Mobile Solution for Direct Marketing

Business Requirement

The client needed a mobile app to help independent distributors in direct marketing identify buyers, match them with products, and support sales activities.

The app needed to be flexible, responsive, and easy to use.

Business Solution

AccelOne developed a multi-platform mobile application that integrated with the client’s backend systems, providing tools for prospecting, contact management, shopping cart functionality, and distributor management.

The challenge

The client wanted to create their streaming app which required a platform for a 24/7 music live stream.

The app was to include the same information found on the client’s website, including videos and a vast artist library.

The technical solution

The app was developed using Xamarin Forms to support iOS, Android, and Windows Universal Apps. It is integrated with multiple backend services for messaging, social monitoring, and transactions.

The app would interact primarily with the client’s back end, a collection of graph databases, messaging, enrollment, transaction, and social monitoring tools that integrate with the Nutrigenomics products company’s operations and its services provider, Info-Trax. The client would implement the back-end services in .NET, on a collection of services and social graph databases.

The app was required to integrate with the following services:

• The back end for messaging, sharing, social monitoring, transaction, and shopping cart preparation in addition to contact management
• The Nutrigenomics products company’s vanity sites
• Complete shopping cart orders
• The Nutrigenomics products company’s distributor management and transaction order processing system

Challenges

The app needed to handle complex processes, such as managing prospect and distributor data while maintaining a simple user interface. The project also had a short development timeframe.

Easy use of the app was paramount and the challenge was to enable functionality with the least number of screens and user actions (taps) as possible.

Approach

AccelOne worked in parallel with the client’s backend team, using the Agile Kanban approach to manage development. The project was divided into phases, with the MVP delivered after four months.

AccelOne assembled the project documents from the client and met with their team leaders to discover the scope of the engagement, which we broke down into two phases. We assembled the appropriate nearshore team for the phase 1 delivery, which consisted of:​

• Scrum Master, Senior Xamarin Developer
• Senior Xamarin Mobile Developer
• Mid-level Mobile Developer
• QA Analyst
• Project Manager

The Phase 1: Feature deliverables would be geared toward an MVP and would generally be described as:​

• Authentication, Dashboard, Notifications, Media Library, Sharing, Messaging Tools, Calendaring Tools, Contact Import tool, Prospect and Distributor Management Tool, Shopping Cart.
• Sharing, Enrollment, UI Customization, Help & Support. Settings, Startup Process, Menu, and Localization.
• The backend was to be developed by internal resources for the client.
• Delivery was to be via Xamarin Forms and C# for iOS, Android, and Windows Universal Apps. The delivery was estimated to take three-and-a-half months in total, with the test and deploy phase in the third month.

The Phase 2: Delivery and implementation would follow the same feature deliverables but with far greater parameters of functionality, providing a far greater and in-depth user experience with extended capabilities.

Results

The mobile tool was successfully launched, helping independent distributors improve sales performance and customer retention. The app continues to evolve with new features added regularly.

AccelOne’s mobile solution provided a powerful tool for direct marketing distributors, enabling them to reach more customers and drive sales growth.