Tag: mobile app

USPS offers a mobile app to help holiday season travelers

| December 22, 2014

This application makes it possible for people who are headed out of town to place a hold on their mail.

At this time of year, there is so much going on in terms of gift buying and wrapping, making travel arrangements, and ensuring that everything is packed for the intended destination, it can be easy to forget to take certain steps such as holding the mail, but USPS has created a mobile app to help travelers to overcome this struggle.

The USPS app allows a request for a hold on mail to be submitted over a smartphone or tablet.

When traveling away from home for more than a day or two, placing a hold on mail is a good idea, for several reasons, including security. That said, while many people do intend to do it, it is among the easiest details to forget, particularly when traveling during the holidays, when everything in life is busier and more complicated. It is among the preparations that are most frequently forgotten. However, by using the mobile app, an alternative method can be used to complete this task, whenever it is remembered. Even if it means that the individual is already a day or two into the vacation.

The USPS mobile app is currently available for travelers with both Android and iOS based smartphones.

Mobile app - USPS TruckThe mobile application is available for free, and it offers a simple to use “Hold Mail” button that gives customers the opportunity to have their mail held for as few as 3 days or for as long as a month. Arrangements can also be made for the way that the held mail will be collected. For example, a user can request that all of it be delivered in a single large stack, or the customer can indicate that they would rather pick it up from their local post office.

Once the request has been submitted, the user will receive a confirmation email that provides all of the details about the request, such as the applicable dates and the collection information. Once the hold has expired, another email is sent on that day in order to confirm that the mail will no longer be held after that point.

The mobile app also provides the user with helpful information such as the location of the nearest branch, the ability to use tracking codes to trace their delivery of their mail, scheduling a pickup, ordering free shipping supplies, and obtaining price quotes.

Social media marketing app, Yelp, lets businesses respond to rants and kudos

| December 18, 2014

The latest upgrades to this application make it possible for merchants to tell their side of the story.

The social media marketing app from Yelp has now launched a new version of its application called Yelp for Business Owners, which makes it possible for merchants to be able to more effectively monitor their pages over the service, as well as to reply to the praise and concerns that are posted by their customers.

Many people are actually surprised that this feature didn’t already exist within the mobile app.

Though the consensus appears to be that it is a great idea to use this social media marketing, advertising, and reviewing site and app to be able to give businesses the chance to respond to what customers have said about their products, services, and location, many are also shocked that the option wasn’t already available. This suggests that this move by Yelp isn’t quite as revolutionary as it is simply about time that they did it.

The new social media marketing app for businesses is available for both Android and iOS based devices.

apps - social media marketingThe announcement of the availability of the mobile app was made on the company’s official blog. The release follows closely on the heels of another that had revealed that the service would be allowing anyone to be able to use the Yelp platform in order to communicate directly with a business through its profile, there.

According to Yelp, “Since launching in June of 2014, consumers are now sending an average of 55,000 messages each month to businesses through our free Message the Business tool.” The company also went on to say that mobile represents over 64 percent of the searches that are made over the platform. Moreover, it pointed out that every month, there are about 73 million unique visitors that use the service over their smartphones and tablets, as of the third quarter of this year.

The social media marketing, reference, and reviewing service shared that “it’s clear there’s a demand to conduct these conversations on the go.” This is becoming the case with an increasing number of services that provide consumers with business locations, details, and reviews.