Things to Avoid to Ensure Successful App Development | SF AppWorks

 

Build Your Brand

 

Mobile apps are one of many ways you can continue building your brand. This is especially true if you focus on optimizing your app with the correct keywords and design techniques.

 

The more exposure people have to your brand, whether it’s in the app store or on social media, the more inclined they’re going to be to eventually check you out and make a purchase from you.

 

Related: Importance of App Brand Image For Aso

 

Separate Yourself from Your Competition

 

Do any of your competitors have apps yet? If they do, are there any gaps in their design or offerings that you can fill? 

 

Regardless of whether or not your competitors have apps, developing an app of your own is a great way to separate yourself and make your business more appealing to your target audience. 

 

Related: 10 Powerful Benefits of Programming Outsourcing

 

 

Things to Avoid While Building an App

 

There’s a lot to be gained from developing an app. In order to experience all the benefits listed above, though, it’s important to make sure you avoid some common app development mistakes. 

 

Here are some of the most common mistakes that could derail your app and end up holding your business back:

 

Poor Budgeting

 

In many cases, the downfall of a particular business venture (or the business as a whole) comes back to poor budgeting and money management practices. 

 

If you don’t handle your money well, there’s a good chance that you’re going to have a hard time seeing a return on your investment. You may even end up having to scrap the project altogether.

 

Make sure you have a thorough understanding of how much it’s going to cost to develop your app. Get quotes from a few different developers and leave a bit of a cushion in your budget to account for potential hurdles. 

 

Keep in mind that there’s more to the cost of app development than the app itself. You also have to account for marketing, promotion, and other costs. 

 

Not Doing Enough Research

 

If your competitors have apps already, it’s important for you to do research and see what they’re doing with their apps. You may also want to do some research and look at other types of apps that don’t have anything to do with your industry. 

 

If you spend enough time researching, it’ll be easier for you to identify gaps that you can fill with your own app. This will help you stand out more from your competitors and offer a greater amount of value to your customers.

 

Copying Your Competitors

 

It’s important to look at what your competitors are doing. You can even take inspiration from their app and look for ways to make it better. That being said, copying another app entirely is not the goal.

 

First, there’s the ethical issue of copying someone else’s property. It’s not cool, and it doesn’t make your business look good.

 

Second of all, there’s the fact that consumers are not going to be very interested in an app that looks and functions exactly like one they already have. You’re much better off creating something original that builds on what other businesses have done, rather than knocking them off completely.

 

 

Not Defining Your Audience

 

Many business owners and entrepreneurs know that they want to develop an app. What they don’t know, though, is the type of people who make up their target audience.

 

If you fail to take the time to define your audience, you’re going to have a very hard time marketing your app in an appropriate and cost-effective way.

 

Get very specific about who the target user is for your app. How old are they? What’s their gender? What interests them? Are they different from the people who patronize your business online or in-person? If so, how? 

 

The better able you are to answer these questions, the better results you’re likely to get from your app.

 

Not Providing Enough Value

 

Make sure your app actually provides value to your customers, too. 

 

Why should they want to download and use it? What does it have to offer them that they can’t get from your website? Are there added perks? Is it easy to use and more accessible? 

 

Don’t get so focused on the potential money to be earned from your app that you forget to make it something worth using.

 

If you focus on providing value first, the money will follow. If you focus only on money and not on value, people are going to lose interest pretty quickly.

 

Monetizing Too Early

 

Speaking of money, another common app development mistake businesses make is monetizing their app too early. 

 

If you start charging for your app right out of the gate, you may find that you alienate a large portion of your target audience. 

 

In most cases, people need to gain an understanding of the value that an app has to offer before they’re willing to pay for it. If they have to pay for it in order to see what it’s all about, they may decide not to download it at all. As a result, they never have a chance to see how great it is.

 

Trying to Include Too Much

 

You don’t want to put out an app that doesn’t have anything to it, right? Of course, you want your app to be engaging, interactive, and pleasing to the eye. 

 

It’s possible to have too much of a good thing, though.

 

If there’s too much going on with your app, users are going to get overwhelmed. They may even stop using it altogether. Be sure to keep your design simple and straightforward. 

 

This will make it easy for people to navigate your app. It’ll also help it to run more smoothly and efficiently.

 

When to Settle for Less 

 

Less is more when it comes to design. 

 

Don’t hold back when it comes to the actual functionality of your app, though. Sometimes, it’s worth it to put in more work and spend a bit more money to ensure the job gets done in the correct way. 

 

For example, you could settle for less and use CAPTCHA to prevent spam. CAPTCHA is annoying to most customers, though. 

 

If you put in a little more work, you can prevent spam without having to resort to CAPTCHA. It requires more of you upfront, but it will lead to happier customers later.