The global world is witnessing an enormous surge in Mobile internet connectivity and usage. This tendency has not only brought a revolutionary rise of Mobile technology and innovations but has brought an immense dependence on apps. Every forum, software, website ought to have an app that renders its user a simplistic interface, mass outreach, and fast performance. The need of app perfection has increased many folds in users and abandoning of app or website altogether on basis of inconveniences is real. A great app is a need of an hour for every venture, tech enthusiast and successful entrepreneur.
Articulating a great app though seems a simplistic mechanism, carries numerous aspects. A great app is a right niche, carries a catchy name and holds a significant visual identity. It carries its purpose and targets its right audience.It simply meets the user end with effectiveness, requisite stability and is adequately polished.
Being a tech enthusiast and having an avid experience of app development for so many years, I have seen people being intrigued to understand easy ways to create apps and making a great endeavor to formulate
3 steps to build the next great app. The desire is but natural and interesting. It is hence that I made an effort to list down the four steps to build a great app. The step may seem very simple and rudimentary, yet I believe it’s this conceptual framework and understanding that leads to a phenomenon of a great app development.
Before formulating strategies, articulating mechanism for developing a great app. The foremost requirement is to understand the basic needs of a great app. Its characteristics and attributes that bring utility and dividends.
- Uniqueness and Appeal. A great app would carry the specific uniqueness of its idea along with its execution carrying a great design appeal.
- Appropriate Platform. A great app caters for its respective platform, not only this, it incorporates the respective changes according to the needs of the user of that platform.
- User end simplicity. A great app carries user end simplicity with simple navigation, based on design guidelines for that selected platform.
- Performance. The performance will always be a pivotal highlight of this great app. It is achieved by Continuous optimization, high performance, and quality assurance.
- Offline access. An addition to offline access to features and content would elevate it from ordinary.
- Updating mechanism. A presence of ongoing software product development cycle, with regular updates and evolution, renders the app the perfection. It is achieved by availability of mechanism to
regularly update and evolve to bring more value to users. - Security Features. A vital aspect where an app has respective features to keep the confidentiality and data security.
- Feedback and communication. A great app must have simple and quick means for feedback acquisition, suggestions, ratings and reviews. A contact means availability and clicks to call, with a minimum number of taps and minimum text input, is a great plus.
- Personalization. A presence of Flexible settings for personalization renders great advantages to an app. The choice of fonts, colors, sizes and personalization mechanism brings great positive vibes.
- Search. An elaborate and intuitive system search with specific filters is a must characteristic of a great app.
- Analytics .A great app would have great analytic mechanisms to lets you track users and get the required information about behavior, which will render useful insights for future development
This step constitutes as the prime means of development of an app. It envisages the thought process, framework and processing details to macro level to create an app with great design and functionalities. The following are the methodological steps.
- Articulation of Idea. This is the foremost and prime important factor of development of a great app. An idea that solves a particular problem, addresses a concern or provides a utility has its ground to develop and grow. Investing time, energy and resources into unique ideas, resonating to oneself is the core of a great app development. This articulation needs to focus on the principle of performance, utility, functionality, and additions. A Performing app with great utility to a user, effective functioning with some additive features is the basics of the idea of a great app. An accordingly reasoned, thought off articulation could be the basis of a next great app.
- Market Analysis. The market analysis renders great insight into the utility of the app in conceptual forms. Various App market Platforms display the top-paid, top-free and top-grossing apps, almost in real time. Apple provides the same lists in the individual app categories. Reviewing these platform frequently, and keeping a note of potential trends educates on successful app design, marketing, and various pricing models.
- Documentation. Formulating the idea into a cohesive, descriptive text is the next logical phase. The idea being tabulated in bullet forms and further calibrated would enable to highlight various functioning mechanism of views of that app. The documentation should cover functionality details of the app. This process would tabulate the business requirements, enabling an estimate for design, development and marketing tools as well. The same process gives it a structural outlook rendering detailed insights for manifestation of the idea.
- Visual Presentation. Transformation of the ideas into some visual presentation is next in line. At this point, designers, app developers must focus to bring into shape those ideas with perspective of mobile specific UX. The revision and re look into the whole concept renders great benefits.
- Design wireframes. The formulation begins with this phase. In this phase, UX designer uses the feature lists, user stories and business requirements already formulated to represent the way a user will navigate through this app. The process needs deliberation as haste tends to damage the first tangible deliverable. The design and interface related aspect must be confirmed here as changes at later stages tend to become a bit burdening.
- User Interface, Prototype and Launching. The next process is the completion of user interface, with high resolution mock ups. These enables to ascertain the method by which an app would perform. A prototype is then launched to ascertain and evaluate the core functionalities of your app. Less obscure workflows and great functionality are always the right sign for a great app.
- Quality Assurance Test and Fixing Bugs. A prime phase of development of an App where its correct functionalities are ascertained when it goes live. For a great app experience, all the UX and UI are to be checked immaculately. A prototype is tested for numerous days. Crash and bugs when ascertained are fixed and corrected before the app is made live.
- Evaluation Feed Back. After the app has been live, metrics need to be closely monitored to ascertain the usage. The daily active users being a great metrics is always good for consideration. It reveals daily and monthly active users. Ratings and reviews though carry importance but must not be considered the sole feedback as mostly users tend to disengage if it’s not a good experience. Key performance indicators and dropping of active users from base line are the prime indicators to indicate an issue or app performance.
A great idea being transformed into a simplistic app with a user friendly interface needs to be packaged and promoted accordingly. What would make your business application stand out from others beside idea and design is its rightful packaging and promotion. Normally people always ask me, what do you think before investing in mobile application? My answer is always, its idea, execution and promotion that I always see before I invest in a mobile application. The promotion gets the app tested and renders the experience. A Splash page before the launch to highlight the promotions, teasers and pictures is an adequate mean to set the pace right. You can Capture email address using mail chimp by visitors and intimate when the app is ready to download .The use of social media platforms to highlight the app and its performance would have a great outreach . In this very regard we normally tend to focus the big markets leaving the small markets which shouldn’t be. A great promotion for a great idea with good functionality brings the rightful effects.
Development of Next great App is a dream of many Entrepreneurs. It is more than a simplistic phenomenon. A right analysis of users’ requirement, immaculate idea articulation, great design interface, quality assurance and evolution can be the ground of formulation of a next great app. It’s just a step away.