights are some of the most effective ones and will be the main focus here.

Now, let’s dive into some of the Key website performance metrics which can help you towards success:

1. Users

The Users metric helps to find out the number of users who landed on your website in the specified period. This metric helps you understand the amount of incoming traffic and differentiate the new and returning users’ acquisition – giving you intel on your growth rate.

2. Channels

When talking about the users you have acquired over a specific period, it is important to take note of the various channels you have acquired them through. Some of the most important channels to look for are Direct, Organic, Social, Email & Referral. These channels not only specify the numbers of users you have acquired but also help you to understand the effectiveness of your efforts per channel.

3. Bounce Rate

This is one metric that we are sure you’ve come across before and might be one of the most important website performance metrics. In simple words, bounce rate refers to the number of users who left your website without performing any action or spending much time. Keeping track of your website’s bounce rate is crucial when it comes to user retention and conversion. An increased bounce rate is one of the clear indicators that something is not right with your website. Various factors such as an increased loading speed, poor UI, too many calls to action, or misleading content can lead to an increased bounce rate and should be corrected on priority.

4. Average Session Duration

As the name suggests, Average session duration is the average time a user spends during a particular session on your website. Now, why is this website performance metric an important one? It helps you find out which pages on your website are performing better and those that need improvement. If users spend more time on a particular page, it might indicate the type of content your website’s audience prefers. Keeping this in mind, you can prepare your future content to better nurture your audience and improve the average session duration.

5. Core Web Vitals

Core web vitals is a set of factors that Google has introduced keeping user experience as the focus. They can be quite vital for a website’s ranking and performance. Let’s have a closer look at them:

According to Google, the 3 main factors are:

Largest Contentful Paint: It measures perceived load speed and marks the point in the page load timeline when the page’s main content has likely loaded. The ideal speed is 2.5 seconds or faster.
First Input Delay: It measures responsiveness and quantifies the experience users feel when trying to first interact with the page. The ideal measurement is less than 100 seconds.

Cumulative Layout Shift: It measures visual stability and quantifies the amount of unexpected layout shift of visible page content. The ideal measurement is less than 0.1.

6. Behavior Flow

While we have covered various important website performance metrics, it is also important to understand the flow of users on your website. The term “Flow” refers to how users move from one section or page to another. Behavior flow helps you improve the users’ experience by getting rid of any redundant pages or content that may be causing users to bounce off.

7. Website Loading Speed

If you look back at point number 3 – Bounce Rate, talks about the website loading speed and how it is crucial to prevent users from bouncing off your website.

In simple terms, the higher the loading speed of your website, the higher the bounce rate – leading to you losing potential clients and business.

Tools like Pagespeed insights can help you keep a track of your website’s loading speed and give valuable suggestions to bring the loading speed down to acceptable limits.

The loading speed is also one of the major factors when it comes to ranking the websites on search engines – making it one of the most important website performance metrics.

So there you have it, some of the key website performance metrics essential for you to determine your website’s performance and retain those crucial leads.

Can you think of other important metrics that one should consider while assessing a website’s performance?
Drop us an email and let us know! We’d love to write another piece on this topic.

April 13, 2021April 13, 2021

How to build a successful offshore software development team?

Businesses today understand the importance of staying ahead of the competition and being on top of their game. Especially when more and more businesses are warming up to cloud-based services and the SaaS industry is booming – or as Marc Andreessen would say, “is eating up the world”. Here, we will understand how an offshore software development team can help you stay ahead and how to build one.

As software-based products and services are becoming the go-to for any industry, businesses are in need of constant support and dependable tie-ups which can not only execute but take the journey of building and evolving their products with them.

In 2021, thanks to the pandemic, we’ve seen a surge in demand for quality talent and teams, regardless of where they work from. For instance, companies like Spotify have gone completely remote and are welcoming fresh talent to join them from anywhere around the world! A remote workforce is now a reality.

But what about companies who are just starting out? Most of these funded startups can’t spend the time only on hiring and building an engineering team. A wiser approach is to outsource the project to experienced product development companies that can manage the project remotely. This helps them access quality talent, cut down on hiring costs, expedite their time to market while culturing a relationship with a dependable and long-term offshore software development team.

benefits of offshore software development

While the benefits are lucrative, the onboarding of such teams can be a tricky affair. Which is why we broke it all down. These steps should help you navigate through the process seamlessly.

Step #1: Search for the right company

This is the most critical step for every organization or entrepreneur looking to build a successful offshore software development team. One misstep can result in a huge loss of your valuable time and money. The key to building and driving an efficient team is to pick one that:

Can understand your product;
Can understand your industry and has relevant experience;
Can pool in ideas rather than just being an executioner;
Is disciplined and reliable in terms of consistency and support;
Can help you save time to focus on other business macros.

The cornerstone of successfully building an offshore software development team is to first understand the domain knowledge and skills you need your partnering firm to fulfill. Outline your product, break it down into milestones, set up phase-wise feature lists, build tentative timelines against them then list down the skill-sets you need for your product’s development. Pace through your options based on the above list and go for the one that ticks off all the checkboxes.

Step #2: Evaluate and lock commercials

The first step should help you narrow down the best options. Now, to further trim the fat, look for the companies that are giving you the best return on your investment. This doesn’t mean going for the cheapest or the quickest but the one with the most to offer in terms of – business modeling, quality, talent, and other core areas that are a must for you. Typical outsourcing firms end up dedicating resources at an hourly rate. While this is a valid option, it’s not necessarily a fit for your product. In fact, when it comes to the financials around an offshore software development team, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

Commercial models and communication have come out to be the biggest barriers for the majority of our offshore clients in their past. Our team has realized this over the years while working on projects across continents. And based on this experience, we believe one of the following 3 commercial models will come closest to what you need:

Pay by the hour – This is the standard way of how your offshore team bills you. You are charged by the hour based on the number of developers deployed on the project. While this seems practical, entrepreneurs and companies often witness a lack of efficiency from their offshore partners or at least live in the paranoia of it. It happens because sometimes you risk getting overbilled or more hours being exhausted on tasks that otherwise would take a lesser time. This adds to the stress of micromanaging each task and resource in the team.

Retain a team – This comes out to be a more efficient solution for most businesses since you end up employing the offshore team on a monthly basis with periodic reviews. This solution also helps you anticipate if you will end up needing more or less infra and support in your product’s development in the future and tailor the scope accordingly.

Opt for a fixed cost – Having a one-time cost attached to a clear-cut scope helps entrepreneurs or businesses who look for a managed solution – costs, approach, and milestones around all things from inception to completion. This comes out to be a leading option for the more dynamic and intricate projects that span over years.

Step #3: Start with a pilot project

By now you should be comfortable and confident with that one firm you want to shake hands with and get the ball rolling. While you do that, it’s always a good idea to run a pilot project before kicking off work on the main product. A few reasons as to why this comes in handy:

Helps you understand and build comfortable communication with them
Gives you a taste of how much they can actually contribute in the longer run
Allows both of you to familiarise yourselves with the regime and working styles
Lets you foresee the practical quality, efficiency, and flexibility they have to offer

Communication-wise, in addition to the possible language barrier, there can also be varying cultural, environmental, as well as behavioral norms that can lead to the disparity. Luckily, the upside to having a dedicated team is that you don’t have to coordinate with or manage each resource, you just need an experienced project manager.

A project manager will make your life a little easier by removing the burden of supervising your project and the team working on it. Not only that, but they also understand the software development process – in and out. They help in creating and planning the product’s architecture with the core engineering team – ensure its alignment with your core business objectives and keep you in the loop on what’s happening. Since they’ll mostly be the key point of contact, you can test them out during the pilot!

Step #4: Document everything through available tools

Documentation and communication are the lifelines for any organization working with a partner offshore firm. The market is flooded with tools and platforms that can help facilitate this between you and your offshore team. A successful software development process certainly requires some trial and error to ensure that the end product matches the initial vision. So to map and track sprints is a must. This allows you to have retro-sessions, collect data and observe trends which can further enhance the overall performance on both fronts.

Here are a few platforms and tools which are native to documentation and communication processes:

Having worked and set up offshore teams for funded startups across continents, we understand how valuable time can be for new ventures. We hope the above steps shared some perspective and will help you set up the right team you’re looking for!

We have enough experience under the belt to help you build your dream product and would love to help you set up your remote engineering team! Are you free for a quick discovery call? Get in touch with us here!

April 7, 2021April 8, 2021

TTT21 – Top Technology Trends 2021!

What are the top technology trends 2021 that are going to reshape this year? Keep on reading to find out!

Every year, new technological developments seem to appear faster and faster. But thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, technology is now accelerating in a way we have never witnessed before. Whether with the explosion of eCommerce or the increasing use of smart assistants, COVID-19 made the urgency of utilizing digital solutions a necessity, instead of a luxury. As a result, we’ve seen some great innovations come forward.

Table of Content:

Internet of Behaviors
Privacy-enhancing computation
Artificial Intelligence
Distributed Cloud
Total Experience

Business executives around the world are ready to invest hundreds and thousands of dollars in technology that fosters growth, transform, and improves overall efficiency. However, the surge in the number of trends makes hunting for the most relevant applications a tough row to hoe. What are the top technology trends that are here to stay in 2021? What impact will these innovations on your industry? Here we have accumulated the top technology trends that will redefine businesses in 2021:

Top 5 Technology Trends 2021

1. Internet of Behaviors (IoB)

It is quite interesting that Gartner billed the Internet of Behaviors (IoB) as one of the top buzzwords to look out for in 2021. IoB expands from the Internet of Things (IoT) and refers to the blend of data analytics, technology, and behavioral science. In simple terms, it makes use of data and its insights to bring a change in behavior.

An example can be the health-monitoring apps on your smartphone that analyze your sleep patterns, heart rate, diet, blood sugar levels, calories burnt, etc, and suggests behavior modifications on the basis of that data.

Behavior scientists and marketers suggest that personalization plays an important role in increasing the effectiveness of a service. Businesses can use data taken from observed user experience and use it as the ultimate marketing and sales weapon and increase customer engagement. Research shows that the Internet of Behaviors is going to be increasingly adopted and embedded over the coming years. In fact, by 2025 more than half of the world’s population will be subject to at least one IoB system or program.

2. Privacy-enhancing computation

The new era of remote collaboration and the growth of data generation requires the highest level of protection. Privacy-enhancing computation (PEC) does the exact same by controlling technologies that support privacy and data protection from violation and hacker attacks. The trend enables organizations to safely share data without sacrificing confidentiality. It focuses on three technologies that safeguard data while in use:

The first provides a trusted environment in which sensitive data can be analyzed and processed;
The second performs analytics and processing in a decentralized fashion;
The third encrypts data and algorithms before analytics and processing.

Privacy-enhancing computation is an easy and reliable option for any enterprise or facility that wants to keep its data protected under all conditions. For example, banks and other financial facilities can implement PEC to keep customers’ financial data confidential and protected from hackers. Even the healthcare industry can use it to secure the data of each patient in order to track their health statuses effectively.

3. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have always been the most prevalent technologies in the market and their significance reached a peak in 2020. From advanced quantum computing systems to personalized advertising to forecasting customer behavior and especially the popular smart assistants – they have found their space in almost everything.

Moving in 2021, AI will continue to grow as a principal technological pioneer. The technology will be further used by businesses to execute facial recognition for solid authentication in a developing range of internal as well as customer-facing applications. Apart from that, as more human activity is taking place online – whether shopping or communication – it can create a lot of challenges for businesses to understand the changing patterns of customer behavior. We can expect business tools to be more improved and efficient to analyze these behavioral shifts to meet more organizational requirements.

4. Distributed Cloud

The Distributed Cloud technology trend is here to take the Cloud Computing game to the next level. The trend refers to the distribution of cloud services to different geographical locations while keeping these services under the original public cloud provider’s operation and governance.

To have the services physically closer will surely going to benefit these organizations by enabling low-latency, reducing data costs, minimizing the risk of data loss. In addition, technologies that require the processing of huge data in real-time (such as AI and IoT) will also get positively impacted.

Furthermore, according to Gartner, most cloud service providers will have distributed cloud services available to their clients by 2024. The technology will be an extension of the public cloud’s core value proposition – namely support, productivity, and innovation.

5. Total Experience

Total Experience blends multi-experience, customer experience, employee experience, and user experience together to links them to create a better overall experience for all parties. We’ve all heard about the importance of providing a good customer experience, however, providing excellent conditions to your employees and users is an equally important case. The aim of total experience is simply to improve the overall experience by intersecting all the major areas – from the technology to employees to customers and users.

Did we miss anything?

New technologies are constantly emerging and evolving, but these top 5 will continue to provide endless benefits to your business in the long-run. If you keep upskilling and continue to employ these trends, you will surely grab some great opportunities.

We hope this blog about new technology trends 2021 was informative enough for you to get started. Do you think we have missed some important technologies that should have been up there? Let us know by sending us your suggestions here.

March 19, 2021March 25, 2021

How to shortlist a suitable Web Development Company for your business?

So, you’re in the process to get a new website for your business and you have a certain vision for it but not the time. Being a go-getter, coding it yourself, or setting it up on platforms like Shopify or Wix isn’t a problem for you, but is it the best investment of your time? More importantly, is it a practically scalable solution for the years to come? The best option is to hand over your web development project to a trustable agency. But given today’s competition, even searching and selecting the best web development company for your website is a task in itself.

While every agency that you hear of may sound the same, it’s only when you dive deeper that you understand the true values that distinguish them from each other. Here are 5 important things you must know before you outsource your website’s development.

First, let’s understand if you should go for an agency instead of hiring professional freelancers.

Deciding between the conviction of a web development agency and the flexibility of freelancers is never easy, especially when the area lies outside your expertise. Who can be trusted with your website? Who to give this huge responsibility to? Should it be an independent software developer? Or a company that specializes in web development?

Building a website is a lot like building a home. For instance, let’s take up a house, a lot of elements go behind building it – excavation, framing, interiors, exteriors, and so on. All of this, done by a crew of skilled workers. Think about it, would you hand over something as important as your house construction to just one person who claims to fulfill all these elements? Similarly, developing a website is not a one-man job and requires a team of individuals with many different skill sets. Overlooking the importance of hiring a full crew of experts just out of the desire to get to market quickly or simply because of a lack of clarity can be harmful to your business in the long run.

But this doesn’t mean that you should completely neglect the role of a freelancer. If the required work is something like a UI upgrade with motion animation or rethinking your digital branding, then a professional freelancer can be of help. However, keep in mind that freelancers are proficient with a limited skill-set. Rare are those who are trained to work for complex and dynamic projects. It can cost you a lot of time and mental energy to find that one perfect individual.

Based on the comparison the first thing you should decide is what your priorities are. If freelancers better suit your requirement then go for platforms like Behance and Freelancer to seek out the best designers and developers. But if a website development agency is a better fit for you, keep on reading! Let’s break down the characteristics and qualifications of top web development companies.

5 important questions to ask the shortlisted web development agencies

1. What are you expecting from the web dev firm?

Make sure you clearly communicate your expectations from the website/platform – create a feature list and share references so the agency can share a practical approach, quote, and turnaround time. For instance, if you need a portfolio website at first and then want to translate it into an eComm website at a later phase, talk to companies who can put up suggestions and assess the approach for you rather than just executing it. Don’t ask them for all their work, ask them for their best work and base your evaluation on it. All this will answer one question for you – can this company develop the sales engine you need.

2. How long will it take to complete the web development project?

Once the agency understands your goal and vision for the website or platform, they should be able to give you a timeframe. A website can take anywhere from a week to 3 months and user portals take higher. It can take a longer or even shorter time depending on your goals and requirements. Check to see if the timeline fits your needs or just clearly communicate the project deadlines. It’s always a good idea to spare extra time for unexpected changes or new additions.

3. Do they offer other services than website development?

Apart from developers, if your web development company also has graphic designers, SEO experts, and marketing professionals then they will be able to create a high-performing website that exists to generate leads and not just look pretty. Sometimes web development agencies offer additional services that you may need such as branding, web copywriting, SEO, and more. It is not always necessary but can be a great advantage, especially if you’re looking for a long-term partner who can manage and support your brand in the longer run.

4. Speaking of, will they be able to provide long-term help?

When looking for a web development company, you shouldn’t just be looking for someone that provides a quick service and vanishes. The relationship between you and your chosen agency should ideally represent a lasting partnership, through which you can support other spheres of the business tomorrow and not just the website. Indeed the most important task of any web development company is to provide their clients with an attractive and functional website. But the viability of any website is proven only after 2-3 months after its launch through the collected data and depends on your marketing strategy. Therefore, when choosing a website development company make sure they are willing to form a long-term relationship with you. This way your needs are met, not just initially but for a longer period.

5. How will the communication and documentation be managed?

Communication is the key to any successful web dev project. Every agency has its preferred communication method, and it is a good idea to understand the process for your project. You can directly ask them if they will provide a project manager or one central contact, who that person will be, and how often can you expect them to contact you. On the other hand, the documentation helps you understand the phase-wise breakup of the deliverables of the website and accordingly set up reviews to avoid delays or too many iterations. Make sure you stay in touch with them throughout the process and take swift and hard calls – to make sure you don’t up the work and the project fails to meet its deadline. A quick check once a week or a round-up call after each project milestone can be a good practice to go with.

What do you think?

We hope this read helped you gain some clarity! Your hard-earned money and time deserve to be invested with someone who can help you achieve what you’re looking for.

At Spark Eighteen, we don’t make a website for you, we make it for your customers. This simple difference makes a significant impact on the lifetime sales of any startup or established business.

If you’re interested, feel free to check out some web development projects that we’ve done in the recent past or you can directly get in touch with us here. We’ll be happy to help!

March 17, 2021April 12, 2021

When should you get your startup’s website developed? Should you outsource it?

Outsourcing web development & the right time to get a website developed

How do you know at which stage your startup needs a website? Is outsourcing web development a good option?

Be honest. What is the first place you visit when you hear about a business/startup? We’re sure at least 90% of us directly jump on the first link we get on Google.

In this digitally dominating world, a business is lost if it doesn’t have a website. You get conversions and recall when you give a simple-to-understand, hard-to-forget online experience to your customers. Till a couple of years ago, this only applied to B2C brands but today a website unlocks many doors for B2B companies too.

However, when you’re running a startup, every dollar counts. Every day is an uphill battle to figure out the right investments during this nascent stage of your business.

So let’s find the answer to this question – what is the right time for your startup to get a website?

To really know if your startup is ready for a website you first need answers to some important questions. One simple way to do that is by comparing spending on website development to any other important expense you can think of – like buying a car. What questions would you ask yourself before you make the final decision of investing in a brand new car? The answer isn’t supposed to be the same for every situation, but most of the time it boils down to a few questions:

Why do I need a car? (convenient and saves time, facilitates daily tasks, beneficial during emergencies, personal mobility, and independence, etc.)
How will I be using a car? (commuting to work, traveling, long drives, etc.)
What are the most important things I look for in my car? (style, reliability, comfort, space, quality, etc.)

We’re sure there are other questions you’d ask, but you get the point. Unless you have a lot of cash to burn, you wouldn’t buy a car without a reason or a plan. The formula is the same for websites. Let’s ask the same questions, but this time let’s replace the car with a website:

Why do you need a website? (increase brand visibility and awareness, generate sales, get leads, increase customer base, build credibility, increase accessibility, etc.)
How will you be using a website? (showcase and market your products, build relationships with existing customers, inform and educate potential customers, deliver excellent customer service, etc.)
What are the most important things you look for on your website? (appealing visual design, easy navigation, contact information, security, etc.)

Developing a website for your business without structuring a plan is more likely to fail in achieving your goals if they are anything beyond just having a website.

Once you know what you need, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to get it. This means deciding whether you should build your website on your own or outsource it to a company you trust.

Building Your Website vs Outsourcing Web Development

Building a website on your own totally depends upon the type of business and the level of knowledge you have within the area of technology. You obviously wouldn’t fix an underground water line without having any idea about what you should be doing. Or perform a LASIK surgery without having any proper training.

We rely on expertise only when we require things that are way beyond our area of knowledge. Plus it takes away a lot of time from your hands which you could’ve spent focusing on other macros of the business.

Let’s contemplate both options.

Developing Your Website

This is something that every entrepreneur, blogger, start-up owner, etc has at least thought of once in their lifetime – so yes, you’re not alone. You could be someone who doesn’t like working at someone else’s pace, wants to do the best for your brand, maybe want to save some extra bucks, or maybe it’ll be all of these things.

That’s completely fine!

There are various resources available online that can help you get some basic knowledge about web development. But remember that even after signing up and spending big bucks on courses online, not all of us end up having a good relationship with coding! In that case, numerous CMS (Content Management System) platforms are at your service. Following just a few simple steps, these platforms can easily help you create and build your own website.

Does that mean CMS is a sure-shot winner for developing a website? Um, not really. While CMS can be a champion in getting a cost-effective website made without taking too much time, it often loses the battle with SEO and core user experience. Visual design and search engine ranking are two important factors that, when done right, help in generating quality leads for a business. In this case, it is a wise option to outsource web development services and get in touch with an experienced team of developers who have a deeper understanding of what exactly needs to be done.

If you’re bending towards hiring a team of professionals, keep reading!

But if making it on your own makes more sense for you then WordPress and Squarespace are a couple of user-friendly website-builder platforms that let you create your website without spending too much.

Outsourcing Your Website’s Development

While using a CMS may sound simple, it isn’t the best outlet in many scenarios. In some situations, these free website builders can be a perfect choice. A quick simple website for a conference or an event? CMS platforms are all you need! However, when it comes to running a full-blown online store, or leads-generating business website, it is a smarter bet to hand it over to a professional web development agency.

outsourcing web development — Source: Outsourcing Insight

A web development company comes with a varying number of professionals working under different aspects of developing a website. All with one aim – to build a high-quality, highly converting website for your business. Here is the list of professionals you join hands with when outsourcing web development:

Together, a web development company is an all-in-one package of experienced individuals. Another of the various other benefits of outsourcing website development is that it allows you to deliver something that is more aligned with your business goals without any hassle of doing it all yourself.

Cost and time are seen as important determining factors between DIY and web dev outsourcing. Indeed, outsourcing development is more expensive than building a website on your own. But when you look at the broader picture, you’ll understand why:

This is the cost you pay to the experts to manage your website. In this constantly shifting & changing landscape, you are hiring a team of individuals who are knowledgeable and always up to work on the latest developments.
Other than just designing and developing your website, they’re also working towards planning out ways on how you can achieve your business goals through it.
There are constant revisions before the website is finally presented. Sometimes even the smallest of change involves many layers and masks that need to be altered.
Outsourcing web development company also means that, even after launch, your website is maintained time-to-time for all security updates. Thus, saving you and your customers from any future problems.

Instead of seeing your website’s development as an expense, look at it as a one-time investment. After all, running a startup is no joke. There can be numerous potential risks that can come your way – don’t let a DIY website be one!

We know how crucial a role your website can play for your business in today’s time. We’ve spent the last 9 years solving problems for startups and businesses across the world through technology and design thinking. Need a little help with your website? Just drop us a message, the coffee’s on us!

March 10, 2021March 25, 2021

How to remain true to your brand while building your new website?

Welcome to the rollercoaster world of startups – full of excitement, ever-growing anticipations, adrenaline-pumping experiments, and some major life-changing experiences. While the growth of a startup can be dependent on about a gazillion factors, the one that is the most crucial is brand consistency.

According to research, when customers report a “positive feeling” from a brand, they are more connected to that business, making them far more likely to transact. This applies to B2C and B2B brands! Once you’ve locked your identity, brand values, positioning, and targeting, it’s time to carve an exclusive experience for your target audience through your website. This goes well beyond just the logo that you see at the top left corner of your site.

Everything – from the colors or fonts that you choose to the content that you put out is a shadow of your brand. But slapping them together just for the sake of drawing attention can make visitors have second thoughts about your brand.

So what should you do? Try and imbibe these four tips to build a website that enables brand consistency and helps you to remain true to your brand identity without compromising on the user’s experience!

Start with a cohesive color scheme

Seeing red. Feeling blue. Tickled pink.

Common idioms used in our day-to-day lives are a great example of how we often associate colors with emotions. Whether it’s red with aggression, blue with serenity, or black with power. Colors are the subconscious reason behind the way you paint your house, the outfits you wear, or even the food that you’re most drawn to. So there’s no surprise that the colors you pick for your website will subconsciously alter the experience for your users. And it doesn’t mean that you have to completely depend on the color of your logo. Let’s break this down:

Start by identifying your brand’s personality. What are the few adjectives that describe your business? Casual? Modern? Playful?
Who are you targeting? What are their taste and palate?
Once you’ve identified your key traits and users, it’s time to pick colors that best embody those adjectives. This is where color psychology comes into play.

Now that you have your core brand colors decided, integrate them into your website. Use a dominant color as a base and apply it throughout your website headlines, CTAs, background images, – basically, areas that people naturally gravitate towards. Use subtle shades to the more functional aspects of your website like top menu, navigational bars, sidebar icons, etc.

In most cases, using just two or three colors is perceived as appealing. Sticking to a color palette becomes very important for brand consistency and ultimately your business.

Also Read: How does digital branding impact your business in today’s age?

Understand the influence of whitespace

When you look at the web design of successful websites like Apple, Dropbox, or Shopify, you’ll realize that there’s one thing that dictates all – the use of whitespace.

Whitespace is one of the most overlooked and underutilized aspects of a great web layout. In fact, research conducted by Human Factors International shows that whitespace boosts comprehension by 20%.

When you’re putting together a website, it can be tempting to fill it up with as much content, images, or elements as possible. We can understand the excitement of sharing everything about your business with your visitors. However, sometimes the result ends up looking something like this:

Enter, whitespace. It is exactly what it sounds like, and despite its apparent simplicity, it’s a vital part of any visual design. Apart from giving a higher degree of sophistication and prestige to a website’s UI, whitespace design is very beneficial for a user’s readability and navigating their attention. It helps by providing an absorbable amount of content to the user upfront, it causes you to prioritize which content to show first and how much emphasis to place on it.

Communicate through your typography

Yes, the words on your website matter but how those words look plays an equally important role. While less flashy than colors and imagery, your brand’s font tells a story by bringing a voice and personality to your website. Hence they must maintain brand consistency. There are a variety of styles to choose from, but it doesn’t mean you go overboard with them. There certainly should be a balance when selecting fonts. Don’t go with just one single style which makes it hard to differentiate between sections of content. Nor with so many that it becomes too distracting for the user. The best path is to swing between two to four fonts and use them across all your communication.

Whether you go for classic serif or distinctive decorative fonts, make sure they are readable enough at first glance. If your headline, subheading, or copy is difficult to read, no matter what font you choose, you will run a risk of losing a reader even before they head on to the content.

Add a touch of graphics

We’ve all heard that “content is king”, but well-written blogs, product descriptions, or any important information on your website is incomplete without some good imagery. The images you use on your website add a visual appeal but there is more to them than just aesthetics. The graphics on your website make the content more memorable. Use subtle imagery that doesn’t distract visitors from the brand messaging. Whether stock photography, product images, gifs, or infographics, make sure they are of the best quality, compliment, or add to the content and are placed where your audience can best understand them.

Looking for branding done for your business? Drop us a message here and we would love to help.

March 3, 2021March 25, 2021

5 essential and effective tools to hack growth for your business

Can tech tools fuel business growth? Here’s a list of the 5 best online business tools that can accelerate your brand’s progress!

Table of Content:

Zapier
Shapr
Slack
QuickBooks
Feedier

What does it take to make a business successful?

Not every business is created out of the same blueprint. The stage it has reached, its size, and the industry it operates in are some crucial factors of differentiation. And while there isn’t a foolproof map to success, some things are consistent: risks, competition, passion, and commitment – the coal that fuels the engine — but even the engine needs just the right balanced amount of it to keep on going!

Thankfully, there is an abundance of business intelligence tools available that can help you build, design, market, operate, and optimize your business online – agnostic of your industry. But with so many options at your disposal, we want to help you pick the best of the lot.

In this read, we’ll crack these 5 most effective business tools that can be considered essential for all present-day businesses. The goal here is to get the job done, help you allocate time better, make wiser investments and do away with unneeded stress!

1. Zapier: Automate recurring workflows

Most businesses today have a lean but overactive workforce – especially growing businesses. As the person leading the show, you can’t possibly manage or lead every task in the company. Especially when most of the day for employees is full of repeated work that needs core optimization and nothing else! If that’s the case then Zapier is what you need. This online productivity platform allows you to automate repetitive tasks or automate whole processes in one go!

Want to set-up a follow-up mechanism for online sales? Set up a Zap to automatically collect the customer’s information, sync it with MailChimp, strategize and schedule campaigns. Want to set up a post-purchase feedback mechanism? Set up a Zap between your sales tool and platforms like SurveyMonkey. These are just two of the many company-wide tasks that Zapier can help you manage. It can be integrated with over 3,000 applications including software you use for your internal teams like Google Drive, Slack, Trello, MailChimp, and many more. It still continues to add more apps to its library.

Not only will it help you invest time in other important business spheres but also eliminate dependency on various levels.

2. Shapr: Tinder for business relationships

If networking is part of your everyday life, you’ve got to use Shapr! This business networking tool will connect you with people who share the same interests and objectives as you. Think of it like Tinder, but for professionals. The only difference is that the relationships last longer. The app is designed in a similar fashion as a dating app where you swipe through people with wanted or similar backgrounds. Once you get a match, the app allows you to initiate conversations by chatting online through Shapr messaging.

When you sign up, it asks you to list down your interests, location, and professional experience. The app then uses this information to show you 10-15 profiles on a daily basis. The system doesn’t allow any unsolicited requests so you won’t be getting any unwanted messages.

This tool can really amp up your internal while putting in touch with an influential network from around the world.

3. Slack: Collaborate and coordinate with team members efficiently

Communication is a need for every individual working in a team. What better than Slack? It is arguably the best and most popular communication app used by businesses from around the world. And it just doesn’t stop there! In addition to one-on-one messages and group chat features, the tool also comes with individual and team audio calls as well as video conferencing. This makes collaboration much easier than what most chat tools offer.

Thes best part? Its convenient integration with over 2,200 software making it easier for anybody to find and share information. Also, the tool offers unlimited access to a free plan and is accessible through both mobile and desktop devices.

As a team, who has been using Slack for well over half a decade as the dedicated internal and external communication platform, we completely love it! It offers an intuitive experience, the integrations are otherworldly, and offers a seamless exchange of data and content – what more can you ask from a communication tool?

4. QuickBooks: Cloud-based accounting software

Does doing your business finances yourself give you hibbie-jibbies? What if we tell you there is an easier solution for that? QuickBooks is one of the best accounting software for small businesses that helps in calculating taxes, managing invoices, finance operation automation, and keeping track of your financial health. Developed and marketed by the FinTech firm, Intuit, it is an easy-to-use tool for business owners with zero accounting experience. The platform includes a variety of paid packages. You can even customize your own package with some assistance from the QuickBooks team.

With QuickBooks, you can easily access your account anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. It is integrated with apps like PayPal and Square to simplify the cash flow management in one centralized location. You can even use their mobile app to store pictures of your bills and receipts which is way easier than piling a heap of paper bills in your office drawer.

5. Feedier: Automate data collection

It’s a safe assumption that the old boring, long-form surveys don’t really work anymore? Customers are way more aware and way less patient nowadays. Feedier is an innovative feedback tool tailored for such customers that collects instant and valuable feedback with the help of gamified forms. With its interactive design forms, Feedier allows users to give feedback through a game-like interface, which makes the survey experience fun and highly engaging. You can also offer incentives through the platform to encourage users to provide feedback. Once the feedback is processed, the platform gives you a detailed outlook of the result along with customer insights.

The most amazing part is that it is easy to step up and can completely automate the entire feedback process, helping you save time and enhance efficiency.

The feedback management tool lets you easily integrate your feedback forms into your website or app by generating embedded code or simply sharing it with email campaigns to your audience.

Online tools are essential for business growth

Starting your own business today is no child’s play. It is a challenge to work on it all alone. A strong vision, a team of hard-working individuals, and a concise set of business tools that help you save time are the three important pillars that can either make or break your business. We hope that the above list of the top 5 best business tools will help you get at least a third of the load off your shoulders. Did we miss out on some important tools? Share your suggestions by contacting us here.

March 1, 2021March 25, 2021

How does digital branding impact your business in today’s age?

Every business wants its website’s users to have the best of experience. To help them understand the company’s core value and offering instantly and seamlessly – but do all of them succeed in it? If you’re one of those who wonder, then this blog on the importance of digital branding is for you!

Table of Content:

What is Digital Branding?
Why is Digital Branding important for you?
Your Website = Heart of your Digital Branding
How Digital Branding is impacting businesses?

For example, let’s think of owners of a hundred websites getting a decent amount of traffic every month.

Shout out loud, “Who wants more traffic?” You’ll see 101 hands flailing up high.

If you want, you can get good website traffic through hundreds of traffic generation strategies available out there. A simple Google search, and you’ll see there is no shortage of resources out there that can tell you how to bring up the number of visitors to your website. But of what use are these users if they aren’t even interacting with your brand? When they don’t fall in love with your brand or don’t end up buying your product. Do they not understand your brand or just like your competitor better? More importantly, what can you do to turn this around?

This is where digital branding comes into play!

Working extensively towards increasing your brand’s users without clearly telling them who you are, what you do, and what makes you different is one of the main reasons why your brand isn’t generating loyalists or the organic appeal you want to have in the market.

What Is Digital Branding?

Digital branding isn’t that different from branding in general. While branding creates an identity of a company with its name, logo, design, etc., digital branding is how it is presented online through the website, social or digital media. It’s all about understanding what sets a business apart and delivering that message to its online audience.

Why is Digital Branding important for you?

It is your job as a business to help your online visitors and users understand the value that they might not be able to see, especially since price and time are the two most important factors today. The importance of digital branding comes down to the successful communication of your business belief and value creation for the customer. Think of it as a tool that translates your brand across digital channels. Ever came across a product’s website that isn’t necessarily cheap but provides an even superior experience than most of its competitors? This is an example of a successful digital brand building.

Your Website = Heart of your Digital Branding:

Your website is the place where all your transactions happen – be it acquiring new leads or directly selling your goods. So let’s take a look at some inspiring digital branding examples!

StrStripe

When you visit Stripe’s website, you’re instantly drawn in with a headline, “Payments infrastructure for the internet”. The copy hits the brand’s offer and core value in 4 simple words. The explanation that follows up describes who the service is for (online businesses) and what it does (handles high traffic online payments, regardless of the size of your company).

Beautycounter

A disruptor in the beauty and skincare industry, Beautycounter uses its website to deliver the brand’s core message. As soon as you get to their website, you already know what you’re going to sign up for. A clear CTA button on the homepage instantly redirects you to a page where you can compare Beautycounter with similar brands in the market and see how it stands out. You will find more informative material about their products and the brand as you scroll through.

Sonos

Sonos’ website teaches us that products or services which are technically complex should be rather easier to explain. A producer of wireless sound systems, Sonos lets their product take the center stage with high-value messaging. With a clean design as well as a strong tone of voice, it’s evident that they understand their audience and know how to pose their product to their audience quite well.

Here’s a list of key areas (apart from the homepage) that will make sure your digital brand building practice ticks all the right boxes:

Website Pages

Just like your homepage, other important pages have the potential to improve your business dramatically. Among these are the About Us, Blog, and Contact Us page. These are the three most visited pages on a website alongside the homepage:

Use your About Us page to answer important questions that a visitor may want answers to. Humanize your brand. Who are you? What do you do? How do you do what you do?
Your blog page is where your visitors will hang out the most on your website if you’re publishing quality content while targeting your ideal user. Write blogs that either aim to educate your readers about your business, solve their problems, or provide fresh insights that make their lives better. The main goal is to offer as much value as you can through your content.
Lastly, the Contact page is an easy way for your visitors to get in touch with your business. A well-designed contact form should be easier for your audience to engage with as well as make a long-lasting impact. For example, look at how enterprise software company Atlassian does this. With an extremely cleaned and well-organized contact page, they make it easy for visitors to find the specific department they’re looking for and reach out.

Your digital brand isn’t just restricted to the website. While your website can be a good starting point, it cannot solely portray an image of your business online. Also, how do you get your ideal users to come to visit you there? Your digital brand strategy needs consistency to thrive. Other aspects of a good digital branding strategy include email marketing, social media, etc. Basically, every single touchpoint that your customer can interact with when it comes to your brand.

Email Marketing

Many online businesses tend to see email marketing solely in terms of sales. However, it is much more than that. It isn’t necessary for your ideal users to be interested in your brand at all times. A compelling email marketing strategy can be the best way to get your brand’s message across, create recall and build strong relationships with your subscribers. Sending out a welcome email as soon as a subscriber signs up for your newsletter can be a great starting point. Informing new subscribers what your business is all about, what can they expect from your future emails, carrying out quick and rewarding surveys, and other such activities as part of your email marketing strategy will make your brand feel much more personal.

Social Media

Think about where your target audience hangs out the most? They can be roaming around on forums, Facebook groups, or scrolling through Instagram. You don’t have to be on every platform, just need to be on the ones where your users are most active. Once you find that out, plan out ways on how you’ll be able to deliver your key values to them using that channel. Videos? Posts? Images? What are they most interested in? Create content that platforms promote organically while keeping in mind the type of audience you want to attract. Make sure you’re not wasting time on channels that aren’t suiting your business needs.

How Digital Branding is impacting businesses?

The fact is that no matter which industry you belong to, a percentage of your customers are now online, if not all – especially since the pandemic. As you can see from the statistic above, the internet is a valuable tool for businesses – regardless of how small, big, new, or old. It works as a voice that lets you expand your reach and easily reinforce your brand values.

Shouting and screaming to get your message across online won’t get people to hear you. You’ve got to deliver your message in a way that adds personality to your business so that your customers feel a greater connection with your brand. Your website, social media, and any other digital medium that you work with should do that for you. These digital mediums work as an avenue where you get educate your audience and build affinity among them for your brand while trying to generate as much value as you can for them within your domain.

online experiences — Source: Junto Digital

Your digital presence and searchability build your credibility. Most consumers research online before they head on to make the final purchasing decision. So, your business not appearing on the first searches on say a Google may just end up redirecting a hot lead to a rival.

Still don’t know where to start?

The first and the most obvious step is to enhance and update your professional website. Your website is your identity on the internet. It is where people go when they first hear about you. A website that is tailored for your user can create a lasting first impression. Once you have that in place, your other digital branding ideas can come into play. Connect the dots with other marketing channels and you’ll be well on your way with your own well-distinguished digital brand.

Got questions? Let’s discuss it over some coffee, it’s on us!

February 9, 2021March 25, 2021

Here’s how you can build the next Uber-like App!

Here’s everything potential on-demand businesses need to know to develop an app like Uber!

Taxi apps are just snowballing everywhere. There was a time when Uber was the only online taxi provider company in the market. But if we look at the present-day situation, so many small and medium scaled online taxi provider companies have been introduced in the market. New apps have sprung up to enrich people’s experience of boarding taxis online. However, out of the lot, Uber still manages to show incredible success.

According to Statista, Uber’s global presence has increased extensively over the last three years. The total value of Uber bookings has more than tripled since late 2016, reaching over 40.7 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of 2020.

Table of Content:

How does the Uber app work?
How many apps are involved?
Passenger features in apps like Uber
Driver features in apps like Uber
Admin Panel for taxi booking apps like Uber
What technologies are used to develop an app like Uber?
How much does building an app like Uber costs?

In the peer-to-peer ride-hailing market, Uber is in charge of 77% of the business. Many of its competitors have tried to pit against but Uber still manages to reign. How? In this blog, you will figure out exactly what makes an app like Uber stand out from others in the market and how even you can benefit from the Uber business model. Remember that the core objective is not to create an Uber knock-off, but rather a more advanced web & mobile app.

How Does the Uber App Work?

Before getting into the technical aspects of how to create an app like Uber, let’s first briefly review how the app works and what are its core features.

If anything that makes Uber the sole winner in the market, it’s the way the app operates. If you have ever used the Uber app (which we’re pretty sure you have) you’ll know that it takes only a few simple steps on the app to get to your desired location. The app keeps the process far efficient and plain sail. That is why if you want to develop an app like Uber, you need to first understand what these steps are:

Step 1: Ride request

The customer creates a trip request to their desired destination. They check the fare of the trip and choose between various car types.

Step 2: Trip verification

The request is then sent to a nearby driver whoever will be able to pick up the customer as quickly as possible. The driver can either accept or reject the ride. If one rejects, the request is quickly sent to another driver. Each other’s contact details are shared with both parties.

Step 3: The ride

Once the contact details are shared, the customer tracks the taxi approach and can see the estimated time of arrival.

Step 4: Payment

The app gives you an exact estimation of the ride cost beforehand which makes the process even easy and smooth. The process by which the Uber app calculates the trip fee is through time and distance indicators.

Step 5: Rating and Review

Once the ride is complete, the app requests you to rate each ride. This may help future riders pick drivers accordingly.

How many apps are involved?

Contrary to what most cab-hailing app owners assume, Uber is not a single app but a company that runs three distinct apps. The original platform comprises a Driver App designed for the drivers collaborating with the company and a Passenger App meant for ordinary customers who book their ride. Apart from that, the platform should also come with an admin panel that is responsible for managing and monitoring the platform’s work.

If you want to make an app like Uber (or a similar taxi booking app), it is crucial to understand these three major components that make up this whole system. Let’s understand the basic features of each of these applications in detail.

Also Read: From Idea to Product: A comprehensive guide to the product design process

Passenger Features in Apps Like Uber

Registration – The user is asked to log in or sign up as soon as they download and open the app. This can be possible via email, social media, or phone number for verification.
Taxi Booking – This feature allows users to enter their address, select the type of car, and adjust the pickup location.
Fare Calculator – As mentioned above, the fare for traveling from one point to the other is already calculated based on the distance, the car-type, and estimated traffic. The price is shown to the customer beforehand.
Driver Tracking – The driver’s movements are tracked in real-time and timely updates on travel routes and estimated time of arrival are sent to the customer.
Texting or Calling the Driver – As soon as a driver is allotted, their contact and vehicle details are sent to the specific customer. The customers can then easily contact the driver to stay up-to-date with the trip-request status.
Travel History – Provides a track of record of the driver’s past rides and transactions.
Payment – Various payment methods including credit and debit cards, PayPal, gift cards, or simply in-cash can be implemented through the app. Once the ride ends, the selected payment method is charged.
Rating & Review – The customer can provide ratings based on the journey, driver’s behavior, and the overall experience.
Customer Support

Following are some advanced features that can be included in a subsequent version of an Uber-like app:

Ride Cancellation – Allows users to cancel the ride within a specific period.
Split Payment – Riders can opt for sharing a ride with other passengers and split the payment.
Book for Others – This feature lets a user book a taxi for someone else.
Share My Trip – With this feature, one can share their trip details with contact.

Driver Features in Apps Like Uber

Driver Verification – This gives the complete information of the driver including his verification, license, documents, etc. This feature is also used to check the driver’s availability.
Trip Alert – This notifies the driver when a new trip request is placed including the passenger’s location, route, and travel history. The driver has the ability to accept or decline the request.
Push Notifications – These are used to notify any change in route, pick up location, or request status.
Navigation & Route Optimization – Shows the best and fastest trip route with the integration of Google and Apple Maps.
Revenue Reports – Provides information about the driver’s trips and earnings, allowing them to look up statistics on daily or monthly earnings.
Texting or Calling the Passenger – Allows direct communication between the driver and the passenger within the app.

Apart from the above mentioned basic features, an Uber-like app can also have some of the following advanced features:

Driver Destinations – the ability of a driver to select a ride only with a preferred destination.
Quest Earnings – the ability of a driver to earn more for completing a predefined number of trips.
Waiting Time – the app charges extra to the passenger in the event of trip cancellation or exceeding the wait time of 5 minutes.
Forward Dispatch – allows the driver to accept another trip request while performing the current ride.

Admin Panel for Taxi Booking Apps Like Uber

The Admin Panel works as a Fairy Godmother to the whole system making sure every component is organized and is under control at the driver’s as well as the customer’s side. It is a control panel for admins to manage customers, drivers, requests, payments, and everything else that comes in-between to function an app like Uber.

Hence, the admin panel must include some high-level set of features including:

Managing the locations & fares charged;
Managing the User & Driver accounts;
Taxi Booking Management;
Reviewing the ratings;
Push notification management;
Promotion and discounts;
Customer and Driver support;
Integration with multiple analytics tools (like Google Analytics) Integration with Google Analytics

What Technologies are Used to Develop an App Like Uber?

In this part of the blog, we’re going to discuss the technical aspects of building an app like Uber. What are the key technologies that can play a pivotal role in the development of your Uber-like app? What are the technical integrations that you might need during the taxi app development?

The most important technology that is used in any taxi booking app is Geolocation. Other key features include push notifications, integration of payment gateways, and route building.

Below is an overview of all technological integration with the time (in hours) taken to develop the following in-app services:

Technologies used to build an App Like Uber

Besides the above technological integrations, the development also requires you to implement other technology and programming languages for both iOS and Android app development. Most taxi app developers would apply Swift and Kotlin programming languages for iOS and Android apps evenly. As for the system’s backend, some of the top taxi app developers highly commend the Ruby-on-Rails framework.

How much does building an app like Uber costs?

Now that you have a perfect idea of how you can develop an app like Uber, you may ask “How much does it cost to make an app like Uber?”. The cost to make an app like Uber can be expensive if you consider an in-house team to build it. Therefore, we strongly recommend you to go for a mobile app development company that understands the rhythm of the market and avail the best methodologies to develop apps.

According to BuildFire, hiring an offshore development company could cost you as low as $25 per hour. To give you an overview here is the average hourly cost of skilled developers in the top three major countries:

USA: $150-120/hr
UAE: $90- 150/hr
India: $25-49/hr

Hiring a mobile app development company can help you deploy the latest technologies and the best of features to your taxi app development.

To Conclude

One thing is for sure, to develop an app like Uber is indeed a considerable and profitable idea. Keep in mind that apart from using your app to book a taxi, your audience also demands a sleek user interface and a smooth experience. Hence, you need to pick and customize your app structure suiting those needs – and at the same time, your budget. We’ll be glad to help you decide how to create an app like Uber and launch it in the market with minimal time and financial resources. Write to us at [email protected].