The advancement of technology is at its peak now and has become an essential part of life. Smartphones come in handy in all aspects of life nowadays. Mobile application development can be considered a set of processes and procedures involved in writing entangled in writing software. But it doesn’t end to that.
With writing software also comes careful planning, designing and building, and successfully launching it. All steps need meticulous planning and strategies.
Mobile App Development Guide For Beginners
This article will guide you thoroughly about mobile app development and tell the mistakes that many app builders commonly make.
1: Strategy
Strategic planning can already ensure half success. For example, if we know, the answers to questions like: What is the primary goal of your app? Who is the target audience? Why should people use your app? How will your app be different and unique from others?
Every application, regardless of the answer to these questions, begins with a good strategy. A great process will be the foundation of your future app, so you must plan it very meticulously. Each app development primarily starts with an idea.
A lot of research and a well-implemented strategy plays a very vital role. Every strategy and planning must lead to one objective which you’ve planned. If your goal is not clear, then you’ll fail even without starting. So once you’re crystal clear with the idea, you can move on to the next sub-step, market research.
Not doing enough research has cost many app developers a lot. So our advice would be not to rush things and to do detailed market research. You need to perform thorough market research in your targeted audience and look for the best options while calculating the accounts, sometimes getting tricky.
You have to be very careful and see the on-setting trend of the market and the competitive nature of the market. Study the current market trends and identify the problems and solutions faced by your audience.
2: Design
As we all know, the first impression is the last impression, which is quite the case in this scenario. The audience visiting your app will ditch it in the very first few seconds they spend on your app if designed poorly, and you’ll never see them again. You will have to create a better conceptual understanding.
For example, all the options, pop-ups, each button, etc. Designers usually add the elements of color, picture, animation, and graphics to make it attractive. You must ensure that the customer has a pleasant experience while spending time on your app and if their problems are appropriately addressed. Great designs ensure happy customers.
The app shouldn’t be too clumsy and filled with too many elements. The options should be properly given and are to be smooth to use. The design is what will make the people use the app. The overall performance lies in this step.
3: Execution
There are millions of apps and thousands of them launching every day. The market is the cruelest battlefield, and only something different and appealing will set their foot in the market.
Secondly, before any outside issues always comes internal matters. When you’re developing an app, you’re more likely to have a team or a partner. There can be internal conflicts, and if the team dissolves, the project can be difficult to proceed with. So the moral is you must do this with someone reliable and who you can completely trust.
Lastly, funding and monetization of your app are vital. You can get sponsorship endorsements from advertisers. Just make sure to have the most profit in the least time.
4: Mobile App Marketing
What is mobile app marketing, and why is this essential? Mobile app marketing is a dynamic creative process to reach your audience at every marketing funnel stage. All need to be different and stand out from the crowd.
The marketing message and how the app stands out should be made crystal clear. The motive and the core values of the app should be well-defined clearly and lucidly. If the app doesn’t stand out, the audience will move on to the next app.
That’s a harsh reality but the truth. Often, app developers tend to think there isn’t much to do after launching the app, but that thinking can lead your almost-victory to loss.
An essential point that is taken lightly by many app developers is the lack of reviews and ratings. Good five-star reviews and ratings will always attract users. Don’t you always check the ratings too, whenever you’re buying any particular product or service?
No individual would be interested in downloading such an app with no proper reviews and ratings at first glance. Often they will be seen as apps that are not tested and used. Over the years, there have been many examples of apps that couldn’t get enough good reviews and ratings. So in this stage precisely, good reviews and ratings are critical.
5: Wireframing of the app
Now you might ask, what is wireframing of an app? Think of a blueprint of a house with rooms, balconies, doors, etc.; similarly, a wireframe is anything that is a form of the visual layout of your app that will also illustrate your app. Wireframing is a schematic blueprint that helps with the navigation of the mobile application.
At first glance, anybody should know the salient features that will be integrated into the app. It is an integral part of the whole development process. In the primary stages, a wireframe is not a high-phonographic graphic involving comprehensively designed elements such as logos, texts, and actual pictorial representation.
Instead, in basic, it is similar to an architectural plan or schematic diagram. It helps you overpass the cavity between your initial, premature, raw thoughts and an outcome before any actual coding occurs.
Why is wireframing important? By creating a wireframe, you will be able to investigate every corner of the development process. It will make you understand how your app serves its purpose and how it is still lacking. It is rapid and easy to create and make changes that will save hundreds of development hours.
Most importantly, this will save your capital. It can be drawn on a pen or paper and can also be drawn digitally, usually cheap. In case of modifications, you can do it with very little capital or even for free. If you have a clear vision from the beginning, you will possibly spend less during the development process.
6: UX/UI Design
This part decides the future success of your mobile app development. Having an app won’t be enough. There comes the visual aspect. As an app developer, you would want users to keep using your app, and you’ll have to maintain the aesthetics. UX/UI has a critical role.
People are often confused with the difference between these two terms and think that both are the same most of the time. UI helps with the user interface, which is a graphical representation of an app. In simple words, it constructs the app’s visual elements. The designers for UI create the overall view.
In comparison, UX means user experience, which will construct how your users interact with your app. Initially, user experience is determined by how simple or difficult it is to interact with the user interface elements that the UI designers have made.
Some common tools used by UX/UI designers are Adobe XD, Sketch, Adobe Photoshop. Believe it or not, UX/UI is one of the reasons to be an instant hit for some mobile apps in the market and why some are never downloaded in the first place.
7: Testing and Improving
Once you have completed all the above steps and have a full-fledged functioning application, you will need to test it out in a smaller group similar to your target audience to see any technical flaw.
In this stage, you will find out drawbacks from the perspective of others, bugs you might have ignored before, problems if faced by anyone, how smooth it is to use, and answers to other last-minute questions you had in your mind.
Also, your Q/A team must do the same before the app reveals to the world to fix problems from a professional’s point of view at the same time. Q/A team would make sure to fix all the bugs and run it flawlessly.
To Conclusion:
Refinement is essential before delivering it to the public. When you are confident about your app, then only you should launch. Before that period, test it rigorously. Do not assume anything and correct all the technical flaws in a very professional manner.
Remember that this will be the last time to correct any flaws before you launch it. So don’t take this step casually, although this is an exciting time for an app developer.