We have been looking forward to this moment for weeks... the big update. Last night, a small team was testing until 21:00. We make one last phone call and decide... tomorrow we can press the big red button and put the long-awaited update live.
We only have one challenge... users can't make changes or upload podcasts during the migration, otherwise they will lose their changes. Oh... and taking the "old" Springcast offline seems tricky too, because the podcast feeds must not be taken offline, otherwise Apple will remove the podcasts from the directory.
Remi (our development hero) suggests pushing the button at 3:00. I'm trying to think of some more options, because our community queen Majella (and also my wife) is not a morning person... and waking her up is like....
But anyway... she's willing to do a lot for the Springcast community, so I knock off another hour with Remi and we agree... at 4:00 we jump out of bed and start the biggest transition since our start.
Article content
Infrastructure
The biggest update is not visible, but oh so noticeable... the speed and stability. Because, as befits a good start-up, we also started with a so-called minimal viable product. Jargon for a product that is just enough to market.
And that proved to be the right strategy!
Because when we started Springcast, we had a completely different idea of what would be important in the app than what we know now. Because in the past year we have spoken to almost every podcast expert in the market and dozens of customers have given us valuable ideas and feedback.
But when governments, large corporates and hundreds of content creators started using Springcast, the car started to squeak and creak.
We decided it was time to rebuild the application from scratch. Mainly because we wanted to make Springcast faster for our users, but also to make further development easier.
And with that, the biggest change has taken place under the hood.
Design & appearance
I don't know about you, but I'm really very sensitive to the design of apps that I use regularly. It just has to look good... balanced in terms of colours and as if attention has been paid to it.
Therefore, we have also incorporated our corporate identity into the design of the app.
In addition, we have changed the layout slightly to have more flexibility for new functions in the future. We have chosen a vertical menu instead of the horizontal one.
We are working on a number of modules... TOP SECRET 🤫 which will have to be placed in the menu. And the old horizontal menu didn't have room for them.
Podcast website upgrade
OK... let's say you don't have to feel sorry for me, but that first version of our podcast website nearly drove me mad. Because if there's anyone who can appreciate beautiful web design, it's me.
And although I made the design myself, I thought it was just a mediocre design... and mediocre represents everything I don't stand for. But enough about me.... 😉
I asked one of the best designers I know, Dennis Petrito make a re-design. The assignment: Design the most beautiful podcast website in the market. And if you ask us, he has delivered just that.
Below the picture some more explanations.
One thing that has been clear to us from day one is that show notes and the podcast cannot be separated. For a user, the show notes must be quickly accessible while listening.
That's one of the learnings... more than half of the listeners are listening via the website! Like many others, we thought everyone was listening via Apple podcasts or Spotify. Half of them were.
And that's a good thing. Because through your podcast website you have more opportunities to interact with your listeners. And that's exactly what we've done with the new design.
The design not only looks 💯 times better, but it is also optimised for (future) interaction with your listeners.
Custom branding
For our broadcaster (and above) customers, we've added something really sweet to Springcast today... custom branding!
You can now customise the podcast website (and this week also the player)!
You can customise almost all elements, so that your podcast website and player fit seamlessly into your corporate identity. Check out...
Smaller updates
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The biggest change is that we have the entire podcast hosting application We have rebuilt the app so that it works much faster now. And we can now also develop new features for our customers faster.
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- Management environment 412% faster
- Vertical menu for faster navigation
- Improved import function for customers moving to Springcast
- Separate tab for all branding settings
- Analytics first upgrade design (more to come!)
- In the overview you can now click on artwork to view show
- Statistics and edit both accessible by clicking on episode
- New payment provider for faster and easier checkout (Stripe)
- Account details can be changed more easily
- Subscription can be cancelled more easily
- Knowledge base more easily accessible
This is what the roadmap says
We have quite a list of things that we will be launching in the near future, but these are the most important ones:
- Way better Analytics (than anyone else!)
- Internal podcast module is upgraded
- The embedded playlist gets a re-design
- Call-to-Action option on your audio timeline
- SEO settings podcast website
- Better intergration Mailchimp, Mailerlite & ActiveCampaign
- Comment on audio timeline
- Enclosure URL (for external analytics)
- Adding tags to episodes (+ filter on podcast site)
