According to Statista, the global telemedicine market is expected to reach $460 billion by 2030. And this is not surprising. Covid-19 and the evolution of technologies have created an increased demand for telemedicine services and software solutions. And if you decide to follow the trends and create your own telemedicine application, you should know which features are essential for this type of product.

So, a telemedicine application is an app designed to connect doctors and patients for providing/receiving remote medical services. Therefore, while developing such an app, you need to make sure it is user-friendly and functional for both parties.

Features of the telemedicine application for patients

Patients download telemedicine apps to find a specialist and receive prompt medical advice. Therefore, your application should give users the ability to do this as quickly and easily as possible. Therefore, the main features of the telemedicine application for patients include the following:

Sign up

Sign up process for users should be simple. Remember, no one likes to fill out a lot of fields. Also, don't forget about security features such as two-factor authentication and limits on the number of login attempts and password reset requests.

Personal profile

The patient's personal profile stores sensitive user data such as electronic health records (EHR). Therefore, security comes first here. Make sure that all data is securely protected and won’t fall into the hands of third parties. Also, don’t forget that you need to comply with HIPAA or other regulations of the region in which you intend to operate.

Search and filters

Built-in filters make it easy for patients to choose physicians. Allow users to sort doctor profiles by specialization, rating, proximity, doctor's rate, and more.

Video conferencing and text messaging

The main function of any telemedicine app is to provide high-quality communication between patients and doctors. A good quality video and audio connection are often needed to make a diagnosis. This way physicians will be able to examine patients better and prescribe the correct treatment. However, some issues don’t require instant real-time communication, therefore, along with video conferencing, it is worth implementing the text messaging feature.

Book appointment

Users should be able to see a doctor's free time slots and book an appointment. Also, if a patient can cancel or change the appointment time, it will simplify the workflow for both patients and doctors.

Payment

Users of your telemedicine app should have multiple payment options, including health insurance coverage. When choosing payment systems for integration, take into account their security, reliability, commissions, and speed of transactions.

Notifications

There is a fine line between creating notifications that help users and those that annoy them. Consider what alerts your patients will benefit from. For example, app feature updates, reminders of an appointment, and the like.

Review and ratings

A review is a great way to get feedback. Allow patients to evaluate the quality of the services provided to them. Based on reviews, the system can create ratings of medical specialists to simplify the choice of a doctor for new users.

Features of the telemedicine application for doctors

Just like patients, physicians prefer simple and efficient applications. In addition, it will be a great plus if the app functionality for doctors will help them not only interact with patients but also manage their work schedule. Therefore, the main features of a telemedicine application for doctors should include the following:

• Sign up and personal profile with information about education, specialization, experience, certificates of a specialist, etc.
• Scheduling to help physicians easily manage their workload.
• Video conferencing and text chat to receive and initiate communication with patients.
• EHR verification to request access to a patient's medical history.
• Medical prescription for the digital posting of medical prescriptions.
• Analytical dashboard to help doctors effectively analyze their activities.
• View feedback.

These are the essential features to develop a telemedicine app. However, the telemedicine app development process consists not only of the selection of features but also of the choice of technologies with the help of which they can be best implemented. Therefore, I advise you to always consult with developers who have experience in creating telemedicine applications. They will be able to help you choose the best functionality and technology to ensure a great user experience and performance.

Advertisements placement in the application

The main issue here is to maintain a balance between visibility and unobtrusiveness. If you succeed, you will not only make a profit but retain loyalty and increase audience engagement.

Pros:

• Free applications are downloaded more, and you can monetize them immediately after publication;
• Users who understand that advertising is your way to make money will not be repelled by it;
• Relevant ads won’t be annoying and can improve user experience;
• You can experiment with many different formats;
• The easiest way compared to the rest.

Cons: 

• Not suitable for most niche applications;
• Low revenue per user;
• The audience may leave the app due to intrusive ads;
• Many people get used to not paying attention to ads or turning off/skipping them;
• Ad traffic blockers may hide ads in applications.

Types of advertising in mobile applications

• Banner: static or animated images; a classic that is outdated and ineffective;
• Rewarding: for viewing an ad/clicking on a link/repost, the user is given bonuses - virtual currency or access time to functions;
• Native: mimics part of the application; its task is not to attract attention, but on the contrary - so that the ad is clicked without understanding what it is;
• Built-in: for example, inserting at the beginning of a video is an effective way to monetize if used wisely;
• Interactive (game): simple actions are available in it; helps to pass the time and increases interest in the ad;
• Interstitial (intermediate): displayed in transitions between screens or levels within the application; often animated or interactive.

In-app purchases

The most common type of monetization is buying items in mobile games. But you can sell individual features or add-ons to users.

Pros:

• Low risk;
• Users are used to them.

Cons:

• It is difficult to integrate so as not to harm the main functionality of the app;
• Very few users make constant purchases.

Percentage of the deal

With this type of monetization, you build a marketplace and allow your users to search for goods or work-for-hire in the application.

Pros:

• A well-tuned model works by itself;
• Your application is free;
• You can post additional niche ads.

Cons:

• It is not easy to find a free niche and develop it;
• A technically complex system of payments and integrations;
• It is important to think over the whole scheme of interactions with partners and clients in advance;
• Negative reviews will be in your direction, not in the direction of actual sellers and contractors.

Different versions at different prices

A familiar monetization system, where the price for an application depends on the functions provided to the user. The basic version is usually available for free or at a nominal price. This also includes the Trial versions and Freemium (when the basic version is provided free of charge, and the full version is provided after payment).

Pros:

• It lets you evaluate the advantages of the application and increases loyalty;
• Provides users with a choice;
• Such applications attract more interest than completely paid ones;
• A flexible approach that allows you to adapt to different categories of clients.

Cons:

• As a result, usually, only a small percentage of users pay;
• It's hard to find the right balance between basic / trial and paid options.

Subscription

Similar to the previous one, only that users pay for advanced functionality regularly.

Pros:

• Regular payments, which often increases LTV; 
• You can use a reward system (user ranking, discounts).

Cons:

• It is difficult to gather a loyal willing-to-pay audience;
• Content must be premium, and regular updates are needed;
• Not suitable for all mobile applications.

Sponsorship

You agree with advertisers who provide rewards for your users for performing certain actions in the application. The revenue generated from the rewards used is then split between you and the advertiser.

Pros:

• Suitable for any niche;
• High level of user engagement.

Cons:

• May be difficult to find sponsors with a similar target audience.

An integrated approach and unusual solutions

It is unlikely that you can find a way that is 100% suitable for monetizing your application. Combine them, experiment, and most importantly, turn on your creativity!

You can create a limited edition or design (for example, Halloween edition or in the style of comics), allow users to set the amount of payment themselves (yes, it works very well), find out their income level and occupation (for example, by asking to fill out a questionnaire) - based on this, to extend or restrict access to the functionality.

Of course, do not forget to conduct tests and confirm your hypotheses with specific data - and then you will get the maximum profit!

You can learn more about how to create and market your mobile app on our blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin.

Every design studio uses project management tools like Jira and Trello. They also use Slack or Teams for internal communication between employees. Today there are lots of tools for collaborative work.

But there are no tools for communication with clients. Web studios put their work in the cloud, correspond in messengers, and give the same links to the client 10 times. Each time, they have to send a notification to the client that the files have been updated.

The idea is to create a convenient tool for communication between web studio and client, which would integrate with project management tools and Slack.

A client can go to his personal account, see all the files and updates, all the payments he made, and how many hours the studio worked on his project.

Who knows if there’s something similar?

There are so many emails, push, chatbots tools on the market today. This greatly simplifies marketing tasks for companies, helps to automate and control customer feedback, analyzes the results to plan further actions and spending.

The problem is that there’s no single appropriate tool where you can set up an okay chatbot along with the email. They are usually 2 completely different tools. The same can be said for push bots - it's also a separate tool.

After thinking about it, I had an idea to create an all-in-one product that allows you to create chatbots, emails, and push bots in one builder. I think such a product would appeal to many users and solve their problems in choosing the right tools.

What do you think about it? Is it a good idea or not? Should the 3 products be combined into one or is it an unnecessary waste of time and effort?

Each of us holds meetings at zoom and takes notes on the main points. But it happens that you forget about the nuances.

For example, who will do the work you talked about when it should be done or any edits to the project. Big companies have assistants who write down all the nuances of the negotiations. No detail will be lost. But what about a small business that can't afford a separate person as an assistant?

The idea is to create a smart assistant with AI that can highlight the most important events and transcript them. It can be activated by a keyword like ‘Siri, make a note that John needs to change the client's logo by Monday’.

That way, after the conversation, a summary of the meeting comes to your email, as if it was written by an assistant.

For a year I go to the co-working and see one dude there. We sometimes nod to each other, tried to talk a couple of times, but it seems he isn’t very interested in me as a friend and interlocutor. Then I accidentally saw that we had been "friends" on Fb for years. But this is the opposite situation with my real friends. I'm not even subscribed to them on Instagram.

It turns out there are no friends on FB, but potential customers. Friendship and communication are completely discredited on the internet.

The idea is to make a social network for friends. Scientists have proven that a person cannot maintain more than 150 connections. In such a network, only 150 people can be added as friends. Imagine a mix of Insta, TikTok, and FB just for your own, soulful, and real people.

Because of the flood of trash, I can't see the content of my real friends.

This product is protected from the giants. Fb goes to scale, we're the opposite inward. Everyone already has many subscribers and friends on Instagram and FB, and no one will delete them. I have this situation with Linkedin. I use it as a sales tool, adding everyone. Now my feed consists of trash that I don't even watch.

The idea is utopian enough, but it's "unrepeatable" by the big companies. And that's always an interesting field for experimentation.

What do you think about this idea?

A boom in online conferencing came with the pandemic. Everyone went online. For me it was clear that people go to offline conferences to hang out, not to get new knowledge, but it's not obvious for everyone. The remote work has proven that. Regular Zoom conferences or the classic webinar format is very boring. You need a very big motivation to sit there.

For an event of 50 people an ordinary webinar platform is enough, but for an online conference is not. There you need sponsors, networking, etc. As a result, there’s a need for a new category of tools Product.

The platform where it’s possible to make several broadcasts in parallel (simulation of different scenes or halls at offline conferences). Sponsor banners are placed into the interface, and ads can be put into the video. On the platform, there’s a mini social network of conference participants and a schedule.

Ideally, the platform would match participants for networking as in tinder. It turns out that during the lectures the user listens to the report, surfing on the profiles of participants and sponsors.

Such platforms already exist. They are HeySummit, Hopin, and others. But they are aimed at Enterprise. I think in 2-3 years this functionality will be needed for everyone who holds events online.

You can put the price as for SMB, as the price of the usual webinar platform and this product will be sold well. Big competitors won’t be able to copy you, because they’re already expensive and sell to corporations.

In this market, you can still get a good fix with the usual strategy - copying and dumping.

Let’s continue to discuss ideas for startups.

Not so long ago I had an idea to create a marketplace for dog lovers, combined with a social network.

The idea is to make an online store with various dog accessories (food, toys, clothes, and other goods for dogs), but in addition to that, I want to add to the store a place where all the dog lovers can communicate online: to discuss everyday problems, share news, boast about their pets. In general, my idea is to add to the store a social networking site exclusively for dog lovers.

Now there are a lot of sites where you can communicate with people with a variety of hobbies, everyone can find a comrade of interest. Anywhere in the world, you can find like-minded people.

At the same time, there are also online stores where you can buy anything you want. Why not combine these two useful things into one? Create a place where you can socialize and shop at the same time.

When there was no Internet, people found like-minded people in stores, markets, and sports sites, so why not revive it now, but in an online format? It's convenient, affordable, and easy.

What do you think about this idea? What are the pros and cons? Is it worth implementing? If yes, advise me on what platform to build such a thing? Have you seen similar marketplaces? If so, please send me a link.

Now, during the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of people around the world rushed to work remotely. Some specialists were forced to go free-floating and make money with the help of freelancing. Because of all this situation, a huge number of companies faced a need to hire new employees to solve business problems.

Let me tell you a secret: the current situation in the labor market led to the flowering of various freelances platforms, such as Fiverr, Upwork, and many others. But there’s one big problem: there are just a huge number of people working in absolutely different fields on these platforms.

On these freelance platforms, you can find any specialist, from a marketing specialist to a programmer. But the point is that each of the professions is a separate world, not like the other. And the specialists of different spheres differ fundamentally in their skills, methods of work, knowledge, and approaches.

Designers, copywriters, programmers, marketers - they all have their unique skills and approaches. That's why I came up with the idea to create a freelance marketplace just for marketers.

Let's have a little poll: what would you like to see on such a platform? Are there any similar ones you know? Tell me what you think about this idea. Maybe I'm reinventing the wheel and this service isn’t necessary))