How To Make A Successful Mobile App

Today there is an application for everything. From games without any grace to applications that monitor the heart rate, organize task lists, and even, help spy. Smartphones and tablets outnumber other computing devices and many users have their first experience with mobile devices. The applications become the most used and demanded resource by these.

About 90% of application downloads are generated by only 10% of all applications, which means that the chances of people discovering a particular application are very complex.

No matter how good or original the application is, it is very likely that only a few people will discover it and install it, so you must take into account certain factors that differentiate an app from the rest of the competition.

What are the ingredients that guarantee the success of our app? It is hard to say. What we can assure you is that there are some factors that, of course, can increase the potential of your app and hence help it to be a success.

Do something new

Bet on an original idea. Although of course, the challenge will be greater, the market rewards originality, creativity and not the simple copy of an idea that already exists, but that you have managed to improve. Innovation requires more time and effort, but it’s usually worth it.

A simpler life

Technology is designed to simplify people’s lives, not to make it more complex or difficult. For this reason, apps that help us simplify our lives are the ones that are most successful.

There are countless examples of how the simplicity in the development of an app or a web, is usually the one that ends up attracting the attention of the users. And if they do not tell Apple or Google, companies that opt for very simple products, easy to use and that help us in our day to day.

Reward participation

As with websites, apps that allow greater interaction with their users are usually those that have the best chance of success and monetize their content.

Many of the world’s great websites have managed to reach the position they are in because they encourage their users to create and share content. In the same way, the apps that have managed to establish this type of relationship with their users, get much higher rates of loyalty and dramatically increase their chances of success.

Social networks are here to stay. Ignore the social media within our app, will cost us users. Users who increasingly want to share their experiences, both positive and negative. If our app encourages sharing, we can benefit from the viral effect it can generate.

A great website does not always equal a large app

Although many successful apps are based on adapting to the mobile terrain a web service that already existed, it is essential to understand that this is not always the case and that the new success apps are for and for the mobile, without in many cases there is an equivalent Web. Instagram for example, shows this extreme.

On the other hand, we must understand that users interact with their mobile devices in a very different way than they do with the web. Just because a service works well in our browser, does not mean it will work well on our phone.

Your business model

What business model will you use to market your app? What do you want to achieve? This is one of the first questions that you will have to answer when developing your app and that, necessarily, will guide such development.

Your app can be free, can be financed with advertising, and can allow in-app purchases can charge for updates. Whatever model you choose, you have to consider how to get the most out of it.

Specificity

The application needs to be for a specific device. You have to review the proper functioning in each type of device and avoid inconvenience to users because of specific failures

Accessible

The interface should be clean and without bloat ware. That is to say, that the tools of the application are easily accessed since if they have to be given more than 4 clicks, the users will not use the app.

Safe

The application must offer security, give certainty to users that their information is protected. No one wants to risk putting the information on their smartphones or tablets in the hands of strangers. Work with security protocols that provide confidence to your users.

Innovation

The applications are constantly changing at the same time that new generations of mobile devices are coming out, the app must have the ability to evolve together with them.

Offer real value

The applications must offer a real value for the client in each step to enhance their loyalty. An application must respond to specific needs, such as the one offered by AirBnB, responding to one of the biggest problems of travelers, a swift and affordable accommodation.

Do not overlook the keywords

At least 63% of users search for applications organically in Apps Stores, but a whopping 83% of all applications are totally invisible for this type of search. These statistics highlight the importance of researching and optimizing keywords before launching the app to the market. If you want your app is not completely hidden, optimize the keywords, choose your name correctly, take care of the text of the description and place your app in the appropriate category.

Relevant notifications

As the audience grows, retention of it can be a challenge. To attract users regularly, offering relevant notifications that keep them informed is vital for an optimal and necessary bidirectional relationship.

Test the application with real users

By many tests that are carried out only the interaction with real users can give the true potential of the application. Functionalities, errors, preferences … Everything is possible to know and improve with this type of tests before the final release.

Track every exception and error

It is necessary to know the functionality of your application from an operational and user perspective. Know the flow that users go through when they use their application and track each exception and error. The flow will give you information not only about what you should correct in your software, but it will also tell you how users react to those problems. Use tracking tools to measure what happens within the application, its sources of traffic and what sources attract the best users.

Viral resource

Incorporate a viral mechanism into the main functionality of the application, so that each user can attract a network of new users. An application is better or more attractive when users invite their friends to use it.

Consider making a promotional video

Creating a video is a good idea to demonstrate what your application can do for your potential clients, as it provides a real vision of the user experience. The best thing is that it is a short promotional video, teaser style, that takes a tour of all the features of the application, but yes, it must be of high quality. This type of short and concise videos work very well on social networks like Facebook and Instagram.

It is likely that your video does not go viral overnight, but it will help you get some extra downloads and increase consumer confidence in your product.

Free

For most potential users of an application, there is a big difference between € 0 and € 0.99. It is possible to monetize the application with purchases in the software itself, but to exponentially increase the chances of someone testing the application, the free makes the difference.

Process response times

Speed is one of the aspects that most users value when using a mobile app. Most of our applications work against backend services from where the application data is obtained or recorded.

It is very important that the application takes full advantage of the resources offered by mobile technology, to prevent the user interface from suffering delays or unpleasant stops that negatively influence the user experience.

That is why we have to take advantage of local data storage, background processes, geo-referencing by fast approach and everything that mobile technology offers us.

Listen to your customers

When you launch the first version of your application, it is important that you take your customer feedback seriously. They will give you the keys to find out which features of your app are the best rated and which ones should be improved. Answer whenever possible all comments and keep an open communication channel to improve the qualifications of your application. User reviews are considered by the algorithms that rank the applications, so the more positive reviews an App has, the higher it will appear in the search results.

Analysis and monitoring of the app

Finally, it is very important that we have a tracking system and statistics of use of our app. By analyzing these usage data we can adapt to the real needs of the user, improve the app and solve errors proactively.

In short: a high-quality app must be agile, fast, visible and safe and must be tested and monitored. In short, an app focused on the user.

Companies and brands have to structure and design strategies around the mobile experience of their apps to create something that meets the needs of consumers. All this, plus a good marketing plan, can become the key recipe to launch the applications to the first positions of downloads.