06 Sep Are You Building your First Mobile App? Here’s a Step-by-Step Guide for the same
Building a mobile application is a great idea. However, it is important to have an objective for the same. Before you start, you should answer a simple question – ‘Why do I want to build a mobile app?’ The answer to this question will decide where you go with your mobile app idea. Don’t just build an app because you want to follow the herd. You should instead build an app if there’s a real problem that you think you can solve. Once you have your app’s objective clear, you can use the following guidelines to develop the app.
9 STEPS come from our years of experience in helping clients create winning mobile applications.
1) Solve a Problem: We have come across many clients who want to build an app, but they don’t have an app idea yet. Where you will really get inspiration from is real life problems. If you look around yourself, there are multiple problems that all of us are struggling with. For your app to be successful, it has to effectively solve one such problem. Let us take the example of some of the products around us. Airplanes let us travel between destinations quickly. Jackets and coats help us keep ourselves warm during winter. If you do a business, you will certainly be aware of causes of frustration to your customers. Addressing such problems can get your app instant recognition.
2) Need Recognition: Now, you have identified the problem that you want to solve. The next is to find out if there is actually a need or demand for a solution to that problem. Sometimes, your customers might not really know that a particular problem exists. In that case, the need for a solution will be latent. Solving a latent need is great, but that will call for extensive marketing communication to pass the message across to your audience. One good way of validating your idea is by using the Google Keyword Planner. By researching on related keywords, you will know if enough people have been trying to seek out the kind of solution that you are aiming to build. Another successful way of validating your idea is to create a landing page. Provide a brief outline of your idea and the app’s features, and have users reflect their interest via an email sign-up.
3) Flow & Feature Plan: By this time, you have identified a problem and have ensured that there is a need for a solution. This is the time that you put a prototype or a wireframe in place. Of course, there are chances that you might not have the technical know-how to create a wireframe/protocol. All you need to do, in that case, is to transfer your ideas on a piece of paper. Provide comprehensive information about the features of the app, its navigation plan, and more. This will help your developers understand your exact requirement.
4) Minimum Viable Product: You have enlisted all of your app’s features on a piece of paper. Now is the time to remove all those features that are not imperative to your app. There are some features that are good to have, but they aren’t the core features of the application. Such features can be added at a later stage. Having a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) ensures that you reduce your initial costs. In addition to that, you keep yourself open to adding more features at a later stage.
5) Design-First Approach: The most common approach that first-time app developers adopt is to ignore the importance of design. They are extremely convinced about their app’s offerings, and believe that design is just fluff. However, design isn’t merely about the look & feel of your app. It is about creating a lasting user experience. When you walk into a mall that is well decorated, with light music playing in the background, you feel comfortable and want to go back. The same applies to your app too. You want your app’s users to love the experience of using it. You should look for developers who put user experience and graphics first.
6) Hire a Development Company: You have now reached a stage where you need professional guidance to take your app idea forward. You need to hire a development company. Obviously, you need to exercise due diligence during the hiring process. Offshoring mobile app development is a good idea, but you should be careful while evaluating the applicants’ credentials. You have to look at the companies’ past projects; and perhaps, you should also conduct an interview with the development team. Ask the development team for their plan to successfully build this app.
7) Developer Account Creation: By this point, you will also be clear of which platform do you want your app to be developed for. You need to register a developer account with the app store of the platform that you have chosen. This registration is required in order to sell your application on that platform. There are annual charges that need to be paid for the same.
8) Analyze: It is a good idea to integrate analytics with your app. You should be able to track your app’s downloads, see how engaged your users are, and gauge retention. There are numerous free as well as paid apps that you can choose from. A couple of good ones that come to mind are Flurry and Localytics.
9) Be Nimble: Your app is now live. It is important for you to be extremely nimble at this stage. On the basis of your customers’ feedback, you might be required to make prompt alterations. Remember, we didn’t have all the features in the app for the first version? This is the time for you to analyze which features need to now be incorporated. You need to keep in mind that user feedback is constant, and staying on top of that will let you make your app more successful.
As mentioned earlier, these are just guidelines that will help you comprehend as to what’s required to build a mobile app. As long as you have a good development team and you are willing to be nimble, you should be able to do a good job with the same.
OptimizedApps, over these years have been helping clients to make right decision on Apps development. Contact our consultants now to know which kind of App will be your next App.
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