Roadmap for Startups for a Successful Mobile App Development Journey

There is a certain way to go about app development that will lead to success; for both, the app and the company that hopes to gain revenue from it. However, when it comes to startups, there is a lack of enough resources and funds to fully invest in projects. Unlike established firms that can opt for a longer development timeline and an expensive route that includes various high-tech goodies – startups have smaller budgets.

For startups, they are looking for faster deployments, with top-notch quality, and at the lowest possible prices. Which is do-able, there are software development companies that produce high quality and functioning mobile apps at feasible rates.

Like we said in the first line, there is always a smart way to go about successful app development. And for startups on a tight budget, they can follow a mobile app development roadmap that guarantees success.

So, let’s dive into it.

1) Researching Target Audience’s Pain Points

Your app will be used by a certain group of people. So developing an app without any knowledge of what your target audience need from your app is a waste of resources, time, and money. If you do not know their pain points, how can you expect to give them the solution that will make them want to use your app?

So, with this in mind, the first thing you need to do is understand their problems. Then once you have all the data, you need to figure out how your app can resolve those. This is a sure way of winning the favors of your audience and gaining a competitive edge over competitors.

This target audience research will unveil a lot of core areas for your app; from their pain points, to their preferences of apps, demographics, and what not. All these details will help you develop the right app with clear set of goals in mind.

2) Next, Conduct Market Research

Once you are done with your audience research, you need to move ahead and consider the current market. With market research, you can validate how unique your app idea is and how impactful it will be.

In order to perform the market research, you can do the following:

• Check Google Trends and see if the keywords related to your app are ranking well.

• Check similar apps within the market and study them.

• Do not skip on the overall mobile app industry and gauge how your app can make a mark and stand out.

3) Finalize Your App’s Concept

Once you are equipped with the necessary knowledge on the market and what your audience requires; now, it is time to come up with a solid app idea. So, bring in the team members, designers, developers, business analysts, and more to discuss the various aspects of your mobile app.

Make sure you are ticking the right boxes and answering the right questions when deciding core features. Such as:

• Why would anyone use your app?

• Would they use it again or abandon it?

• What is that feature that sets you apart from your competitors?

Once you are sure of the features, designs, and the revenue model for your app; next comes in the development of MVP (minimum viable product).

4) Create an MVP:

Now, building an MVP before going full steam ahead into actual development of your app will save you tons of money and mistakes you want to avoid. Yes, you did the hard work, got the best features pinned, and devised an impeccable user experience. However, consider this just the initial stage that still has the potential to transform.

This transformation could be an entire change from what you thought would be your app’s structure. An MVP is the version of your app that only contains the main features. You then release it to a few real users for testing and gaining feedback. Once you receive their feedback on potential changes, additions, or subtractions – you revise it and keep testing until you hit the mark.

5) Create a Business Plan:

Since this mobile app is a long-term project, there is a need for a well thought out business plan. For this, consider the following key areas:

• Understand the current mobile app technologies and decide which will suit yours, the best.

• Plan your mobile app development budget including the resources required.

• Finalize a monetization model; like in-app purchases, fermium, and many more.

• Most importantly, do not skip on the pre and post-launch marketing strategy for your mobile app.

6) Wireframing:

No, it is not like MVP. It is a two-dimensional illustration of how your app will look like and its work flow. In a nutshell, it is the representation of your app’s UI and UX.

So, once the wireframe is built, you can see how users will navigate and determine the possible errors. In addition, you also get to sniff out any missing feature as well. All in all, wireframe help you refine usability.

7) Develop Your App :

Finally, after testing your wireframe and finalizing all the details – you build the app. Make sure that with the UX, the look of the app is also with the trends and on-point. Sine you have done the necessary pre-development work, you can head to rapid development and shrink the time to market.

8) Launch Your App :

Launching your app may differ depending on the app store. So whenever it gets approved, you can get busy with its promotions and campaigns. Some of the best ways to promote your app without invest much is through social media, ASO (App Store Optimization), and email marketing.

9) Keep Perfecting Your App :

You can do that by keeping tabs on user engagement, customer acquisition, app performance, and customer satisfaction.

These metrics will help you determine any harmful roadblocks and immediately rectify them. Continuous improvement will, in turn, improve your app’s performance.

10) Invest in App Engagement Campaigns

You need to know that app abandonment rates are high and so is the competition within market. This is why it is important that you keep engaging your consumers. How? Through push notifications; introducing new features, showing relevant content, enticing them with discounts or deals, and much more.

User retention and app’s expansion is what will help you generate a good revenue. So once the app launches, make sure you have a fool-proof plan for its long-term success.