The Ultimate Guide to Build a Successful App for Your Business

We cannot deny the fact that today’s market of mobile applications is very competitive with several apps released through the App stores every day. However, not all apps are successful and many are used once after being downloaded. To build a successful app, you must follow a systematic pattern, which we will explain in this blog. So, what exactly goes into building an app? As countless apps are not used by anybody, your app must stand out from the crowd to gain the attention of users. Thorough research and great app development expertise of the leading iOS or Android app development company is what you need to develop an app that is loved by all.

What Does It Take to Make an App Successful?

There are some successful apps like Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter, or Candy Crush whose success stories inspired you to build an app for your own business. If you closely analyze them, they have one thing in common- a unique concept reflected in useful functionality. Creating a different app despite the high market competition takes market research, target audience, and the app itself. Your app should give users a unique value, usefulness, performance, and engagement. If we talk about the features, we can categorize the app into 2 categories – business-centric and customer-centric.

Here are some of the top business-centric features your app should have:

• Encourage user retention & attract new users
• Securely protected user data
• Simplified hassle-free payments
• Low cost of future development updates & maintenance
• Easy procedure to update the app

Below are some of the consumer-centric features:

• Appealing design with great UI & UX
• Stable and reliable app workflow
• Meet key expectations & customers ‘needs
• Provide quick access to service/assistance

10 Steps to build the App that Stand Out from the Crowd

Every great app starts with a great idea and we must ensure the app idea you have is well researched and ready to be executed.  Before wasting any further time, let’s check the top strategies we must follow to build the app of your dreams-

1. A Deep Market Research

You may have an app idea, which you think is perfect but it is important to clarify your niche and figure out if it is good enough. There may be competitors who have similar apps, which is why you must evaluate and learn from their app offerings. To make your app successful, understand your target audience, and know what they are looking for to find out if your app will uncover their pain points. Take a good time to ask and listen to people while studying about existing products or where their apps lack to know what can inspire or irritate your user groups.

Here are some of the suggestions to help you figure out the right app concept:

• Study forums or blogs to analyze questions being asked based on specific problems and what can fix them.
• Attend tech events or startup meetups to help you figure out what kind of app ideas are trending that seem interesting to the crowd.
• Speak to startup business owners to learn about their failure and success journey how they plan things and the pain points they faced.
• Take time to find out the most common day-to-day issues people encounter to help you get an app idea that matters.

2. Finalize the App Idea

After a thorough analysis, it’s time to understand the value proposition of the app and know your product’s USP (unique selling points). In this step, you have to figure out a few things like why would people use the app, know the primary user flow, and the core feature that would lead to the app’s success. The best approach is to create an app prototype, which is also known as MVP (Minimum Viable Product). It is the smallest working version with minimum features for beta testing among a group of users and is useful for presenting the app idea to investors.

Other considerations to keep in mind during this stage are-

• Go for a catching app name that is easy to pronounce and recognize. Also, consider a name that is SEO-friendly by analyzing keywords and their Google search volume.
• Another thing that must be focused on is keyword research before the launch of the app, which will help you proceed with optimized listings & pages.
• You must keep the app screens & visuals ready to demonstrate your product to the public as these app previews are useful in-app pre-launch marketing materials.

3. Plan a Strong Strategy

If you want your app to be successful, you should never rush to app implementation before having a well-planned app strategy. It means you must spend enough time on the business model to finalize all strategic information and everything you want to achieve with the app.
Detailed Areas that must be focused on creating a strategic plan includes-

• Business Goals

You must have a clear focus on the goals and ensure that they are realistic and time-bound. Write down all the critical actions you want your users to achieve through your app & understand the onboarding process & app content to engage your users in the right way.

• Preferred Technology Stack

Another important factor is the technologies that you are planning to use on your app concerning performance or experience to build a successful app. Whether you are building a web app, a native mobile app, or a hybrid one, your development approach should be defined.

• Budget

One of the most crucial aspects of the app development process is the budget. This depends on many factors like the number of app features, complexity, development firm, etc. It is important to plan your costs as every project is different from one another and their requirements also vary. If you are still worried about the cost, make use of our smart app cost calculator to get an estimated development cost in a few minutes.

• App Monetization Model

The ultimate goal of any successful project is to earn profits, which comes in the later phase after app launch. Ensure that you define the monetization model for future app versions and decide the suitable model among the free app, paid app, in-app advertisements, apps/download, or more.

4. Go for an Appealing App Design

After finalizing the strategy, it’s time to focus on the UI/UX design of the app, which is very important as good design is the first thing that people notices in the app. Apart from following the design guidelines of different platforms like iOS or Android, few things must be considered. They are as follows-

•  Having a responsive design is a must as the code can render differently on all devices, smartphones, laptops, or tablets. It is very effective as it is the best way to optimize the user experience across all these platforms.
• Ensure that the design elements you choose for your app are simple and helps in adding value along with a specific role. Choose the design elements in such a way that it corresponds to the product goals and the budget you have.
• Keep in mind that there will be several apps with a similar app idea as yours, which is why you must differentiate your product from the competition. Include great graphics, interactions, animations, or sound effects to add uniqueness to your app.

5. App Development Stage

The next step after app designs in the app development where you must focus on the app core’s functionality and how the app will solve a specific problem of users.
Things to consider in the app development step for the success of the app are-

• With simple interactive registration, your app should be developed in such a way that it is easy to use & all the user data is safe & encrypted.
• For a personalized experience, collect data from user history & deliver engaging content through the app. Use tags that might be interesting for your target audience and notify users with relevant info, which eventually leads to better engagement.
• Another concern is to build different communication channels with users, which can be done in two ways i.e. in-app messaging & in-app message center. Both of these are important one allows active users to interact and the other acts as an inbox inside the app.
• Ensure that you keep budget in mind while choosing whether to build a native or cross-functional app. If you want your app to be successful and target users on both platforms for app development on iOS and Android platforms.

6. Launch the App

After development, the next step is a deployment where you will integrate all the processes on a production level and go through app testing before the final release. Beta-testing is much needed to get real reviews and feedback on the app from the target testers, which will help to fix bugs and eliminate risks. You should connect the app with analytical services to get a better picture of users & collect app metrics.

7. Market the App

Talking about the two famous app distribution channels- Google Play and App Store, we must follow guidelines to market the app in the right way. A proper marketing plan is a must to make your app successful which includes app store optimization to ensure that your app gets discovered by target users. Go for PR or advertising agencies to boost the app install rate that decides the app ranking in the app store.

8. Promote App in the right way

App promotion should be done in such a way that you use all the effective channels to market the app & ensure the successful delivery of the app to target users. Some of the ways to promote an app are-

• Social Media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. are the best way to spread the word about the app as most of the users today are available on these channels.
• Another way is to reach out to different news portals and use press releases including app summary, screenshots, design screens, video, etc.
• You can also reach out to influencers & bloggers and have them promote your app or build a landing page and get it promoted via Google advertisements, social media.

9. Review & Analyze App Metrics

To make your app successful, don’t forget to measure and react in a rapidly evolving environment. There are several metrics broadly categorized into 4 types- user engagement, customer acquisition, customer satisfaction, or app performance, which enable you to understand the app’s value. Whether it’s the retention rate, daily active users, or churn rate, everything must be measured to act and modify the app if required.

10. Update App Regularly

Your app may be in top position in app stores but it won’t hold that position for long if you don’t opt for regular updates based on user feedback. Analytical services and metrics collection play a major role in improving the app and understanding any new features to innovate. Things that must be considered for app updates are regular competitor analysis, testing to ensure quality assurance or the addition of new updates or features according to users’ interest or demand.

Wrapping Up

Building a successful app is not child’s play, we need a good time to research and execute everything as planned for the app. No matter how great your app idea is, a lack of proper development skills will end up making your app a failure. Being a renowned Android and iOS app development Company, we hold the expertise to build a wide range of mobile apps for different industry verticals enabling clients across the globe to achieve business goals faster. If you are looking for a reliable partner that can transform your idea into a great business opportunity, get in touch with our expert developers today!