What is the most important before you will start developing a mobile app?

The market demand for application development is extremely high given customers' ever-increasing needs. These arise from various operational requirements in business. Today's market and its dynamic growth require fast solutions for solving recurring problems or streamlining known as internal processes. The automation of most business processes through digital solutions in applications allows new working techniques to be developed on a daily basis.

A successful approach in app development

The success raised from strategy combines various factors that are strictly results-oriented. Projects maintained by innovators in application development required implementing a good strategy that can benefit in several ways:

·      More repeated purchases – more frequent app downloads, upgrades, and app extension downloads.

·      More competitive applications – product resistance for price wars that caused lowering (especially when developed similar solutions to existing on the market) instead of increasing revenue.

·      Streamlined processes – conversion of time-consuming manual tasks to mobile (as an example effortless shopping with mobile apps btw.Amazon, eBay, etc.)

·      Higher customer loyalty – a well-developed app can keep customers with a brand, and it creates space for new product development.

·      Increased market share - once a digital product becomes large enough, a company can go public with shares to increase revenue with a view to future investments.

Shape your strategy within good feasibility studies

A strong feasibility study can qualify a strategic decision process for app development. Create a comprehensive development plan affecting the independent variables of the project. Analyzing each stage of the project allows us to understand the full list of parameters that innovators and business owners should consider. Each case requires an individual approach, but all projects will refer to frameworks and conditions that are very common in application development.

Identifying your goals

Preliminary analysis helps create an executive summary. This cannot be done without clear visions and ideas, which are essential for setting objectives. Turning the ideas into an operational plan allows the project to be defined at each phase of development and to schedule its time frame. The last contains particularly important constraints, as meeting deadlines can have a fundamental impact on every nextstep in an app development project.

By pursuing the development of an app, organizations can consider the environment in which their digital solution might be best suited. It could be a typical app for an online shop, but with out-of-the-box features that make the product more visible and help it differentiate in the market. How to decide on the purpose of an app is closely related to the economic factors of the market and individual business needs.

Market research

Defining customer needs and researching the market through surveys, analytical methods are important before taking other steps toward app development. The company should start market research in terms of market competition and then in technological aspects to determine the customers' ability to use the app in a specific environment. This may include the devices on which the app could be used, as well as the availability of such a device and supported software in the market. The nextstep in the research is to go through the political and legal aspects. The company should know where the app will be available, as some countries may have more restrictive policies and ethics rights, which may limit the number of users. The third step in the research is macroeconomic insight, which helps the company to determine the value of the product and manipulate prices based on the economic well-being of the region. The last common research step is good demographic intelligence. App developers need to know the number of people involved as well as their age to understand the demand for certain services in the market. With these results in mind, the development process can be moved to the user preference research stage, allowing for more substantive results with a focus on individual needs. This can help to create a specific user interface and develop all the better features on its backend for more accurate data retrieval.

Technology research

The developers review the technical aspects and qualify the digital tools that are needed to develop the application. At this stage, it is necessary to regulate the technical advances for the personnel who will work on the app development. The wide spectrum of technologies available to app developers makes the choices more complex but also gives more room to develop better-fitting solutions for users. Developers can choose between the required native or cross-platform to run the project. Many platforms support a different programming language giving developers more space for creative choices in development. Making the right choice of technology during the development process will support the functionality of the application with specific business requirements. These may be constrained by the purpose of the application for different markets such as web shops or banks etc. for different users, which are important for the functionality of the application in different environments. 

Operating costs 

App developer businesses assess the relevant cash flow and estimate costs for all activities involved. From the start of the project, it is important not to underestimate any financial aspects of the subsequent phases of the project. In some cases, it is worthwhile to develop a life cycle concept that is directly relevant to marketing activities and app upgrades. The financial projections at each phase should not cross over, but rather produce a linear forecast on the income statement. This is a great phase of the project that brings to light considerations about the benefits of monetizing the app. In this case, the business may consider paid app add-ons to generate the required revenue based on user preferences.

Risk assessment

Overcoming the unexpected can be questionable. Based on experience gathered from the results of similar projects done in the past, it is much easier to predict what can go wrong.Developers should identify obstacles and potential weaknesses in the project to prevent failures. Most failures result from a lack of relevant experience in certain development processes. It can be the trigger for a chain reaction in cash flow and tight deadlines. An example of this is when certain costs are underestimated for certain phases of a project as a result of poor market research. 

Development process

Using relevant knowledge gained from market researchers and implementing choices derived from technology research. Next is focusing on the creation of UI and UX designs with the most appropriate and balanced approach to project objectives and operational costs.Once a design is ready, it will be needed to elaborate the right structure and create a user-friendly modus inside the application. This stage needs to workin parallel with development on app backed that is strictly important for an engine of entire data flow, that provides the later outcome of innovation and validation of business channels. These are equally important, as the data obtained from the application should help to assess the economic aspects of the market. This is important for business sustainability, which is fragile for a high-frequency market with changing user preferences. The final stage may concern testing the finished application in an isolated environment before the product will be released to the market.

Marketing strategy

Parallel to the application development process sales and marketing activities are being designed. Here again, the market research results will play the most important role.Understanding the needs of the market, product placement is a formality.However, product placement requires appropriate marketing content management support to reach the target audience and not overlap any strong user benefits.It is important to create a communication strategy in association with sales channels and marketing activities.

Product launch

It is the time when a digital product is ready to go to market. In the initial phase, when the app hits the market, developers should study user behavior as part of the ongoing BI (business intelligence) process. Ongoing analysis of the app can help adjust planned actions in the app in real-time. This can have a direct impact on reducing costs, as not all applications require extensive updates.

Step into the app market with Score Digital

The recommended aspects identify the essential design phases to shape the right digital product. Each app development process requires a different approach. A successful app developer can consider all the above aspects to ensure the effectiveness of their projects at each stage. At the same time, this can give their customers confidence in their final app choice.

To create a well-tailored app without gaps or bugs, you may want to consider working with experts to ensure high-quality digital product development. Score Digital helps its customers develop great apps from scratch for different purposes. Let us support you in your app development projects and shape your future digital product for different markets. Contact us today.

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