9 Steps For Mobile App Development Strategy

With increasing number of smartphone users all over the world and internet connecting them, these days very few people goes online on desktop. According to a report, average smartphone conversion rates are up by 64% when compared to desktops, with 80% of internet users on smartphones. As a business entity, it is time for you to start considering mobile presence for your business. But today, the app market is too competitive and day by day it is getting harder to stand out. Considering the large investment and the time, going unprepared for mobile app development may prove to be costly and may not yield any positive outcome.

Therefore, planning your new mobile app development strategically and how it will fit into your company’s overall business plan is a cost-effective approach. It eliminates any chances of developing an app that doesn’t perform as expected and commits brand damaging mistakes. For instance, you should consider CodeIgniter development services, which is the most sought after open source development network at present. So, the best way to approach mobile app development is to carefully craft a strategy first. Here are some steps that you should take into account when preparing a strategy for mobile app development.

Choosing the right framework: Choosing the right framework should be a part of mobile app development strategy. For instance, service providers offering CodeIgniter development services can develop applications rapidly with CodeIgniter which is a powerful PHP framework with a very small footprint. Users always prefer very fast loading applications and applications developed in CodeIgniter framework loads in less than 50 ms. With CodeIgniter, the extra time that is required to optimize in case of other frameworks gets eliminated.

Define company’s overall strategy: All companies exist with a vision, a mission, and a goal to achieve. Your primary objective of developing a mobile app is to bring more business and increase revenue. Since this is a long-term goal, the app which you develop should continue to be useful in the long run. For instance, you should know how an app would help the company 5 years down the line and highlight the same to your target audience.

Identify your users: Users may differ depending on factors like gender, age, financial status etc. One of the key mobile app development strategies is to focus on target users and develop it accordingly. However, you should not guess user’s taste and preference and make important decisions based on assumptions.

Estimate your resources: You need to estimate your resources so that it can be delivered within the given timeframe. According to a report, to develop and deploy a mobile app it takes about 7 months to a year. The technical team should have enough developers to carry out the project in time. Appropriate due dates should be allocated to various development and planning stages such as use case(s) definition, mapping, wireframing, platform selection, coding, designing, and testing. It is also the right time to review the budget.

Choose your development platform: Mobiles have brought additional complexity unlike the web. Today there are multiple device types like iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry and the apps need to be developed for multiple platforms. Nowadays an iPhone app has become a necessary entry point for mobile apps. However, selection of a platform depends on the type of business and how you want to engage your customers. For instance, broadcasting and publishing companies prefer iPad or Android tablet implementation for better user experience because of the larger screen. Retailers may expand to Android phones in order to engage large number of customers before, during and after they make a transaction.

Choose between native and hybrid app: Choosing between native and hybrid app is a crucial technical decision to be made, as it carries many implications during later stages of development and maintenance. The need to choose between native and hybrid app depends on the target audience. Only one platform is supported by native apps and you will need separate apps for other platforms. Hybrid apps work on different platforms in similar fashion. Hybrid apps are more expensive and reduce the quality of user experience. If the target audience is using a single platform mostly, then it is a smart choice to go for native app as they are faster.

Ensure data security: A privacy policy must be included so that when the app collects any sensitive information from users, it remains protected. User’s data is the most valuable asset for you and you should make sure that a process is in place to collect, handle, and store as well as manage any potential security threats. The privacy policy needs to cover the information that are being collected and the way it is being utilized.

Prepare your marketing strategy: The success of your app also depends on its marketing strategy which includes branding, PR, pre-launch efforts, outreach, and overall web existence. You may think it’s too early to prepare a marketing strategy before you have started developing. Your efforts will show results in the long run if you start creating the buzz around your app even before it is in the app store.

Leverage the data generated by mobile apps: When your app has been launched and is being used, it collects the data about its users. The data should be put to use for making important business decisions.

To conclude

As in any other aspects of business, a strategy must be developed for mobile app development too. Preparing a strategy would make the development process easier and give lot of competitive advantage. Although it takes time and some effort but it’s worth.