In the business world of today, there’s that famous line saying “If your venture still doesn’t have an app, you’ll never beat your competitors in the market”. Below you’ll find excerpts from the forecasts by AppAnnie, Zenith, and comScore explaining this paradigm in numbers:

• By 2020, mobile apps will be downloaded 284 billion times globally;
• By and large, people spend nearly 70% of their media time on smartphones;
• Mobile devices will drive 80% of the global Internet usage;
• In 2020, non-entertainment app downloads will make a quarter of the overall app store downloads;
• The time spent on browsing Android phones apps grew by 63% alone in just one year;

People tend to use mobile apps because they are focused, targeted and easy to use. Say, someone wants to purchase a pair of jeans. By downloading the app of a brand they like, customers get instant notifications on new models, sales or discounts. Sometimes, they can even get extra bonuses by just using the application. In a nutshell, mobile applications help users to browse through the variety of offerings in no time and almost effortlessly.

So the question is: should it be acceptable for your business to neglect the lack of app presence in regards to those statistics? In fact, it’s shouldn’t, unless you want to miss out on a world of clients. So how do you design an app having the power to attract loyal users and support a profitable company in the mobile area at the same time? If you are thinking about shifting to the mobile approach, there are some steps you should follow before you start investing in app development.

Doing Research

A proper app must “understand” the audience it’s been designed for. As a rule, an app should address its users, and either offer them something that they didn’t know or missed or solve a problem that users might have stumbled upon. This way, the research of the target market is the first step that needs to be undertaken before investing money into the actual making of the app. This process includes researching the platforms your users are most likely utilizing, and the understanding of each user experience matters. Every device is different from the other, and each user has multiple needs.

What is it that something your target audience might like? What about the competition - have they built an application which solves a similar problem? Is there something in your application that meets the demands of your customers? Is it special enough to make a difference? As Todd DiPaola, president of inMarket sums it up:

Building an app is like building a house. You need to put time into thinking about what the rooms are going to look like before you start building

The perfect yet time-consuming way to gather this information is to launch a survey. Think both online and offline research: this way, you can discover what your target audience is looking for in your future app.

Eventually, you should have the definitive answers to these questions:

• Is your app solving a problem?
• Is it making your users lives easier?

Way too often keeping the balance between business drivers and user needs may be difficult. In many cases, the one just contradicts the other. Again, find the information in user studies, expert opinions, and business viability and technical feasibility studies. Later on, this data can be used to achieve the best counterbalance between user-centric solutions and business-value gains.

Planning Your App

The planning of the app’s look and feel is the second stage right after the market research. Before the beginning of development works, you have to make everything clear in order not to lose a single feature in the process. So it makes perfect sense to map everything out and analyze:

• What features and functionality do you want in your app?
• How do you want your app to look and feel?
• What about the user flow?
• Is it technically possible to build those features?

It also worth to decide whether it will be mobile responsive or mobile app. Do you expect clients to use your service on the go? Will you use push notifications? Is there’s a need to connect your software to other services? What about high connectivity?

Decide on a platform: is the majority of your potential users on Android or iOS? This choice won’t just influence the developers; it altogether affects the scope and flexibility of an app. There’s no sense in building an app for an operating system if your customers aren’t there. If your target users are divided between Android and iOS, consider a multi-platform strategy. Another important factor is the monetization strategy. Nowadays, Android is the market leader in terms of adoption and retention, but iOS apps are more profitable. Think about it.

Finding a Technological Partner

If you happen to have a nice team of develepers on your current team or the nature of your business represents a technology itself (like a new API or a chatbot), it makes sense to do it in-house.

Alternatively, if your business sells products or provides services being a SaaS solution, then it’s logical to resort to outsourcing and find a team of software developers with relevant experience in your market. But easier said than done as the choice of the proper technological partner is something to invest your time and efforts into as well. Just type “software development services” in Google, and you’ll see hundreds of rated lists and agencies out there, all claiming to do their best for their clients. In a nutshell, based on my experience building an app for one of my clients via Elinext app development company, I would say the right partner is the one who’s experienced enough and interested in contributing to your success as well as to his.

While the pros of outsourcing are clear, the most common drawbacks are the following:

• communication issues
• the delay of the app delivery
• the delivery of a low-quality product

This way, choosing the right team will save your time, money and nerves. This is definitely something you need to make a priority. Talk to every potential candidate, study their qualifications and work experience, test their awareness of the project’s importance, be sure that they have got acquainted with the technical aspects of the development and have the expertise of doing it.

Apart from the technical side, the communication is highly important, and your partner’s English skills will play a crucial role in the process of development. The app’s success heavily depends on how your partner’s team understands its philosophy and features.

Be in command. Sure enough, project managers will ease your work quite a lot (after all, it’s their job), but you should never distance yourself from the process. The teamwork brings things to perfection, so stick to it. The future success of your app is in your own hands, however, make sure to find a competent, skilful and reliable partner. Remember, if you take it into your hands, outsourcing can become the key to your success.