It’s a no-brainer — every business today needs a good mobile app. This is the best way to quickly interact with customers, expand the audience of new ones, and strengthen relationships with existing ones.
What can become a real challenge at this stage is the development of such an application. Many companies claim that this process takes them a lot of time, effort, and money.
The good news is that professionals from Jatapp outsourced IT support services know exactly how you can get all the benefits of a mobile application and avoid the most dangerous mistakes. Here is a list of 7 things to help you achieve your desired goal. However, remember that this is a long process and does not end with the release of the application. It is important to stay flexible, follow trends, and work with real experts who always have your back.
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Start by understanding the concept of the application
We’re sure you know at least a few ingenious apps that look very good but are completely useless in practice. This happens when the developers are very passionate about an idea, but they don’t think about its concept at all.
Before you start developing a mobile app, you need to clearly understand the reason why you are doing this. What problem will your application solve? Can you make life easier for someone? Who are the stakeholders?
The main concept of the app is your guiding star, which will support you at all stages.
- You cannot start if you do not have answers to the following questions:
- What goals do I want to accomplish with the app?
- Why will it be attractive to users? Will it?
- What set of features is the minimum required for an application?
- Who will benefit from this app?
- Are the users who will find the app useful belong to your target audience?
Of course, you can think of other questions in order to better understand your goals and plans. Write down all the answers and combine them in one document so that you can always come back to it and check your concept.
2. Understand the needs and expectations of your target audience
You may think that you know your target audience and that you know what problems it faces. However, the reality is often different. You may have assumptions, but you cannot use them until you have obtained clear evidence that you are right and have confirmed all the hypotheses.
Therefore, at the stage when you thought about the need to develop a mobile application, you need to conduct a study of the target audience:
- Who will be using the app?
- What problems do they have now?
- How are they solving these problems now?
- What devices and platforms do they use?
- What are their expectations of you?
There are many ways to reach your target audience. For example, you can start with statistics, analytics, and reports. But if you want more personalized responses, go to people directly. These can be forums, polls, focus groups. It is a good idea to start with the MVP application because it will help you gather more objective feedback.
3. Hire good developers
There is no doubt that a business idea is of great importance and often it is it that determines further events. However, if you trust random people to develop it, you will lose. It is critical that the entire team is on the same page. Here are the options you have. Note that each comes with its own pros and cons.
- In-house development team. On the one hand, this is a good decision, because it guarantees you loyalty and common goals. On the other hand, team building takes time. Moreover, you need to foresee the costs for each of the team members, such as renting an office, paying for sick leave, etc.
- Freelancers. This is a more flexible solution because you can find independent professionals in different parts of the world. Another thing is that you have to be able to manage a team of people who do not work with each other on an ongoing basis. In addition, freelancers are often interested in their benefits from the project, rather than in the success of the application.
- Outsourcing or outstaffing company. This can be the best solution if you need comprehensive application development services. You get a team of experts who are ready to apply their experience and knowledge. The only thing that is important is to find a really reliable company with a good reputation.
4. Define immediate goals and outline long-term goals
When you have trusted developers, you can make a plan of action together. Do not think that you will launch an amazing application that will make a splash in a month. There is a risk that you will waste time and money, but the results will not match your expectations.
That is why you need to define your goals for the near future. At the same time, a long-term plan is also necessary, but it will change. Start with the minimum viable product we mentioned earlier and it will help you choose your next path. In addition, the MVP is what will help you to enlist the support of investors.
5. Determine your budget
Of course, financial expectations are the aspect that you need to think through even at the stage of drawing up the concept. Nevertheless, only now can you talk about specific amounts, because you have a list of tasks, and you also know the cost of developer services.
Please note that your financial plan should include not only planned expenses but planned income as well. By planning your profit, you take your business to another level. Plus, investors will also want to know what their benefits are.
6. Find ways to promote your application
Marketing is an integral part of your success. A common mistake is to think that it’s too early to promote your mobile application because you haven’t even started its development. Actually, the earlier you start, the better results you’ll have.
The point is that you need to have a warm audience, people who will install your application as soon as you launch it. Your business needs loyal early adopters. So, consider web presence, PR, branding in advance. Plan a marketing campaign to promote your mobile application and ensure that you know how to reach out to your target audience.
7. Be flexible and be ready to pivot
Running a business, you should understand that it is a challenging path that comes with various problems. Though you can avoid some mistakes by following our tips, there are a lot of other mistakes that you’ll surely face. That’s why you and your development team should be flexible. Analyze the market all the time and if you see that people don’t need the features you offer — just get rid of them. At the same time, you should understand when these ideas are really useless and when you need more promotion to show their importance. Nobody knew that one needed an iPhone until Steve Jobs offered it. Who knows, maybe you’re about to make a new tech revolution. App development is a long way of self-reflection, doubts, analysis, and new attempts. Don’t be afraid of challenges and keep abreast to succeed!
Author Bio:
Jenson O’Connell is a professional journalist and copywriter who writes on issues surrounding IT development, technology, and marketing. He regularly publishes in many high-profile editions and helps his readers understand trends in the tech industry and marketing infrastructure.
