App usage increased 26% in 2016 according to data from app analytics platform Flurry. Do you want to participate in the growth?
Discover the keys for your app to be used by thousands of users and be a success.
Also, would you like to know a real testimony of an entrepreneur who has already developed a success story and tells you the keys to his business? Here you have one of our entrepreneur videos.
The use of the smartphone is increasingly widespread, to the point that we no longer do almost anything if our mobile phone and, in some cases, we can even speak of mobile addiction.
The increase in the use of the smartphone has led to the growth in the use of apps for a multitude of services, but the app market is already a complicated market and increasingly professionalized and competitive.
Do you want to create an app? Well, you will have to analyze and make important decisions before launching it.
“Normally the app itself is not the business model, but the app is the channel to reach customers” Jorge Dobson, Medium.
Keys to an app-based business model
To make your business idea about an app become a real product, you will have to consider a series of aspects that make you stand out from the great competition that exists in the market:
1. Market analysis and app testing
Having a business idea is just the beginning of your app launch. To get started, you will have to:
• Conduct a market analysis.
• Produce a minimum viable product or prototype. Test the app among potential users.
• Measure the results.
• Make the decision to continue or change your business idea in whole or in part.
2. Preparation of the Lean Canvas business plan
What is the problem that your app solves? What solution does it provide? Who are your clients? These are just some of the questions you will have to answer to create a simple business plan with Lean Canvas. More information about Lean Canvas in this link.
3. Calculation of the profitability of the app
The fundamental question is: how many users do you need for your app to be profitable? To know the answer, you must analyze the type of monetization you have chosen and the progression in the increase in the number of users you can reach.
4. Promotion
Creating an app and letting no one know it exists is not a good idea. The most advisable thing is that you use several means for promotion:
• Word of mouth. It remains one of the most effective ways to attract customers. Allow your friends and acquaintances to use your application and leave their opinion for other users to see.
• Advertising. The means they use will depend on the expense you want to make and where your potential users are. You can use Google ads, Facebook ads, advertisements or articles about your app in the press or on the radio.
5. Usability
A client enters your application and in a few seconds checks if it is easy to use and intuitive. If it is not, he will walk away and not use it.
6. Monetization or revenue model
As in any business, you will have to be clear from the beginning how you are going to obtain income: with the advertising that appears in your app, with the paid download of the app, for premium versions of the application.
7. Ability to change
The world of apps changes very fast so you will always have to be prepared to innovate and adapt your app to the needs of your customers.
Reflect and analyze the constant development needs that this point implies.
8. Use analytics
The launch of the app is only the beginning, since from the beginning you will have to use analytics that allow you to know what you can improve. Some aspects that you can measure are the following: users who complete the purchase process, users who stop using the app, time of use, cost of customer acquisition, active users, etc.
9. ASO
ASO (App Store Optimization) is the equivalent of SEO on the Internet. That is, it is a process that allows your app to appear in the first search positions in the application stores.
10. The choice of platform
It is one of the most important decisions you will have to make. You basically have two options:
• Do a native development (iOS, Android or Windows). It may mean developing different solutions for each platform.
• Development Cross platform. You will have a presence on more devices with a single development, but you may lose engagement with the customer.
“In the communities where CITIBOX is located, residents will be able to request laundry, bakery and parcel services with a mobile app” David Bernadeau, Citi box.
The mobile application market is still a boiling market, where great things are still going to happen for a long time. At the same time, it is a market with a high level of competition, in which many factors could intervene in your success. The world of apps, in any case, is part of our future.