Do you consider your mobile app idea to be great? Do you think that the idea has all that it takes to make millions? The idea may be a unique and promising one but it accounts for only the single step in a journey of thousand miles. The app idea must put to committed execution and launching effort to make it a success. Any aspiring idea must pass through the test of execution and exposure to validate its merit. So, in the case of mobile apps, the process of development and launching will ultimately be crucial to bear the fruit of a unique idea.
But, is your app idea really worth the effort?
Before going any further, you need to know whether the app idea is really good. How can we make sure that the idea is really unique and useful to be appreciated by the users? Building a mobile app, launching it and maintaining it with sustained support and marketing effort requires a lot of effort and considerable investment.
So, it is extremely important to measure the uniqueness and promising aspects of your app idea. How can you really measure an idea? Well, let us offer some parameters and validating questions.
- Is it going to offer a better solution to a particular problem or requirement?
- Is there any other app with the same kind of idea?
- Is the app idea easy and allows easy to use interface?
- Is the idea future proof? Can the app idea stay relevant for years on end?
If your answer to all the above-mentioned questions is a loud ‘yes’ with a positive explanation, your app idea really is worth the effort and investment.
It is time to go deeper with research
Now you have a great app idea ready validated as unique, helpful, easy and simple and future proof to stay relevant over time. Shouldn’t you go all out for execution now? Wait, you still need some groundwork. You need to research the competitor apps, target audience, like and dislike factors and the app marketplace. All these will furnish effective insights about what may work great for your app and what may not.
Study all the competitor apps and reviews carefully to get an idea of the like and dislike factors. Such study will also show areas where you can improve and offer something better. Secondly, know your target audience deeper concerning their user habits, engagement, usage, buying patterns, responsiveness, etc. The research will help you gather a lot of insights to shape your app idea.
Start by figuring how you want it
After the research phase is over and you are done with creative brainstorming, now it is time to figure out the product details. You need to figure out everything you want in your app. You need to know the following things.
- How are you going to let your users sign up? Sign up steps, how the signup works and what information you are going to collect from the users, etc.
- How you will let users navigate through your app for each action
- How the overall user experience can please the users and help them get what they want from the app
- How you will deal with app crashes, bugs, errors, performance issues, inquiries and support queries.
When every action and the response of your app is known to them, you can let your developers have the grasp over execution plan better.
Figure out how you will earn from the app
Obviously, you are not going to build an app and pour your creative effort into it as well as an investment just for the fun of developing it. So, you need to figure out the revenue model that will work for your app. Obviously, just by making it heavily priced you cannot make good revenue. Your revenue model must aim for a strong user acquisition followed by steady earning. Unless your app gets a good number of users you cannot make a decent earning to sustain the app like a business. What is the most time tested revenue models for different mobile apps? Well, let us introduce a few of them here below.
- Freemium: Offer a free app version with most of the app features and essential look and feel. Offer another premium version with all the features and added functionalities. If the free app users get prompted to buy the premium one against a price to enjoy more features and attributes, your app makes revenue.
- Gated features: Instead of building premium version you can make certain features subject to unlocking against a price.
- Priced app: Yes, instead of offering the app free of charge you can offer it against a moderate and reasonable price and can push with marketing efforts.
- In-app advertisement and sales: You can offer your app absolutely free and can focus on earning from in-app advertisements and sales revenues.
Get feedback from as many people as possible
Finally, when you are ready with your idea and all the details, it is time to get back to some people you know just for fetching their opinion and feedback. It is advisable to take feedback from people similar to your target audience as they can tell you a lot of things from real user perspectives. If you can launch a feedback campaign through digital and social media including your business website, this will also help to create a sensation about the app long before it is actually built.
Building wireframe
With all the app details finalized it is time to build a wireframe for your app. What is a wireframe? Well, it is nothing but the operating workflow of the app development project. Wireframes are built to access any point in the workflow whenever you require.
App development process
Finally, you are on the path of execution to see your app idea come through. Well, it begins with a design prototype with the UI layout and other elements. Once the prototyping is done and perfected, it is time to get to the real action of design and development. At the completion of every step of development, the built part is tested before proceeding to the next step.
Prepare App for Launch
You are almost to the finish line and your idea is now a reality and it is time to prepare for launch. This is when you will want to polish up any loose ends and put the final touches on your app. Once the development has been completed you will want to create a website that provides a support portal and basic information for your future users. Consider these aspects in the development process.
- Test the app prototypes on different devices
- Test it across multiple screens
- Offer a relevant and creative mix of visual effects including animations, graphics, and images
- Consider designing micro interactions to engage users
- Always let your app hit the market with beta testing
- And last, make a comparison with the original idea
Have a Marketing Strategy in place
However great an app you have made, staying inactive and silent on the marketing front will only lead to failure. You have to be ready with a strategy to market your app. Let us have a look at the various channels that you should consider.
- Social media
- Email broadcasting
- Media reviews and promotions
- Affiliate network marketing
- Banner syndication
- Pay-Per-Click advertising
Pre-launch marketing
Long before your app is ready, you need to prepare to make your launch a big event. This sensitizing effort over your upcoming app is called pre-launch marketing. It is crucial to building the user interest gradually and get a good number of users in the end. The pre-launch marketing can consist of the following.
- Extensive blogging and content publishing on the new app
- Trying to build the excitement through your website and mainstream media
- Social media activities and interactions on the upcoming app.
Multi-Phase launching
These days an app can be launched in different phases as per the target user attributes and availability. Multi-phase launching is particularly great to deliver highly curated and value driven service as per the audience.
