If your company isn’t mobile friendly at the very least, you’re dead stay the water. Better yet, get an app. But then what? How do you get people to download the app and use it, if it really is a good idea?

Local SA startup, OurHood, SA’s fastest growing private social network for neighbourhoods had everything any neighbourhood would want – features for reporting and hearing about crime, posting lost pet notices, asking for assistance to share a nanny’s schedule and more. But something was missing.

Luca Stefanutti, Product Head at OurHood realized the power was in the hands of the local Neighborhood Watch groups. Something which could benefit both parties – but first a small feature needed to be added to the app.

Our platform and focus was on individual neighbours and while that proved a success, we soon discovered something was missing.

We realised that there were existing formal groups of people that needed a new platform. From Ratepayers Associations to Neighbourhood Watch groups. They have all been existing as email databases but never had the resources to morph into a modern-day mobile-friendly product. Something that is built for neighbourhoods, rather than trying to retrofit their needs into platforms that aren’t built for neighborhoods, like Facebook or Whatsapp.

The key feature that OurHood included in the all-new version of their app which has just launched, was the capability for Neighbourhood Watch groups to post to their database in their own section of the OurHood app, built just for them. Now their existing neighbours can keep up to date with crime and notices that the Neighbourhood Watch groups want to get out, in a format that suits them.

Everyone is using Instagram and Twitter and Facebook – they need this format of engagement. but sometimes that’s not enough – a small detail can make all the difference.

It’s amazing how a small change like this has taken the new app to the next level. We’ve seen a 200% growth in app downloads since we added this feature and the Neighborhood Watch groups are over the moon with how easy it’s made their lives. They already have the relationship with these neighbours which saves onboarding legwork from our side. It’s a win-win partnership.

It just goes to show that sometimes it’s not to do with the whole app, or the concept in its entirety – it can often be a small feature that your product is missing, that makes all the difference.

Check out OurHood for yourself at ourhood.co.za and download their new app. They also have a desktop version that’s pretty slick.

Are you part of a neighbourhood group, or know someone that is? Contact luca@ourhood.co.za for more.