So You Want to Build a Mobile App for Your Business
Not sure where to start?
April 23, 2021
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Now is the perfect time to consider having a mobile app built for your business. According to Statista, mobile apps are projected to generate more than $935 billion in revenue via paid downloads and in-app ads by 2023. Imagine the market share to be had in your industry if your consumers and clients could access your products and services with a few clicks on their mobile phone. Not to mention the competitive edge you’d gain with a convenient, mobile-friendly customer experience.
If you’re considering a mobile app for your business and not sure where to begin, here’s a simple checklist to help walk you through the steps necessary to prepare you for a custom mobile app project journey.
The first step in this development checklist is establishing what you want your mobile app to accomplish. Are you trying to solve specific pain points for users? Or maybe you’re trying to garner nationwide visibility to your product or service? Take this step to think about your short term goals, such as driving traffic to your website—or long term goals, such as doubling your revenue in twelve to eighteen months.
Next, you want to take a good, hard look at who your users will be. Will your target user be your clients, vendors, or other businesses? Or maybe it’s all of them? Either way, defining who your target user will be is instrumental in determining how your app will function, for whom it will be designed, and what the capabilities will be. You definitely don’t want to end up with an app that doesn’t give value to your primary users, so this step is vital.
This step is where you determine the devices on which you want your app accessible. Today, there are many device options available: Apple, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Kindle, etc. (Additionally, tablets should also be considered.) Choosing the device will also go hand-in-hand with choosing the type of app you want to build.
There are three major types of apps from which to choose—and what you decide on will shape where your app will be available for download. Here’s a brief breakdown of the types of apps popular today:
While you’re considering these preferences for your app build and its mobile platform, you’ll also want to assess your app’s functionality. What do you want your app to do?
This step gets to the core of what you want your app to do for your users—and the user experience you want to provide for every person who downloads it. If your app is an ecommerce app, you’ll want to make sure that users can easily access your store, navigate it with ease, peruse your products quickly, and make a secure purchase directly through the app with a few clicks. Those are all functionalities you’ll want to list when you consult a custom dev shop about your app build. Other questions to ask yourself about your app’s functionality are:
Though there are many questions to ask yourself about functionality prior to consulting with a development firm, this is a good place to start.
This is the most crucial part of having a custom mobile app developed. App development costs vary depending on many factors, but know that you get what you pay for. A few years back, GoodFirms conducted a study evaluating the average costs of building apps like Tinder, Periscope, Uber, Instagram, WhatsApp, and others. Here are some of the results:
The numbers here are approximate and depend on many factors, including complexity of the build and timeline. Knowing your budget will set expectations on what you can feasibly complete in the timeframe in which you need it. Many choose to build their app in phases, so it’s more cost effective. It also gives the app time to be tested by many users before moving into the next phase.
Building a mobile app involves many moving pieces and a lot of planning. The basic, high-level components of development include:
Keeping this in mind, any mobile app build will need adequate planning so the appropriate expectations are adjusted going into your project.
Want to know more about the development process or chat through an idea? Schedule a call with us via this link. We’ve helped hundreds of clients successfully deploy proven mobile app strategies to grow their businesses quickly.
This post was written by Celeste A. Barron, Content Development Manager for Bitwise Industries. When she’s not shantaying, she’s sashaying.
If you’re interested in uncovering the tech possibilities available to your organization or want to find more ways to increase your ROI with technology, click this link to schedule some time with one of our experts.
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