Guide To Creating A Successful Mobile App

Oksana Kovalchuk
ANODA Mobile Development Agency
8 min readFeb 21, 2018

Creating a successful app is the dream of anyone whose mind has generated an idea of mobile app startup. The thing is that idea by itself does not guarantee the app to become a hit. Marketing does really matter a lot. Those who have more chances of creating a successful app perform market research and then create a plan that is measured and structured well. Entrepreneurs whose startup mobile app ideas fail don’t do these things. So, how to make a successful app? We are happy to bring to you some important tips that will help make you with this.

Market Analysis

When the number of people with mobile devices increases, the demand for mobile apps also increases. This will also mean that your competition in the market will increase too. In fact, there will be many iOS and Android startup apps in the market who will offer similar apps as you. The worst part is they will be targeting the customers that you’re going after. As a result, your profits will decrease.

There is a lot of segmentation in the mobile app industry. Since mobile app startups are trying to win over the same customers, this means they’ll be creating apps with unique features in order to stand out from the competition. With more app diversity entering the market, it creates new brands and varying social groups.

There needs to be a competitive advantage when you offer customers a new product if you want to create a successful app. This means you need to be innovative and original while being fair with the pricing. Below you can find the list of success factors mobile app startup requires to reach the top in app store.

1. Comparing the Distribution Channels

TThe two biggest mobile app markets are the Google Play Market and the Apple App Store. You need to decide the better store for your startup app that you can profit the most from. Most Statista data will show that Apple makes mobile app developers more money. But what these statistics fail to show are individual case reports. Don’t forget to compare android and iphone app development benefits and drawbacks. And there’s another big thing to consider before you start creating the mobile app startup — it’s the cost of app development that depends on the platforms you choose for your app It can make a great influence on your decision.

What we know for sure, when you begin to bring the startup app to life, don’t use multiple channels because you still need to learn how users are responding to your app on the one particular market. Once you find out, go on to the next market. The decisions you make with your mobile app startup should correspond with the data you have researched that is relevant to your market.

However, trying out apps for iOS and Android might be a good thing, so you can compare the results for yourself. But it is only reasonable if you got enough budget to do that. Another good idea is to analyze the best ios and Android apps in these stores and get some ideas from them to use for yourself. It is safer budget-wise and effective.

2. Researching the Product

The current products on the market need to be researched and assessed. This is where you analyze all the pros and cons of the product so that you know how to create a better product than your competitors. The product that you create should be better in every way, like with its functionality, design, and originality. The most important thing is to have an idea that no one else has thought of yet. So, make sure your research shows that no one else is using the idea of your startup app that you have. If you do find someone else using it, don’t get discouraged from this. There’s always a way to implement the idea in a better, more creative, way. This is a path of creating a successful app

3) SWOT Analysis

The usability of a product depends on its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. If customers are satisfied with the product, there will be more loyalty toward it. Users that actively engage your startup app will perform actions that are valuable and make you money. The demands of the marketplace are constantly changing as technology continues to advance and customers continue to expect more. Conducting a SWOT analysis on current products will give you knowledge about the industry demand and the new opportunities it has. Then you can make a prediction about the behavior of your app’s users.

4) Comparing the Models of Monetization

If you plan on creating a successful app you need the proper monetization model for your app. It must also have the proper configurations for its features and price.

The app market is overgrowing with free apps. Gartner is the biggest company in the world that conducts IT research and they studied the number of downloads for various types of apps in the app stores. What they discovered was that free apps had a lot more downloads than before. They predicted that 93% of all app downloads in 2018 would be free apps. They also predicted that in-app purchases would be used more by developers as a monetization method and that 30% of all monetized apps would be using in-app purchases for generating revenue.

App Annie researched the monetization methods of the apps that are the most successful financially. The research concluded that apps make most of their revenue from in-app purchases. In January of 2018, a study showed that global in-app purchase revenue reached 36,8 billion dollars which is 1,5 times more than in 2017.

The Snapchat founder, Even Spiegel, claimed that even his company is prioritizing in-app transactions by creating things that are worth purchasing. Since Snapchat is used by most people every day, they would be willing to spend money to customize their experience with it. If mobile app developers can create a product that is of high quality, then in-app purchases will follow. Of course, the app needs to be downloaded by a lot of people first before money can be made. For this reason, campaigns for monetization will take some time before any revenue is received. This means that creating a successful app will not bring you golden mountains the moment you launch the startup mobile app

The subscription monetization model is also something to consider as one of the success factors for apps which generate new content. A good example of this is Pandora, which is an online radio service app that offers paid subscriptions.

If you want to increase revenue through the advertising monetization model, then do smart advertising and native advertising. Appnext, which is a mobile ad network, stated that the majority of advertisements won’t create that much revenue. The reason has to do with where the ads are placed in the app and when they appear.

Objective of the Business

After the market analysis gives you enough insight, the next thing you must do to create a successful app is question the existence of your campaign. Why do you have it? To answer the question, the initiative of your business must be understood, and you must have lots of conversations with the members of your team about this.

You won’t make progress if you go too far with your objective. But if you don’t go that far at all, then nothing will happen either. If the objective is boring, no one will be inspired. Therefore, you need an objective that is doable, manageable, and easy to understand so that it enhances your company’s value. This is super important for creating a successful app.

You need a good business strategy when you have an objective for your company in place. That way, you will know how to accomplish your overall mission. For example, if you want customers to purchase gifts through your startup app, then the app should allow them to send people greeting cards and have the option to pick a present. All upcoming events need to have a countdown clock as well. This will increase the number of users and referrals considerably.

KPIs

The metric known as KPI, or key performance indicator, allows you to see how much of your objective is being accomplished. AARRR, or pirate metrics, is the best method of understanding what is going on in the mobile app industry and raise your chances on creating a successful app

Acquisition: The Different User Channels

If you want information on the top channels of your acquisition campaign, then this is the metric that you will want.

When you want to market your startup app with an advertising campaign, social media is the best way to build loyalty amongst customers. Forbes published research findings which showed that social media investments are going to be essential for startup businesses to succeed.

Activation

To find out if you have a good user interface, you need to do a qualitative data analysis. It will also tell you if your customers are satisfied with it. If they enjoy the startup app on their first visit, then it is a good thing.

Retention

Do you have a quality brand? This metric will indicate whether you do by analyzing the behavior of your users. It will tell you how many of them come back and what you can do to get more users coming back.

Referral

If you have an attractive startup app that generates good content and is useful to people, then they will be satisfied with it. Once this happens, they will want to refer your product to their friends on social media. You can integrate more incentives into the app to make this easier.

Revenue

Find out how much revenue each user brings to you on average. This will determine the value of each person in your business. Figure out the conversion paths and the interaction sequences which led to a transaction or conversion. These interactions could include referrals or clicks that came from different channels.

Targets should be identified once you find KPIs. When you determined which numerical values will mean failure or success beforehand, these values are the targets. But it will be difficult to do this without experience. Measuring will be hard if you don’t know how to recognize the performance that is desired. Just use successful examples to rely on.

The segments that should be focused on, include the target audience, acquisition sources, behavior of the audience, attributes of the audience, outcomes of the business, and the goals the customers have with your app.

Iterative Development

After you launch your product, then what? It doesn’t have to be the end. It is really the beginning. Iterative development is a needed factor for creating a successful app.

Iterative development helps with data processing, metrics assessing, and making the necessary changes after releasing the startup app initially. After analyzing how users are interacting with the app, it will let you know what optimizations or edits need to be made. Iterative work allows members of your team to evaluate the app during each iteration of the cycle and figure out the necessary changes that must be done to give users a product which satisfies them.

Metrics analysis should be the basis of all the changes you make. There may be lots of different options in your updates and you might not know which ones will give you good outcomes.

During the testing in each iteration, perfection is sought after along with experimentation that adds benefits to the app. Of course, you must understand the relevant information.

Therefore, do not skip QA testing and always use metrics analysis to form well thought of solutions, it is also an important part of creating a successful app. Don’t forget, that with Android apps, there is a functionality for stage rollouts so that users can be experimented upon directly.

Keep track of the metrics regularly and continue to iterate.

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Oksana Kovalchuk
ANODA Mobile Development Agency

🪀 12+ years CEO @ANODA Design Agency 🪀 18+ Software Dev 🪀 Writing stories from real-life cases [inst]: oksana_tech