The Rise of Customer Success Platforms
Customer success has become a linchpin in the business world, with a direct correlation to a company’s prosperity. Satisfied customers often translate into loyal patrons, which is why businesses are increasingly turning to customer success platforms. These platforms utilize advanced analytics to monitor customer health scores and reduce churn rates, while the integration of cloud computing has further amplified their demand.
According to a report by Grand View Research, the global customer success platforms market size was valued at USD 1.02 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.4% from 2020 to 2027. This growth is indicative of the platforms’ importance in today’s business strategies.
Understanding Customer Success
Customer success is a business’s commitment to ensuring customers achieve their desired outcomes using its products or services. It’s a proactive approach, where the success of the customer is synonymous with the success of the business. An effective customer success strategy can lead to upselling opportunities and a more robust bottom line.
Defining Customer Success Platforms
In the past, account managers were the primary bridge between a business and its customers. However, understanding customer needs was often a challenge. Customer success platforms have changed the game by providing businesses with the necessary tools to anticipate and address customer challenges and queries. These platforms predict potential issues and offer timely solutions, enhancing the overall customer experience.
The Imperative of Customer Success Platforms for Businesses
Understanding and improving the customer experience is crucial for any business aiming to provide superior solutions and services. With a variety of software and tools available, companies can select a customer success platform that aligns with their product offerings and customer engagement strategies.
Services Offered by Customer Success Platforms
Customer success platforms typically offer two main types of services:
Professional Services
Consulting
System Integration and Implementation
Support and Maintenance
Managed Services
Managed service providers leverage customer success platforms to better understand and serve their customer base.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Customer Success
An effective customer success initiative is built on three pillars:
Customer Success Strategy
Businesses must develop a clear strategy tailored to their products and the end goals of their customers.
Improved Customer Success Platforms
Adopting an effective platform is crucial for connecting management with customers and expanding the business network.
Customer Success Employees
A dedicated team focused on achieving customer success is essential, with the team size varying according to the business’s scale.
Applications Across Business Functions
Customer success platforms are instrumental in various business areas, including:
Sales and Marketing Optimization
Reporting and Analytics
Risk and Compliance Management
Customer Service
Customer Onboarding
Revenue Management
Customer Engagement
Workflow Management
Project Administration
These applications are pivotal in enhancing customer experiences and ensuring consistent revenue streams.
Advantages of Customer Success Platforms
Increased customer retention and positive revenue impact
Enhanced customer utilization of services and products
Reduction in churn rates
Building of sustainable, long-term customer relationships
Strategic alignment with customer needs and expectations
Overall revenue growth
Conclusion: A Catalyst for Business Advancement
The customer success platform market is experiencing rapid growth as businesses recognize its potential as a tool for enhancing customer experiences and driving growth. By addressing customer inquiries and providing support, these platforms are essential for any business looking to thrive in the modern marketplace.
For further insights into the customer success platforms market, you can refer to the comprehensive analysis provided by KBV Research.
The key to effective customer success lies in a strategic approach, the right platform, and a dedicated team—all of which contribute to professional and managed services that meet and exceed customer expectations.
Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) studio is mostly used by game streamers who are involved in live streaming broadcasts. They are high definition (HD) graphics media resources used by the system. Many times, the streamers try to capture a screen or a desktop image from streamlabs using OBS and they just see the black out. In this, article I’ll show you how to fix obs black screen display capture.
Causes of Black Screen issue
The Windows version and OBS version may be conflicting. One of them requires updates. After doing system upgrades, this issue may occur due to updates. Version conflicts can be the cause of the issue.
Integrated graphic cards system – Systems/laptops having 2 physical graphic cards and OBS gets confused which one to use while doing a capture action in OBS.
Gaming mode ON can be the cause of an issue. This is a typical Windows system.
Fix 1 – Solve Integrated Graphics Card Issue
Start your computer/laptop.
On the desktop, right-click to open the context menu.
The NVIDIA Control Panel option is available in the menu list.
Manage 3D Settings is available on the left pane. The right-side section appears based on the selection.
Pick Program Settings.
The OBS Studio from the list of programs should be picked up.
Choose the preferred graphic card. In this case to resolve issue, pick the Integrated Graphics option from the drop-down.
Submit changes. Now, try using the OBS Studio with the same action – Display Capture
The black screen issue disappeared.
See, how quickly it is resolved!
Fix 2 – Shut off Gaming mode
Many streamers have shared on their posts that keeping the gaming mode on does not work with broadcasts. OBS studio is one of the applications that sets an example of giving black out screen while doing display capture.
Start settings (by clicking the Windows icon from the desktop)
On the Find a setting search bar, type the keyword – game.
You shall see the screen with Game Mode settings.
Toggle the Use Game Mode to OFF.
Cool. It is shut/disabled as of now.
Reboot the system/laptop.
Open OBS Studio.
Try doing Display Capture using OBS in onstream labs.
Yo! The issue is gone.
Fix 3: GPU Upgrade can be another resolution
Manually upgrading the graphics card driver software from the system’s device manager. Many times, the issue is the older version of the graphic card that is not compatible with the OBS version. This can quickly resolve the issue. Simple and doable.
NORTHVALE, New Jersey, USA – New Yorker Electronics has announced the release of the new Picker Components 40-Amp Latching PCB Power Relay. This new Power Relay is available in coil voltages from 3 to 110 VDC. It is available in single or dual coil mode latching and is 40 Amps at 250 VAC Resistive Load and 30 Amps at 277 VAC General Purpose Load.
The device features 1-watt coil power to maintain contact pressure in the non-latching T90 style relay. This Latching version only requires a 45msec pulse at the same power to switch. The power savings lowers operating costs and increases the reliability of the relay with the significant reduction in coil heat.
Applications for this Green Relay include Energy Management, Metering and Heater Controls. The Silver Cadmium Oxide (AgCdO) contact material and TV-10 Tungsten Load assures high reliability and high surge current capabilities. Insulation material options include UL Class B and UL Class F and it is available in a sealed plastic case or with a dust cover. The PTRL relay is Lead Free and RoHS Compliant.
Features & Benefits:
Most popular power PCB relay
40 amp switching capacity
Single or Dual coil latching
5 horsepower rating
UL Class B insulation standard
UL Class F insulation available
873 spacing standard
Epoxy sealed, immersion cleanable
Lead Free & RoHS Compliant
Applications:
Energy Management
Metering
Heater Controls
Picker Components manufacturers a broad line of electro-mechanical and solid state relays. As a franchise distributor, New Yorker Electronics supplies Picker Components’ full line of Relays including Power PCB Relays, General Purpose Relays, Signal Relays, Plug-In Automotive Relays, PCB Mount Automotive Relays and Solid State Relays.
Nowadays, crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have made it easy for startups to raise funds. The last decade was a boon for startups and innovative ideas. To keep this startup trend fueled by lucrative investments, there will be a need for many other crowdfunding platforms. Hence, there is an increase in demand for crowdfunding app development.
Questions like the crowdfunding app development cost, how long will it take to develop one, and the features that should be incorporated into a crowdfunding app are crucial to answer. But, before we jump on answering these questions, let’s first understand the market trend and some industry jargons.
Crowdfunding Market Trends
According to Statista, the crowdfunding segment is expected to reach $1,053.7 million by the end of 2021. Post-2021, the transaction value will see a compound annual growth rate of 3.33% during 2021 and 2025, where the total investment will reach $1,201.1 million by 2025.
Forbes states that currently, Chinese crowdfunding platforms by JD, Taobao, and Alibaba are leading the global market, even though China has a closed ecosystem on the internet.
These crowdfunding leaders already had funded some loud projects, such as Poweregg drone raised $15 million on JD, whereas fingerprint smart lock inventor Kaadas received $4.5 million funding through Taobao.
What You Should Know to Build a P2P Crowdfunding App
There are things you should know before you learn how to create a successful crowdfunding app. So, before sailing off, let’s understand the basics:
It isn’t rocket science to build a peer-to-peer crowdfunding app; you need the right mindset and arsenal to break through the fear of jargons, FinTech regulations, and development.
Mobile platform – It depends on your target audience. You can pick among iOS and Android or create your crowdfunding app for both mobile platforms. If most of your intended users are on one mobile platform, it’s better for you to launch your app’s MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for the single platform and test your app idea. This will significantly reduce your initial investment.
Off-the-shelf softwares – There are several ready-made software crowdfunding solutions available in the market that allow you to shorten your journey to launch your crowdfunding app. However, these solutions are more targeted to small communities and events. On a grander scale, these off-the-shelf software solutions fail to deliver the promises.
Outsourcing – With Fintech development outsourcing, you’ll be hiring a FinTech development company that will develop the crowdfunding app for you. You can also partially outsource the development, meaning that the work your in-house development team finds hard to execute, you can outsource those particular tasks to the FinTech development company. However, I would recommend you to go with complete outsourcing as some FinTech developers are tremendous when it comes to implementing technology into the financial space. They are aware of best practices related to user experience and FinTech compliances.
Digital signature and encryption – Since your P2P crowdfunding app will be dealing with a lot of sensitive financial data, it is crucial for you to invest in security. Also, safeguarding the customer’s personal and financial information is a compulsory requirement across the world.
UI/UX – Although it is true, we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover; we don’t have control over user preferences. Especially at these times, when there are already some big players in the market. If your crowdfunding app looks lame, no one will give credit to your functionalities and offerings. The look and feel of your app is as essential as its existence.
Crowdfunding Business Models
Indeed, building a crowdfunding app is a great idea. But, how would you make money out of your crowdfunding app? There are several different business models for crowdfunding apps. It would help if you brainstormed on them at the time of building your app concept. This will make your requirements more clear and straightforward.
Peer to peer lending
Royalty-based earning
Equity-based earning
Donation-based earning
Hybrid model
Among all these business models, P2P lending is the most popular since it enables startups to borrow funds directly from the investors. There is no intermediary except your crowdfunding app, which acts as a platform to bridge the gap between investors and borrowers.
The P2P crowdfunding platforms don’t bear any risk for investors, and these platforms can grow to a scale that was impossible with traditional crowdfunding methods. Some P2P lending platforms even invest their own money alongside the retail investors’. Such platforms have more trustworthiness than other crowdfunding platforms. They really democratize investments.
The P2P crowdfunding platforms can quickly determine borrowers’ credit ratings using open-banking APIs and automatically perform the risk assessment. Based on the analysis, they set an interest rate for every crowdfunding campaign. The borrowers can also repay the loans using the platform. This means that your crowdfunding platform will have access to loads of financial data that can be used to improve the platform’s trustworthiness.
Usually, the borrower is charred an initial upfront fee for the crowdfunding campaign. The fee ranges from 1 to 5%, and this is the primary source of revenue for these crowdfunding platforms.
What Are Crucial Crowdfunding App Features? 1. Payment Gateway Supporting Multiple Currencies
As of 2019, the benchmark currency of the globe is still the US dollar. Crowdfunding campaigns tend to receive contributions from across the world. Most of the investors will pay in UDS, but some won’t. Hence, it is beneficial to configure your crowdfunding app to accept investment in multiple currencies.
The most important advantage of having multiple currency support is that it will take you one step ahead of your competitors’ crowdfunding apps. You can think about having support for the following currencies:
Australian dollars
Yen
Yuan
Euro
Singapore dollars
Canadian dollars
You’ll gain access to a pool of investors if you support all these currencies. This will help you take your crowdfunding app on a global platform. You’ll also gain public trust as you’ll be accommodating investors from across the world. Also, the borrowers will be able to raise funds quickly.
2. Progress Meter
The visual representation of the progress is exceptionally powerful to motivate the borrowers as well as the investors. Yes, you can show this progress to the investors too, so that they know whether the campaign is worth investing in or not.
3. Mobile App Security
Security of every FinTech app is crucial and should be up-to-snuff. Noone would give you money if hackers and thieves can easily snatch it. However, implementing advanced security in an FinTech app isn’t that straightforward. Many times, FinTech developers face difficulties in optimizing the user experience as they have to implement KYC, multi-factor authentication, and other security procedures. The solution to this is to create a flow where the user is guided throughout their registration process. In terms of multi-factor authentication, many developers prefer to use OTP and biometric authentication.
Some questions FinTech developers should ask themselves are: Do I want my crowdfunding platform to network with other platforms and provide them with APIs? Do I want my app to send tax documents or receipts? Should I create a native app or a hybrid one? Which mobile platform should I opt for my app’s MVP?
4. Social Network Sharing
As the name suggests, the treasure of Crowdfunding lies in the Crowd itself. However, finding the relevant crowd is the biggest challenge for crowdfunding platforms. The best place to broadcast your crowdfunding platform is the social media.
GoFundMe, a small-scale fundraising platform, found that fundraising campaigns shared over the social networks are likely to raise three times more money. Hence, it is an effective idea to allow users to share the fundraiser on social networks. This way, you’ll get exposure to a vast number of audience and the fundraisers will get more funds – a win win.
I would recommend you to implement this feature for more than one social platform including Facebook, Telegram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp etc. The users would have an opportunity to tell their friends about crowdfunding campaigns on their preferred platform.
The Approach to Build A Successful Crowdfunding App
The crowdfunding app development process can be divided into eight different steps. Each step is crucial for the success of your app.
Define Your Goals: Although It’s necessary to have an idea, it is the detailed business strategy that matters the most. Your answers to the following questions will help you form a clear business strategy for your crowdfunding app:
What will make people use your app?
What is the USP of your crowdfunding app?
What problems can your crowdfunding app can solve?
How do you distinguish from the competition?
Conduct Market Research: The market research includes competitors’ analysis, target user base analysis, and the economic and political scenario of your target market. You should identify your top competitors, analyse what they have to offer, compare your strategy, and come up with a differentiator that can be the unique selling point for your crowdfunding app.
Create Wireframes and UX: It is essential to create mockups for your crowdfunding app. This will help you understand the user flow and know the direction to which your app will go. The technical term for this is information architecture, a scheme that reflects all the possible user journeys. You can use Axure, Mockingbot, Sketchapp, and many other tools that are really very helpful to create user interfaces.
Build App Architecture and Develop Backend: The architecture upon which a crowdfunding app is built, plays a significant role in security and performance of the app. The architecture includes all the aspects of your mobile app including UI, Database, Workflow, Third-party APIs, and several others. Refer to the following graphics to understand what an app architecture looks like.
After building the architecture, you’ll be developing the crowdfunding app’s backend. It is a long process that is very crucial for the optimum performance of your crowdfunding app. The developers will be developing codes using the technologies defined in the app architecture.
There are two options when it comes to developing a backend for your crowdfunding app: either use a SaaS solution (i.e. AWS Mobile Hub, Firebase, Cloudkit, etc.) or build your backend from scratch. I recommend the former one as it would save you time and money required to create common features for your crowdfunding app. The latter will allow you to customize your app with more personalized features, but this will come with greater cost.
Frontend Development: What appears on the app screen are part of the frontend development. The developers will replicate the designs that the design teams had created during the UI/UX designing phase. They make use of technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create astonishing user interfaces. They’ll also make use of internal APIs created by the developers during the backend development phase.
Testing: When all the development phases are completed, the quality analyst team tests the functionalities of the app and finds where it deviates in comparison to the detailed requirement document. To be noted that software testing is the most crucial part of a software development process.
When the crowdfunding app is successfully tested and the raised errors are ratified, by the development team, it’s time to test it again to make sure that there are no bugs. When the crowdfunding app is ready, it’s ready to be released.
Conclusion
Building a successful crowdfunding app is no rocket science. If done using the aforementioned process and recommendations, you can get the app rolling within a few months. If you find it hard for you to manage all the IT infrastructure required to develop your crowdfunding app, you can outsource the work to Nimble AppGenie.