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How to Create Successful Mobile Apps

By Utechia - Sep 07 ,2021

In our previous article (you can see below), we talked about the necessity of creating a mobile app for b2c markets. Now let’s look at how successful mobile apps should be.

You can visit the link: Making Mobile Applications Necessity in B2C Markets

Mobile applications occupy a large part of our daily life. With over 2.7 million apps on the Google Play store and over 2.2 million apps on the App Store, its fierce competition to grab the attention of mobile users. But most of us only use apps a day, 30 apps a month. This means that countless applications are not used by anyone; there is no need for work or the product is weak. This is one of the problems with easily accessible technology. We supply an excessive amount of software, although user interest is limited. It usually takes more time to deliver your message than to develop the product. You need deep research and good expertise in mobile app development to stand out from the crowd. You have to make sure that your product is well built and meets the market need.

mobile app

Key Features of  Successful Mobile Apps

Successful mobile applications intelligently combine three different aspects: the market, the user, and the product itself. All these factors need to work together to provide users with unmatched value, great usability and good performance. Accessibility is the last but least important feature of a successful mobile app.

So what makes successful mobile apps?

We can divide the features of such an application into two main categories: consumer-centric and business-centric.

Consumer-centric features:

·     Nice design

·     Well-thought-out UI and UX

·     Covering people’s basic expectations and needs based on how they use a particular service

·     Stable, reliable workflow

·     Provide adequate data protection

·     Quick access to the service/help desk

Business-centric features:

·     Encouraging user retention

·     Offering fast, hassle-free payments

·     Data breach protected

·     Low cost of future development and maintenance

·     Easy update procedure

So, let’s look at the 10 ways to build successful mobile apps;

1-   Identify Your Target Audience

You should do this before anything else. To be successful, you need to know who will use your app. When you know this; you can check the business potential (market need) of your idea and it will be easier for you to examine how (marketing message) and where to communicate (channels) with your target audience.

So how do you do this?

Search for stats and insights, check trends, ask questions on forums, do surveys or create an MVP version of your mobile app and collect all the feedback.

Check every available source of information.

You can collect all demographic data such as gender, age, sexual identity, location, and some information about your users’ behaviour and motivations (complaints and earnings). Then, discuss your opinion with people you care about. Narrow your target audience. The larger your audience, the more advantageous it can be, as well as the greater the chance that there will be a problem with your idea. It’s easier to target innovation in a niche.

2-   Bid Value

A good idea for successful mobile apps should solve a specific problem recognised by the target user group. A simple entertainment app like Candy Crush is good for stress, easing people’s boredom while commuting or waiting in queues. The application should provide the necessary motivation and benefit for the user to download it. The unique value of the application; may be related to the price of the service it will offer, the speed of information transfer, the way the application works, or access to features or services that are not available through any other channel.

A great app is one that intelligently combines consumer needs, business goals, and technological solutions. A good product should be either fun or useful. The abundance is good. It’s always better if your app is solving more than one problem. The most successful applications are those that do. Some people need comfortable, beautiful and inspiring accommodation all over the world, while others want to rent their homes to foreigners for a small amount of money.

3-   Define Your Business Model

Developers around the world prefer to monetise their apps using various ad-based business models. Video ads are one of the most popular revenue streams. In-app purchases are also very popular among business owners. But there are many other business models to choose from. Every mobile app business model has advantages and disadvantages. When choosing the model that suits your needs, it would be appropriate to start by analysing what your competitors are doing. If it’s been a successful model for them, it might work for you too.

Remember that not every successful mobile app has to make a profit. There are also categories of applications that have various benefits, such as applications for enterprise use. Sometimes you develop an app to save money or optimise a business process, not to generate a direct revenue stream.

4-   Define Scope of Features

You’ve probably spent some time thinking about the idea of what your app will be. You have already visualised all the cool things the app can do, all the features that can increase its functionality. Social sharing, notifications, payments, integrations… These all seem indispensable. Although it is good to have useful features, it may be better if you forget about them for now. Each of the aforementioned traits will hinder the development of your core trait. If you focus on the wrong end of the process, you will have to sacrifice time or quality.

You may even miss the core of your idea. Think again about why you want to improve your app. Describe this in one sentence. Then focus on that cause. The rest will come in time. Adding lots of features may seem like a good idea at first, but that’s often not the point. This is so for developers who just want to increase the financial value of their projects. What users need is how their problems can be solved most simply. After deciding what the main feature of your application is, try to highlight the application in the most obvious way. Every additional option, every customisation, every integration will make it harder to understand the value you offer your users. This also costs big bucks. More complex products are not only more expensive to develop, but also require you to invest more time and money in customer support in the early stages.

5-   Choose the Right Technology

How a mobile app is built contributes to its success just as much as how it works. If you want to build a successful app, you need to choose the right technology. There are three main options to choose from.

Option 1: Platform-Specific Native App

Native apps are coded for a specific mobile platform – iOS or Android. The programming language used to write these applications is only supported by the operating systems of these platforms. A native app can greatly take advantage of your device’s hardware and functions, improving the user experience.

Option 2: Cross-Platform Native Implementation

Applications developed using this approach use shared SDKs (Software Development Kit) but still run locally. React Native and Flutter are common technologies used to code cross-platform native apps. This is the most cost-effective approach if you have a limited budget, but still want an optimised and beautifully designed app designed for multiple device types, although you do sacrifice some of the benefits natives provides.

Option 3: Hybrid Application

A hybrid application is compatible with all devices and operating systems. Cost efficiency, portability and rapid deployment are the three main reasons that make the hybrid mobile application development approach attractive. However, keep in mind that you won’t be able to take advantage of native components and native interaction patterns, so you’re taking some away from the app’s user experience. However, if you follow this approach when developing applications, you do not need to write a different codebase for each platform. Instead, you can write one and use it on all platforms. This is done using basic web technologies you probably already know, such as HTML for layout, CSS for styling, and JavaScript for interactions.

6-   Design a Simple and Intuitive UX / UI

Design is one of the cornerstones of an app’s success. This applies to both B2C and B2B applications. Users want to use mobile apps with a simple yet intuitive UX and user interface. For example, a simple user interface does not interfere with the data that the user consumes in the application. A fast user interface makes the user feel good while using the app, but remember that intuitive UX is very important for ease of use. Well-designed UX and UI have many other advantages. A well-thought-out registration process increases both the number of users and the downloads of the application. The same goes for well-designed onboarding. When it’s simple, users will stick with your app and likely recommend it to new users. If you trust in-app purchases, clarify what the user will earn from purchasing virtual goods. Doing this will help increase your conversion rate.

7-   Choose a Design and Development Team

The quality of your product is the result of the talent, skills and work of your development team. Some projects can be completed by a single developer, but you can also hire an outside development team or hire a full consulting partner who will not only provide you with technical expertise but will also support your market success. Make sure your development partner has multiple skills, the team communicates effectively with each other, and above all, they understand the task you’re giving them.

Make sure your team has the same common ground with you. It is difficult to combine creative thinking and efficient project execution. Both sides should work closely, and what is done should be double-validated. Your initial idea will inevitably scale up when faced with technology during a scoping session. You have to be ready to compromise on some issues. That’s why identifying the key feature, solving the problem, and a clear definition of the target user group is very important.

Make sure every member of the dedicated software development team you work with understands the product, how it should work, and how it should be useful or fun for users. Developers are passionate about the technology they work with and can come up with great ideas when you truly involve them in the creative process. They are motivated by finding new, creative and effective ways to apply their tools. You should include them in your vision and maximize their knowledge and skills.

8-   Maintain High Performance

If you want your app to be successful, “good” isn’t good enough. According to Connecthings’ 2019 Mobile Usage Trends Report, two-thirds of mobile users review and screen apps on their phones at least once a month. This means they delete apps they no longer need.

9-   Make Sure Your App Is Safe

A vulnerable mobile application poses a real threat to the entire system. As a result, payments, banking information, access keys, medical, personal data etc. We upload critical data such as, to our devices that we store and use constantly. There are many ways to solve security problems. However, providing mobile protection is not an easy process, especially when you have to self-identify a threat and security level in a particular application. The most common methods follow a standard security practice, others are adapted for mobile application development.

Basic standard security practices include:

–      Proper encryption of sensitive personal data such as encryption of local database, cache or API communication

–      Correct cryptographic key management and user session authorisation (token)

–      Token verification – assigning to each device individually and with different session durations

10- Provide Third-Party Integrations

Third-party services can enrich your app, increase your user retention, and improve the overall user experience.

E.g; Let’s take Google Maps.

Thanks to third-party integrations, you can not only check the fastest way to get from point A to point B, but also see public transport information, get information about the price if you want to go to the point you want to reach with Uber, or even call Uber directly on Google Maps. Third-party integration is a great way to increase the reliability of your app. Integrating with apps people already use makes it easy to offer users the experience they’re familiar with. Use such integrations specifically to improve conversion and retention. However, don’t over-build third-party integrations. These always take time to implement, so think carefully. Developing an integration that only a few users will use would be a waste of resources.

You can see the examples of the successful mobile apps and learn how they did it by clicking the link: 10 Successful Apps & How They Did It

As a result, we have listed the points to consider to create successful mobile apps for you. A mobile app that you will create by taking these aspects into account will contribute to your business.

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In our previous article (you can see below), we talked about the necessity of creating a mobile app for b2c markets. Now let’s look at how successful mobile apps should be. You can visit the link: Making Mobile Applications Necessity in B2C Markets Mobile applications occupy a large part of our daily life. With over 2.7 […]

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