The new eDirectory App is here!
In a mobile-first world, eDirectory has always been ahead of its time: from the early adoption of website design responsivity to the creation of its exclusive Integrated App Builder. That’s part of what makes us lead the online directory software industry.
The eDirectory App
Having mobile apps published on the app stores brings extra authority to any project as it shows the commitment to the online community it serves.
Since 2010 the Integrated App Builder creates both Android and iPhone apps. Twelve years later, eDirectory confirms its protagonism and leadership in the online directory software industry.
The eDirectory Integrated App Builder brings a huge advantage for Online Directory owners as they can manage everything within the same interface. In a few clicks, they can configure the look and feel of the app, manage the main menu, and create custom pages.
Through our powerful API, every content added to the website – listings, classifieds, events, etc – become available on the app. Its dynamic nature allows for quick design changes to reflect automatically on the apps without having to republish them.
Using the integration with Google Firebase, app owners can send real Push Notifications, increasing user engagement and retention. Only native apps have this capability.
Formerly written with Java (Android) and Objective C (iPhone), we totally revamped its base technology and design for an increased amazing experience for visitors and advertisers.
Flutter
With the release of the new version 13.1, our exclusive Integrated App Builder now writes the apps using Flutter technology. This open-source platform was created by Google back in 2015 and it allows more agility in app development.
Flutter combines the quality of native apps with the flexibility of cross-platform development. It’s been used by companies like BMW, Alibaba, eBay, GroupOn, NuBank, Google itself, and many others.
Among the several benefits of Flutter, we can name its versatility, high performance, customization, and reliability of the code delivered. It means that its adoption on our Integrated App Builder allows the eDirectory Apps to become even more powerful, with even more features, and easier to be customized to meet specific needs – and for affordable pricing.
The Process
While we’re passionate about what we do, the new eDirectory app isn’t made “to suit our passions”. The (re)creation of the eDirectory app is the result of more than a year of research, hypothesis validation, data verification, prototyping, and a lot of effort by the entire team. It is the result of a process that involved customers and professionals from all areas of the company.
Led by the Design Team, the process started with several interviews with heavy-use customers around the world to map a wide range of different perceptions, needs, and desires about the eDirectory App.
After completing this step, professionals from all areas of the company (admin, sales, marketing, infrastructure, support, design, and product team) put all hands on this deck to analyze the raw data and build together the roadmap of this new journey.
Priorities set and technical needs over the table, it was time to tackle the challenges and beat them all, one by one, completing all of the planned stages. Nothing was left behind.
Finally, after months of teamwork that involved building, testing, validating, and rounds and rounds of quality control, the new eDirectory App is here, ready for the world again.
The new eDirectory App
The new eDirectory App, despite bringing many new features, still maintains the same nature as the previous generation: it is an application focused on the end-user.
Using Flutter allowed the app’s design to be refreshed and more closely aligned with the web/responsive version, while also including many of the web version’s features and functionalities.
See the highlights of the new eDirectory App:
Listing Template Design: through the Listing Template Editor you can create custom fields and unique designs for the Listing Detail Page – fitting general listings and/or one template for each category. With the new version of the app, all custom fields are displayed on the app, following the design of the associated Listing Template.
Exclusive Content: one of the great advantages of the app was the perception of users and advertisers about the authority of the project. With the new version of the apps, this authoritative item gains an important ally: the offer of exclusive content through the apps.
Stories: similar to the Instagram feature, site managers now can promote listings, deals, latest news, and more, with an eye-catching featured section on the app. Different from Instagram, these stories won’t vanish with time and are stored in the app, this way your users are able to review them at any time. Learn how to create Stories to promote your content.
Deals: advertisers (and site owners) can create deals exclusive to the app. It helps to promote even more your mobile apps, increasing user engagement. Learn how to create app-exclusive deals in your eDirectory app.
Banners: banner ads are now displayed within the apps and can be created exclusively for the apps. The home screen has one slot for the native banner ads. The results screen also displays banner ads in the middle of the results. Learn how to create banners for the apps.
Customizable Home Screen: now you can choose, rename and reorder the elements on the Home Screen. This allows a fine-tuning of the content according to your project and commercial strategy.
Sliders: apps always had their own exclusive Sliders but it was mandatory to link them to existing content such as Listing, for example. Now the Sliders can be just images with no link or even linked to external content.
Inbox: with the new version the users will have access to an Inbox feature that stores all the Push Notifications sent to the app. It may increase the interaction rate as they will have the chance to check the notifications at their own pace. Learn more about the Inbox feature.
Apple ID: we added the Apple ID option for account creation and log-in.
What’s next for the eDirectory App?
As we mentioned before, our process of re-creating the eDirectory App took into consideration the most different needs and requests from our customers. The first version of the new generation delivers new features but inside its already known focus: the end-user.
The next steps are to increase the capacity of the app, including features specific to the advertisers, where they will be able to manage and edit existing content right through the app. The screens are already designed and we are currently working on technical aspects of the development.
We are immensely grateful to everyone who took part and helped with the new eDirectory App. This marks a new stage in our history of leadership in the online directory software industry.
Thank you!
Questions, suggestions, or comments about the new eDirectory App? Please shoot us a note here or send an email to marketing@eDirectory.com.
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