In current times where half of the world is working remotely, Emails are the only way of communication that keeps business communication documents. When you have to work with different Email accounts, it consumes a lot of time to open each account separately then reply to an Email. On-demand communication apps like FairEmail have solved the problem for everyone.
Whether it is email or video conferencing, for an excellent workflow, efficient communication is important. These on-demand communication apps have paved the way for efficient team communication that ultimately optimizes the workflow. Businesses around the world have adopted these apps that allow them to operate multiple accounts in one place; it saves a lot of time and effort.
The global market of communication app development shows a significant growth in the number of users and revenues, which means the opportunities in this field are only going to grow. If you are looking to develop an on-demand communication app like FairEmail, this is the right time.
What is FairEmail?
Image Source
FairEmail is widely popular as an open-source and privacy-oriented email app. It allows users to work with a number of email providers, which consists of all the popular providers such as Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. Users are allowed to add an unlimited number of accounts and email addresses to the app. It portrays your email conversations as threads, offers offline storage, and much more. The company describes the app as fully functional and feature-loaded
It is easy to set up and can be used for a wide variety of email communications. Users love it because of its simple design and enhanced functionality. It is compatible with all formats of emails that exist online. FairEmail also delivers a design change option like dark or light mode for users to customize it as per their preference.
On-demand communication apps like FairEmail have attracted the attention of entrepreneurs around the world to develop a feasible option that rapidly enhances their revenues and fulfills users’ expectations. Developing these communications apps can be a little tricky sometimes, but following a strategic approach, you can cross the tides easily.
Also Read – How to make an app like Skype
The Development Process of an On-demand Communication App like FairEmail
Communication apps have a number of functionalities integrated into them that make them feasible for the users to use. Before starting the process, there are a few things that you need to keep clear. Following the security compliance is among them, communications of any type can contain confidential data, users should trust your app in order to carry out some specific communications.
For your feasibility, we have divided the development process into small steps. Let’s dig in.
1. Analyze the Market
The global market is the place that tells you what genre will succeed in the next few years or will experience a downfall. Make sure to keep an eye on the current market trends of the communication apps development. Further, analyze your competitors that have launched similar apps. Find out the number and types of features those apps consists of. Your market report should include functionalities of the similar apps prevailing in the market, their business strategies, technology stack, and more.
Your business can acquire these market research reports easily from three options. The first option consists of setting up a marketing department or assigning these tasks to your in-house team. The problem is, you have to pay for every expense that goes into researching the market.
The second option states, you can hire a marketing firm to search the market for relevant facts on your behalf and pay for the same. You can clearly state points of the data that you want to be researched, and they will do it for you. The third option, however, is cheaper and more efficient. It consists of purchasing the market research report from a marketing website online. They have the market research report ready for every specific industry in the market.
2. Planning the Process
Now that you have accumulated all the data sets required to help the process and also give you an edge over the competitors proceed to curate an efficient plan. Various studies suggest that a development process with a pre-defined plan tends to achieve more success and efficiency in the workflow. The road map for the process will be based on the data that you have gathered in the first step; market analysis.
Use your competitor’s data and the market trends to fuel your list of features to be integrated into the app. Compare all the business strategies and develop an efficient monetization model for your app. Make sure to integrate a simple yet effective UI to stay ahead of the competition. The most important part, discuss your budget for this project with your in-house team or stakeholders. However, the budget of the project can fluctuate based on your requirements.
Let’s start with the features.
Features to be Considered
Efficient features could attract more customers to your app; make sure to add only the ones that are relevant to the core functioning of the app. Features are said to be the main attraction of any app; adding advanced features could take you ahead of your competitors in no time. Here is a list of features that you should consider.
Account | Allow users to create different accounts for various email providers and manage them efficiently. Users can change the theme of every different account to identify them easily. |
Colored stars | Allow users to mark their messages or emails with a colored star that works like color coding and helps in sorting the emails as per the priority. |
Notification settings | Allow users to set different notification sound for each account or adjust them accordingly. It helps in easier access between the accounts. |
Snooze messages | Allow users to stop the notifications of an account for a certain period of time. |
Synchronization scheduling | Allow users to draft a message and schedule it for a time they want to send the mail. It saves a lot of time and is an ergonomic feature. |
Reply templates | Allow users to choose from a list of email templates for every occasion or meeting type. |
Accept/decline calendar invitations | Allow users to accept or decline any invitation that has been sent over mail in a specific section easily. |
Add a message to the calendar | Allow users to save the messages by date to their calendar to mark the event or a meeting. |
Filter rules | Allow users to filter out the emails based on certain parameters such as date, time, and much more. |
Automatic message classification | Users get a pre-classification of their messages as per the core message or the source those emails come from. |
Security | Allow users to safely store their data on the app without any threat to their data on the emails. It should deliver an optimum level of security. |
Biometric/PIN authentication | Allow users to set up an extra level of security by setting up biometric and PIN authentication on the app. |
Message list widget | Allow users to get a widget on their phone’s home screen for easier access. |
Export settings | Allow users to export the data to other places or folders easily from the app. |
Tech Stack
The features of your on-demand communication app will work efficiently based on the tech stack you will choose. However, the tech stack can also put a hole in your budget, given that it varies based on the features requirements. Here is a tech stack that most of the communication apps prefer.
3. Design, Development & Testing
Now that we have collected the necessary data that is required to move ahead in the development process. Start with the design of the app; if you look at the UI of the FairEmail app, you will find that it does not have an eye-candy type of design, but a simple yet effective design as a professional would prefer. Since the core functionalities of any communication app like FairEmail is to send or receive email from various accounts feasibly, hence; it does not need a fancy design. Ask your mobile app development team to integrate a simple design that focuses on the core functions rather than filling the design with unwanted graphics.
After the design part is finalized, move towards the development part. Now, to develop an effective app, you will need some help. In this case, also, you have three options; the first one consists of assigning the development process to your in-house team. The problem that occurs with in-house development is less coordination, more expenses, and a long time to develop.
However, you can go for the second option that consists of hiring a freelance team but keeping every freelance team member in the line of constant communication is a tricky task. If the coordination is not done properly, you will be left with a project that doesn’t meet your business requirements. The third and most feasible option is to hire a reliable mobile app development company with relevant experience and a full-fledged team of developers. These companies deliver a list of engaging models that easily fits your budget and deliver an extreme quality project. An ideal team for developing mobile apps consists of a project manager, developers, QA, testing engineers, and business analysts.
The next and final step of the development process is to test the app before launching. If you launch your app in the market without testing, it can cause a negative impact on brand impressions. It is highly recommended to test the app on various parameters before releasing it to the users.
Also Read- Telecom Analytics: Revolutionizing Business Connectivity
Develop Your On-demand Communication App with Matellio!
On-demand communication apps have a promising future, as the current market stats suggest. If you are thinking of developing an app like FairEmail, the time is right, and the market is in your favor. Matellio has more than 15 years of experience in the mobile app development market. With our vast experience, we understand your business needs to build an app that fulfils your requirements and the user’s expectations.
Our highly skilled engineers and developers possess vast expertise in next-gen technologies to develop an efficient solution for your business. Our high client retention rate displays the rate of quality we deliver. Are you still thinking? Fill the form and book a 30-min free consultation call with our experts to start right away!