Apps may be appealing and easy enough as a new ground to offer your unique service or set of information to the wider audience. But given the kind of setbacks experienced by too many ambitious apps, there are certain things that you need to be aware of. It is lucrative to venture in creating an app on your unique ideas but there are some ground rules and basic considerations that you need to be acquainted with. If you want your app to grow big earning you a great standing in the app store and corresponding flow of revenue, you need to consider the following aspects.
Setting development cost and revenue target
App is a separate avenue of doing business and getting into touch with users in a smarter way and naturally like any business model making budget and setting expectations in regard to revenge is important. Most developers just leave the project as soon as the app hit the store and it leads you to a situation where initial development and post development updates and enhancements will be handled by different people which is least expected. So, make sure you can make a better deal with regular engagement of developers for the app lifetime. The second most important thing to decide is whether to make the app free or to follow the Freemium model or to offer a paid app. While all have their respective pros and cons, Freemium model with the option of a free limited feature version and a paid full version is more popular. The idea is getting most users through the free version and further promoting the paid version to the existing users and through other means.
Is the app idea truly unique?
Obviously in these hugely competitive days when thousands of apps in every category are gunning for prominence, traffic and more downloads without offering something unique and special you cannot expect to make a mark. First time users should not perceive your app as the same run of the mill app with nothing special. Even when the content is similar to most other apps in that category functional ease, clarity and simplicity would help the app stand out. When striking an app idea consider 3 aspects. Does the app solve a problem? Does it solve the problem uniquely? Does it offer anything that the user will find irreplaceable? Having a positive answer to all these questions mentioned above you can expect your app to be in the right track as far as the uniqueness is concerned.
Setting a standard for user experience
Every app irrespective of their niche or category solves a problem for the user and how well and easily you offer your solution that determines your user experience as a whole. User experience is what makes an app saleable and so it is the foremost consideration for any app throughout its lifetime. Expectation and actual satisfaction level with the user experience aspects of your app may vary among users and so the safe option is to assure the best user experience standard offered by most successful apps. Offering a user experience best by competitor standard and then offering something more and useful can help position your app better. Offering different app versions for different group of users and for different platforms can be greatly beneficial to meet the user expectation but obviously you can only do it once your app acquires a critical mass of user volume. Creating different versions at the same time the basic version is being developed can cut your development cost to a great extent but on the other hand addressing user feedback with different versions can be useful after it gains a certain user base.
To what extent you expect it adding value to your business?
Remember an app should not only perceived as a mobile friendly website version as many business think when trying to offer their web content through a mobile app. More than just a website experience a mobile app with its device optimized functionalities is expected to be more interactive and engaging. You can do a lot more with a mobile app than with a mobile website and more importantly, you can enjoy far enhanced ease, simplicity and smart intuitive experience. A mobile app through its notifications keeps you connected with the business and as per the typical user preference suggests information and set of actions. A mobile app is altogether a different platform that let your users stay connected with your business offerings in their own preferred and engaging way.
How your app get exposure?
Obviously, getting exposure to bigger audience and user base is the key to your app success. There are various aspects to this. From following the best app store optimization practices to having an array of press release and media promotion tactics to driving a great social network promotions, you should not leave any effective means unturned. Finding the key press people in charge of reviewing apps and presenting your app is an effective strategy and same advice goes for other media fronts. In the beginning do not expect to be reviewed by big sites but smaller sites can show more interest but in the due course as you get enough buzz drawing interest even from biggies won’t be a problem. Make a nice promotional video on your app and publish it in social media platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo. Promote your app with regular posts and interactive publications across major social platforms as well.
You are never done with your app
Developing an app and hitting the app store is just the beginning and there are plenty of things to do after that. An app to get the momentum of getting user favor needs to be constantly updated and enhanced with new elements, feature set and removal of aspects that are pulling your app behind. Offering more interactive elements, tuning it better every time to meet user expectations and offering more valuable contents, these three things one needs to focus throughout the lifetime of an app.
Ending Notes
Building a new app is equally a creative and engaging business process and often an initial mistake results in bigger setbacks in the long run. Apart from the aspects mentioned above, you should have a consistent focus on testing the app properly to make it free from bugs and resulting crash.
