4 Ways to improve the User Engagement for your App

In today’s App driven world, time spent in apps dominates mobile usage, but 25% of all apps are used just once before being discarded. Few and far between are those that inspire loyal use. Top 100 Apps across the globe including Facebook has been able to increase the time spent by users by nearly 10%, as per a report from Opera Mediaworks.

 

Then the biggest question is that what to do to improve the user engagement. One of the concepts of developing high engagement app is Zeigarnik Effect

What is Zeigarnik Effect:

As per the research by the Scientist Bluma Wulfovna Zeigarnik in 1927, incomplete tasks are remembered better than completed tasks. It is due to the task-related brain initiation which is there till we complete it. The human brain has a tendency to remember unfinished/incomplete/interrupted tasks better than the completed or finishes tasks. This effect can be used as a concept to improve the user engagement.

How Zeigarnik Effect can be used to develop high user engagement

1. Leaving the unfinished effect: Always try to leave an impression on the user that the task on the app is unfinished. It is seen in various apps especially Training/Games where status bars or completion percentage are meant to improve the user engagement.
2. Developing the product ecosystem: As per the Zeigarnik effect, a user tried to acquire the entire product ecosystem due to unfinished effect. It can predominantly be seen in the case of Apple products where the users keep on adding the new product launches by Apple to help them get the sense of completeness. It is used wisely in app development where the roadmap can include launching various independent modules at different times to improve the engagement. However, we need to remember that there should not be the dependency. Otherwise, it can be a big detractor.
3. Bringing a sense of competition: Have you ever thought about the reason for user engagement is high on apps like Facebook & Twitter? One of the reason is the user’s hunger to get more likes/comments on their posts. Even Orkut did well in India & primary reason was the testimonials which led to a better user engagement. It is because every person compares with another to judge the completeness of the particular task. Hence, if the product feature allows than accommodating likes may not be a bad idea.
4. Gamification: Have you ever wondered that why the games have too many levels or stages. One may have experienced a desire to finish all the stages as soon as possible. The above behavior can be explained through Zeigarnik effect. The catch is that we need to reward the user for the completion of every level or stage. Human has a tendency to go for more rewards to give a sense of completeness.

In the end, we can conclude that the psychology plays the most important role in driving the user engagement. This concept has been used by multiple companies for various products across the century & are still relevant in today’s world.

Collaborative Approach to Lead Generation

In current world, there are multiple channels for lead generation including conventional means like cold calling, exhibitions, advertisements etc. and new means like digital and social media. But the most important question is effectiveness of these mediums while generating leads. It has been found that the prospect turnover ratio from conventional means is less than 10% and turning them to customer is less than 4%. In case of social media, it is much lesser assuming the fact that the presence is huge as well as there is a phenomenon of active and inactive users. Social media success is industry and business dependent.

Today, people are debating between conventional and new means and trying to demean the other depending upon their preference. At this juncture, we all are missing one of the most important aspect i.e. collaboration of mediums. In case of technology, collaboration of Social media, mobility, analytics and cloud (SMAC) has opened up multibillion opportunities for companies similarly collaboration can do the same in sales process too.

Have you ever thought of combining social media and cold calling and try to develop a new medium which can deliver better results? If no, then I would like to say that my experience of executing this collaboration says that it increases your hit rate by at least 100%.

Simple Case: Company is planning to participate in the exhibition and wants to generate as many leads as possible. Company can join the respective exhibition group in social media and after filtering the relevant contacts, can target them through email, cold calling and social media. It will help in increasing the recall value of the company. If it is followed by personal visit then the company definitely gets registered in the mind of the customer. It is followed by lead nurturing through collaboration of all the mediums and the company can see better returns and business.

Is Cold calling losing its relevance in the current world?

Is Cold calling losing its relevance in the current world?

I have been facing these questions from multiple people including colleagues, senior management as well as inside sales executives. People are getting the feel that the cold calling is losing its relevance and social media & internet marketing is replacing the same but I have my own views.

I believe that the lead generation channel differs as per the level of the organization. We can categorize the organizations based upon their position in the industry growth curve.

* If the industry is mature and products are also mature then cold calling is definitely needed. In this type of industry, competition is fierce and nobody takes the pain to search for a vendor for their needs. Due to competition, sales are always positioned around the customers and hence to crack those kinds of customers, cold calling is the best option.

* If the industry is in growth phase then the products and services are also in the growth phase. In this kind of environment, customers generally look for referrals and relevant execution experience so as to mitigate risks. Cold calling is generally effective but it is not the only thing. It should be accompanied with the right content marketing to generate business.

* If the industry is in the take-off phase and at that point cold calling is again very effective as customers are unaware of the companies operating in the concerned area.

At the end we can conclude that cold calling is still an effective way of lead generation but it need to be supported by the content marketing to realize benefits in current economic scenario.

EPO - A Perspective

In today’s world, engineering can be broadly categorized in Core & Support Engineering. Core engineering involves the product design & technology which organizations want to develop & enhance their core engineering & technology to help them innovate & capture the market. In addition to it support engineering includes application engineering, order execution, modeling & detailing, BOM creation, fabrication drawings which are needed to help in sales and revenue generation from current product line.

With growing consumption pattern across emerging economies as well as the globe and fast paced technological advancements, companies are facing with an uphill task of managing the innovations with routine engineering tasks. In 80% of the cases, engineering teams are busy with the regular and routine task of supporting sales and hence are missing their core activity of working on future product developments.

Engineering process outsourcing is helping organizations across the globe in establishing a global delivery model together with skillful resources to help executing the support engineering jobs. Strategic partnerships with the offshore partners help them being close to the clients as well as accessing new market areas in emerging ones like in Asia.

Engineering Process Outsourcing success depends on multiple parameters. After working with multiple clients across various domains, we developed a framework for the successful implementation of engineering process outsourcing.

Automation & Robotics in India

Automation & robotic application has been growing across the globe since the first industrial robot installed at General Motors plant in Trenton. It has helped the industry to increase productivity while reducing the cost of labor which in turn helps in better competitiveness, improved mechanization & better efficiency. Though robotics has been accepted across the globe across the industries, India is relatively slow. As per IFR estimates, India has less than five multipurpose industrial robots per 10000 employees in manufacturing sector in 2011 compared to global average of 50. In India, robotic industry is still at the beginning and trained system engineering manpower has been assumed as the major roadblock. Industry also wants reduction or removal of import duties on critical components of robots like harmonic drives, controllers, encoders and more so as to cater to the price sensitive market. One of the other reasons is the social obligation to provide employment to people near factory locations but this has been eradicating with the new factory as well as the unavailability of trained workforce.

India provides a great opportunity for industrial automation & robotics owing to the fact that due to growing consumption power of youth (50% of India’s population is under 25 years) and increasing crave for world class products. In addition to it, according to automotive mission plan, 10 year plan by government of India envisages India automotive sector at US$ 145 billion accounting for 10 % GDP by 2016. Similarly as per IMTMA, domestic production of machine tools is expected to grow at 20% from US $ 1 billion in 2011-12. Considering this fact, Indian companies are looking for implementation of automated processes and robotics at their manufacturing plants to satiate the growing need & demand. Currently robotics in India is majorly contributing to the growth of automobile & electronics but gradually being embraced by Indian machinery industry, defense, space & textile.

At this stage, In-house innovation and creative ways to knit-together Automation solutions, is integral to the mission of an Industrial economy. In-house expertise and creative team which works together to provide various automated solutions to our clients. These complex & customized engineering & automation solutions will help clients with achieving better productivity and efficiency of their existing facilities. 

Source: Automach India 2013, Indian machine tools manufacturer association (IMTMA), economic times, report from frost & Sullivan, International Federation of Robotics 

IT Sales Cycle - An Overview

     Sales Cycle in Information technology industry is a little bit difficult and the time is also on the higer side. Gestation period varies from 3 months to 9 months depending on the size of the project.

·         Lead generation

o        After market research and customer profiling depending on the product and services offered. Sales people identifies the companies whom we can cater our product and services. Getting details about all these companies through net or databases like hoover

·         Cold Calling/Email campaign

o        To touch upon the people and to spread awareness about our products and services

·         Follow up Calls

·         Product Demos/Presentations

o     Organize initial teleconferences and Webinars for the same. Depending on the potential and interest of the Client we plan visits to the prospects. 

·         Follow up meetings

o        Meetings with Technical people, CIOs etc and getting the requirements and expectations of the client

·         Proposal Creation

o        Creating a proposal depending upon the need of the customer. Proposing best solutions which gives customer the higher satisfaction as per Kano’s Model

·         Negotiation

o        Pricing negotiations

·         Sales Closure



Product V/s Services Marketing

Product Marketing

Choosing a product is like matter of comparing the facts.

·         Perceived Value

a.       It is the capability of the product vis a vis other competitors in the market.

b.       We provide the customer a analysis of our product features with others available in the market

c.        We provide extended warranty free of cost to prove the potential of our product.

d.       Demo of the product and option of customizing it as per the needs of the customer

·         Price

a.       It is the development cost , operational as well as profit margin

b.       We offer best pricing as we are relatively small and looking forward to create a brand name

·         Location

a.       We target products for all the geographies and across the industries where it is sellable

·         Advertising

a.       Product is tangible and returnable

b.       We explain product benefits and demonstrate the same

c.        Brochures, blogs, case studies and customer testimonials

Services Marketing

Choosing a service is like a trial

·         Perceived value

a.       Consistent

b.       On time Quality Service

c.        We build perceived value by

                                                               i.      Senior people in our company

                                                              ii.      Quality processes being followed

                                                            iii.      Certifications

                                                            iv.      Customer Testimonials

                                                              v.      HR Processes – Recruitment as well as Retention

                                                            vi.      Sales Data, videos, audio etc

·         Price

a.       Operational + profit margin

b.       We try to be competitive

·         Location

a.       Depending on the Client except some of the countries where the rules and regulations are tough

·         Advertising

a.       Demonstrate process and proof through testimonials and other sources to build reasonable expectations with the customer. This in turn builds the perceived value

b.       Planning Customer Visit to our premises and demonstrating all the processes live in front of them

·         Process

a.       Demonstrate , how our process is better than competitors

b.       Quality processes

c.        Six Sigma etc

d.       Recruitment Processes

e.        Project Management practices

f.         Monitoring and feedback processes

g.       Management control processes

·         People

a.       Excellent Talent

b.       Retention

·         Proof