// Mobile apps
Features and Costs of Own Cashback App Development
// Mobile apps
Cashback — is known to be one of the most efficient and popular advertising mechanisms which brings benefits for both users and enterprises. The article tells about peculiar features and cost of cashback app development.
Failure of following such referral link, will mean the lack of the opportunity for the client to get the cashback unless the online store and the cashback service allow to link users’ accounts on their platforms to activate the algorithm automatically; that, in its turn, will lead to the extraction of a certain percentage out of all deals performed by this particular user in the favor of the cashback service. What is more, apart from linking the accounts, it is also possible to connect the credit card to the existing account. Frankly speaking, in both of the cases, the stores will share their profit with the cashback service only for the period of first few months motivating this by the fact that there is no guarantee that future purchases of the client will be made under the influence of the cashback service rather than the store itself.
This is the main feature to be taken into the account during the development of a cashback service application. However, it is not the only one. There are some crucial points to be kept in mind if you wish to have your app working properly and become in demand.
To get the cashback mechanism function properly, it is necessary to establish the partner’s relationships with the store. It is important that the store should be obliged to provide the opportunity of tracing the attracted clients and their purchases on their platform (time, quantity and the price included) along with the protocol of data and funds transfer to the cashback app platform. The process is expensive and time-consuming. That is why marketplaces usually create APIs anyone can use to connect this functionality to their service.
Therefore, during the development of an app it is necassaty to look for those stores which possess such APIs for their further integration with one’s platform. If you think that it is easier to connect your service to the favorite shop, - just forget that.
On the Internet, you can easily find dozens and even hundreds of the websites and applications offering the same services as yours. To make your app stand out from the crowd you have to work hard to add some unique valuable features.
Talking about the cashback service app, those feature can be:
During the development of your own app, it is vital for you to realize the functionality of your app that will trace all the operations and display the status of the cashback on the user’s interface. The studies show that this is the key of users’ attraction, especially if the push-notifications are available notifying any status changes.
Rakuten, one of the most popular cashback services, is known to reward its clients on the attraction of new users to the platform. Thus, per each new user who will spend more than 25$ via Rakuten service, the up-liner will receive 25$ (plus 10$ will be credited to the referral). Moreover, the website can offer the Influencer Program awarding additional bonuses such as private parties invitations (travelling and accommodation included) and tips on how to increase your income.
If you think about creation of such functions in your app, the first thing to do is to activate the protection. The protective system must prevent from creation of multiple users registration. This is the so-called scammer protection. The optimal solution is OTP verification. Plus, it is still possible to make the IP checks and SMS-verification controls.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of scams nowadays in this sphere collecting money from cashback services without paying out to their users. Some of them pay only partially, others are known to steal confidential data, redirecting to some other store, scammer website (pretending to generate an error) or simply infect the user's device with malicious software.
These are the reasons why users beware of the new cashback platforms. That is why it is very important to provide the functionality for your app, which will prove your trustworthiness. The proofs to be implemented:
If you are in the process of developing a fully functional application, the list of functions will be as follows:
To launch the cashback service app is possible be means of SaaS or resorting to custom development. If you choose to use the first option, you will have a boilerplate solution that will be difficult to stand out from hundreds of other competitors. So it's worth working on the creation of your SaaS app just for proof of concept or if you're targeting an empty niche. In addition, if you made up your mind to choose using SaaS, you will need to pay a fixed amount every month and / or give a percentage of income, which is unprofitable in the medium and long term.
Custom app development requires a start-up capital and time. But this is the only approach that allows you to create a unique design tailored to a particularly chosen niche. Unlike SaaS, where you’re obliged to pay for a bundle of features (even if you don't need some of them), the custom development presupposes your decision on which features to be implemented in your application.
The cost of the creation of an application from the scratch mainly depends on two factors: the complexity and location of the development company. The complexity of a project means a certain number of functions and the depth of their elaboration. All of us can assume that the more complex the application is - the more expensive will be its cost. Location is important because the hourly rate for developers can vary widely from country to country: the average hourly rate in the US is $ 95, Western Europe is $ 67, and Eastern Europe is $ 32. This is the estimated cost of developing a cashback application, depending on its complexity and the location of a development company.
To launch the cashback service app is possible be means of SaaS or resorting to custom development. If you choose to use the first option, you will have a boilerplate solution that will be difficult to stand out from hundreds of other competitors. So it's worth working on the creation of your SaaS app just for proof of concept or if you're targeting an empty niche. In addition, if you made up your mind to choose using SaaS, you will need to pay a fixed amount every month and / or give a percentage of income, which is unprofitable in the medium and long term.
Custom cashback app development requires a start-up capital and time. But this is the only approach that allows you to create a unique design tailored to a particularly chosen niche. Unlike SaaS, where you’re obliged to pay for a bundle of features (even if you don't need some of them), the custom development presupposes your decision on which features to be implemented in your application.
The cost of creation of an application from the scratch mainly depends on two factors: the complexity and location of the developer company. The complexity of a project means a certain number of functions and the depth of their elaboration. All of us can assume that the more complex the application is - the more expensive will be its cost. Location is important because the hourly rate for developers can vary widely from country to country: the average hourly rate in the US is $ 95, Western Europe is $ 67, and Eastern Europe is $ 32.
