UserVoice, the customer service solution startup, has released its latest offering designed to bring its service to the mobile device. To help businesses handle customer feedback across multiple channels, it has produced UserVoice for iOS.
This new release is an SDK that developers can take to integrate right into their iPad and iPhone applications — all with what the company says is a few lines of code.
Available through the StackMob Marketplace, which was announced recently, the SDK comes with a host of features, including: giving developers the ability to create a contact form to receive messages from customers instead of relying on mail links; empowering customers to answer up to 40% of their own questions; creating custom fields to gather important feedback data; enabling customers to review and vote on ideas on how to improve the business’s product; and submitting support requests right from the app.
An iOS SDK previously was available for the service, where anyone could add it to their apps so it appears that this update specifically focuses on its availability now on the StackMob Marketplace — a much larger distribution channel for the company.
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We asked UserVoice’s founder and CEO, Richard White, why the company wanted to move into the mobile space:
Our goal has always been to be the easiest way for users to get help and give feedback in the products they use no matter where they are. We’ve always had a world-class experience on the web and mobile devices (our web UIs utilize responsive design), but we wanted to take it a step further and provide an even better native experience that you just can’t get from even the best mobile-optimized site.
He believes that there’s a shift in the mobile landscape that requires the company to be more relevant to app developers and since a majority of revenue on mobile is generated from in-app purchases, White believes that developers are looking to find ways to keep users engaged and happy and need tools like UserVoice to make it happen.
UserVoice says that it chose StackMob over Parse or Kinvey because the platform had the “unique opportunity to be one of the first marketplaces for high-quality, vetted developer SDKs.” White says he’s not ruling out working with anyone who’s “serious about making app development easier for developers.”
The company already has seen 100 apps created using UserVoice for iOS during its beta process and they range from multiplayer games to consumer productivity apps, to the enterprise.
UserVoice’s mobile play seems to be pretty different from some of the other big players in the customer service space, namely Zendesk and Get Satisfaction — both of those companies do have a mobile presence, but it’s in the form of their own application. With UserVoice, the company is integrating its solution directly into the developer’s app.
So far, UserVoice has been chugging along without really needing any funds — some might say it’s even profitable. To date, it has raised $1.8 million in funding from Baseline Ventures, betaworks, Western Technology Investments, David Shen Ventures, and many others.
Photo credit: Nicolas Garcia/AFP/Getty Images
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