The Ultimate Steps to Create a Successful Mobile Application

Mobile applications are an essential part of our smartphone devices. We spend more than 80% of our time on applications while using our phones. From entertainment to shopping to paying bills, every purpose is served by mobile applications. The increasing demand and availability for these apps have created ruthless competition in the web application development industry. There are currently 2.8 million applications in the Google Play store and 2.5 million in the App store. 

Every mobile apps development company is coming up with the best software application to stand out from the crowd. They conduct in-depth market research and gain expertise in mobile app development to make sure their application is well built and fitted to the market needs. 

If you have an online business presence, you probably know how vital an application could be for your business reach and user interaction. However, if you still do not have an application for your enterprise but willing to develop one, we are here to guide you with the mobile application development tutorial. 

Before moving further with the steps, let us first understand the key features of a successful application:

A successful application is based on three aspects : 

• Product
  
• Market
  
• User

All these aspects combine to offer customers a unique value, accessibility, and performance. 

Apart from these factors, the success and popularity of an application rely on its features. We can divide the features of an application into two categories: Business-centric and Consumer-centric. 

When companies develop Business-centric application, they focus on the following features:

1. User Retention
2. Low maintenance and development cost
3. Easy update
4. Quick and hassle-free payments

While Consumer-centric applications focus more on these features:

1. Data protection
2. Design
3. Well built UI and UX 
4. Stable workflow
5. Easy access to customer service

Now that we know the basics of the application features let us now look at the mobile application development life cycle’s systematic approach. By following these steps, you would easily be able to create a successful mobile application for your business.

• Distinctive App Idea : 

There are two factors that you need to understand before creating your app:

1. How is your application going to help your users?
2. What features can make it different and unique?

Your application should achieve its objective by providing its users with tangible benefits. 

• Identification : 

After you come up with the application idea, there are certain factors to get clear with.

1. Target users of your app
2. Platforms and devices that can support your application 
3. The revenue model of your app.

At this point, you should also clarify your financial budget, including finances that you can keep aside for your future application updates and development, marketing, and release. All these are significant elements for your business that you should take care of. 

• Application Design :

The design of your app is another significant major that makes it popular in the market. A useful UI or UX design will result in good discoverability. The application developer should focus on UI design, multi-touch gestures, and different platform design standards for easy interaction. The application design creates an immediate impact on its target user while ensuring the usability of the app. 

• Approach for the App Development :

Choosing the right approach for your application development is highly important. Every mobile application development company in the UK has an ideal back-end team that can only decide the process approach for the app according to the client’s budget and constraint.

There are three methodological approaches for this :

1. Native – It delivers the best user interaction experience but requires particular time and skills to be developed. These applications are platform-specific and need knowledge and expertise to be created. 
2. Hybrid – This approach is one of the most trending ones where the developer augments the web code with the native language that creates unique features and APIs. 
3. Web – Web applications are cheap and easy to develop and can run on multiple platforms. They can be created by using Javascript, HTML, or CSS code. 

• Application Prototype 

An application prototype is basically turning your app idea into an application that has some basic functions. A prototype is the easiest way to understand the potential of your app and its scope for improvement. You can also share your prototype with different testers for functional testing and ask them about the problems faced while using the app.

• Integration of Analytical Tools :

Your application will also need certain analytical tools to get detailed information on visitors using your application, visiting your website, and looking for similar services.

Some of the necessary analytics tools to help you in this process can be Google Analytics, Mixpanel, FireBase, and Preemptive. 

• Identifying Testers and Incorporating Feedback 

Beta testing is the primary opportunity to receive feedback from your target users. It also enhances your visibility in the App store. While preparing for the Beta launch of your application, you should consider these factors :

1. Defined target base
2. Identifying goals and objectives of your app
3. Eliminating bugs

All these factors will help in reducing your application launch risks.  

• Deploying the application :

When you release your app, you should have a proper schedule, plan, and control on the movement of launching and testing the live environment. The principal objective of deploying an app is to ensure that the appropriate components are released. 

• Capture the Metrics: 

With the increasing number of web application users, collecting accurate metrics from them also rises. 

Following are the primary metrics to keep in mind

1. Funnel Analysis
2. Measuring Social sharing 
3. Tracking location and time
4. Connecting demographic data and user behavior 

• App upgrade with improvements and new features :

When you have the relevant metrics for your app, upgrading it with innovative features is the last required step. Also, ensure to keep updating your application to meet the new guidelines of the web platforms. 

Last but not least, do not forget to market your app in the right manner. There is a high possibility of your application getting stagnant among millions of other apps. Social media is a handy platform for marketing and promoting your application. 

CONCLUSION

These steps will help you understand the process involved in mobile application development. With the continually evolving technology, there are chances that we might have missed some points. For expert advice, you can always hire a development team from any mobile app development company to understand your requirements and employ those in your application.