A lot of investment goes into the business of mobile app in terms of time and budget. The market is too competitive, so the app developers have to be very efficient in their planning to ensure their app is a success. Further, a suitable planning stage is imperative in the app development process. An unprepared strategy might not solely lead to financial losses but could also damage the developer’s brand jeopardizing its prospects in the future.
Hence, here are a few tips for calling out the attention on the building blocks of app development process. Some of which might seem like an additional effort, but is definitely worth considering.
1. Know your audience and think global early on
Market research is definitely the first step before getting into the process of building an app. If you have an idea that you want to execute and implement it into an app, then you definitely need to know who would be interested in using that app. You must also check other apps currently available in the market that caters to similar interests as your target audience. You must have clear ideas on the strengths and weaknesses of the competitor apps in comparison to your proposal, and unique selling point of your app etc.
Furthermore, it is essential to evaluate if the app would stay relevant in the future as well. This way, you can find out if the user count of the app will keep growing with time and will not burst or fade away like a bubble. In such cases where the app is scalable and is used by scores of users globally, you need to ensure that the app’s functionality is reliable. Moreover, you also need to make sure that the app processes at its optimal speed without any glitches even when used by thousands of users (or hopefully even more) at the same time.
2. Strategize effective marketing and pre-launch buzz
Your app would be filled with tons of exciting features. However, the attention span of consumers is concise; you need to convey what you are offering them in crisp and short sentences. These sentences must effectively call out the attention of the consumer to the unique selling point of your app. Also, since consumers are drawn to anything new in the market, newness is a crucial aspect to be leveraged while launching an app. So, having an efficient social media marketing strategy and creating a pre-launch buzz is very important. It will help you reach out to as many users as possible within the initial few days of the launch of your new app. Additionally, establishing a brand through appealing logos, names, colors, etc., sets you apart from millions of other apps that are already in the market.
3. Prioritize continued app engagement post download
Even when apps manage to get a lot of downloads owing to an efficient marketing strategy and appealing initial impression, the retention rate for many mobile apps is painfully low. Just about 20% of users open the new apps they install three months from their installation. So, as vital as it is to get the users to download your app, it is also essential to ensure that users continue to engage with your app for a longer time. This is particularly important when the monetizing strategy for the app business is based on the usage of premium features in the app or in-app purchases or in-app ads. Real-time alerts through notifications is a powerful way to get the users to come back and use the apps before they churn for good. But those notifications should be strongly backed by worthy updates in the app’s features and functionalities that deserves more time from a user. Users have an endless choice of new apps in the market, and you shouldn’t let monotony be a reason for a user to stop using your app.
4. Ensure compatibility with low powered devices
Irrespective of the exciting features available in an app, every user will definitely be concerned about their device’s battery lasting time and memory consumed by the app. If the app is eating up more space or draining the device’s charge on its usage, users are bound to look for alternatives.
Regarding battery consumption, common culprits usually are unnecessary background activity and inefficient refreshes. So, the developer needs to be wary about the energy consumption by his app. Data transfer protocols, message caching etc., need to be considered when the app is powered by a 3rd party platform or infrastructure, features offered by different service providers regarding
5. Prioritize optimized bandwidth consumption
Regarding bandwidth management, an app developer has an option to choose between native, wherein once downloaded in a device, the app works without connection to the internet. Alternatively, a web app is the one where the app works only when the device has internet access.
There is also a hybrid option with some app features working without internet and some only with the internet. In case of apps requiring active internet connection, it would be naive to assume that users would have a reliable Wifi connection or 4G at all times. It is best to ensure that the app doesn’t hang up on the user when the device has a spotty coverage. An excellent example is Google changing the letter G in its logo to save data consumption. It went from 14k bytes to around 300 bytes. It is an exemplary case highlighting the need for efficient bandwidth management.
6. Give utmost importance to security.
It is the developer’s responsibility to ensure that the user’s data is secure when the app is accessing the user’s data to give them personalized and customized engagement experience. Cybersecurity should never be considered lightly since anything connected to the internet is hackable. Hackers are always at work, and it is not a matter of if your app would be a target, but when would it be. Such apps with security loopholes fall easy prey to hackers, and consequences would be disastrous to both the parties involved. If there is any manner of exchange of information, either through chat message or an IoT reading or push notification, then core security requirements related to data in transit needs to be met. Every note has to be encrypted using AES/SSL/TLS encryption, and the encryption has to be end-to-end. Access control is another crucial aspect to be considered in order to ensure that there is no unauthorized access possible to the application.
Final Words
Hence, if you are in the process of planning mobile app development, these Six tips of the app development process can help you immensely. These are some of the practical tips and tricks that will ensure your success as an app developer. It is essential to know your audience and create a buzz before the launch of the actual app because it builds anticipation amongst people. In addition to that, you also need to ensure proper engagement even after people download the app. Also, if you optimize the bandwidth consumption and make sure that it is compatible with low powered devices, you will be in the right place. Finally, security is super important so you must have tight security from the very start so that there is no scope for any breach. These tips and tricks will definitely help you plan your mobile app development effectively.
