Mobile is now an essential tool. Worldwide, nearly one in three people owns a smartphone. In France, the combination of smartphone and tablet has created new consumer expectations, usually focused on immediacy, ease of use, and wide availability. Mobile apps meet these criteria and offer features that are highly valued by the public.
Why create a mobile app?
Create a mobile app From A to Z responds to a shift tied to the digital revolution.
The continuous growth of the mobile app market
This is a market that has enjoyed incredible growth in recent years. The reasons include the high penetration rate of smartphones, virtual reality, and connected devices that require the use of mobile apps.
A very large number of connections are made on the internet, and numerous studies report revenues approaching $110 billion in 2021. There is strong interest in game apps and apps for creating photos or videos…
E-commerce is aligned with this trend and expects a strong push in the app market in the coming years.
Receive payment
Paid mobile apps are somewhat like the holy grail. The potential revenues can be very large. There are four types of apps that generate income.
- Paid app with a subscription payment,
- In-app payment, which corresponds to the purchase of services. By buying, the user triggers a service that the app will provide. (example: the user buys lives for a game app),
- E-commerce corresponds to the purchase of physical goods through an app,
- Advertising is another type of mobile app revenue. The more your app is downloaded and used, the more offers you'll receive from advertisers to whom you can sell space on your screens and displays.
You have a mobile app project
If you want to create a mobile app from A to Z, you’ll need to organize your ideas to carry out your project under the best possible conditions.
Assess your resources?
We won’t discuss budget here, but human resources. Who will be in charge of handling development?
Whoever you choose will need to be motivated and have some development knowledge, that is to say:
- Web culture
- Graphic design
- Basic coding and integration skills
- Basic UX and usability knowledge
- ...
Determine your customers' needs
In this task, you should create your personas. Highlight the typical profile of your customers or prospects.
It’s important to know who you are addressing so you can build an app that’s well-adapted and offers strong added value compared with your competitors.
This part is a bit long but very interesting and, above all, necessary. Analyze your competitors. Download their apps, test them, and note everything that could be improved.
IMPORTANT: Look closely at the reviews — that’s where you can find material to build a high-performing tool. Discover the features users are missing and what they like.
Write down the goals you want to achieve with your mobile app
Not everyone creates a mobile app for the same reasons. To make sure you reach your goals, you must first define them:
- Do you want to retain your customers?
- Do you want to acquire new customers?
- Do you want to present a brand image at the cutting edge of innovation?
- …
Only you can define your goals. This is important because the features you choose to develop will be directly linked to those decisions.
Set a budget
Building a mobile app from A to Z can be costly depending on whether you choose to develop it in-house or hire a web agency. You can also hire a freelancer who may offer less expensive solutions since they have no company overhead. Costs typically include
- Development
- Design
- Communication
- Maintenance
- and more depending on the contracts.
Define the business model of your mobile app
This section will be directly tied to the objectives you want to pursue. There are several possible models:
- The free mobile app
Also called “freemium.” It offers basic features for free and additional, more advanced features for a fee. This model is very common on the market because users can try before committing. That’s reassuring.
There’s also the ad-supported app. Advertisements are what pay the person who created the app.
- The paid mobile app.
Unless your brand is already truly popular, to launch a paid app you need a substantial budget, because you’ll have to demonstrate the value of your product without going through a trial phase…
Print ads and commercial spots quickly drive up costs.
Start by setting up your project, budget it, and see how it goes!
The steps to create a mobile application
The first part of creating your mobile app is finished; you can now get to the heart of the matter. Whether you choose to build a native or hybrid app, on iOS or Android, the principle remains the same. The platform choice will of course affect the development and publication steps, but the design steps are the same regardless of platform.
The specifications
As with any project, it’s important to start at the beginning and write your specifications. This is a crucial step in creating your mobile app, though it may seem tedious.
It should include:
- Presentation of the topic
- Information about your company
- Information about your products and services
- Target audiences
- Detail the features you want to develop
- What business model have you chosen
- Talk about your competitors
- Highlight the constraints
- Specify your budget and the deadlines you want.
Now we move on to the development phase: Follow the guide!
Mobile app prototyping
This is the incomplete design phase of the app. It’s a step meant to test usage before the final build. It’s essentially an interactive prototype. It will help us verify which features are useful or not, among other things.
UX and visual design
The graphics used for your mobile app interface are important, as they can determine the success or failure of your project. You should establish a visual identity and then choose a UX design suited to your project and target audience.
Note: The term UX (User eXperience) refers to the experience a user has with an interface, a tablet, a service… In the context of mobile apps, we commonly use UX design to describe the quality of the user experience related to the app’s interface.
Development time
This is the part that may give you the most trouble. Development time has arrived. It’s a tedious phase that requires attention and some knowledge. Use Agile methodology by implementing the User Story Map technique. This approach lets you launch your app with core features, test it with users, and then add useful features.
Track your app's performance
Tracking for mobile apps allows you to analyze user behavior and monitor your app’s performance. Before releasing your mobile app to the general public, get a tracking tool such as Google Analytics or Mobile App Analytics GA to analyze the UX and the customer journey.
Test version
This is also called the beta version. It’s intended for users who tend to try new things or for your brand ambassadors. It allows you to identify issues and other friction points encountered by people using your mobile app.
Get your app certified by app stores
When you look for a mobile app, your first instinct is to go to a Play Store or App Store. That’s why it’s important to publish your app there to try to get it listed in their stores.
Promote your mobile app
You developed your app. You’re proud of it and it seems well made. If no one knows it exists, it may not achieve the expected success. Communication is very important. Find ways to promote your app and encourage users to engage more deeply with it.
You have many options available to launch your app. Here are a few:
- Social networks
The essential channel of our time. Deploy your communication on networks like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter… depending on the audience you want to reach.
- A landing page
A landing page is where users arrive after clicking an external link. This type of page can be used to build a newsletter or to share communications. For your app, you could create this page to explain how it works and its features.
- Press
Get in touch with journalists who can interview you. This gives you an opportunity to talk about your app.
- Advertising
You can use ad campaigns (social media, outdoor ads…) to gain visibility.
Tip: Don’t waste time spreading yourself across every channel. That may be less productive than expected. Analyze your target audience and select the right promotional tools.
Our tip for creating a mobile app from A to Z
Consider testing your app on the market. You can do this by launching your app quickly and analyzing the results. Depending on the store you choose to publish your app on—the Apple App Store for iOS or the Play Store for Android—the target audience won’t be exactly the same.
Ask users for feedback. Reviews are very important and will allow you to modify your app so the UX is as good as possible.
You will be able to develop missing features gradually based on the feedback users give you.
Whether they are positive or negative, reviews are an excellent source for improving your mobile app and making it a success.
Finally, offer regular updates. This helps improve the app and fix problems.
Application development can also be carried out by a freelance mobile developer. This saves on overhead costs. Visit Codeur.com
