Help a startup – Boksnok

This is my second post to sum of the feedback work with the startups I’ve tried to help during the course. The first one up was Mentimeter and now it’s Boksnok’s turn.

Boksnok is a startup in a very early stage. They are soon to release their product to public and have pre-orders on their webpage http://boksnok.se/

They have developed an app for mobile tablets with interactive children books that they will sell to parents of kids in their targeted ages. They have established relations with customers and books that will be available. The product have been developed through an iterative process with customer feedback so I’ve got to test a demo and later also the actual app. The main feedback I gave on the demo and application were as following:

Design: The design needs to be compelling for both the parents and the children which makes the product unique. It needs to satisfy the need of two customer groups at the same time and the characteristics of these groups differ and the subject behind using the app is different. The kids want to be entertained and the parents targeted wants a calming setting to enjoy. I think the app design fulfills this by being easy to understand and very visual, it succeeds to attract adults by adding elements such as comments and music. To increase the value from their proposition even more they could work on the customization even more. Maybe it can add value if it is possible to customize the book design through colors, background pictures and music etc.

Functionality: Interactive and customized is what I think they’ve captured and should continue to improve. To attract both parents and kids they could twist the functions so it involves both at the same time even more. One option could be to have some sort of review function throughout the books were the readers can evaluate the app and interact with other readers through example parent forums. This could be a way to involve the parents even more. This also opens up for other partners like parenting discussion forums or related consumer goods.

To sum up the points I’ve communicated, these are the main takeaways for Boksnok’s further development:

• Push key points of being interactive and visual. This is what distinguishes them from traditional books and children-parents activities.
• Evaluate options of having partnerships with attractive players. If they choose a partner, they need them to be modern in digital terms and share the same values as Boksnok. It is of high importance to only partner with brands that are aligned with Boksnok since a strong brand and good reputation is crucial on the specific targeted market.
• Have in mind that it may be possible to add elements to the app. Functions should serve to involve both readers without disturbing the simple design and functionality of the app.

Boksnok will soon release their product. If you know any parents that are into digital solutions for their kids, you should check it out: http://boksnok.se/ It will be available on Appstore and Google play.