Guidelines for Creating Successful Mobile App in 2020

Mobile applications are nowadays become the heart of your device, without which probably, your thousands of dollars of the phone seems nothing more than a metal box. Apps have now become a part of our daily lives. From sharing images with your friends on Facebook or Instagram to watching videos on YouTube, making online payment via UPI apps to making a presentation on an office app, they are providing an easy solution to your needs right on your device, focusing on the user usability and navigability. From a consumer’s point of view, mobile apps have become an easy medium for them to access several services and more. But how apps are beneficial for businesses? 

Mobile apps have transformed the way companies handling their business. Consumers find mobile apps perfect for solving their problems. Such a high dependency on these mobile apps leads businesses to develop an app that can help them be available every time to meet customer needs. Therefore, online & ground businesses are highly focusing on developing an application that would meet customer goals and benefit the company’s marketing and sales strategies. 

According to a statistic, in 2020, there should be over 592 million daily app downloads, and the number will exceed 250 million in 2022. No doubt, the app market is expanding day by day, giving more benefits to businesses. Now the question arises, how can you create a successful app for your business? 

Whenever you wish to expand your business by creating an app, then you find yourself completely stuck in between the question of where to start or what to do. If you are also in the same situation, then this blog is for you. Here we have covered complete guidelines for creating a successful app that will deliver more credibility for your business along with the increased sales, exposure, and productivity. 

Discovery Stage

Whenever the thought of creating an app strikes your mind, you instantly rush for the mobile app creation ideas without coming up with a strategy or knowing about the process. In this hustle and bustle, there is a high probability of ignoring and dismissing the crucial factors of an app. The lack of planning ends up in several troubles while developing an app.

Therefore, we recommend you to mandate a discovery stage for successful app development. This stage includes 

• Pre-development research

• Defining the app’s goals

• Defining the user's expectation

• Time and cost estimate of the project

• Identifying project risks

• Competition analysis

• Knowing your target audience

• Figuring out the best way to monetize the app, and 

• Complete app ideation. 

Focus on UX Design

The next stage of app development to follow is focusing on UX design. No matter how appealing your website is, if it is not user-friendly, then it’s just a big fail. 

Discover the difference between the two situations. First, when a user opens your app and finds it’s super-easy to use. He knows where to click next, what actions to perform, and how to navigate. The second is when you find an app difficult to use and instantly jump on another app. These situations clearly show how important the factor of user experience for a successful app. Right? 

What is UX Design?

UX (User Experience) is a process of coming up with a platform or products or services meaningful to users, offering them an enjoyable experience. UX design involves several aspects of branding, design, usability, and function that can enhance the user experience. The process involves

• Information Architecture: It helps figure out how to structure your app content to maximize usability and accessibility. 

• Wireframing your App: Develop the framework or a blueprint of an app to get an idea of the overall look and feel of the app. 

UI Design

According to a statistic, 94 percent of the first impressions of a mobile app are based on its design. The visual appearance of an app is not just enough. Besides the UX design, UI (User Interface) is also a core part of quality app creation. 

UX and UI are different from each other. UX is about enhancing the customer’s satisfaction by offering an app that provides them a smooth experience. On the other hand, UI is all about the visual appearance and functionality of the app. 

In this UI design stage, you need to decide the style of your website, including colors, font styles, elements, icons, etc. Here you focus on creating an app identity, following and using the latest trends. Testing is also an essential part of app development as it helps in resolving errors. With a perfect UI design, you can stand out from the others. 

Design & Development Stage

The next phase of app design and development is one of the most challenging stages, as here you handoff your app process to designers and developers. In this stage, it is necessary to maintain a consistent communication flow between designers and developers to avoid confusion and other risk factors. Lack of communication, especially in the early stage of the project, could result in a poor quality app. 

Front End Development

Another step is to develop a smooth front-end of an app, and this can be done following the three easy approaches.

• Platform-Specific Native App 

Apps developed using this approach are coded for a specific mobile platform such as Windows, iOS, or Android. In simple words, the codes used to develop these apps would only be supported by the operating system of those platforms. 

• Cross-Platform Native App

These apps use shared SDKs (Software Development Kit), but they can still run natively. For the cross-platform native apps, Xamarin, React Native, and Native Script technologies are used. This approach is perfect for those who want a well-designed app on a limited budget. 

• Hybrid App

By name, you could easily understand that these apps are compatible with all operating systems. This approach is cost-effective and offers quick deployability. But at the same time, you don’t get the advantage of native components that affect the user experience.

Back-End Development

After getting your front end ready following one of the approaches, the next step is bringing life to your app by adding a sort of data to display. Before you start writing code, consider a few factors listed below-

• Choosing a Programming Language: 

For building a well-functioning app, you can write the code in several programming languages like C#, Java, Python, .NET, PHP, etc. 

• Database and Data Structures: 

If you want to come up with an executable app’s API, we would recommend choosing databases from MySQL, MongoDB, and PostgreSQL option. 

• Hosting: 

In this stage, you need to decide on the hosting for better app performance. Determine how and where to host your API depending on your budget and hosting costs.

Considering all these factors for the backend development would also help you in handling your system to scale up & down with the growth of the user base. 

Mobile App Development: 

• A Web API Server

A server backend is necessary for the better working of a mobile app. Servers help in data transferring in the app. It also means that your app will not work if your server is flooded with data or stopped working. Choose a properly configured server that can handle the user base. 

• Testing: 

Once you come up with a perfect front-end and backend design for your app, the next step is testing. You need to test your app in different scenarios to deliver your audience the best app that could meet their wants without any troubles. Conduct several testings such as functional testing, performance testing, edge case testing, device-specific testing, usability, and user acceptance testing. 

• Submit Your App to Apple App Store & Google Play Store

After the testing, the next step is to submit your app to Google Play Store or Apple App Store. But before you take a step forward, we suggest you ensure that your apps are ready for release. If yes, then you need to fill out a form and submit screenshots & descriptions of your app. During the app review process, you need to bring some changes to your app to better comply with their systems. 

Submitting your app to Google Play Store & Apple Play Store is not just the end of the game. After the app publishing, the next step is to monitor its p[erformance in terms of crashes, UI response time, technical performance, battery consumption, cellular data consumption, etc. When you are better aware of the strength and weaknesses of your app, then you can easily take some steps to improve its performance and enhance the user’s app experience. 

Final Words

So, here is the end. This blog post has covered everything you need to know about the development of an app. So, what are you waiting for? Kick-off your first app development to gain more user’s tap on their mobile device. 

Article Contributed By

Ravi Sharma, CEO of Webomaze - # 1 SEO Company in Chandigarh is a highly enthusiastic entrepreneur. He has got a great grip on the idea of effective eCommerce Strategies, SEO processes, and tactics which are vital for virtual exposure. He is a fun-loving person and a keen traveler who always hunts to find adventure in new places.