At the time, they helped me formulate a vague idea in my head. Oursky was able to help us translate an initial concept into a mature idea and product. — Cinci EC
As a registered Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, Cinci Leung (Cinci EC) wanted to build on her traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with modern technology. Cinci EC was expanding her business model from an appointment-only clinic to include a modern herbal medicine mocktail stand (CheckCheckCin) and envisioned an app that could bring her various services together. Cinci wanted to create an on-call personalized TCM app for patients to find out their body type, saving them time to book an appointment with her for basic queries, and frees up her time to help visitors who had more complex cases. After Cinci EC brought her concept to Oursky, Oursky worked with Cinci EC to refine her app idea and develop a user-friendly standalone digital product that could also compliment her brand’s product ecosystem.
How can an App Reach New Customers?
Cinci EC spoke to various vendors to get project quotes and a professional opinion on product feasibility. She was not just looking for a vendor who could promise to build an app, but a partner who could give honest feedback about whether the idea made sense, refine her concept, make feature suggestions, and develop a product that was accessible to users.
Oursky’s Solution
Oursky’s development included a dedicated project manager, design support, dedicated engineers, and QA. Oursky’s project manager was the key contact point in confirming change requests, explaining the implications of requests, confirming the scope of work, providing time estimates for features, and providing updates on new builds.
Oursky’s first phase for the iOS app included a quiz to profile the user, the user profile, food database with search functionality based on a person’s body type, and a health diary. Phase 2 included additional features such as a menu assistant, multilanguage search support (for English and Chinese), and integrating Google Analytics. Phase 3 continued to refine the app’s UI and add features to the menu assistant, such as a profile share button, and health diary.
Each phase of the CheckCheckCin app was completed within two months, with a confirmation from the client before continuing to the next phase. The code base was handed over to the client after project completion.
Raising Brand Awareness by Delivering Value to New Users
Oursky helped Cinci EC reflect on what type of app would be valuable to her patients and other individuals who used TCM methods for health and wellness. Oursky helped her create create a roadmap during the design phase that would help engineers architect and develop a coherent product that was extensible in future phases.
Since developing the first CheckCheckCin iOS app, the CheckCheckCin brand has expanded from one store in Sheung Wan into four shops throughout Hong Kong. CheckCheckCin as an app helped Cinci EC promote her approach to TCM to a wider, digital-savvy audience of both Chinese and English-speakers. This not only helped educate the general public on how to balance their diets based on their body types, but also encouraged them to try CheckCheckCin’s branded TCM drinks, further boosting sales.
After a year of business growth, CheckCheckCin will be partnering with Oursky again to develop a cross-platform mobile app that will help the company extend its business into ecommerce and O2O shopping experiences.
Also learn how we developed Apple’s Best Music App of 2013 iteratively with our client in this post.
If you have an app idea or product you’d like a code review for, get in touch!
