The first things you need to think about when building a mobile app is simplicity and strategy. You have to think about what your business does and what you want to get out of the app. Here are 5 tips to succeed when building your mobile app.
- Strategy – some businesses just want to create an app because it’s something cool for their customers to use, but it has to have a purpose. You need to ask yourself what this purpose will be. Will it increase brand awareness, improve engagement or make it easier for customers to make purchases? Once you know what the purpose of the app will be, you can use this as your core feature or focus.
- Keep it simple – a common mistake people make is packing too much into their app. Everyone wants their app to be full of great features and unfortunately this can sometimes work against you. Start with the basics and chose one or two core features. Once that is perfected, build more into the app. You want everything to function perfectly and you are better off having a few great features than 20 mediocre ones.
- Platform – there are many platforms for apps, iPhones, iPads, tablets, other smart phones and online on desktop. You should start off by choosing one of these platforms, whichever one you think will benefit your business the most. Create the app on this platform and then see how people respond and fix any flaws. If you spend lots of time and money building an app for every platform, to then find out there is a problem with it, it will cost you even more money and time to fix it. Get it perfect on one platform, and then decide whether you want to develop it on other platforms.
- Budget – there is no set price for an app. Their price is dependent on how long it will take, and how many people need to work on it. What you need to do is set your budget, speak to the developer and find out what you can get within your budget. You have to be realistic about what you want from the app and what you’re willing to spend. If you start without a budget in mind, you could end up paying a lot more than you want.
- Legalities – there are lots of legalities that people don’t always know about before they commit to building an app. Sometimes Apple won’t let you put your app to market if it doesn’t meet their criteria. It’s the same with Facebook, if you want your app linked to Facebook there are another set of rules that need to be followed. There are also other laws that could disallow something you want to do. It’s always best to speak to an expert first to find out exactly what you can and can’t do before committing to a developer.
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