Mobile users were responsible for over 70 percent of internet traffic in 2018, up from 57 percent in 2017, according to the 2019 Mobile App Development guide by Digital Authority Partners.
Quartz predicts that mobile will account for over 80 percent of worldwide internet consumption by the end of 2019. Which isn’t too surprising given that 194 billion apps were downloaded in 2018.
The mobile app market is anticipated to be worth around $6.3 trillion by 2021, which makes the case for mobile application development too strong to ignore.
The truth of the matter, however, is that there’s a lot of moving parts that go into planning and creating a loveable app that will invite significant downloads. There are several hurdles to beat, so many parties to involve and so many factors to consider.
If not planned out well, the whole process can easily get out of hand. That’s why it is crucial to develop a solid mobile app strategy. Here are the 7 top tips to keep in mind when defining your strategy.
(1) Start with the Company’s Overall Strategy and Business Goals
Your mobile app strategy should align with your overall business strategy and goals. As a rule of thumb, your mobile app should act as a customer touchpoint for the company. Begin at the highest level of your company strategy, and walk your way down.
To do so, you need to know where your business is and where you want it to be. Your mobile app should play an important role in getting your business there. Document your business and company goals to help you define the fundamental elements of your mobile strategy.
This is a critical step that should involve all key stakeholders and subject matter experts. At the very least, you should brainstorm strategy ideas with teams from account management, marketing, sales, business development, and other major departments in the company.
This is a crew that’s better positioned to map out the tactics, objectives, and goals for your mobile app strategy.
(2) Know User Expectations and Needs
Your mobile app has a target audience. Who are they and what are their touchpoints, needs, and pain-points? If you want your app to encourage downloads right from the start, you need to know the ins and outs of this audience.
Not all mobile users are created equal. Different mobile owners use their gadgets and apps in a wide array of different ways. By studying your potential users, you will get a deep understanding of what they love to see in an app.
Let’s say you are targeting the healthcare community where personalized telemedicine apps are all the rage according to the Healthcareweekly. In this case, your analysis should target the concerns of the patients, doctors or both.
In light of this, you should also develop use cases for your mobile app. This way, you will make sure that it will meet user expectations and needs.
In other words, take a closer look at the kind of business you run, who your end users are, as well as their habits & behaviors.
This type of analysis will help inform your strategy on how users will interact with both your business and app. With the right user information on hand, it would be easy to create a strategy that’ll make the development process effective and seamless.
(3) Conduct SWOT Analysis
Carrying out a SWOT analysis will help answer some of the key questions and probe challenges that might arise.
By knowing the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of your mobile app, you will paint a holistic picture and find the best strategy for success. The good thing about SWOT analysis is that it will identify not just internal but also outside influences.
As such, you need to gather your key app experts, collect your existing assets, and share knowledge with your development partners. This allows you to look out of the box and understand your mobile strategy deeply. To do a complete analysis might seem difficult at first, but the outcome will be well worth it in the long haul. Not sure how to do a SWOT analysis? You can always work with an established marketing agency that can help you figure it all out (here’s a list of companies that can help with a SWOT analysis.)
(4) Don’t Forget Competitor Research
A good app strategy should help you attract, engage and convert more users to customers. That’s why you need to take a peek at how your competitors are doing. Analyzing competitor app data will be quite instrumental in creating an all-around and exclusive strategy for your mobile app.
Competitor analysis will come in especially handy when it comes to approaching the Unique Selling Point and Unique Value Point of your mobile app. Otherwise put, this will give you the upper hand as far as install campaigns and creating better user experience are concerned.
(5) Establish the Standards and Governance for your App
Right from the outset, you need to pinpoint the right platform, tools, and resources for developing and maintaining your app. To make sure that your app strategy is actionable, go for a standard toolkit, universal governance practices and a platform that will allow you to scale with ease.
Leveraging the right expertise and resources will ensure that your app development will be completed effectively and timely. Make sure that the designers, project managers, testers and developers are on the same page. They should have a deep understanding of the scope of your app and how you plan to achieve optimal user engagement.
(6) It’s Important to Strike a Balance between ROI and Investment
When you are creating your app strategy, it is paramount that you stay balanced in terms of investment and perceived ROI. You may be too excited about the prospects of the app that you focus on the short-term benefits and focus on long-term ROI.
More importantly, find a meaningful balance between what already makes your business tick and new emerging mobile strategies that can boost success. This is the kind of pull and push between excitement and business position that should guide your app strategy.
(7) Map Out your Mobile Roadmap
By now, you should have a clear and well-defined mobile app idea and how it’ll impact on the bottom line of your business and the end consumer. The next sensible step is to chunk down your idea into several parts that will be implemented to ensure hassle-free delivery of the app strategy. This is what’s called the roadmap. It will be the blueprint for your app design, development, and deployment.
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