Step-by-Step Guide To Develop Your First Mobile App
Technological advancements and innovations have become an extremely important part of human lives. It has made lives easier apart from supporting businesses in automating the way they provide their services as well, along with opening doors to a wide array of job opportunities for those looking for jobs. Talking about innovations, mobile apps are the one that predominantly holds the first place. These solutions being available on the smartphone device of the customer makes it easier for them to get quick access to services, apart from helping the service professionals and drivers work as per their convenience and earn.
All these factors in fact have been responsible for making them a hot favorite among entrepreneurs and encouraging them to include them within their operations so as to automate their operations, and make digital access to services easy for customers, to name a few. Interesting, right? Read below as I explain this area to you, that is the reason why mobile apps are so popular after all, followed by the steps you need to follow so that you can build an app that drives maximum value for you. So here it goes.
Reasons for the Popularity of Mobile Apps People Spend Maximum Minutes on Smartphones A typical user within a gap of eighteen minutes keeps checking their mobile phone. This can be for performing any task, starting from checking messages, to reading some news or even playing games. This makes it one of the foremost reasons why they are so popular after all in the first place.
Helps Businesses to Seamlessly Stay in Touch Smart marketing and branding is an activity that almost every single venture is performing nowadays. They mostly perform this through an app launch. It not only provides them with an opportunity to stay in touch with their customers, in terms of providing clarity to them about the reasons why their app is different but simultaneously also gives them the desired opportunity to perform marketing campaigns, which also includes hosting social media campaigns so that the services of the business can reach a wide audience.
Accelerates Rate of Lead Generation and Conversion Think about it, you are cozy in your house and you have a solution that helps you to get access to a wide array of products and services, what is the first thing that you would do? I am sure, you would use that solution only. This is what apps help in. With these solutions, customers get quick access to services, along with the respective information related to that service, followed by information related to discounts, to name a few. All these in turn
help the business to stay connected to their users in a seamless manner and ensure that they can generate more leads. Through these points, I am sure it becomes clear thus that it undoubtedly is a good idea for you to get a mobile app built for your new venture. In the lines below, I have enlisted the steps to make this task easier. These will ensure to make your app a hit thereby transporting it to the next-gen level right from Day 1.
Steps to Build an App Driving Maximum Business Value from Day 1 Have a look at this image below:
The image above gives you a basic idea of the stages of the app development process. Here’s the same enlisted below.
Strategy creation Performing intensive analysis and planning Understanding the UI/UX design appropriate for the app Entering into the app development phase Adopting a regular testing approach to prevent bugs Deploying the app and getting support for the same subsequently
Have a look at this image below as well to understand the processes that are included during the course of mobile app development.
The image below above show the different stages of app development, along with the overall importance of each of these stages in percentage.
Image source: mobindustry.net
Now, let me explain each of these stages in detail below.
Stage 1: Performing Extensive Research A business idea seeming relevant to you may already have been used by someone else. This is a universal truth that entrepreneurs need to remember always. Therefore, to understand if your business is unique, make sure before anything else, you perform extensive research. This goes especially true if you are building an app. During the app development process, make sure to perform your research well. This includes understanding why you are building the app first, followed by the purpose it will serve, to the platform where you will get the app released. This can be done by locating your target audience. In other words, when you understand the purpose that your app will serve, it will automatically provide clarity on the people your solution will be able to serve. Therefore, in short, this is a stage that cannot be ignored at all, as it is an essential determinant for the success or failure of your business. Once you have performed this step, you enter the second stage, which is the planning stage.
Stage 2: Planning Though explained in the first point itself, it basically means, you understand the functions that if added will provide immense value to the end solution. This can include profile updates, writing content, and so on. It is however important to note that since the process is complex, it might take you a month actually to complete this stage. Thus, the best way to go about this is to implement a customization clone. Being responsive, and, easy to update, you can easily modify the solution as per your business requirements, and also simultaneously operate the solution across different platforms like Android, iOS, and so on. Now that you have completed this stage, wherein you decide on the platform, and so on, you enter into the wireframing stage, the third stage.
Stage 3: Wireframing Being an integral part of UI and UX design, wireframing helps you get a basic idea of the architecture of the app, and how it will appear to your users. As this step is really important, you should make sure not to avoid it so that your end-users get the best while using your solution.
Stage 4: Perform Coding Basically constituting three elements namely, UI, back-end, and front-end, the stage takes almost a duration of six weeks to complete. This stage supports the UI to transform itself so that it becomes easier to utilize a programming language. Once this step is performed, a completely functional prototype creation takes place, followed finally by adding functions within the solution. Now, as soon as this step gets completed, we enter into the fifth one which is constant testing.
Stage 5: Removing Bugs Performing miscellaneous Alpha and Beta tests are mandatory to prevent the presence of bugs within the app. This is a step that you need to follow. It will support you to ensure that your end-users can seamlessly operate the solution that you create. Now, you may be wondering about the meanings of Alpha, and, Beta tests. In the lines below, I have explained the same.
What are Alpha Tests?
Performed mostly in a closed test environment, these tests allow developers to break the app so that they can get an understanding of the occurrence of any possible mishaps, and in a situation wherein they may be occurring, they can get fixed immediately. Simple to understand? Now let me explain the meaning of Beta tests.
What are Beta Tests?
Basically being a beta version of the app, the solution gets unofficially released to a set of customers, also known as Beta testers. The audience thereafter on
getting access to the solution can analyze the app to understand the areas that require improvement and share it with the developers subsequently. Being a very integral part of mobile app development, this is a phase that needs to be implemented without any questions being asked. Once all these stages are completed, and you have been successful in ensuring that the end solution is free of bugs, you now enter into the final stage, that is, getting the app released. This involves basically making the solution available to your end-users and cooperating with the respective Play Stores (Android and iOS) to understand if your solution is performing well, and get ideas as well on the areas of concern (if any). Let me explain this area more below.
Stage 6: App Release In Stage 5, wherein you cooperate with the respective markets where you would be launching your app, that is Android or iOS, for that matter, and you gain an insight that your end-solution is good to go, you now can be sure that ‘Yes, I am ready.’ It is however crucial to prepare the metadata that are listed below1. The title of the app. 2. Describe the app. 3. Understand the category that the app will fall under. This may include games, real estate, or, even games. 4. Select keywords appropriately so that your end-users on adding a particular word find your app in the first list. To perform this task, you need to do extensive research on the keywords, and, get your digital marketing team involved. 5. Add an appropriate launch icon to introduce users to the app, and the appearance of the app when they would be using it across their devices. 6. Add app store screenshots. This will support your users to gain insight into the basic visual outlook of the solution. It is however recommended that while performing this task, you choose the image size carefully, as otherwise, you may not be able to achieve the desired goal of getting the right set of users for your end solution. With adherence to all these stages, your app would undoubtedly be able to attract maximum users towards you, and, simultaneously ensure that it works seamlessly without compromising on any form of privacy breaches at all.
Summing Up The mobile app development process regardless of being a very complex one, when followed with utmost precision will help to drive maximum value for your business by ensuring to drive maximum customers, and, most importantly, making certain that your business is able to gain a position of being a stalwart. Since it is your first app, therefore, it goes without saying, it should be the best, with unique features, unique visuals, and so on. However, the task of building an app from scratch may consume enormous time and finance. Therefore, the best way to go about it is to get in touch with a dedicated mobile app development company that holds sufficient expertise in building a customization mobile app. Using the latest tech stack, and having sufficient knowledge along with the areas of employing the best practices for this task, they will support you in creating a solution that drives maximum value for your business.