5 Tips to Get Started Building Your First Business App
In a day, an age where 80% of internet users choose their smartphones as a primary from on connection to businesses, it is important to implement not only a purposeful but also creative app idea.
Regardless of the business or industry you’re in, the chances are your new and existing customers will benefit from your mobile app.
We find that many business owners refrain from building an app for their business due to being overwhelmed with the perceived complexity it may entail. Our team has designed hundreds of apps and have established over 40 different, business-specific features that can be incorporated into your mobile app to solve specific problems and meet specific needs, whatever industry you are in.
Below are our top 5 tips to help you get on the way to building your first business app.
Set A Clear Goal And Objective
What is the big picture? You first need to establish what the purpose of your mobile app will play in your business. It’s best to break down the goal of your app into objectives, such as new subscriptions, number of downloads, food orders, item purchases etc, and build this into the larger purpose and goal, just be sure to make it attainable.
When setting an objective for your app, it is always a good practice to as yourself what is important to the customer, what problems do you want to solve? And what needs are you looking to meet?
Some factors may be:
· Better communication, through live chat, in-app contact forms, or direct phone contact straight from the app.
· Ease of appointment booking
· Easy payments
· Item purchases
The nature of your business will determine what is and isn’t important to your customers, so it is essential you invest time in answering these questions.
User friendly Design
Many business owners tell us they want a very basic design and focus on just the features they can provide, this isn’t a good outlook. Design is not just about the look and aesthetics of the app, at its core, it’s about the user experience and functionality.
You want your design to help make your app useful, allowing this like easy navigation throughout the app. Your customers should be able to meet their objective in your app easily without confusion or clutter.
Know your competition
With some basic groundwork and idea in place, next, it is wise to do your homework. Many businesses are now jumping on the mobile app bandwagon, including your competitors, so your aim simply is to do it the best.
When looking at your competition, whether that be local or even on a global or international scale take into consideration the following:
· What ideas have other implemented that you have not?
· How can you make your ideas and features more solution based for your customer than your competitors?
· What kind of reviews are competitors getting?
· How can you implement a strategy to outrank your competitors apps.
· How can you market and monetize your app?
By examining what is out there, you are informing yourself about what is out there already and what is currently or not currently working I your industry, allowing you to set yourself up to outdo your competition from the very beginning.
Hiring a designer or app developer
Unless you are proficient in mobile app development, which as you are reading this, we are assuming you are not, you will next require the services of a professional developer.
As a professional mobile app development team, we have numerous clients that have come to us after a bad experience with another app developer.
We offer following tips below when picking a mobile app developer to work with:
· Avoid freelancers
· Do they publish to IOS and Android for you?
· Do not for the cheapest option, it may cost you more in the long run
· Check past work or similar apps they have built
· Do they have good communication methods and are easily contactable?
· Do they offer ongoing support?
Testing Your app
The fact of the matter is, expecting your app to be perfect from the get-go is ambitious, and refining it will come over time as more and more customers engage with it.
But initially testing your app is crucial, and enjoyable, you may ask friends or family to test the functionality and usability of your app, as well as current customers and ask for objective feedback. Remember the purpose of your app is to meet needs and solve problems for our customers to taking there feedback seriously will be essential to your app’s success.
Testing on Android is usually the easiest way to go as the app file can be uploaded easily to any android device, or loaded and operated through blue stacks. IOS is a little more tricky, in order to beta test with apple you will have to us Apple test flight, there are specific directions on doing so on their webpage.
Conclusion.
Building your first app can be quite a lot to get your head around, we hope that some of the above tips help you on your way to utilising what is sure to be the most powerful business tool in your marketing inventory. Our team of professional app developers are available to answer any questions you may have, or provide you with an obligation free quote on your own business app today!
