The work on the project started with productive meetings between both teams - the Whiz's team and the brand's team. Together, we set the target goals and decided between different ways for achieving them. Having created a clear project plan with a precise timeframe, our team was ready for the research phase.
Thorough Preparation
With in-depth target market research, we gained clear understanding of what people actually want from a mobile news app. Since the brand was among the first media in Bulgaria to go mobile, the traditional competition analysis was replaced by a study of the leading news apps worldwide and their fast-growing competitors. The trends which we identified inspired us for original ideas, which we put together in a concept. The next step was conceptual design.
To create the app’s blueprint, we relied on mind maps, which are excellent tools for structuring the content and features. We presented our ideas for the application’s interface using sketches, which showed the screens’ layout with all elements. The next step was to put it all together with the use of interactive prototypes, which showed how people would interact with the content to learn the latest news, using gestures like tapping and swiping. The team of our client contributed to the conceptual design process with constructive feedback and encouraging comments. Now it was time to use the detailed blueprint for building the app.
Creating the Perfect News App
By combining our creativity and past experience accumulated over the course of 7 years, we built a beautiful and intuitive interface which enables multi-layer interaction with the app using taps, swipes and voice. Thanks to the meticulously made design, the entire content fits the touchscreen perfectly, no matter which smartphone orientation you have chosen or whether you are holding a 7-inch or 10-inch tablet in your hands. You can read articles, view photos and watch videos on the app on any mobile device without hitches and without tweaking the settings. You get to enjoy pure pleasure. To make the experience absolutely fantastic, our programmers created a complete set of valuable user features. We also ensured that content management would be quick, easy and effective.
The iOS and Android versions meet the highest standards of the respective platforms.
The result is a native app which works reliably at the highest possible speed. It exploits most of the smartphone and tablet functionality to give users the time of their life.
What was our creation actually like? We gave the news mobile app everything which it needed to be a success among smartphone and tablet users. Get to know it:
- Cool design matching the well-known style of the website
- The latest news stories are always with you - You simply need to tap on the mobile app’s icon to read them.
- Automatically updated home screen - The risk of somehow missing the most recent articles is eliminated.
- A well-organized menu - Just touch the button and you will see all the news categories and subcategories.
- Photos teasing users to read the stories - When you go to a news section on the app, you can see the title of each story plus a photo.
- Video and photo content filters - Users can select only the news stories which feature videos or a photo gallery. This is a great way to check out on-the-scene reports and naturally helps to make users more active on the app.
- The button “Go to website” takes users directly to the site where they can get more content and leave a comment.
- Checking other stories on the same topic on the app is easy - Users simply need to tap on the “More” button right above the article’s title. They get to learn more and to stay longer on the application.
- Sharing stories on social networks and via email - By tapping on just one button, users can bring other people to the app and more specifically their friends on Facebook, Google+ and all the rest. Articles go viral and the application’s audience grows.
- A search engine offering voice search via the smartphone’s or tablet’s microphone - You can “talk” with the app.
Most people using the mobile app have a dynamic lifestyle and we took this into account when designing the user experience. Thanks to the app’s location detection, they receive news from the place where they are directly. Nowadays, it’s invaluable to be informed about what’s going on around you.
The personalized news helps to increase the use of the app. The location feature can also be used for marketing.
The
native mobile app which we created naturally comes with push notifications. They are the ideal tool for delivering breaking news and letting users know about the latest and greatest features of the app. There’s no better way to give value to the audience and increase their level of engagement. Push notifications are a true treasure when it comes to marketing too.
How about the
mobile app’s monetization? Thanks to the perfectly functioning system for serving banner ads, SmartAdServer, it generates revenue from advertising. Advertisers have ever greater interest in the app as the number of its users rises. This monetization strategy, which involves free app downloading and usage, works effectively and has strong long-term potential.
What do the app’s users actually want and what stories are they most interested in? Google Tag Manager helps the team to get the answers. The integrated tool provides detailed analytics revealing how users interact with the content. It is easy to pinpoint the articles which get the most shares and the ones which readers spend the most time on. This is more than helpful when it comes to building and improving strategies for engaging users more actively and growing the app’s audience. The tool works flawlessly, while being easy to manage. It doesn’t slow down the loading of the app in any way.
Excellent Market Performance Now and in the Long Run
Our team guaranteed the mobile app’s excellent presentation on Google Play and App Store. We created an icon which makes it stand out plus screenshots which show the best of what it has to offer. It takes seconds for people to realize that they will get all they want and even more from the app. Our company always provides full market launch assistance. We naturally celebrated the app’s publishing, but our work continued.
We provide reliable maintenance and support at all times. Our team receives an automatic notification in case a problem arises with the app’s operation. The system works impeccably and enables us to react immediately. This is how we ensure that that application performs perfectly at any given time. It is easy for our client to reach us thanks to the diverse set of contact options which our company offers: phone, email and online chat.
Our vision for the mobile app’s future growth and expansion is to make it even more valuable for users by fitting into their lifestyle even better. To make this vision reality, we optimize the application, improve its existing features and build new ones. As long as it evolves along with mobile technology, it will reach ever greater new heights.
The mobile app found its way to the smartphones and tablets of people very quickly after its launch. The download rate on both App Store and Google Play is very high and keeps rising. The app is literally showered with positive reviews and boasts with impressive ratings which naturally help it to win more users.
Everyone is eager to have the fastest access to the latest news.