The Basics of Mobile App Development

To get the maximum engagement with a target audience, it is important for businesses to be able to reach them on the go, which is exactly when mobile apps come in handy. The process of mobile app development can be quite costly and can take significant time; however, with advanced planning and correct execution, the risks can be brought down to a minimum. In order to succeed in any mobile app creation endeavour, you need to appreciate the following three aspects:

1
MVP (Minimum Valuable Product)
A great strategy would be to build a very basic version of the app with key functionality, which could then be tested in real time. Unlike the final product, MVP is more of a rough draft which shows the end users its potential. Such development minimizes costs and allows you to validate your initial concept, without running into the high risks of developing something that might not be wanted by the market when launched. It will also show your investors that you are serious about the project at half the cost.
2
MMP (Minimum Marketable Product)
Unlike MVP, MMP is a product created specifically for an early product launch. The product is launched rapidly with the most relevant features and then the money made in the early stages is used to continue funding and developing the prototype into something more significant. The costs of development of MMP are also very low compared to a fully developed app.
3
A Full-Fledged App Launch Strategy
At this point, you have already developed an app and got beta testers to give it a try, and you are certain that there is a market for your app and users who are waiting for it to launch. Unlike MVP and MMP, the cost of developing an app is much higher and depends on the platform, design, development and testing, among other things.

There really isn’t one best option here, but an MVP will allow you to collect real feedback from users and improve the prototype as much as you want before going live with something raw. Whichever option you choose, you need to make sure that your audience is engaged with the application you develop.

Our Achievements:

322 App Development Projects
413 Mobile Applications
75 Enterprise Software Solutions

Developing an Engaging Mobile App

There are several things you should note to make sure that the app you are developing will find the necessary resonance with your end users.

App Design

First and foremost, your app’s design must be clean and simple. The easier it is for your users to understand and interact with the app, the higher the user retention rate will be. Minimalism is the key to keeping loyal users. The second most important rule is to ensure that your app reflects and mirrors your main website. If you own a website, your app must have the same design as the main website. This way your clients won’t be lost when switching to the mobile app and will intuitively find their way around. Convenience is another important factor that has an effect on engagement. You need to be certain that navigation is simple and clear and that every function works, because the last thing you need is to see your clients leave the app because some buttons don’t work or because their cart became empty after browsing for minutes.

mobile design

The Social Side of Things

These days people are really into sharing what they like or are interested in. They want all their friends and followers to know what they are doing and if they are using something they find interesting. Your job is to let them share what they are doing. Add social sharing buttons with pre-made text and let your users do the marketing for you. Despite their social nature, most people still want a personalized experience, so you should tailor the user experience based on past behaviour or recent choices made. The goal is to make the user interested, and nothing kills a user’s interest more than a pop-up. It is truly a conversion killer, which will lead most of your users to leave your app and never look back. For that simple reason, you should really think twice before adding any pop-ups to your application.

Retention is Key

If you want to see a profit, you absolutely must allow unregistered users to checkout. You should also fit the whole checkout process into one step. Your main goal is to permit users to make a payment quickly, rather than make them answer a ton of unnecessary questions which will presumably help you analyse why the customer left at some point later on. The key is to not let it come to that. Also, for every question a customer has, there should be an answer available right away, so you should list a phone number or integrate a live chat and make yourself available for inquiries as they come.

Clients

unilever
yandex
danone
cisco
trivago
mandara
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Mobile App Development Trends in 2016

It obviously isn’t enough to simply develop a mobile app and incorporate the tips mentioned to improve the app’s engagement: you should also know what is up and coming, what trends are in right now and how to ensure that there is a market ready and waiting for your app. A complete list of 2016 mobile app development trends can be found in this post , but if you are in a hurry, we have prepared a quick summary for you below.

How Swift are You?

The number one trend in mobile app development in 2016 is using Apple’s programming language called Swift. The advantage of Swift is that it is both an application and a system language, and it also provides the ability for developers to write a more reliable code from the beginning and at much faster pace.

With the increasing popularity of mobile devices and gadgets, it is no surprise that mobile apps are also booming, but unlike others, enterprise apps stand above the rest. Enterprises are prepared to spend a lot more to make sure that their apps are better than those of their competitors and that they have the broadest reach. For the same reason, it is expected that cross-platform development will also be on the rise in 2016.

The Internet of Things is also expected to advance further, with the development of all things “smart”: from smart cars to smart home appliances to making every possible aspect of your life smarter. That said, it is important to know that security will become a top priority and many devices will become sensor enabled. This means that in order to succeed, your app needs to be secure.

The merger between cloud and mobile computing will become inevitable and will ensure that apps will be accessible from a vast spectrum of devices. There are a lot of benefits to using the cloud, from small app retention to syncing apps across various smart devices, which come in handy for internal teams of admins especially.

Conclusion

In this day and age, mobile devices are everywhere and most of us cannot imagine our lives without them anymore. With a dependency like this, it is important to create apps that will improve our quality of life, ways of interaction and engagement with each other, as well as simplify our household and business tasks. After all, isn’t that what we are all looking for?

Strive to create an app that you yourself would want to use regularly and you will be on the right path to mobile app development success.

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