Mobile applications play a very essential role in our lives on an everyday basis. The market has been expanding more day by day by developing unique and strong strategies which make the competition more and more challenging for people to choose. These apps are an important part of our lives, by using them people stay informed about the on-going situation around the world, people can easily connect with their friends and family no matter where they stay and also, people use these apps for entertainment such as gaming, social media apps and more.
According to Statista, there are around 2.7 billion people who are using smartphones around the world. People use their mobile phones almost the whole day whether it’s for fun or business and around 90% of the time, people spend their time using various types of applications. As we all know, the competition between mobile phone users is very tough and harsh, on the Google Play Store, there are around 2.7 million applications and 2.2 million apps on Apple’s App Store. According to the studies, the person uses around 9 apps on a per-day basis and 30 in a month.
This could also lead to that the chances of the users to use a particular app are very less as there is a countless number of apps in the market, and this leads to no business need and product’s poor. To make sure that the app of the user is visible in the market, the app maker needs to be particular about the baby steps to build the approach for its mobile app development. To stand out in the crowd the developer needs to have a perfect analysis and research about the market, people’s choices, their expectations, and more. The product or the app should be well-built and well-fitted in the market.
Key features for a successful app
To get an app successful or behind a successful app, there are 3 combination aspects to work on in a smart and better way which are, market, the user, and the product being offered. These 3 things need to work coordinately and together to provide the developer and the market with great performance level, uniqueness in value, and flexible usability. But, Accessibility is also a major key feature to have a successful mobile app.
What makes the app a successful one? On what roots? The app is said to be successful on two roots, customer-centric and business-centric. These 2 features make the app to be said as successful in the market as it aims at both the edges of the market.
Customer-centric feature:
- Designing should be great
- UI & UX should be well thought about
- Cover almost all expectations and needs of people
- Stability and reliability work process
- Data protection level should be efficient
- Quick access to the desk and help center
- Know how people use some specific services
Business-centric feature:
- Users retention should be encouraged
- Hassle-free and quick payment and transactions
- Data protection
- Low costing of development and maintenance in future
- Updating procedure should be easy
‘Keep in mind’ points to make the app successful
As the competition has increased so much, staying in the market needs uniqueness and great ideas. These ideas eventually make the app popular and more useful to people. So, there are things that the person needs or points to consider for a successful app. Let’s know about the factors to consider…
- Know your audience: First things are always first, the user needs to know who is going to use the app to make it more successful. This method will help the user to check out the business, idea, or products potential level in the market and also, it will help to know that how the owner should communicate with their targeted audience, what kind of message should be given in the market, and channels which could be used as a medium of communication. The method to do all of this is to search out the statistics, know what’s trending in the market, fill up some forms by the users, conducting a poll and building a version with a high standard of the app and collect feedback. Check out every type of source available in the market on a demographic basis like age, gender, location, and the users’ behavior and motivation factors.
- Offer value: An app with great ideas can solve various problems that are being recognized by a group of users that are potent enough. Even simple forms of entertainment like games say PUBG or Candy Crush Saga, provides an outlet for stress and boredom to the people. The application must be able to bring back the important benefits to all the users to stay motivated and download the app and use it more. The value of the service should be unique and always be related to the price, the speed level of transferring the info, the application workflow, and the access to provide to the features and service which the other channels can not. An app with perfectness combines with the things which are, consumer necessities, objective and aim of the business and the technology being used and its solutions to solve more smartly. If the app solves out more than one problem, then it is always better to go for that choice. A good product could be fun or useful.
- Explain your business model: Developers around the world choose to monetize the apps just by using different advertising methods that are based on business models. One of the most popular and known revenues steaming methods is to have Video Ads. Also, amongst the owners of the businesses, in-app purchases are famous enough. There are various other business models to choose from. Every mobile app business has some pros and cons in its way. To choose or pick out the ones which are just the correct fit for your needs is a great start to analyze what the competitors are doing, know what they are up to and what they can be their next steps. If that trick worked out once, then why not again? Take note by the way, not every successful app would generate profits only, sometimes, the app is built-up to save money.
- Scope of features should be defined: The user has spent a lot of time thinking about the generating of the app and this particular idea, he/she may have visualized it as well with the fantastic features which might boost up the functionality of the app. Some features are indispensable like social sharing, notifications/pop-ups, payment methods, and integrations. Each one of these can hinder the work process or the development of the core features. If there’s a wrong end to the process you’ve focused on, then it will be either wastage of time or wastage of quality. Some might look forward even without looking at the core of the idea. If once the owner decides what kind of core feature should be in the app, then trying and bringing the most out of it is the clearest and easiest way to do it. The development stage is complex and expensive but taking care and invest more time and money into consumer support is also important.
- Choose the correct tech: The impact of how the app is built up is an essential part of the way of its success and the way it works. Need to build a successful and amazing app needs the right technology and is updated too. There are three options to choose from to have the correct tech. Firstly, it’s a Platform-specific app, Native apps are being coded for a specific platform on mobiles like iOS or Android. The operating system is supporting the programming language, which is being used by the developers to write down the app. These apps can leverage the product’s hardware and the functional level to a much larger extent. Secondly, it is a Cross-platform app, An approach that is being used to share the Software development kit. The common tech used to code the cross-platform is React Native and Flutter. This is a cost-effective method to go for on a limited budget. Third, the Hybrid app, this app is compatible with all the other devices and operating systems. This method is cost-effective, portable, and quick to drive the popularity of hybrid app development. The user can use only one code which can be used on all the different platforms. This is done by the basic web tech such as HTML or Javascript.
- Designing a decent UX and UI: One of the keys to an app’s success is designing. This is very much true for the B2C & B2B mobile applications. UI with a snappy feature will add up a good feeling and see when using the app but also, the intuitive UX is very critical to make it easy to use. There are various benefits to have for a well-designed UX and UI. A thoughtful process of registration will lead to user acquisition and a higher number of downloads. The same goes for the well-designed onboarding. When it’s simple and can be understood, then the users stick with the app and recommend it to other users. If the person relies on the in-app purchases, then it is pretty much clear that the user wants to and will buy the virtual goods. It will also help to have a conversion rate.
- Selecting the development and designing team: The quality of the product is the upshot of all the ability, talent, experience, and working knowledge of the development team and what they have. Completing some minor projects or so can be done by a single or individual developer but also, the user can outsource the work process to a development team, like hiring a company with fully talented people who will not only give you the experience level satisfaction but also support during the market success rating. Be sure about the development company you wish to hire and check out whether they have a wide spectrum of skill sets and knowledge or not and do they communicate well enough as a team and all above to understand them before providing them with some of your company’s tasks.
- Ensuring that the app is safe to use: A mobile app that is unprotected to use can have some real threats to the entire system. And if the app is downloaded on a device and kept for some time, and at the same time, the user works on some confidential and critical data like payments and card info, banking info, and more then it could be a very serious security problem. There are various reasons to sort out the security issues but to ensure that the mobile app is not protected could be a hard process to work on, especially when the threat is being noticed in an app and defined the security level. Some basic security practices are:
- Encryption of the sensitive and personal data should be proper such as for the local database, cache, or API communication.
- Cryptography key management and user session of authorization should be correct
- Assigning one user to each device individually and with different expiry times of sessions.
- Implementation should be proper and safe for the communication standards like certification for pinning in HTTPS.
- Check out in general about the mobile security reviews.
- Update the app on the basis of feedback: If the owner puts down the update on an app that is relevant to the users out there, just keep in mind that the update should be on the basis of the data collected or the feedback by the users. The user needs to know how the product is being used, he/she might need to analyze the information about the product and react to that data as early as possible, that’s it. Define out the clear KPI of the app which could help to measure the success of the app. Measure in a way as you can but always prioritize the KPI. Implementing a mechanism to provide a context related to bugs can ease the reproduction and helps to fix. Ask the actual users what they think and report the bugs as well.
Putting all the cards on the table could help you a lot to know where the app stands, what the app needs, and then build up your strategies to make it more powered up. Whenever possible, just consider the following factors above to make your app go ‘Wow’ and you are going to be a bit closer to build up a practical application!