You have a mobile app idea but you don’t know how to bring it to the market? Who knows exactly what to do with an idea for an app and where to go with that? Great ideas are valuable possessions and you need to give them a proper treat. So let us walk you through this journey of app creation. We are here to offer you a few tips on how to turn your idea into a successful mobile application. Let’s start from the scratch.
Idea
When you have an idea for an app, before anything else, you should answer three main questions here:
- What exactly is your product?
- Who is going to buy it?
- Why will they do it?
Hundreds of people daily come up with different mobile app ideas, your job is to prove why your idea is better and more perspective than others. So work on the big three questions before the project gets serious.
Decide what your final product is going to be about. What it will do and how it will benefit the users. And, most important, who are you building it for? Knowing your target audience and their needs will save you money and time in the further developing process. First of all, you need to make sure there is a demand for such an application. It is the only reason to come up with the one at the first place. Which leads us to the next step in developing your idea.
Research
Once you know all the first stage answers and feel confident that your app idea deserves a place to be, you are ready to move to the first real step of the journey. Any new born project requires the solid foundation – the research. The research should cover all the questions we had previously but now you must be more specific and unbiased.
Collect data, conduct polls, analyze the market. Do anything it takes to be prepared for entering the game. Also be sure, the more proficient and full your research is – the easier and more convincible it will look to the potential investors. Which will make your product more realistic, and negotiations – easier.
We can give you a few tips at this point.
Don’t be afraid to enter the market which seems to be already stuffed. If there are at least few popular apps on the market that are similar to yours it just means that the major part of the research has been already done. Take it and use it in your interests.
Moreover, learning from the released applications that are similar to your idea will help to show if there is a demand for your product. You can see how many apps are being downloaded, rated and reviewed. Such data collecting requires no money at all and, moreover, provides you with the most accurate unbiased results.
Also, having competitors means having an open feedback from their users. There you will find what they want from the application, what is lacking now, etc. Moreover, at this stage, you get the chance to compare and evaluate your competitors and see what are their main advantages and disadvantages. By doing so you are starting to map in which direction to go while making your own project. Find the way to use their best treats and, yet, offer something new to the users.
Development
So what next on the agenda? After you are done with the research and feeling comfortable in moving forward with your plans, you are free to start the developing process. And now, as we are about to answer how to develop an app idea, we finally reached the heart of the project. Not to get too much into details, we would like to cover only the essential steps of the app development.
Let’s start here with the brief discussion of the features. Remember, what’s happening here is directly connected with the final costs of the product. Even if you have an idea for an app, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have the funds to build it. Therefore, for any start-up, it is reasonable to concentrate the resources on the core functions.
Let’s imagine you have thought of what is the minimum number of functions your app is going to have, so now what? Once you know what you want, you should think how you want it. At first, we decide on the platform choice, after that everything else. So our advice here is to start with the native application either for Android or iOS. It is easier, cheaper and more productive to start just with a native app for one platform.
Eventually, you might expand and move to other markets. But first, you get a chance to gain enough experience on the market, to keep working on your app using the feedback you receive and to master the app development for a single platform from the scratch.
As for the design, we would stick to the same advice we gave you previously – go simple, concentrate on the most important elements. Learn the differences in design between the two major platforms, see what kind of specifics in the design prefer iPhone users and what is common among the Android users.
One more thing to note, stay flexible in your plans. Don’t think on how your project’s final version should look like while you are still in the first stage of the development. Obviously, you have a full vision of your idea in your head but being flexible gives you more space for unpredicted situations or changes in the market. The market is never still and the demands, trends, and preferences are constantly changing. Go along with them.
Monetizing strategy
This is, probably, the first issue people become very much curious about when they got an idea for an app. So how can you make money from your idea and what are the ways to monetize the app?
There are a few options to gain profits with your app. Firstly, you should decide whether your application will be free to download or not? If not, then what’s the price? A quick analysis of the market would be useful in establishing your price. Next, will you be selling any items or services in your app? In this case, will the app become the channel for a website where the selling is conducted or will it sell items on its own? And finally, would you consider showing ads and if yes, how you want to handle it? How often should the ads appear, which type of ads should it be: videos, banners, interstitials, anything other?
Answering all the questions, once again, is better by looking at the research you have done. Firstly, you can take a look at your competitors and see the most common ways of monetizing for the app’s category you are in.
Secondly, you may approximately estimate the chances for the success and analyze how your app will pay off. So this way you know, how much the app should cost, what number of ads will be acceptable and how often it can be shown, etc. You don’t want to ruin the user experience but you also don’t want to face losses. So finding a balance tolerable for both sides of the deal should be your main monetizing strategy.
Marketing
At this point app development is finished and your app is ready to hit the markets. Whether it’s the Apple store or the Google market has no difference now. If you have done well with learning about your audience and competitors you will be ready to hit the target. The other issue is how to help people to find out about your newly released product. There are few ways how to conduct your marketing tactics:
- Social media. What is the best way to create a buzz around a new product? Obviously making people chat about it online.
- Press. More publicity will never hurt.
- Websites. Creating a website’s related to the purpose of your app, which will direct your users to the market.
- Content. Creating own articles, videos, podcasts, ads, etc.
If you passed all the previous points successfully you should not be facing any troubles with reaching out your target audience. Good, useful products are always appreciated by the public. Although, of course, some good promotional campaign will not hurt as well. So you are highly recommended to take into consideration one of those channels for marketing we have enlisted before you approached this final stage of the app development.
Finally, very important thing to know – don’t think the job is done once you have created an app and offered it to the wide public. You will need to search for frequent improvements, check feedback, keep up with the general market trends, etc. So don’t get relaxed too soon. Better prepare yourself for a hard work if you believe your idea is worth it.
Wrapping up
Now, since you read the whole piece and still feel pretty confident about turning your idea into a real app, you must have the last unanswered question in your mind. And this is “who can develop my app idea?”.
Well, you have already found those who can help create an app. By hiring the developers from Lunapps you receive the team of highly professional and experienced builders. We have created numerous mobile apps for business and entertainment, starting from the pure idea to a ready to go product. Reach us out for more information!