You’re a small business owner and you want to take your business to the next level, whether it’s to scale to serve more people or offer your existing customers additional value. You’re thinking about building an app, but you’re hesitant, for good reason. Looking down at a high level, there are a few guiding principles to increase your odds of success and make the process a little easier. I want to share with you some quick tips that can help you, and if needed, point you in the right direction so that you can learn more. If you’re looking for a place to start your app creation journey, start here.
Building the Right App
Don’t just build an app. Build the right app.
App ideas are everywhere. They’re all around us. But that doesn’t mean all app ideas are good. You need more than one app idea to find a good one. Often, app creators fall into the trap of creating apps that they would use. Just cause you create an app, doesn’t mean it will generate success. There are going to be potentially thousands, even millions of people using your app. All those people have different brains, different life experiences, different preferences, perspectives, and persuasions. You cannot base the experience of one (you) to fit perfectly with the hundreds and thousands of people out there. You’ll need to validate your app.
A good place to start with market validation is to ask yourself these questions:
– Will your app concept solve a problem users can’t already solve themselves by using existing products or services?
– Will your users feel a compelling reason to pay to use this app?
– Are they already paying for other solutions, whether they are your products or services or the products and services of others?
For those who are already running a business, where people are already paying for your product and/or services, in some cases we can use that as a proxy for app validation. Basically, they’re already paying you to solve their problem without the app. Even then, it doesn’t hurt to do a little more research to validate for market fit.
App Development Process
Some activities in app development need to be done in a certain order to yield the most benefit. Make sure to follow these app development phases in the right order to get the best results. The money that you invest up front with user stories and user experience design will be money well spent. The order of phases we recommend here at AppCreative is as follows:
Market Validation -> User Story and Requirements Gathering -> UX design -> Development and Testing -> Deployment and Operations -> Continuous Improvement
If you so choose to find out more about these different phases, check out our other article, 6 Stages of Building an App for Your Small Business and 5 Things to Expect When Building an App.
App Development Funding
Building an app is not a cheap endeavor by any means. If you’re going to invest in custom software development, you need to be prepared to spend money. Building an app is like running a business. You’ll have cashflow considerations, like how much to spend on development, whether and when to seek for venture capital funding, and how and when to monetize your app.
The important thing is that you have the cash to do the right things at the right time. Learn more by reading App Development Funding.
App Development Pricing
For any small business, the price matters. You want to get the best quality for your money and understandably so. Oftentimes, app development companies will lowball the price in an attempt to get you hooked and to then sign papers, only to raise the price as time goes on, whereas Others will hedge their bets. Long story short, paying too little can end up costing you a lot in the long run, but paying too much up front will prevent you from getting started.
One piece of advice I have never forgotten was to “do it right from the beginning.” You need to find the right balance of value, expertise, and quality to make app development worth your time and money.
One thing that will help is to look for clauses in the agreement about the price changing. Sometimes people will give you a small price, but then you end up paying two or three times the amount you thought you would due to small changes throughout the development process. The best thing to look for is “progressive elaboration” and payment in stages so you know what to expect out of each stage. Whatever you do, DO NOT commit to the entire project up front.
For more help on pricing and budgeting, read Building an App on a Budget.
App Development Languages
Not all apps need to be mobile apps. Sometimes a web application is all you need, depending on your use cases. We’ve built web products that had no mobile components at all. If you do need a mobile app, in most cases, building a single hybrid app that can run on both iOS and Android devices works great. In a few situations, you may need to build separate native apps for both platforms.
Learn more by reading Native vs. Hybrid Apps.
Learning About App Development
When running a small business, there is a lot to learn. You’ll need to know at least enough about technology to make business decisions. You may think you’re not technical. That’s all in your mind. Even if you don’t feel technically savvy now, that can change. Give yourself some credit for what you do know and learn a little more every day. Invest in YOU. Believe in yourself because you can do it if you put your mind to it. You may just want to avoid the discomfort that is involved in learning something new, but by doing so, you miss out on learning the principles and the understanding that can help you run your business more efficiently.
I promise it isn’t as bad as you think it is. Try applying yourself and learn the basics by reading 5 Basics About Technology Every Software Entrepreneur Needs to Know.
Expand Your Network
Other software entrepreneurs can and will inspire you, lift you, and expand your vision into what’s possible. Oftentimes they know what you are going through. Heck, they may even be experiencing the same challenges that you are. These people will respect your willingness to take risks because they have had to do the same. When you interact with these people, it will help to open up insights into their experiences. You’ll learn from their errors and in turn, avoid making them.
To get you started, learn about some of the mistakes we made as we created apps by reading App Development Risks.
As you can see, there are lots of different aspects that will need to be considered when creating an app. But the most important thing to know is that you are not alone, and that you don’t need to know everything at the beginning. Here at AppCreative, we believe that apps are the way of the future. Apps can not only “change the world,” but more importantly, change your world, so get started!
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