What's a Super App, and How Can You Create One to Grow Your Business?
Without our cell?phones and the apps they enable, we are essentially defenseless. Being stranded in an unfamiliar area of the city is nothing if you have Uber or at the very least Google Maps nearby. However, for some people, it can be difficult to try to recall the local taxi service's phone number (or even the last time you really called anywhere to take a cab). Our smartphones are comfortably seated inside with apps for ordering food, paying bills, scheduling our days, and many more common chores that have become our constant companions. Such a situation is, however, somewhat of a two-edged sword.
When we need to switch our attention from one work to another, the first thing that comes to mind is the need to juggle all the apps we have. It takes using half a dozen applications just to schedule a simple weekend evening with our loved ones. You must get movie tickets, make a dinner reservation, plan your route, arrive on time, pay for everything, and don't forget to rate the movie you saw and the restaurant you went to. Is there a better approach to handle such difficulties, you ask? Super app development is one potential remedy. We'll discuss what a super app is a today and how to create one to help your company.
Multiple Mini Applications Gathered Under One Umbrella
The central idea behind super apps is pretty straightforward. Someone once thought, why don’t we create an application that will work as a portal providing users with access to multiple tiny apps, each performing a specific task? A seemingly simple concept has become so effective that the only term to describe it was “super apps.” However, despite the name, these tiny applications don’t provide any functionality beyond the possibilities of regular apps. They have other values, such as efficiency, ease of access to different functions, and the ability to put many applications in order.
Super app parts don't always originate from a single development firm. Third-party developers occasionally present a concept for their service to a more significant participant in the market. If it shows enough promise, it might be added to a super app to increase its potential. In this instance, the more comprehensive application serves as a platform that enables the activation or deactivation of particular services. It is advantageous to avoid having to access the app store each time a certain new feature is required.
There are two main categories of super applications, depending on the target market. Customer-facing solutions function like any other market-available application. They must represent the demands of the current audience and are created with a possible customer in mind. A great illustration of a customer-facing solution is WeChat. With nearly a half billion active users, it enables people to accomplish almost anything, such as scheduling appointments with doctors or buying cinema tickets. Super applications aimed at employees make up the second sizable segment. By giving employees access to up-to-date calendars, onboarding updates, and other functions, they were first created to be utilized within a business to support increasing employee efficiency.
It's challenging to determine what super applications are perfect for given their nature. Listing the situations they can't assist with will be simpler. If you consider that there exist solutions for social networking, banking, finance, healthcare, online payments, etc., you may evaluate yourself. Each super app comprises of a number of services that you can mix and match as you like until the desired result is achieved.
No one is stopping you, for instance, from creating a super app that would compile all the information one might require to take care of their health. Imagine a platform that enables users to discuss healthy recipes, arrange low-carb meal delivery, purchase or rent sports equipment, track their exercise, and manage their weight.
The initial advantage of employing them for end users is brought about by this modest idea of flawless super software. They are useful. It's that easy. Individuals can select the services and combinations they require at the time by themselves and access them all through a single access point. Additionally, if you can log in to a great app just once, there's no need to go through the permission process many times.
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It is clear that businesses can benefit from super app development in several ways. For instance, your software will have a greater chance of drawing a broader audience if it offers everything. The nicest aspect of this situation is that having a lot of features does not necessarily entail having a large user interface with plenty of fields and buttons. Superb app creation enables the end user to delete unclaimed features so that nothing will harm the user experience. A large audience, in turn, enables using the info on what services users disable most often and what arouses the most significant interest. With this data gathered and analyzed, companies can balance the effort of their development teams more efficiently. It will help to focus on what’s important and avoid spending resources on unclaimed application features of a super app.
How to Build a Super App for Your Business
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Standard development methods are combined with a few extra processes that reflect the unique nature of such software solutions while creating a super app. Making little building components fit together to create a single whole is the challenging part. You might start by getting to know your potential users better in order to overcome this difficulty.
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The main benefit of super apps, which is access to numerous smaller applications, shouldn't be used as an excuse to pack in as much functionality as you can in the hopes that users will find out what works best for them. Finding the ideal balance between what you can implement and what a typical user will choose to try would be preferable. Try to start with something that will make your app stand out from the competition rather than making a list of the features your development team will work on in the next months. For example, it could be challenging for older persons or people with physical limitations to utilizing several common programs every day. Here, you may invest in creating a powerful app and try to make it more accessible.
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The components of your super app don't necessarily need to be created and implemented by you alone. The development procedure in this instance may take a very lengthy time. Of course, you may always increase your prospects by working with a focused development team. If this choice is not for you, however, you can work with someone who has a viable functioning solution.
2. Pick the features you require.
It's difficult to forecast where the road of innovation will take you with super apps. For instance, Uber began as a substitute for conventional taxi services before acquiring new features over time. Even if you have ground-breaking ideas, a good development method is to start small. Create a strong app user base and keep an eye on user feedback to find out what features users feel your platform is missing. Then you can work on the components that are lacking and incorporate them into the current ecosystem.
3. Create a Unified UI/UX Approach
This stage is really important when it comes to great apps. especially if you only developed a portion of the program yourself and certain outside parties contributed to its creation. Applications that are part of the platform might offer services of many kinds. You might determine, for instance, that grocery shopping and reservations for restaurants are two services your consumers simply cannot live without. The UI will seem different and users will have various experiences as a result of the specific functionality that these applications offer. The creation of UI/UX guidelines is your aim. They can be followed by your development team to prevent users from perceiving your "super app" as a random mashup of incompatible programs. The most obvious things to think of are color palette, typography, and branding elements that will help different parts of the super app look like a single whole. Here, you can either count on your own skills or rely on a team providing?professional UI/UX development services.
4. Select Your Monetization Method
Making decisions about how to make money is simpler when you invest in regular web application development. When you deal with many apps connected by a single platform, the choice could be more challenging. You can choose one of the monetization methods based on your starting point if you decide to start with core functionality and build your super app subsequently. For instance, the freemium strategy suggests that you provide your users the option to upgrade to a more advanced version of the app in order to access extra features while still offering some services for free. If you construct your super app on a messaging platform, you may provide a free version of the app with all the capabilities needed for convenient communication. The premium version, for example, can allow users to draw doodles using their smartphone screens and turn them into custom sticker packages using advanced AI and ML algorithms. Providing subscription-based access to your super app or reserving some screen space for ads are less innovative yet pretty effective monetization strategies.
5. Select the technical stack
Nothing is both more difficult and simpler than suggesting a tech stack for the creation of exceptional apps. React, Vue.js, Node.js, Webix, DHTMLX, and Laravel are just a few examples of well-known frameworks and libraries that can help you avoid running into a situation where no technology can meet your development demands. On the other hand, sometimes it might be challenging to pick the best decision due to such diversity.
Because there weren't many options back then, if you were going to develop a website, you would probably go with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP. Today, you have to abide by the recommendations made by your technical team regarding the difficulty of developing technology, the resources that are available, and the financial constraints.
6. Create and Test Your Super Application
Your concept can finally come to life once you've defined your objectives and selected a set of tools to assist you in achieving them. Despite the exhaustive market research you made sure to conduct throughout the planning phase of the project, keep in mind that end users' minds occasionally operate in mysterious ways. As a result, you can always design an MVP first, get user feedback, and then make changes while the cost of changing functionality is still manageable.
Since you eventually come to a complex system where diverse applications must work together and operate with sensitive data, you must recognize the importance of testing. There are two major rules you should follow: the earlier in development you start implementing testing, the better, and there’s no such thing as too much testing.
7. Deployment, Maintenance, and Frequent Updates
It's time to launch your app in the Google Play or Apple Software Store after making sure that the development process went smoothly and that your great app has no issues or at the very least so few that you can let the first users try it. Even after the download number pierces the sky and the first five-star reviews surface, it is still too early to unwind.
Whether it's new ice cream flavors or mobile app features, people are constantly looking for more. And what's this? Your fantastic app is not an exception. With the exception of a few days to celebrate the application launch, the development process shouldn't halt. To keep the users happy, remember to release new features regularly. Also, since users trust you with personal data, such as correspondence and credit card numbers, you must constantly monitor potential security risks and update the app accordingly.
Conclusions
Due diligence is necessary for the process of creating a super app. The requirement to adhere to a single concept restricts the option of merging many applications under a single platform. Your suggestion to integrate online payment options with a program that manages smart kitchen appliances could be a good place to start when creating a super app. However, without a sound implementation strategy, you run the danger of potential users not understanding your invention's advantages and failing to share your vision.