Creating a Customer App for Your On-Demand Platform – The Right Feature & Cost Analysis

In the market, there are numerous on demand delivery apps gaining popularity every-now-and-then among consumers. Pioneered by Airbnb, Uber, it’s presently one of the most widely opted business models, revolutionizing the businesses and customer experiences across the distinctive industries verticals.

Even in the COVID-19 outbreak, the need for on-demand services has increased magnificently. In contempt of these difficulties, Uber and other big firms have been facing; lately, the on-demand business models stay incredibly profitable. 

Over time, development companies have noticed a thought-provoking pattern – “The business owner shedding light on the client app and losing sight of the driver app.”

In the palpability of lookalike, the reality is it’s difficult to attract drivers than to allure customers.

Did You Know!

The grocery delivery providers are facing great difficulties in attracting the delivery person.  

Of course, it’s no wonder as their work requires long hours and long stretches of staying away from home. 

The American Trucking Association stated in 2018; there was a need for a minimum of 50,000 truck drivers to fill the open jobs vacancy. This dearth still persists in the present moment, and the ATA predicts that because of the upsurging demands of E-commerce, there will be a shortage of 1,75,000 truck drivers by 2026. 

Online food delivery is another sector facing a lack of workers. Even the goliath like Postmates with 1,50,000 couriers in the US, following comes to the UberEats having 3,00,000 couriers globally, are ready to invest in the technology side of the business to match up with highly emerging demands for their service. 

Irrespective of all the odds, On-Demand delivery has a promising outlook. 

In the past few years, delivery services in the USA have grown immensely by 4.9 per cent annually and the generated revenue from on-demand deliveries was targeted at $107 billion in 2019. Maybe, that’s the alluring reason you stepped into the transportation business. 

And, at this focal point, the leading app development company like Xicom strive to save you from committing the usual mistake “investing the lion’s share of your effort in the user’s app”

So, let’s decode the building on a carrier app for an on-demand delivery platform.

Also Read: Best Features and Cost To Develop An Indoor Navigation Mobile App

The Distinctive Feature Of An On-Demand Delivery App

Presently, on-demand delivery services face challenges with respect to the delivery process. These are commonly related to a deficiency of real-time tracking, concern with automatically sending requests to the courier, and lack of information about orders. Improved technologies can eliminate these issues, streamlined driver’s jobs, and similarly save you money on driver app promotion. 

But, firstly and foremostly, ensure your app is equipped with basic functionalities. 

• Easy On-Boarding For Drivers: Automatic document submission and driver background checks are mandatory in today’s business protocols.  For example, Lyft and Uber have recently introduced continual background checks using the latest technology.  

• Bidding: This is right for the ones who don’t plan to pay the user a fixed amount. Simply, let them compete for shipments. 

• Pick-up and Drop-Off Confirmations: To embed this feature, all you need to do is hire app developer that is well-versed with entailing taking pictures of cargo before and after transport to provide proof that it has not been damaged. 

• Filtering Options For Order Searches: Optimizing the finding and booking of orders based on the driver’s location and a vehicle’s capabilities too. 

• Ratings and reviews: Why just customers have the option to give a review or feedback. This feature should also be provided to the driver to leave feedback on the cargo facilities they have visited. 

Now, digging a little deeper, we will unfurl the indispensable features for your driver-partner in a detailed way:

Concrete Proof Of Delivery 

1. Dashboard For Driver

Talking ideally, a driver dashboard provides all the specifications and details of a driver’s delivery history in one place. Driver’s should be able to view their earnings and the miles they have to spend driving. They should also be able to look through data ranges and full years, as they might need this information for taxes. 

Drivers want to keep a closed eye of the payment details for each delivery, consisting of the payment status and any bank account issues. Besides, you can allow your drivers to look through their weekly and daily earnings by choosing a week. 

On this screen, they should be able to update their bank account information. For example, they should be able to update their bank account information. Consider, integra mobile app development companyting with mobile solutions and tools for accounting payroll, payments integrations and time-tracking. For instance, Uber has partnered with QuickBooks. 

All thanks to this partnership, Uber drivers can easily track mileage, fuel expenses, and other expenses that may be deducted along the tax time.  

2. Offline Mode

For your knowledge, a carrier app should be able to download and store delivery information on a courier’s phone for easy access when operating in an offline mode. This feature is unskippable for countries where internet connection is not reliable or limited, or you can assume it as unstable in some precise locations. 

Even when offline, you can gather relevant data on delivery operations to help plan future deliveries without any hassle. And, when the app is offline, it can still keep on capturing data and send it to the server ASAP the connection is restored back. 

Let’s take an illustration from Uber Optimistic Mode. Uber indefinitely improved their capabilities in their driver app to provide an unforgettable experience to the driver as well as to the rider.  

3. ELD Capability

The experts at the mobile app development company suggest integrating FMCSA– approved ELD capabilities for on-demand trucking app development. This for sure, let your users avoid the cost of proprietary e-logging hardware. 

Besides, you can learn from the  Samsara Driver and Penske Driver apps. They both are ELD-compliant customized apps that provide easy-to-use hours of service features.  

The Penske Drivers app connects to  Penske’s rental trucks through Bluetooth technology, and it synchronizes with a truck’s engine to comply with ELD necessities. Therefore, activating the app is merely possible with thanks to assistance from Penske rental associates. The driver’s account is easily managed with the help of Penske’s driver management website.

Also Read: 12 Signs of a Successful Mobile Application

4. Location-Based Awareness

Addressing location-based data is a must-have for driver-oriented functionality in your app. So, let’s find out the tools you need to make sure of a smooth and streamlined geo-location for Android and iOS app development. 

• Android Development: Google’s Location APIs offer features similar to core location. Location API’s can keep a track of the user’s location and their movements up to their final destinations. To your surprise, the Google Maps Android API evaluates routes and the shortest distance for the desired destination. 

• iOS Development: For iOS, Uber is the foremost example that works on the  Core Location framework to determine a device’s precise location and orientation. Also, this framework tracks device movement and forwards location events to the server as frequently as developers want to. 

Yet, another framework used by Uber is MapKit. It calculates and finds the best route, taking into account the present traffic conditions. 

Thanks to these latest technologies, uber Freight was also able to introduce two vital features. I personally recommend you to introduce these two features in your own app if you want to have your own app like Uber Freight. 

Next Comes the “Uber Fuel Finder”, which allows you to see fuel prices at nearby gas stations. The Uber Freight app also provides a comprehensive, GPS-powered directions oriented feature to drive you straight to that gas station. 

In order to make this possible, Uber clutches the data from third-party service, consisting of data on where it’s a partner Fuel card is also accepted. The gas prices are updated at all locations on an hourly basis. So, the time users tap on a specific station icon, they see the name of it, the price per gallon, and the time and distance measured. And, when a user picks the station, the app shows turn-by-turn the direction through Apple or Google maps.

The surprises didn’t end here.

Uber freight’s Take Me Home feature allows drivers to get loads for the journey home. This feature is presented in the form of recommended loads that are going in the driver’s direction. As the huge shipments on your platform grow, you can easily help your couriers to get home along with all those weights as fast as possible while getting paid for the journey. Your Uber-like apps for truckers should allow couriers to be advantageous from every minute they are on the road as Uber Freight do. 

To make your app stand out from the crowd, you can think of opting for these two features with the help of mapping tools other than Google and Apple maps. The experienced app development company recommends TomTom and  Mapbox as a reliable alternative to Google maps. Moreover, you can also provide your app  OsmAnd integration to make sure optimized navigation between locations and offer real-time estimated times of arrival. 

5. Car-Accident Detection

Recently, Volvo announced a new mobile application feature called Car Accident Advisor. After an accident, the app offers a user with emergency contacts and a checklist to document the crash. In addition, it helps the user to get in touch with a repair and insurance specialist. 

Get your hands on this exclusive feature before it becomes a default for automotive apps. 

Mistakes “You” Should Not Repeat

It’s undeniable to turn a blind eye to the achievements of the market leaders. But, at the same time, their couriers provide complain about significant flaws. The leading software development company peeps through the driver’s review to provide a lending hand to help you avoid any slip-ups. 

• Technical Assistance: Postmates technical support is often blamed for being hard to reach. Some users of the fleet by Postmates are not contented with its GPS location service, which often leads to incorrect drop-off locations. 

So, to avoid these problems in your app, keep in mind to proffer an excellent issue management system. Your app should also allow multi-tasking so drivers can use other apps at the same time to cover all their possible needs. 

• Issue With Payments: As taken as important, payments are the main source of complaints about Roadie.  

Drivers are usually irritated by delays in receiving their hard earnings. One more common concern is low pay that doesn’t reflect the effort required. So, before jumping straight to the nutshell, it’s essential to analyze what your competitors are paying to their drivers. Properly implemented payment software that will help you ignore payment processing issues. 

• A deficiency Of Information On Jobs: Most of the jobs in this landscape of supply and demand work according to the guidelines, and you know demand is consistent. 

That’s why some riders complain about not having any deliveries to do.  Make sure your couriers are informed about inconsistency in voluminous orders to avoid disappointment and dissatisfaction. So, here a well thought-out-order distribution system is another way out to this typical problem. 

The Market Analysis To Develop A Trailblazer For On-Demand App

To provide you with a clear picture of cost analysis, the experts come up with a step-by-step breakdown of cost analysis with appropriate timelines that go into designing and developing for Android and iOS app development. 

1. Customized Timeline

• Ios App Development Timeline
• Android App Development Timeline
• Backend Timeline 
• Design Timeline 

2. Team Size & Requirements

• UX/UI designers
• UI /UX Developers
• Quality Analyst
• Project Manager and Business Analyst
• Backend Developers

3. App Features – Driver & User

1.) Client App

• Sign-Up Feature
• Ongoing Orders
• Creating Orders
• Pop-Up Notifications
• Account Setting
• Order History

2.) Drivers App

• Signing Feature
• Drop-Off Location
• Account Settings
• Pick-up order or Destination feature
• Analytics and Notifications
• Feedback Feature

4. The Most Time-Consuming Features

• Delivery Booking: Approximately around 32 hours
• Payment Integration: Approximately around 52 hours
• Delivery Status: Approximately around 40 hours
• Delivery Booking: Approximately around 30 Hours
• Administration Panel:  Approximately around 30 hours

5. The Total Timeline For Developing The On-Demand Delivery App

• App design: 360-550 Hours 
• Backend Development: 620-850 Hours
• iOS App Development: 600-950 Hours
• Android App Development: 650-980 Hours
• Total Hours:  3125-4275 Hours

6. Total Cost Analysis For Creating Trailblazer To On-Demand Delivery App

So, to get the right and ideal cost for on demand delivery app development, simply multiply the total developing hours to your technology partner rate. For the best analysis, the value of $25-49/hr is the cost that is second to none in the industry.

Conclusion

Lastly, Many reputed companies have succeeded in alluring and retaining couriers services with the right app development in India and across the globe. Whereas, with the existing competition, it requires efforts to break into the game. 

So, take a look at the Postmates Party Feature, that allows clients living in the same area to amalgam and combine orders, and like Roadie, which uses couriers already head the same way as a delivery.   

So, to attract and retain the customer for your delivery service, make sure you provide them with a smart and intelligent UX, quality support, and comfort. Without any second thought, an experienced and professional company with distinctive service to hire mobile app developer that is ready to help you with driver services app development.

Xicom has broad and distinctive experience in developing native and hybrid apps for on-demand delivery. Contact experts to bring your business idea to life.