The entire world is experiencing a huge shift from CD ROM to a super fast era of Bluetooth and cloud computing. This is mainly because digitally interactive devices, plus mobile applications form a coveted form of trends that is sweeping the world with its easy way of living. Every need of an individual from checking travel details to ordering food at home is just a matter of working on the mobile. The concept of smart home, smart city and smart work is getting applied at a lightning speed, more so because of the pandemic.
The digital market is thronging and applications like Automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) are recreating both businesses and daily living. From walking inside a swanky mall or grocery store to checking out on an app, mobile application development is now everywhere. This has made the businesses adopt the models that mobile app development companies provide to acquire first and then retain their customer base of this generation. The industry of mobile applications is going places- a look at the stats will tell you the same.
In the year 2020, there was a huge rise in the global download of the business apps that took to increase almost by 90%. But, within the first quarter of the app download, it has been observed that almost 70% users’ churn. In this market of stiff competition, how would you ensure your app will not experience the same issues? How would you ensure that those customers acquired would be retained? It would take a thorough understanding of how your customers react, their needs, those apps that other mobile development apps could not provide and the ways through which businesses can target personalized needs, so that businesses could claim a spot in the smartphones of their potential customers.
To be competitive in this expansive plus growing industry where mobile app development companies are making an indelible mark, this blog is a guide to help you see what kind of growth in the said field can be expected in 2022.
The Basics of Mobile App Development
Mobile app development combines some processes, planning, testing, deployment of prototypes, and deploying software that works on the mobile devices. The generation X finds the need for these applications to work beyond smartphone over a huge range of devices like smartwatches, tablets, and a host of other portable devices.
From the perspective of business, mobile apps enable to raise the brand recognition, influencing customer interaction, retention of customers, bringing down the marketing cost, gaining feedback, and enabling retargeting in personalized form. Whereas these provide huge opportunities for the development of mobile apps, most app developers are asked to release newer features, update them and go much beyond customer expectations simultaneously.
Where do you think your business stands in this kind of competitive marketplace? Does your business follow the “one-size-fits all” approach? How do the developers decide which mobile application would work best to target the customer circle of the business?
Different types of mobile applications
By looking at the designing of a mobile application from the side of developer, the development of mobile application is worked on with the help of several frameworks including,
Mobile apps that come native
The native mobile apps are built only for a single platform, which is, it remains native to a selective operating system along with the device. For example, you could choose an Android or iOS platform and receive access to each feature that the operating system offers. In this kind of mobile application, since they remain bound to the features of one single platform, they remain highly reliable, are faster, and come with a seamless app experience.
Hybrid apps in mobile embedded with HTML
These are highly compatible across several platforms however use the concept of several web development processes like HTML, JS, and CSS, so that implement the core parts of any application. This could be shared between several versions of an app throughout multiple devices.
How the features vary between hybrid, cross-platform, and native
Native
- Integrating seamlessly of the platform components inside this application
- The user experience is unmatched, faster and highly responsive
- Requires a skilled team of developers
- Hard for developers to develop as there are tight deadlines or budgets
Cross Platform
- Supports the code sharing between different versions of mobile apps.
- Helps in making the best of every single platform as these plugins are used in using these features.
- Not all the codes could be shared across different platforms, moreover some of the parts need to be written again.
- Gives up capabilities that the native apps could possess.
Hybrid Platform
- Easier technology that can handle anything, it works on the methodology of write once and run anywhere.
- The testing cycles are shorter, come with faster platform rollout and quicker fixing of bugs.
- Interaction could only happen through the web browser controls that are embedded.
- All the parts of the codes can’t be shared. Some of them need to be written afresh.
Trends, figures, and statistics in mobile application
Based on global statistics, the apps are getting made in huge numbers these days. One can attribute this to the number of smartphone users that is increasing every day. Whether you are planning to build a new app right from the beginning or modifying the existing one, understand what precisely your customer needs can help you perform better than your competition.
Not only is your target audience your main concern, also the geographical aspect highly significant. Analysing the usage of apps and the trends that are based on location would help increase your opportunities. Analysing the trends and use of apps based on the location can easily help increase the number of opportunities. Greater than 218 billion apps got downloaded by the users globally in 2020 while merely 204 billion got downloaded in 2019. It is difficult to keep pace with the fast pace of app download.
The basic thing is, as we track the metrics, we realize that the strategy for efficient mobile app development lies in maintaining your customer base and giving them a reason to return to your business for better and more effective features. There could always be design related issues, network problems, and other glitches. However, keeping a constant troubleshooting and seamless experience is also the main thing. To make sure that your apps aren’t just getting downloaded but never used, there comes an added responsibility of making newer updates plus newer versions of the software so that newer users can be captured and simultaneously engage the existing ones.
Significance of making mobile application for the business
If you check the good points and the existing statistics of the performance of mobile application, you may get the inclination to start creating mobile web application yourself. However, you need to thoroughly evaluate you take the decision of building any application, it is important that you ask questions like:
- Can this be our new channel for marketing for the business?
- Does the present strategy provide you with a seamless customer experience?
- Does the UX live up to this generation’s demand?
- Can one mobile app help your organization?
Although many organizations have jumped into creating mobile applications, just thinking of the benefits, the other side of this transition is also to be considered. Building a mobile application gives you a personal experience, smooth customer experience, interaction and support, and a host of other lucrative benefits. An app that is well planned will boost the visibility of your business to do wonders in terms of satisfying your customers.
4 Reasons Behind the Failure of Mobile Apps – Prevention Strategies to Consider
Most of the businesses and businessmen look out to develop mobile software because of the huge demand these days. But it becomes a major let down when not planned well or executed. Thus, it is important that businesses assess the most common challenges that could surface from the other apps and the one that is being developed, so that drop of usage can be prevented.
Learn to target properly
If your app doesn’t reach the target audience, then the purpose of downloading it is all gone. This is among the prime reasons why apps fail. To rectify this, you need to study your target audience first and rather well. Prepare yourself better before getting into making one. It is crucial that you question and then implement strategies rather than rushing into creating a mobile app.
The first thing is you understand the trends, your market, along with the statistics of its usage within your target audience. The next thing is to find out what the competitors are up to, whatever are they better at or lacking. This would help in increasing the retention and download rate of your application along with the interaction with your target audience.
Robust marketing and strategy
To make your mobile app create successful products, you need to have a perfect balance between technical aspects and creativity. The end goal should be to quickly and effectively help your customers get their asked task done.
The best kind of practices for the mobile app development work during the time of production, however, the marketing tactics after deployment too matter. The factors of marketing like SEO, SEM, PR, etc. can easily help your potential customers understand about the function and the application as the effective techniques for marketing after deployment.
Design – at the core of UX
The design of your app will form the first impression of your application among its users. A bad design can gradually lead to your customers rejecting the app. The UX most bring in design, functionality and how easy it is to use. It is essential that an app gets tested for its usability at each stage of change that happens in the mobile app development process so that proper functioning of the elements is ensured. Good design would lead to a rise in customer retention and usage.
Lacking in strategy to monetize
In the process of mobile application development, there would be costs right from the point of outsourcing a team to the point of production and after deployment. So that you could make up for these also generate profit in the longer run, it is extremely necessary that you have monetization models. There are several ways to monetize your app. You could try paid ads, promotions, in-app buying, buying app downloads and so on. Irrespective of the kind of monetization strategy, you would need to ensure that it remains profitable for the longer run.
Best of Practices – How can you build a successful mobile app?
To begin with mobile app development, the first step is starting to analyse a plan based on your industry’s app and domain needs. Let us check a simple breakdown of this process so that you can get started,
Research first followed by explore
With a good idea for your application, this would be your first step to forming a concrete strategy and design, something that will work as your foundation. This portion of the mobile app developing procedure involved loads of market research, analysing the demographics, the patterns of behaviour, and the customer requirements. Some of the key points towards creating a strategy would include –
- Deciding what the apps primary app would be.
- The decision of your target audience also the features that help your application to stand out of the entire lot.
- Forming a neat blueprint of all those functionalities it has on offer.
- A complete discussion of the benefits of the software and the performance that is projected in the application store.
Creating a sketch of the business model
In this condition, the business must work beyond the mission and vision of your app and consider all practical aspects like the revenue of the application, it’s business model, time restraints and budgets. Performing SWOT analysis, sketching the goals of any kind of application, use cases of primary app, and categorizing the users based on certain metrics like behaviour, location, etc. must be considered.
Project Requirements
After clearing the application’s intent, your business needs to get started on the technical aspects. Do you have an in-house team that can handle skills needed for your app or you would need outsourcing? Do you plan to create an application that functions for a single platform or one that would work for multiple? What would be your probable model?
Certain best practices for the mobile app development would include sketching out your logbook of needs that talks about the budget allotment, revenue models, project milestones, team that talks of apps, the cost needed for further requirements and certain other features that could help. This would help list out the requirements before you begin with the main idea.
Prototype
The primary intention of prototyping is creating a rough version of your application that would help in gaining user feedback plus assess all feasibility of the application. Other modes of testing this idea includes proof of the concept along with a minimum viable product.
Proof of concept would check if the app could be built with the given functionalities, your prototype could be seen as a draft as it will show how your application could be built, so that visualization along with feedback could be gained. While the minimum viable product remains a small portion of your end-product that consists of the most necessary features. The latter part helps your customer gauge the user experience and lessens the marketing time.
Structure and Design
There exist several approaches to the mobile application development and the involved processes usually come with planning, designing, to develop, test, release, and collect feedback. The most significant part of design and development components to consider is including wireframe, UI/UX, maintain the consistency in brand value in prototypes, style guide, plus other simulations within the motion design, animation, and app design.
In mobile application development, UX plays a pivotal role in making the app work. Hence, the graphical representation, the UX factor, the look and feel of this app, style guides in fonts along with also animations form those significant components that enable in user acquisition and retention.
Process of Mobile App Development
The maximum active face of any mobile app development cycle that consist of the three core components including technology that supports for back-end services in technology, APIs, also developments that are front-end. The modes of function used for the projects could differ based on the organization. It could be divided into these silos where several types of groups work on different types of initiatives alternately work as a complete function. The process would include:
Backend development – this function works using a database, architecture, and scripting of the application. On the basis requirements the backend technology including Node Js, PHP, Ruby, python, JavaScript, and so on.
API Development – this would function as a connect between the main application also third-party applications plug-in. It enables communication between several software elements also simplifies the design, use, and administration of the app.
Front-end Developers- can be viewed as one part that the user interacts with and also is managed using local databases, back-end technology, APIs.
Deployment and testing
Testing plus fixing bugs within the early stages comes with much lesser expenses when you compare with fixing bugs at some later stage. You can conduct testing at several stages of developing mobile application. A sturdy app testing strategy should be able to cover entire aspects of performance, User Experience, and the best practices adopted by the industry. Certain manual or automated form of testing would include- usability testing that comes with UI, ADA, comparability, along with compliance testing performing tests to understand memory use, overall evaluation, and for scalability. This along with security testing would ensure that the application remains updated to the best and latest regulations within HIPPA, ISO, also other industrial norms.
Post the testing, measuring strategies like statistics, import info, the testing types done and much more needs to be documented. The ultimate deployment of this application in the process of maintenance, the security, plus collecting the user feedback, plus bringing newer features via updates.
Ensure maximum security
At the time of working on the mobile application development process, the thing that developers may not understand is the kind of security needed for the crucial steps in this process. Any breach can come costly and thus there is ultimate need for initiatives to be adopted like Data encryption, APIs that are authorised, repeating testing, firewall setup, assessing the regulation compliance, ability to write accurate plus secure codes, etc.
The Crucial Question: To Jump to Mobile App Development Bandwagon or Not To
This current year 2022 is when the mobile industry would take off, when talking about soaring usage because of the onslaught of 5G, IoT, smart devices, wearables, etc. While this would seem like one encouraging opportunity for maximum, a complete mobile application doesn’t move from idea towards deployment. A correct and adequate guide on the statistics, trends, making those numbers work, creating a constricted app design and budgets based on requirements are certain topics that would need brainstorming before your idea turns into a prototype and ultimately an application.
