What kind of software am I looking for? What tasks do I need it to perform?

You need to be 100% clear in your mind about the answers to these two . If you’re to have meaningful discussions with software providers, they need to know precisely about the brief. They need to know what role their software service is supposed to fulfil and what challenges it is intended to overcome

What kind of company am I dealing with?

Whichever company you choose, it must be one you can relate to. The relationship you share will be a long-term one. For it to be fruitful, they will have to understand your business and vice versa. Look at your prospective provider carefully. What about their mission – their vision? Do they share your business outlook? Look at their ‘why’. Why are they in business, and what ethos drives them? If you can see a clear synergy between the two of you, then there’s every chance of a successful business relationship.

What about their experience and expertise?

How long has the company been established? What about their experience of and expertise in your precise sector? What about the skillsets of the key players in the business? Can they demonstrate that they’ve got what it takes to deliver the software that your business demands – not some off-the-shelf approximation, but the exact model that you need to make your business function effectively?

How flexible are they? How willing are they to adapt to your needs?

This links to the last question. Does your prospective provider have the business intelligence

            (a) to educate you about the benefits of their product?

            (b) to adapt their product to the functionality that your business demands?

Every business is unique. Every business has individual goals and challenges. You need to understand the tools and techniques that the provider will be using to analyse your needs and to create the ideal bespoke solution.

How about after-sales?

We've already discussed the long-term nature of the relationship. How will this work in practice? What about training provision? How will they communicate with your people? What are their response times? What about upgrades? You need clear answers to each of these questions.

What do others say?

You need to look beyond the sales pitches of your potential providers. You need to find out what others think. Testimonials are an obvious option – preferably video testimonials, which, unlike written ones, can’t be faked. Better still, talk to other clients in your sector abut the quality of the product, its provision and the after-sales service.

Consider too social proof. Check out the company’s LinkedIn page and its key worker LinkedIn profiles. How do they engage with the social platform? What do these profiles and engagement stell you about the company ethos?

Should you be looking for an off-shore or an on-shore partner?

Off-shore partners used to be a big no-no. Their reputation for unreliability would be enough to put you off. This is much less the case now. Provided you can satisfy yourself that all these questions can be answered satisfactorily, you should keep the option open.

What about the size of the company?

Size does matter. You need to look carefully at the size of your prospective providers. Are they big enough to deliver what you need? Will they be able to grow as you grow? But also ask yourself – they may be a big enough company but are they small enough to care?

What about certification?

Take a look at their measures of quality assurance -  ISO / Awards etc. These will be reliable indicators of competence and suitability for your project.

How do their prices compare?

Price – a key factor but not the most important. You know the old saying – ‘buy cheap, buy twice’. Don’t think of cost. Think of value. Be clear about precisely what you will receive for the price you’re being quoted.

Yes – when it comes to choosing the right software partner,  there are plenty of questions to be answered. But this is a long-term investment for your business. You won’t always get the decision right. However, answer these questions to your satisfaction and you massively increase your chances of a sound decision and a successful partnership.

Talk to the software specialists

Web Alliance Limited is long established as one of the UK’s foremost providers of adaptable, bespoke software providers. Working with businesses of all sizes, we enjoy a growing reputation for innovation, flexibility and expertise, supported by unrivalled, world-class customer service.

Do you need bespoke software to run your business engine? Maybe you’re unsure as to what you need to help your business run at it most efficient. That’s OK. Pick up theb phone. Let’s talk. Afterall, we’re here to help.

Phone – 0800 677 1786         

Email – info@web-alliance.co.uk

Complete our contact form

1. Outline your target audience and get feedback from potential customers

First things first you should always look at communication. You’ll need to take particular interest in the types of devices they will be using as each one is different. The requirements for an iPhone, Android, Samsung etc. are not the same and so you’ll need to ask who is using this software and what with first of all.

Once you know the foundations of who you’ll be dealing with you can make more educated choices about the finer details of the software.

2. Identify an end goal and set objectives

We here at Web Alliance are firm believers that no two businesses are ever the same and every business varies immensely when you get down to the nitty-gritty. This is a step that we can’t necessarily help you with.

Due to the nature of things your goals are your goals to set. Do you want customers to be intrigued and engage with everything on the app? Or do you prefer to have your app aimed more at return customers, building brand loyalty?

Being specific will provide you with, essentially, a plan of action for you to take which will make the chances of success from your app multiple fourfold.

3. Get users attention with a brilliant idea

An app does not have to be a business website. Anyone can, and probably will, visit your website. In fact, your website will usually be the first port of call for most potential customers. So why create an app that just repeats what you’ve already been saying and selling on your website? The efforts will be made redundant by this duplication. Find a single thing that will set it apart and make potential customers do a double take.

However, don’t take it too far and keep it simple! An app should always be as streamlined as possible. People don’t carry around their phones for the intricacies, its for ease of access and use that are the biggest selling points for phones so make sure your application stays in line with that philosophy.

4. Deciding whether or not to monetize your app

Making the right decision here can be the difference between a huge amount of downloads or greater revenues. If your app is focused more on marketing and is a tool to promote your business then perhaps offering it for free is a better idea. If you can make it worth their while with deals, games, or other interactive media then you will easily get more downloads because users will believe there is something in it for them.

There are also a lot of priced apps. These apps tend to offer something genuinely useful. If you’re able to do this and get a good marketing campaign behind the app then you can put a price on it.

This decision is critical to both the development and reception of the app so its worthwhile talking extensively to your software developers about this.

5. Do your research!

Market research is essential here. It will not only help with targeting the correct audience, as mentioned in point one, but it will also help you avoid the mistakes of those before you. If you aren’t looking and previous, unsuccessful apps and making sure you can do better, then you chance of success may be severely limited.

6. Check out competition

Not too dissimilar to the previous point, check out the currently existing competition and find out what they do well and what you think you could improve on. If the apps don’t suck you in then you’ll know they’re dead in the water. See also how tech magazines and online publications judge the apps they review and pay close attention to their reasoning behind the score. Talk to your customers again and see what they enjoy about the apps they currently use.

7. Pick the right publicity and get attention

How to actually reach your target audience will vary depending on the business and the app. You might not need to release a whole trailer on YouTube but a fun and creative video, coverage on social media or an ad in the newspapers are all strategies that have worked for different apps.

Start with loyal customers, friends, family members, and branch out from there. Perhaps get in touch with bloggers who will review you app in return to access to free products perhaps. The possibilities are endless.

8. Take feedback onboard

You’ll soon begin to realise what makes a successful app and what doesn’t. Ask for as much feedback as you can and be thankful when you receive it. Its important for customers to know you will act on their feedback. and you’ll realise that a negative reaction to something is just a tool to reach excellence.

Everyone wins

Its important to note that apps can be useful to everyone without being advertising in disguise. Being useful to customers and beneficial to the brand are not two mutually exclusive positions. Think like a user and go from there.

The single biggest mistake

Repeat surveys show that the single biggest mistake that businesses make is to neglect their current customers. Let’s look at some stats -

The customer focus of UK companies -

New business 44%

Retention 18%

A balance between the two 38%

It’s five times more effective to sell to a current customer than to find a new one.

Look at this comparison of the average time and expense between winning new customers and gaining extra business from existing customers –

As for the success of your efforts to generate new business, these are the relative chances -

60 to 70% if you pitch to your existing customer

5 to 20 % if you pitch to a new prospect

So, now you can see why just a 5% improvement in retention rate can provide 25-85% of profitability

Knowing all they need to know

What are the elements that contribute towards marketing to your existing clients?

A short sales cycle - Your prospect isn’t a prospect – they’re an existing customer. The relationship is already in place. Everything they need to know about you, they already know. They’re aware of your approach, your USP, your customer service, your reliability. You’ve almost closed the sale before you’ve started!

Cross sales and Up sales – You already know your customer. It will be relatively straightforward to devise and present additional, relevant and appropriate opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell.

Referrals – introductions - testimonials – Make your existing customers do the selling for you. Use their experience of your products, services as well as their knowledge of your approach to find you new customers.

A CRM system – your secret salesman

Your tailor-made Web Alliance CRM system will be the perfect tool for managing your efforts to market to your existing customers. We design our systems to work for you - not the other way round. You’ll have all the data, all the processes you need, at your fingertips, poised to work on your behalf.

Take a look at our credentials. Read what others say about our unrivalled ticketing support system.

Check out our 53 Google 5* reviews

View our video testimonials

Read our LinkedIn testimonials

Talk to the software specialists

Web Alliance Limited is long established as one of the UK’s foremost providers of adaptable, bespoke software systems. We’ll put a system in place that will ensure you have everything you need to maximise of the potential income from your existing clients.

Pick up the phone. Let’s talk. After all, we’re here to help.

Phone – 0800 677 1786

Email – info@web-alliance.co.uk

Complete our contact form