A Step-by-Step Guide To Building Your First Mobile App

First thing first – ask yourself why is a mobile app required for your business or idea? The answer to this question will provide whether your app will be of success or not.

Let’s get started with the guide, however there has to be a little disclaimer that it might not work for everyone. This is what our personal experience reveals as we have delivered services to various types of clients, helping them build and market their mobile apps. Note the points or information which suits your strategy best, and follow it to the hilt.

Step 1: Get an idea or a problem.

The base for every creation is the idea or a problem which makes you think about the creation – basically your app is solving what problem identified in the market? If you already have an app idea then you can go to step two. If not, then let’s explore together. Want to build an app but don’t have an app idea yet? What you really need are problems, and they’re everywhere!

Successful entrepreneurs get the solution to the problems in a way that we could not have imagined. When aware of your surroundings, every single product and service you use were all created to solve a dedicated problem. For example if you are feeling hot, you can switch on the fan, you want to have more comfort, then go for A.C.

So look for problems in your day to day life and list each one of them. Once you have a pretty good list, then start to think about the solution to those problems and shortlist the ones that make most sense.

Step 2: Identify the need.

Validation will give you the assurance that a demand exists for your app. You can validate your idea by using the Google Keyword Planner tool to get ideas of how many people are looking for what you’re trying to do. You could also design a landing page that broadly highlights your app idea and seek user interest by email signup, for example.

Step 3: Lay out the flow and features.

Validation of your idea gives you insights that you might be on track for something that people would like to use. Now it is the time to move further with the detail of your product onto a document, or if you want to make it worth it then we suggest you use a wireframing tool.

When writing your ideas down on a paper, always keep in mind to be as detailed as possible. Include the flow of how the user will navigate the app as well as all the features envisioned. This will help your developer to simply understand your expectations.

Step 4: Remove non-core features.

From the detailed document that you have prepared in the previous step, start at the least important or irrelevant points that you can remove. Provide only the core value of your app idea. Never add all the ‘nice to have’ features at the first version and so you can always add them later as an update. This will in return help the initial costs of development down and also help you get to market easily and quickly.

Step 5: Put design first.

We have so many clients saying that we just want a basic design with focus on developing the app. This is so wrong as while designing an app it’s not about the look and design it’s about the user’s experience when they interact with the app. Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures best explains it: “Design is a way of making technology useful.” So look for a developer who puts design (user experience and graphics) first.

Step 6: Hire a designer/developer.

Now it’s the time when you must seek a development company that has great design talent and also a great development team.

Step 7: Create developer accounts.

You must register for a developer account with the respective app stores to be able to sell your app by their platform. Also you have the option of registering as an individual or as a company, if you already have one formed.

Step 8: Integrate analytics.

Setting up the Analytics helps you track your information like downloads, user engagement and retention for your mobile app.

Step 9: Get feedback quickly and improvise.

Once your app is live on the app store, the first set of customers’ usage and behavior will give you ideas about how to improve and enhance your app. Always start with a pre launch campaign in order to test the customer journey along with any enhancements required prior to the final official launch. Keep track of user feedback and keep updating your app.

Step 10: Introduce features.

Build version one with only certain features and only the core offering. Now it is the time to evaluate and also to build in the remaining features that were left out in the initial phase. You will get this information through analytics and feedback whether the features are relevant anymore.

These steps are a guideline on how you can initiate and build your app in the most effective manner based on our experiences. Once you are all set up with the initial steps, you must also know that building a mobile application is the easiest part and getting all the potential customers and visitors is where the challenge lies. There are various strategies to implement in order to obtain new users and to make the existing engage and use the app.

 

To understand more connect with our team today at [email protected] 

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Here is Why Your Ecommerce Store Needs a Mobile App

Whether to have Ecommerce websites and mobile commerce, or m-commerce, options aren’t an either/or circumstance. Both play various roles in the client journey and cater to various audiences. What is fundamental is that you don’t overlook mobile experiences while designing the ecommerce strategy for your business.

As per the Pew research, 8 out of 10 Americans are online shoppers, and 51% of them use mobile phones while shopping. If you aren’t utilizing mobile traffic, your business is more likely to miss out the important conversions even at the present time.

Whereas a responsive site is an excellent beginning point in your m-commerce journey, having a mobile app has different benefits than having a mobile website. Here is why your ecommerce business requires also a mobile-app as an add-on to your a mobile-responsive website:

1. Easy to use and provides better user experience

Even though you have a responsive website for your business, when the user logs onto it, the browser would always ask the user to sign into the account in order to move further for shopping. Whereas in mobile apps, the user information is already stored in the app and the users are required only to sign in once, while they download the app.

And since the users don’t require to sign in every time while shopping online, the ease of use is higher and the user satisfaction is also high. Mobile applications also help the users to switch between different tabs, making navigation and overall user experience simpler in comparison to that of the website.

2. Access to phone-native features

The phone’s native capabilities can be utilized using mobile apps, which is not possible in the mobile websites case. The integration of built-in smartphone features like GPS and cameras helps the user with enhanced user experience. Interactive shopping with the help of augmented and virtual reality is an app-only feature.

The other advantage is the fact native apps are available for offline use. The apps do acquire the space on the user’s device, they can be used even when the phone is not connected with the internet, resulting in an on-the-go shopping experience for the users.

3. Using mobile apps as a marketing channel

Mobile apps provide an opportunity to convey a unified omnichannel experience to the clients. Apps can permit social media integration that joins the different channels of client engagement. The client choices are saved within the app, promoting customized content being displayed to the potential clients.

Using geofencing and push notifications sent out to the user’s device when they are in proximity of the physical stores or in case of any special offer can also result in a more engaged customer base.

Using geofencing and push notifications sent out to the client’s device when they are in proximity of the physical stores or in case of any special offer can also bring about a more engaged client base.

4. Easy checkout with several payment options

Shopping-cart desertion is the biggest problem that retail businesses face. Whether in-store or on an ecommerce platform, clients are more likely to to leave the app if the checkout possesses complexity or problem.

Mobile apps eradicated friction from the checkout process by making it interactive. The global popularity of mobile wallets exists only because they help in fast processing of transactions. Features like fingerprint scanning and facial recognition help eradicate the problem from the checkout and payment process by allowing faster authentication.

5. Incorporation of advanced tech for interactive customer experience

Mobile apps and technology go along altogether. Incorporation of augmented reality in mobile apps is already taking place, with brands like IKEA and Sephora leading the transformation. The inclusion of AR/VR in apps makes them more interactive and results in potential client experiences.

Apps also take into account the integration of artificial intelligence in the form of chatbots to work with the client in searching for their favored things and getting them through the checkout. Customized shopping assistants that are controlled by AI algorithms would soon turn into the standard, making shopping simple and fun — as it ought to be.

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How to fit mobile marketing to your marketing strategy?

One important component of digital marketing is mobile marketing.

Over 70% of B2B buyers for instance increased mobile usage over the past years and 50% of B2B search queries today are made on smartphones, a number that has grown to 70% this year alone. Mobile marketing can accelerate time to B2B purchase by 20 percent. Furthermore, smartphone usage accounts for 69% of time spent consuming digital media, while desktop-based digital media consumption makes up less than half – in some countries this number is even higher!

Top 10 Mobile Statistics
– 80% of online users utilized a mobile device to search the internet in 2019
– 40% of online transactions are conducted by a mobile device
– US mobile search ad spending was estimated at USD 28.12 Billion in 2019
– More than 50% of websites are responsive that work for all devices
– More than 3/4 shoppers use mobile devices in addition to physical shopping
– Mobile advertising accounted for 72% of all U.S. digital ad spending by end of 2019
– Nearly half of online shoppers tend to read the reviews on their mobile phones
– Website speed is crucial for more than 50% of the mobile users
– You are likely to loose 50% of your online customers if they face a bad experience with your eCommerce site
– 3 out of 4 teens regularly shop online today

 

With this in mind, it is essential to optimize your digital ads, web pages, social media images, and other digital assets for mobile devices. If you have a mobile app that enables users to engage with your products, your app falls under the digital marketing umbrella, too.

 

Customers that are engaging with your business online via mobile devices must have the same positive and easy experience as they would if they were on desktop. It is becoming crucial for your business to adapt to this and implement a mobile-friendly or responsive website to make the browsing user-friendly, in particular for those on mobile devices. As the mobile version of your digital assets are minimized in terms of the actual view, it is recommended to reduce the length of your content, ways of displaying important information, smaller lead generation forms and visuals to create a pleasant search experience for customers. When it comes to design of images for social media, it’s important to remember that the image dimensions should be smaller on mobile devices, meaning text can be cut-off.

There are plenty of ways you can optimize your digital marketing assets for mobile users, and it is hugely important to consider the buyer journey on mobile devices. By always considering this, you are destined to create pleasant digital experiences which will work for your customers, while you are achieving the results that you are aiming for.

 

Ready to try digital marketing for your business? This is how to proceed…
For those that are already leveraging off digital marketing, it’s highly likely that you are reaching some segments of your audience online. However, given the vast scope and various growth hacking strategies that only experts in digital can implement, there is no doubt that there might be some areas of your strategy that could use some improvement which will result in high ROI.

At Blupord, we carefully breakdown each segment of your strategy and provide you with an effective digital strategy that is suited for your business, setting you apart from your competition in no time. Our step-by-step approach rooted in local and international experience will assist your business to flourish in no time in a truly effective way. Each client is treated in a unique way and only strategies that we believe are suited for your business will be implemented, tested and optimized. Talk to our team today – It is time for your business to prosper.

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Team Blupord May 6, 2020 0 Comments