Month: July 2019

The trouble of the solitary loan provider guideline

The issue of the solitary loan provider guideline

Well, according to the solitary loan provider guideline, if you are a trainee as well as you ask for a trainee funding, your demand is sent out via to the Department of Education which will certainly choose that your loan provider will certainly be. Trainees are commonly stuck with one lending institution, due to the solitary loan provider regulation, a guideline that has several drawbacks.

At initial view it might appear like a great concept to have just one loan provider to hold all of your trainee car loans, yet there’s even more to the solitary lending institution policy than it shows up. Of all, according to the solitary lending institution regulation you are compelled to combine with one lending institution, the one that holds all your education and learning finances, as well as this might cost you a great deal of additional loan due to the reality that you have no choices pertaining to far better passion prices and also much better costs.

Well, according to the solitary lending institution regulation, it is not your option to make. Primarily, due to the solitary lending institution regulation you shed the right to select from the selection of much better prices as well as client solutions used by lots of pupil debt consolidation firms. All the various other negative aspects, the solitary loan provider regulation forbids pupil car loan reconsolidation.

It is just typical that trainees need to have the chance to select their lending institution, rather of being stuck with one lending institution that does not fit their assumptions and also requirements, as the solitary lending institution policy states. As a pupil, you have the right to appeal to your regional legislators, by means of email or letters, in order to ask for an adjustment or also abolition of the solitary loan provider policy.

An option to the solitary loan provider guideline would certainly be the opportunity for trainees to make a solitary loan provider listing, from which to pick their lending institution. What ought to fascinate the pupil concerning the choices of the solitary lending institution checklist is the loan providers’ service credibility. Taking into consideration the truth that your lending institution is the one that will certainly pay all of your financial debts, it is suggested that the lending institution you select, from your solitary loan provider listing, is a major individual (business) as well as pays your financial institutions on time.

Several options might be for existing troubles pupils are stuck, for currently, with the solitary loan provider guideline as well as a great deal of drawbacks. Stress have actually been made upon the Senate to rescind the solitary loan provider policy, absolutely nothing has actually been formally developed so much. Maybe in the future, a modification around will certainly be feasible and also pupils will certainly have the ability to think about making a solitary loan provider checklist prior to selecting the lending institution that will certainly care for their financings.

Well, according to the solitary loan provider policy, if you are a trainee as well as you ask for a trainee lending, your demand is sent out via to the Department of Education which will certainly determine that your lending institution will certainly be. Pupils are typically stuck with one lending institution, due to the solitary loan provider guideline, a guideline that has several drawbacks.

It is just typical that pupils must have the possibility to pick their loan provider, rather of being stuck with one loan provider that does not fit their assumptions and also demands, as the solitary loan provider guideline states. An option to the solitary lending institution policy would certainly be the opportunity for trainees to make a solitary loan provider listing, from which to pick their lending institution. Thinking about the reality that your lending institution is the one that will certainly pay all of your financial obligations, it is a good idea that the lending institution you select, from your solitary loan provider listing, is a severe individual (firm) as well as pays your financial institutions on time.

The post The trouble of the solitary loan provider guideline appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

Can Women Entrepreneurs Change a Sexist System, When 98 Percent of VC Funding Goes to Men?

Why Men Get Substantially More Venture Capital than Women Entrepreneurs, and How to Change It

Over the past 20 years, there has been a 114% increase in the number of women-owned businesses.  Women entrepreneurs are on the rise for sure, with more and more popping up every year.  One might assume that, along with this increase, there has been a correlating increase in the number of female entrepreneurs that are getting venture capital.

While there may have very well been an increase, it is sadly disproportional.  According to Crunchbase, in 2018 women entrepreneurs only got 2.2% of the $130 billion of venture capital investments in the United States.

What is promising, is that in Q1 of 2019, Crunchbase reports that 17% of venture capital investments went to businesses that had at least one female founder. Of this, 2% went to firms founded by females only while 15% went to firms with both female and male founders.  This 17% represents $8.1 billion.

The increase is both significant and promising, but when you consider that 83% of venture capital investments in Q1 of 2019 still went to firms founded by men alone, you can see there is still an issue.

What is Venture Capital?

Before we can delve into the reasons behind more males getting venture capital than women entrepreneurs, it can help to remind ourselves of what venture capital is.  It’s an investment.  It is a group of investors taking a chance on the next big thing in an effort to gain a profit.  They believe in the idea and the entrepreneur, and they are willing to go out on a limb, but not too far out.

The more perceived risk, the less likely the funds are to flow.  So, do investors see more risk with women than with men?  Do they see men as more stable or more capable?  Maybe they just have more men asking for their money than women.  Which one is it?  Probably a combination of all three.

Hit the jackpot with our best webinar and its trustworthy list of seven vendors who can help you build business credit.

Why Don’t Women Entrepreneurs Get More Venture Capital?

There are a few reasons why women entrepreneurs are not getting the venture capital funds. Aside from the obvious gender gap that exists in virtually all of the business world because of a sexist culture in general, there are some other forces at work here. By understanding exactly what these forces are, we can better combat them.  It is hard to fight an enemy that you cannot see clearly.

Lack of Women Owned Venture Capital Firms

While gender shouldn’t matter on either side of the money, studies show that is does. Female investors are more likely to invest in women entrepreneurs.  Since only 9% of U.S. venture capitalists are women, this poses a problem.  Seventy four percent of U.S. venture capital firms are male only. This clearly does not bode well for female owned start-ups.

women entrepreneurs Credit Suite2

Stereotypes and Approach

It seems that investors approach men with questions related to how they plan to win, allowing them to play offense.  Women, on the other hand, are given questions related to how they intend to not lose.  They are inadvertently put on the defensive, which lends itself to negativity.

Research has shown that, despite the numbers, even male investors invest based on feelings as much as numbers.  Its much easier to feel warm and fuzzy about an offensive presentation than one that is already playing defense. Even if you are discussing ways to avoid losing, the idea of losing is still being discussed and therefore pushed to the forefront of the presentation, and then the minds of the investors.

Competence vs. Confidence

Women entrepreneurs tend to be competence focused.  They meticulously go over all the numbers and present them as is.  In contrast, men tend to oversell, erring on the side of confidence.  They may over exaggerate a bit, in anticipation of what could and what they believe will happen, while women will not typically go so far.

It’s not that men are being untruthful.  They are just selling based on more than numbers. They are selling based on their gut.  There is no doubt in their minds what they can do, even if the numbers do not necessarily show it yet.  Women on the other hand, are selling based only what they can prove based on numbers alone.  They may have confidence and believe they can do much more than what the numbers show, but their focus on competence trumps that and causes them not to let the belief they will do better seep through.

Can Women Entrepreneurs Change the System?

Not overnight, no.  Probably not even in a decade.  However, much progress can be made in that amount of time.  The increase in just the first quarter of 2019 shows that change is happening.  There is a lot of change needed however.  What can women do?

They can do what many are already doing.  As more and more women are making it across the lines and successfully nabbing venture capital funds, they are reaching over the fence to help others up.  They are investing in women entrepreneurs, and training them in how to find and win venture capital funds themselves. The following are just a few women led venture capital firms working to turn the tide.

Hit the jackpot with our best webinar and its trustworthy list of seven vendors who can help you build business credit.

–able

–Female Founders Fund

–Halogen Ventures

–Brilliant Ventures

–SoGal Ventures

–Forerunner Ventures

Of course, it shouldn’t be that women have to go to women to get venture capital.  To really change the game, all genders need to be investing in businesses despite the gender of the founder.  The facts in our world, however, lead us to believe that isn’t going to happen any time soon.

Still, women can begin to level the playing field somewhat by remembering to balance confidence with competence, and playing offense even if they are thrown into the defense.

What Does this Look Like Practically?

Knowing what the issues we can control actually are, means we can swing the pendulum in our favor by making those changes.  While we do not want to lie to investors, women entrepreneurs could benefit from showing more confidence in their presentations to investors.

Also, take advantage of the training offers from those who have gone before you and found success. They can show you not only how to play the confidence game, but also how to ensure you can make a smooth transition from defense to offense, despite the approach of the investors.

How Can Women Entrepreneurs Fill the Gap in the Meantime?

Fight for the venture capital funds, but if they don’t come through, or if it isn’t enough, there are plenty of other options.

Traditional Loans

These are the common go to, and they can work well, if you have good personal credit.  In fact, they are maybe the best option.  That is, if it is an option that you have available.  At least it may be the best option in the beginning.

The options are many, from regular secured loans to unsecured loans and lines-of-credit to SBA loans.

Secured financing offers lower interest rates. In addition, personal credit quality and revenue are not the sole determining factors for approval.  Collateral can cover a multitude of sins. Some accepted types of collateral include:

– Account receivables and purchase orders

– 401k, IRA, stocks, and bonds

– Inventory

– Equipment

Of course, if you’re trying to start a business, you are likely only going to have personal assets to put up for collateral, not inventory or equipment.

Unsecured Financing

Generally speaking, unsecured financing is a valid option for amounts up to $150,000. You can get an approval if you have decent personal credit, and get 0% introductory rates for 6-18 months even as a startup.

The Small Business Administration

The SBA Express is an option for women entrepreneurs in the startup phase.  You can get approved for a loan up to $350,000. Rates of 4.5-6.5% are standard, and generally a line-of-credit good for 7 years. No collateral is needed for up to $25,000. There is a turnaround in 36 hours.

You can also access information, help, and support with the SBA’s Women’s Business Centers.

Grants

Grants are also a potential source of funding for women entrepreneurs, and they work well when combined with venture capital funds. A couple of popular ones include:

Amber Grants

$1,000 to a different women-owned business each month. At the end of the year, one of the monthly grant winners gets $10,000 more. See: https://ambergrantsforwomen.com/get-an-amber-grant/.

Eileen Fisher Women-Owned Business Grants

Up to $100,000 is awarded to ten women-owned businesses per year. NOTE: this program is was on pause until the middle of 2019. See: https://www.eileenfisher.com/grant-program-guidelines/ for more information.

Life after the Venture

What happens after you are up and running?  Regardless of whether you snagged venture capital at the beginning, you will need to finance your business going forward. It really is best to do this with business credit rather than your personal credit.   Business credit, in case you didn’t know, is credit in the name of your business that is not associated with your personal FICO.  It doesn’t just happen however.  You have to build business credit intentionally.  Here’s how.

Separate Your Business from Yourself

Distinguish yourself from your small business. This means you can help your cause by incorporating or becoming a limited liability company (LLC). This is a distinct entity from the owner.  You also will need an EIN from the IRS.  That is an identifying number for your business, so you do not have to use your SSN when you apply for credit.

In addition, you will need a DUNS number from DUN and Bradstreet, a dedicated business telephone number, and a profession website and email address.  The phone number needs to be toll free, and the email address needs to have the same URL as the website.  A free email service will not suffice in this case.

Do Business with Starter Vendors

These are vendors that will offer net terms on invoices without a credit check.  If you do business with them in your business name and not your personal name, when they report these payments to the credit reporting agencies, they will be reporting in your business name.  This is how you can begin to build business credit. These vendors are said to be in the vendor credit tier.

Hit the jackpot with our best webinar and its trustworthy list of seven vendors who can help you build business credit.

Work Up to the Retail Credit Tier

Once there are 5 to 8 or more vendor credit tier accounts reporting to at least one of the business credit reporting agencies, you can move on to the retail credit tier. These are businesses like Office Depot and Staples.

Move on Up to the Fleet Credit Tier

Are there 8 to 10 accounts reporting? Then progress to the fleet credit tier. These include businesses such as BP and Conoco. Use this credit to purchase fuel, and to fix, and maintain vehicles.

Take the Leap to the Cash Credit Tier

Have you been responsibly handling the credit you’ve gotten up to this point? Then move to the cash credit tier. These are companies like Visa and MasterCard.

For cards in each of these tiers be sure you only use your SSN and birthdate for identity verification.  Do not include them for credit checking purposes.

What’s the Verdict?  Can Women Entrepreneurs Change a Sexists System?

I think it depends on the approach taken.  You can’t change the mind of every sexist male in the world. There is a slow movement toward something better however.  If women continue to break into the venture capital scene on the investment side, there is a real chance.  If those that have broken through continue to train those coming behind them, and more women jump into the game both in their own firms and in joining firms with males, the ball is rolling in the right direction. With the understanding that women need to increase confidence and switch to offense when cornered into defense, the future looks bright for women entrepreneurs and venture capital.

In the meantime, all businesses, whether female owned or not, need to work on building business credit.  This is the key to finding continual funding throughout the life of a business.

There will always be those with a sexist mindset, but if these things can continue to happen, we can likely continue to see the large annual increases in the amount of venture capital funds women entrepreneurs receive.

 

The post Can Women Entrepreneurs Change a Sexist System, When 98 Percent of VC Funding Goes to Men? appeared first on Credit Suite.

Prevent the Hassles of Online Business Start-up with a Turn Key, Automated Home Based Business

Prevent the Hassles of Online Business Start-up with a Turn Key, Automated Home Based Business

Numerous individuals desire to begin a residence organisation, however never ever do due to the fact that of the headaches and also start-up prices. As with any kind of brand-new organisation, a residence based company can have unexpected expenditures as well as issues. With a turn vital, automatic residence based company, numerous of these headaches can be gotten rid of.

Remove Many Business Start-Up Costs

The majority of brand-new house based companies will certainly need particular start-up prices. These might consist of a brand-new computer system as well as computer system workdesk, a printer, materials, a fax maker, worker prices, getting in touch with or accounting costs, a company phone, as well as printing expenses for letterhead, envelopes, as well as organisation cards.

Why a Turn Key, Automated Home Based Business?

A turn vital residence organisation aids you remove numerous of these start-up prices and also some of the inconveniences while recognizing your residence organisation desire. A turn essential house organisation is a prefabricated service that has actually currently been checked and also shown time and also time once more for your advantage.

You can get in a turn essential, computerized online service with the support of extremely educated experts that understand exactly how to assist you every action of the method. This removes component of the examining and also waiting duration for brand-new organisation startups. You can generate income from house in much less quantity of time while leaving the research to the professionals.

Advantages of the Turn Key Home Business

There are several advantages of signing up with a turn vital, computerized company possibility. You’ll be able to prevent the headaches as well as numerous start-up expenses of a brand-new company. Transform vital companies typically give a site for you, which will certainly remove high internet style prices.

Having a turn crucial site likewise gets rid of lots of workplace costs. You might still desire to obtain service cards as well as advertising products, however you can get rid of phone costs as well as various other materials due to the fact that you will not require them for on-line promos.

Similar to lots of MLM possibilities, the turn essential, automatic home company makes use of a computerized system that functions all the time marketing the items or concepts readily available, also while you rest. Your emphasis can be on promo, not day-to-day jobs such as answering phones, sending by mail document, and also upgrading your internet site.

If you’re stressed concerning the problems of beginning a service, after that a turn crucial, automatic house based service might be simply the appropriate option for you to understand riches from house.

As with any type of brand-new organisation, a house based company can have unanticipated costs and also troubles. With a turn crucial, computerized residence based company, several of these troubles can be removed. These might consist of a brand-new computer system and also computer system workdesk, a printer, materials, a fax maker, worker prices, seeking advice from or accounting costs, a service phone, as well as printing expenses for letterhead, envelopes, as well as service cards. A turn vital residence organisation aids you remove numerous of these start-up prices as well as some of the problems while understanding your residence organisation desire. A turn crucial residence organisation is a prefabricated organisation that has actually currently been checked and also shown time and also time once more for your advantage.

Another satisfied client in Oklahoma… $10,400.00 in Business Revenue Financing!

Our client was in need of just an extra push financially to obtain the goals they had set out.  This was for the expansion they were needing to keep their  business growing successfully. He was looking to expand his business and we provided the solution to his need. He is very pleased to have his company moving  forward on their goals and not having to wait because of lack of funds. 

We are glad to be part of his success and look forward to continue to helping his company!

Click Here to see how much funding you can get for your business.

The post Another satisfied client in Oklahoma… $10,400.00 in Business Revenue Financing! appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

The post Another satisfied client in Oklahoma… $10,400.00 in Business Revenue Financing! appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Whincup ends 24-race Supercars loss steak

Red Bull Holden star Jamie Whincup has ended his longest Supercars winless streak in 13 years with victory in race one at the Ipswich SuperSprint.

The post Whincup ends 24-race Supercars loss steak appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

OneSignal is hiring an SRE to scale the future of our bare-metal infrastructure

Article URL: https://onesignal.com/careers#site_reliability_engineer

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20538460

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

TrueVault (YC W14) is hiring staff engineers to help us index personal data

Article URL: https://truevault.workable.com/j/10E197FB19

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20539665

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

OneSignal is hiring an SRE to scale the future of our bare-metal infrastructure

Article URL: https://onesignal.com/careers#site_reliability_engineer Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20538460 Points: 1 # Comments: 0

The Definitive Guide to Mobile Deep Linking

The average consumer is spending five hours per day on their smartphones and this number is only going up.

We do everything on our phones these days, from shopping to browsing social media and managing our businesses.

This is why it’s more important than ever to optimize the user experience to keep people on your app for longer periods, enjoying it more, and sharing it with friends.

If you’re trying to optimize your mobile app, I’m sure you’ve already tinkered with the layout, fonts, copy, and more, but there’s one thing you probably haven’t…

Mobile deep linking.

It’s a small detail that can drastically enhance how users engage with your app but few are taking advantage of it.

That’s why I’m going to be teaching you what mobile deep linking is, why you need it, and how you can implement it yourself.

Let’s dive in.

What is mobile deep linking, anyways?

Mobile deep linking is the practice of funneling users deeper into your app through the use of a uniform resource identifier or URI for short.

This allows mobile app developers to push to a specific page within an application versus simply opening it.

Think of it as a website URL.

If you were trying to sell a product, would you want users landing on the homepage or being forwarded to a sales page found deeper in the website?

The latter, of course.

By helping users go to a certain page within an app, you’re making the customer journey easier by getting them closer to the end goal sooner.

Here’s a visual of what the process looks like:

While it might seem simple, mobile linking comes in three different forms that you need to be aware of. They include the following:

Standard deep linking

This is the straightforward deep linking that forwards a user to a specific part of the app. It’s also known as universal linking.

It only works if the customer already has the app installed.

The problem is within traditional linking is that when a user clicks a link, it won’t open the mobile app, but rather directs them to the browser version.

If someone is on a mobile device, the app version will always be more optimized and streamlined.

Here’s what happens if you search for my Instagram on Google for example with the app installed.

The results appear to be the exact same whether you have the Instagram app or not, but clicking it opens up the app seamlessly.

This is a good example of basic deep linking. 

Someone that doesn’t have the Instagram mobile application installed will be given an error or redirected to a fallback page.

Deferred deep linking

This form of deep linking works the same way as standard linking does with the exception that it will direct users without the app to the download location.

This is beneficial because it can help app developers and companies acquire more customers.

Once the app is installed, the user will be referred to where they were originally navigating.

Check out the Skip The Dishes app to see what I mean.

While a user is creating their order, they are able to download the mobile app for Android or iOS.

They are forwarded back to the exact step they were taking, except in the mobile app after downloading it.

This means that they don’t have to manually go through the entire process again to get back to where they were.

Contextual deep linking

Contextual deep linking, also known as onboarding, is commonly used for gathering information on customers to personalize the user experience of an app.

Data such demographics, how users navigate to the app, and more is recorded.

The app onboarding process can be different depending on if the user installed via the Google Play Store, the Apple Store, a Facebook campaign, or another source.

A mobile app downloaded through a Facebook Ad might look different than when it’s downloaded through a Google Display Ad, for example.

The landing page is able to be customized through what is known as a deep view in mobile app development.

Just as the deep link forwards users to a specific deeper page in the application, the deep view is the visual result they see that’s different than others.

URI schemes

Deep linking is only doable thanks to what is known as URI schemes. These schemes are similar to how a website URL can direct you to a specific page on a website.

They look something like this:

See the fetched URI? Its format is appname://path/to/location.

Custom URIs are simple to set up for developers (Often created by default) and present the opportunity to redirect users wherever you please.

The mobile customer journey and how it applies to deep linking

The mobile buyer’s journey is the individual’s steps a user takes to find, use, and share your application.

It’s similar to the regular funnel a customer goes through when purchasing a product with some small differences you need to be aware of.

Here’s how the various steps in the mobile buyer’s journey can be applied to mobile deep linking.

Discovery

The first step in the mobile customer journey is discovering your app in the first place.

While this can be achieved through strategies like content marketing and SEO, deep linking gives you a nice boost to these tactics.

Google indexes deep links from mobile apps, giving you more opportunities to rank and drive organic traffic.

Users can click the search engine listing and open the link directly through the app instead of an internet browser.

Look at this search for Google Analytics to see what I mean:

This helps businesses acquire more users and increase brand awareness versus having a single search engine listing.

Check out my video on skyrocketing mobile app organic traffic, and pair it with deep linking for mind-blowing results.

Compare

Once a user has narrowed down a few options, they’re naturally going to want to find the best app by comparing them.

They’ll look at factors such as pricing, ease of use, and features. 

Deep linking enables you to push users to the best features of your app, reviews, or customize the experience to make your application better than competitors.

By reducing the number of steps it takes to get to important functions of the app, you’re also decreasing the chance of users bouncing.

Decision

The third step in the mobile buyer’s journey is making a decision and commitment to a single app.

Having a clear value proposition and refined user experience is crucial here. 

Better yet, contextual deep linking helps you collect data to make the application as tailored as possible to your buyer’s persona. 

Marketing campaigns can also be optimized with this information to improve targeting and performance.

Retain

Once you begin acquiring more users, you need to keep them.

Standard and deferred deep linking will help navigate users back to your app when they are on search engines, social media, and other platforms. 

This keeps them using your app more often.

Data that can be collected as a result of deep links will assist you in understanding why and how they use your mobile application.

Doubling down on these is what we call Pareto’s Principle or the 80/20 rule.

This rule can be seen everywhere and defines that 80% of results come from 20% of actions.

In the case of mobile app development, you might discover that users are only engaging with a few features and others are taking up space.

You could hypothetically update the features and pages that are used the most, boosting engagement and retention.

Businesses will miss out on discovers like this if they don’t use deep links to collect information.

Why mobile deep linking matters

I know what you’re thinking.

“Why should I bother with mobile deep linking?”

Let me explain.

It improves the user experience

If you can save the user from going through multiple steps instead of one, why wouldn’t you?

That’s exactly what deep linking does, and improves UX because of it.

You’re making the life of users easier by using deep linking to get them where they want to go faster.

This gives them a better experience and impression with your app as a result.

Here’s what the difference between not using mobile deep linking and taking advantage of it looks like:

Much simpler, right?

This brings me to my next point.

It increases customer retention and engagement

Wouldn’t it be nice if every user that downloaded your app stay active all year round?

Unfortunately, that’s not how it works.

It’s been found that 55% of users will churn after the first month of use. That means nearly half of the new downloads will be lost.

Look at mobile app user retention the same way you approach a website.

It’s common for nearly half of all visitors to leave a website and not take any action.

Do you just sit there and do nothing about it? Of course not!

You implement strategies like email options through popups and exclusive content to capture those users before they leave.

This is precisely what deep linking can be used for but in the sense for a mobile app.

Once a user has visited your app, you can retarget them and use a different style of deep linking to improve their experience.

It improves the onboarding of new users

When a mobile app uses a form of deep linking like the deferred approach, you are capable of acquiring more users.

This is because as a user goes through the mobile browser version of your application, they will be given the option or automatically forwarded to the appropriate download location.

The contextual linking technique can be used to onboard new users in different ways depending on where they originally download the app from.

If you understand that users coming from a Facebook ad campaign regularly navigate to a certain product category, you can push them there automatically.

Furthermore, perhaps users from Google like to learn more about your business first before purchasing.

You can use contextual deep linking to direct those users to the page detailing your company’s history.

You can re-engage users

Once a user has used your app, you have a small window of opportunity to retarget them.

Did you know that 46% of search engine marketers believe that retargeting is the most underused form of marketing right now?

It’s a hidden gem that deep linking enhances.

If a segment of users downloaded your app, viewed product pages, and bounced, you could retarget them in advertising campaigns and use deferred linking to forward them back to the high-interest product pages.

Strengthens your marketing

Personalization is key. Contextual deep linking allows you to customize the user experience, which improves marketing results.

Take into consideration that 39% of consumers will spend more money when given a mobile coupon.

You could collect data on users via contextual deep linking to discover what product categories they enjoy the most, then offer a discount for them to align with this behavior.

Similarly, mobile deep linking has the potential to increase conversion rates.

This is because you are pushing users through the sales funnel quicker. Normally this consists of:

  1. The user lands on the homepage of your website.
  2. They navigate to a product page and add a line item to their cart.
  3. They visit the cart page to confirm their order.
  4. Finally, they pay and check out.

Mobile deep linking can effectively cut the sales funnel in half by helping customers go straight to sales pages.

Take the ticket mobile app SeatGeek as an example. They were able to increase revenue by 10.6% and app open rate by 8.8% with deep linking.

Here’s how…

Firstly, they struggled with reminding users to finish their purchases and buy tickets through the app.

They resolved this issue by using deep linked mobile ads. These target ads based on past user activity would display relevant ads in other existing apps the customer used.

SeatGeek noticed that they were getting thousands of new users per day and had to keep them.

Their team began creating ads that would serve different audiences based on previous behavior.

An example of this would be a user adding tickets to their favorite basketball team’s game to cart, but then abandoning before checking out.

When this user was on another application that supported ads, they would see an advertisement for that same basketball game.

The ads were simple in nature, using a related image, and straight forward call to action.

Boosts app discoverability

Don’t you want to get discovered by more customers?

Of course, you do!

And that’s precisely why you need to implement more deep linking in your mobile app.

Deep links are indexed on Google, giving you more opportunities to rank and drive traffic to your business.

And seeing as Google receives over four billion searches per day, you don’t want to miss out on the free exposure.

Think about how a website like mine ranks for thousands of pages, and not just the homepage.

You can achieve that same performance but for your mobile app.

Users on search engines like Google will be able to visit deeper functions and features versus landing on the welcome page.

This creates the opportunity to optimize applications for SEO via keywords, meta descriptions, and title tags, as well.

Provides analytics and insight into campaigns

Mobile deep linking allows you to refine your buyer’s persona and better understand their behavior.

This information can be used to improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and the overall experience of your app.

You will also be able to discover which links are being clicked the most and by whom.

Doing so creates the opportunity to double down on the best-performing links and optimizing who you target in advertising campaigns.

Deep links also shine light in which parts of your app are used the most and which aren’t.

Google offers its Firebase product to track deep linking in an easy to use platform.

You can begin using it by selecting the Android, iOS, C++, web, or Unity options.

Using Android as an example, you will need to ensure that you meet the prerequisites Google outlines in their documentation.

Firebase’s SDK automatically captures various metrics, user properties, and allows you to create custom events if you wish to track a specific action.

This data is then relayed through the Firebase dashboard which has a very familiar look and feel to other Google products.

You will feel right at home if you’ve ever used Google Analytics.

Which by the way can be connected to Firebase if you need to add events specific to your business like e-commerce purchases.

How to perform mobile deep linking

Now that you’re excited to get started using mobile deep links, here’s how to implement it yourself.

Deep linking on Android

Android devices will select one of three options when a URI is requested:

  1. It opens a preselected app with the URI.
  2. It opens the only available app that can handle the URI.
  3. The user is prompted to choose an available app.

To begin adding deep links to achieve this, you will need to navigate to the AndroidManifest.xml file of your Android mobile app.

You will then have to add the following elements to the file through an intent filter:

  • Specify the ACTION_VIEW attribute in the <action> element.
  • <data> tags which include the URI scheme, host, and path.
  • CATEGORY_DEFAULT and CATEGORY_BROWSABLE attributes to move users from a browser to your app.

Here’s an example from Android’s official documentation on deep linking of what the code will look like:

The second step is to ensure that your app can read data from the intent filter you created.

This is achieved through adding getData() and getAction() methods like so:

Deep links should not require users to log in or perform other actions to visit the desired content unless desired like in the case of promoting app downloads through deferred linking.

iOS

Adding deep links to iOS apps begins by enabling them through what is known as Associated Domains Entitlement.

That’s a fancy way to say you’re letting search engines know what app belongs to what website.

This way when a user clicks on your website, it activates the specified type of deep linking you choose.

You will then have to add an Apple App Site Association file to your website to verify it.

This association file needs to contain the following code, as you can see from Apple’s official documentation:

Similar to how Android apps have the manifest file, the app delegate file acts as the root of iOS apps.

This is why you will have to program your app delegate file to respond to deep links like Apple shows in this example:

They are specifically handled through the NSUserActivity object and activityType value of NSUserActivityTypeBrowsingWeb.

Your iOS app will be prepared to handle and accept users that navigate to it from browsers like Safari after you complete these steps.

Conclusion

Mobile deep linking is a powerful technique to improve the user experience, on-boarding, and marketing of applications.

The three types of mobile deep linking are standard, deferred, and contextual. It’s important to understand each of these to know when to use them properly.

Standard deep linking is used when customers already have an app installed. When they click on a mobile link, it will give them the option to open it in the app or automatically.

Deferred deep linking works by forwarding users to the appropriate app store to download the app if they don’t have it, then pushing them to the originally intended page.

Contextual linking is the most complicated but allows developers to collection information on users to customize the on-boarding and overall experience of the app.

Mobile deep linking can be implemented in each step of the buyer’s journey to acquire and retain users, too.

How do you use deep linking to improve mobile app performance?

The post The Definitive Guide to Mobile Deep Linking appeared first on Neil Patel.