Project Overview
With smartphone software constantly evolving and producing better quality high resolution images and videos, more and more people are capturing their precious moments on their phone. However, these precious moments are often captured on their devices and then either uploaded onto the user’s social media channels or unintentionally forgotten about.
CEWE Photobook has developed a one-of-a-kind, free downloadable app compatible with iPhones, androids and tablets. Using the app, consumers can upload photos straight from their photo album on their phone and create a photo book, calendar, prints and postcards with just the swipe of a finger.
Organisation
Team
CEWE recognised that more and more of its customers were using mobile devices to visit its website and access its services. CEWE therefore wanted to provide customers with a native app for their devices in order to give them the best user experience possible.
Initially, CEWE adapted the concepts of its desktop software and modified it where necessary, for example, switching from mouse control to touch control.
Having started with a concept, CEWE developed a prototype and presented this to real users to get their feedback and make necessary improvements before launching it to the wider market. Customer feedback – in the form of questionnaires and focus groups – has been extremely valuable in helping to develop this app and CEWE has used it to ensure the app experience is as easy and user-friendly as possible.
The core project team consisted of eight people, led by project leader Dr. Ralf Wieting, head of application development at CEWE Stiftung & Co KGaA in Oldenburg, Germany. The app was developed in CEWE’s state-of-the-art lab in Oldenburg.
Project Brief
A number of trends have come together over the last two years, which have combined to create the perfect opportunity for CEWE to introduce their app to consumers and fill a gap in the market. More and more, consumers are using their mobile phone and tablet devices for purchasing purposes and a growing number of people are capturing their photos and videos on their phones. What’s more, with the development of Instagram – allowing users to add artistic filters to their photos – photography and capturing moments on mobile devices has never been so popular.
The CEWE Photobook app allows users to take their cherished memories on their mobile or tablet devices – which may otherwise go unnoticed – and turn them instantly into a CEWE Photobook, calendar or postcard which they can treasure forever. No longer do consumers have to transfer photos to their computers first, creating a photo book can be done easily and straight from a phone or tablet.
What’s more, the photo books make ideal gifts for consumers struggling to come up with personal keepsakes. And, you don’t have to wait until you’re home to log onto your computer or laptop to create one. The app can be used anywhere any time - a customer told CEWE that he’d even created a photobook on his train commute home as he had run out of ideas of what to get his girlfriend for her birthday!
Project Need
No other app provides such generous scope for designing and producing photo products. Unlike any other app on the market, the CEWE Photobook app enables users to create a photobook in a wide range of layouts, styles and backgrounds. Users can also add text captions to photos and can choose from a variety of sizes to suit all budgets including pocket size, small landscape, square, large portrait, large landscape or XL.
What makes this app unique is the speed and ease of which a personalised photobook can be created. Consumers no longer need to spend time downloading software or transferring their photos to their computer in order for them to create a photobook. Using the app, photobooks and prints can be created and ordered anywhere, anytime, meaning it’s great for people who are always on the go and have a busy schedule.
User Experience
Following extensive testing and customer feedback, CEWE’s photobook has been created with user-friendliness and intuitiveness in mind and its simple design makes the app extremely easy to use.
Once inside the app, users simply need to choose their preferred photo vendor –either Jessops or Photoworld – before beginning to make their photo book.
Once in the photobook area of the app, users simply need to select which size photo book they would like to create. The app then asks them to choose a title which will appear on the cover page and spine of their photo book. Users can then begin creating their photo book in a few simple steps.
The user can either choose for CEWE to create their photo book for them or they can choose to have complete creative control where they can add images, text and backgrounds to each page of their book, plus resize, crop or rotate images in order to achieve the desired look.
If a user decides they are unable to finish their photobook for whatever reason, the app stores the incomplete file in the ‘projects’ section of the side-bar menu so they can just pick up another time where they left off.
The app provides a full price list so that consumers who have a specific budget in mind instantly know what’s available to them.
The app allows customers to edit their photo book even once it’s in their shopping basket, meaning users can easily alter it if they change their mind about a particular aspect of the book.
Project Marketing
As well as regular posts on the company’s social media channels, CEWE Ltd created banners promoting the app along the bottom of every weekly email sent out to its database, created a pop-up ad which alerted customers of the app when they visited the website either on a mobile or tablet device, and inserted flyers into each Photoworld order that was sent out.
A dynamic download button was also created on the software download page which recognised what device a customer was using when visiting the CEWE Photobook website and re-directed them accordingly. For example, those visiting on a mobile or tablet were directed to the app store. The dynamic download functionality has resulted in approximately 30% of CEWE Photobook’s 10,000 downloads in 2014 so far.
Customer feedback and reviews of the app have been fantastic and CEWE’s app download conversion rates are over 25%, demonstrating the apps appeal to customers.
Project Privacy
Customer information is requested whenever the customer chooses to use Photoworld services. The primary goal in collecting customer information is to provide them with a personalised, relevant and user-friendly experience. Customer information is used to communicate with the customer to inform them of service improvements, feature announcements and promotional offers. However, the customer may always opt out by unsubscribing. Customer information is also used to improve customer satisfaction – for example, by presenting the customer with personalised information regarding their account or in case there are any issues with the customer’s order. It also collects information during the shopping experience to make purchasing an easier experience for the customer. For example, if the customer gives CEWE Ltd the permission to keep their billing information, they won’t have to fill out the shipping and billing address each and every time they make an online purchase.
Customer information on the app is password-protected, however customers are advised to change their passwords every three months for extra security. CEWE Ltd employs SSL – a specialised encryption and security technology to protect customers’ information.
Only CEWE Ltd employees or employees of partner companies that provide services to CEWE Ltd may see a customer’s photos while they are being developed, scanned or printed. In case of problems with a customer’s account, photos or personal account information may be seen by CEWE Ltd employees or employees of partner companies.
Online Shopping
This category relates to applications that facilitate retail purchase via the mobile platform.
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