What is an API and how it boosts your business

API seems like a high-tech term that often confuses people. In fact, we use it  every day without even noticing.

API is a powerful tool that can help you in speeding up your business operations, grow your brand’s reach, connect your shoppers to the products they want, and so much more. It is a vital tool for businesses in all industries. Moreover, APIs enable companies to grow their businesses more quickly than ever before, and represent an answer for the organizations that are currently spending billions per year integrating disparate systems.

Let’s walk through the article to clearly understand API and how it enhances your business.

What is an API?

API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface, which is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. Each time you use an app like Facebook, send an instant message, or check the weather on your phone, you’re using an API.

Think of it as the wire that delivers your request to the end- provider and sends the response back to you. Essentially, APIs consist of two key components:

1. Technical specification describing how one application can interact with another; and
2. A software interface that allows such interaction to happen.

Moreover, API lets a developer make a specific “call” or “request” in order to send or receive information. This communication is done using a programming language called “JSON.”  It can also be used to make a defined action such as updating or deleting data. There are four basic request methods that can be made with API:

1. GET – Gathers information (Pulling all Coupon Codes)
2. PUT –  Updates pieces of data (Updating Product pricing)
3. POST – Creates (Creating a new Product Category)
4. DELETE – (Deleting a blog post)

What are APIs used for?

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of functions that allows applications to access data and interact with external software components, operating systems, or microservices. To simplify, an API delivers a user response to a system and sends the system’s response back to a user.

What are some types of API used? 

There are 3 types of APIs used commonly today: 

1. Open API
2. Partner API
3. Private API

Open APIs are publically available for anyone to use. BigCommerce, for example, uses roughly 25 different APIs, which is available for the public to use.

Partner APIs are designed by companies to offer API access to strategic business partners as an extra revenue channel for both parties. For example, Ticketmaster offers a Partner API to allow it’s clients the ability to reserve, buy, and retrieve ticket/event information.

Private APIs are not designed for public use and are designed for internal use. Let’s say you are traveling to a different city for a business meeting. You need to make a quick trip to the bank. You walk into “ABC Bank” and give the teller your account number. She quickly pulls up your account and you make a withdrawal. The teller was able to pull up your information by using ABC’s internal system, which uses an API to pull your account information and to update your new account balance.

Common ecommerce APIs

Ecommerce APIs are used in many ways. From displaying products on an online store to shipping them all over the world. APIs help owners manage their online business and connect with customers fast and reliably. 

1. Product information APIs

Product information APIs are on every ecommerce site, grabbing the information about your products and serving it to customers. 

2. Site search APIs

The ability to site search isn’t automatic. Site searches need APIs to search through all your products containing a certain query and retrieve it for your user. 

3. Payment APIs

If your online shop collects any form of electronic payments, you are using a payment API as the middleman between your shop and your processor.

4. Shipping APIs

Ever been to a site that asks you to put in your zip code to calculate shipping? That site is using an API with its shipping system or carrier to get you your best rate.

5. Currency conversion APIs

Buying shirts on a British site from a US IP used to be hard, now with currency conversion APIs, your favorite international stores can convert currency in an instant. This API opens hundreds of thousands of online shops to international customers.

How APIs boosts your business?

APIs are made for leveraging the power of connectivity. If you want to enjoy the perks of using a new app, then you have to provide access to Google and Facebook also so they can see what other apps you are using.

In other words, it is known as API authorization or API integration so that SME’s can work with third-party platforms for their software, giving them the flexibility, they need in gathering contact information which can otherwise be a time-consuming job. Usage of APIs has led to tremendous growth for companies. Let us take you through the significant advantages of API integrations:

1. Create richer user experiences with external data

APIs offer secure and immediate access to external data and functionalities that you don’t have to develop from scratch or maintain. For example, having the capability to take payments online is critical for e-commerce companies. Instead of building an online payment system, they can simply integrate with API solutions such as Stripe or Square.

Likewise, having a robust asset library is important for marketing technology platforms because it delivers high-performing assets for users in different industries and inspires them to get started on their project right away. However, building a large enough library that is consistently updated with fresh content is not viable for most martech businesses.

2. Boost user retention with workflow improvements

By integrating your application with a third-party platform, you can gain deeper insights about the users and how they interact with the application, and improving their experience makes them far less likely to shift to an alternative, less robust model.

Integrated solutions can help increase user engagement and decrease user drop-off rates.If you operate a retail chain, instead of listing the address of your stores in a static webpage you can use the Google Maps Embed API. This API provides an interactive map or Street panorama on your webpage to catch consumers when they’re most motivated to visit a store.

Moreover, for marketing technology platforms instead of ejecting users off of your platform to search, license, download, and then return to upload assets, you can use the Shutterstock API to create a frictionless workflow. An optimized creative workflow that saves users’ time, in turn, gives them more reasons to come back to use your platform.

3. Flexibility in developing application functionalities

APIs can also give you the freedom to outsource certain feature developments. That is, instead of developing a new functionality from scratch, your developers can call an API endpoint instead. For instance, rather than building reverse image search capabilities from scratch, Shutterstock API partners can call our reverse image search endpoint instead. Having an industry-leading reverse image search as a product feature delivers tangible product improvements without imposing on your internal resources.

APIs are also designed to maintain a separation of concerns between applications and servers. This means that applications or servers can be modified without impacting the functionalities of the other. The decoupling provides both the freedom to explore new technologies to scale and respond to market demands in a timely manner.

4. Unlock new monetization opportunities

Offering external data within your interface via an API integration can provide an opportunity to tap into an additional revenue stream for your business. With flexible business models to adapt to varying partner needs, a number of creative platforms with the Shutterstock API integration leverage royalty-free assets as an up-sell opportunity to generate incremental revenue.

Reasons for implementing APIs

Though the most obvious reason for implementing Application Programming Interfaces is to increase income. But there are certainly other reasons:

1. API for Process Automation 

APIs can be key for business process automation since they enable companies to easily provide controlled access to a defined scope of data or functionality. 

By automating different processes, businesses can become smarter, faster, and more efficient. The result is satisfied customers, better-performing staff, and a higher profit margin. Plus, you spare yourself more time to spend on analytics instead of collecting large volumes of data manually.

2. APIs as an open door to success

API systems provide an automated way for partners to integrate using data. Professionals and companies around the globe can improve products and services with the experience and expertise of third-party API providers.

Think of an API as an open door to all those new opportunities that can help to enrich the company products, improve operations, solve unfamiliar problems, and more. 

3. API for Innovation

Big innovative players like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Uber, Stripe, and Amazon are known to spend significant resources on APIs since these technologies create room for future innovations. Barriers to change become smaller and more people can contribute more to an organization’s success. 

Let’s take Uber as an example: instead of building its own mapping, payment, or communication services, the company used the best of those programs and connected to them via APIs. In return, Uber’s API empowers its users in the following ways: 

• No need to spend money and effort on building an app from scratch. All you need is a reasonable connection and system setup. 
• No more dealing with tech documentation’, searching for taxi partners, signing contracts with drivers, etc. Businesses can just use the Uber API as the foundation for their service.
• Possibility to exchange or share your current location. The Uber API is used to notify other users about your location in real time. This data can be easily applied to social networking projects or messaging services.

Conclusion

While API integrations do require a certain level of tech-savviness, but certainly, APIs can be an efficient and cost-effective way to increase product stickiness, enhance existing features, and build new capabilities without depleting your in-house developer resources.

Most of the leading companies such as Facebook, Google, and Wix have already integrated the Shutterstock API to optimize their user experience and deliver creative workflows fit for their user base.