Not long after the dawn of smartphones, app development turned into a vastly successful industry. The fact that you’re here implies that you probably have an innovative idea for developing your own app. But while app development is an exciting idea and certainly a highly profitable venture, its result could go both ways equally – a massive success or an outright failure.
For the success of your app, there are a lot of things you need to plan before you begin its development and execution. To help you get a good start, we have prepared this list of 10 things you must know before building an app.
Clearly Define the Goal of Your App
No matter how unique your concept is, it’s bound to fail if there’s no clarity right from the start. So, the first step is to define in clear and simple words what exactly your app is going to do. If you can determine the main purpose of your app without any confusion in just a sentence or two, that means your idea is good to go, and you can proceed forward.
Market Research
The next step is to start your market research. Thorough market research must be focused on the following questions:
- Had my idea already been executed before by another app?
- Who are my target customers?
- What will the app offer to my customers? How do they benefit from the app?
- What will be the most important reasons for people to consider downloading my app?
Study Your Competitors
If your app concept is not innovative but has been implemented, partly or completely, by another app, then you should study to see if those apps are performing. Check out the ratings, features, and performance of apps similar to the one you are about to make and see how well they have done. This will give you valuable insights on how your own app can perform.
Plan the App Design
A lot of app developers start working on the design and interface of their app without a final picture in mind. With such an approach, they keep tweaking things time and again, which makes the process time-consuming. So you should always have a clear picture in your mind on how you want the app’s design to look like before you begin.
Choosing a Platform
Do you plan to launch your app on either one of Android or iOS? Or do you go for both? If you are developing your first app and want to minimize the risks, it’s safer to launch the app on a single platform – either Android or iOS. But if you have some experience with building apps and enough budget to launch and market them on both platforms, you can go ahead with it.
Beta Testing
Beta testing is a great way to find out what works best for your app. Keep in mind that the beta version of your app should include all the must-have features of your app. Then as you get feedback from beta testers, you can get more insight into what additional features will improve the user experience.
Plan Updates in Advance
The app industry is highly competitive, so your app will need to stay on top of the competition with constant updates and improvement. If you want to be ready in advance, have a few update plans prepared before you even start building your app.
Monetization Options
There are three main ways to earn from your app:
- Including in-app purchases
- Including advertisements in the app
- Making a paid app so users must buy it to download and install
This is a matter of preference as to which method you would like to use for monetizing your app. But do look further into the pros and cons of each method before deciding.
Marketing Plans
No matter how amazing your app is – if people don’t know about it, can’t find it, and use it, then it will fail to make noise. So, marketing your app is just as important as well as challenging as building the app in the first place. As such, you must plan your marketing campaign in advance.
Cost and Budget Plan
Take all the points mentioned so far into account and prepare a budget plan for your app. Your concept can’t come to life without enough finance, so figure out the maximum budget you can expend.
Conclusion
The initial planning stage before building an app is just as important as the development of the app. Better planning will make the execution smooth in later stages and give you a concrete foundation to develop your app. So take your time and work on the ten things we have listed before you begin your app development. You can also take the help of app builders like Builder.ai to streamline your workflow and speed up your development process.
