With many entrepreneurs taking to marketplace app development, it is becoming more competitive than ever. Millions are being made by app developers in various niches just by isolating a niche that needs its own selective marketplace and making it easier for buyers and sellers to connect than they would if they had to use a bigger platform.
But what does it take to actually build a perfect marketplace? What do users expect, and what is needed? We will be digging into that very idea today.
User Experience
Above all for any type of business, user experience is the most important piece. There is no point in being in business if you don’t want to make things easier for your customers. From when they first open your app, every detail matters.
From loading speed to how streamlined the sign up/education phase is will influence whether they stay in your app for longer than five seconds and if they enjoy using it enough to come back and spend their money regularly.
It’s important to build on their experience by allowing feedback and actively isolating the nuggets of gold from the complaints so that you can gradually build their ideal experience.
Understanding Your Audience
Which brings me to my next point, understand your audience. You need to be able to effectively dig into what makes them tick and why they haven’t used other apps within your niche for the long term.
You can do this the easy way by googling “Competitor app name complaints”. This will show you where they are lacking. This is the basis of your strengths. If you can solve their problems and make their experience better, they will likely flock and stick to your app just off referrals.
Charging Reasonably
Many marketplaces scare away customers by overcharging. If the value of the app isn’t at least four times what they are spending, sellers won’t stay and that’s being lenient. The last thing you want is to receive a flurry of refund requests as soon as you begin getting sales and traffic.
It comes down to being able to accurately assess the value that is being provided to your buyers and sellers. What are they getting from the situation? What are you offering? What makes your offer better than the next app in the same niche? It always comes back to your selling point.
Support
Nothing makes buyers and sellers run for the hills faster than a non-responsive host. You need to invest in building a team that understands your user base and what their biggest problems will be when buying and selling. Your support staff’s job isn’t just to take complaints but it is to mediate and mitigate irritation so that it doesn’t become an infection of bad reviews and negative experiences.
If you can keep all of the above in mind when building your next marketplace app, chances are you will build something that will stand out. Every aspect must be incorporated together because it’s too easy to deliver a subpar product and get some progress, but it won’t last any longer than it takes to get a refund.