Smartphones have become vital communication tools for most of the population. With billions of smartphone users worldwide, dedicated applications are used to help grow businesses of all types and sizes.
Ultimate Guide to a Successful Mobile App Launch in 2021 Click To Tweet
People and businesses relied more on remote and mobile communication more than ever throughout a tumultuous 2020. As the globe continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic in 2021, mobile apps will again be an important tool for various uses and objectives. Launching a mobile app can increase your brand awareness and improve conversion rates that lead to more sales and profits.
What To Know Before Launching a Mobile App in 2021
Launching a mobile app can be an effective way to generate interest and expand your customer base. The coming year is expected to be another banner year for new apps in all kinds of businesses and topics. The following are some key elements that will help you succeed when you launch a mobile app in 2021.
Optimization Targets High-Value Clients
App store optimization (ASO) works in the same ways as search engine optimization (SEO). Ranking high in app store search results will put the app in front of users actively searching for your type of business and app features. Keyword research will help determine those terms and phrases people are using to search for apps like yours.
Testing Your Way to Success
Rolling out an app that has not undergone a series of tests throughout the development process is ripe for disaster. Testing apps is vital to weed out any bugs before it is launched in various app stores. Beta testing will bring to light technical glitches that will need to be fixed before an official launch.
Learn About Your Customers
With millions of apps available to cell phone users, it is essential to learn about your customer base and their needs before developing and launching an app. Comprehensive market research will reveal all you need to know about target audiences and the successes of other apps in your industry and niche markets.
In addition, reviews on competing apps and related blogs will give you a better idea about your customers’ needs and preferences. For example, our marketing team compiled a large list of questions based on comments, reviews, and questions left by our users and the users of our competitors. Our research concluded that the top three questions users asked were:
- How to parallel park?
- What are the hand signals for driving?
- How do Intersections work?
This research resulted in our marketing team writing in-depth articles related to those questions and sharing them to users asking these questions. You can see a live example of how we created an entire guide based on the user feedback with our uncontrolled intersections guide. By knowing your customer and having customer engagement you will not only retain more users and increase engagement, you will cultivate new users and be able to use all of the feedback you will be getting to make the best app on the market.
Provide Incentives To Get Current Users to Share App
Leading influencers and other industry thought leaders can help increase downloads and subscriptions by promoting your app through populated channels. Identifying the key influencers in your field and offering them special incentives will encourage them to mention your app and push downloads and purchases.
To illustrate why thought leaders are vital for app growth, we can use Zutobi’s growth as an example. A few months after launching our DMV practice test app on the apple and google play stores, our team noticed that downloads to our driver’s ed app had become stagnant. Our first strategy was to integrate a “Limited-Time Reward Incentive” that gave users an incentive for sharing our app to their family and friends. This incentive strategy resulted in a slight increase in app downloads.
Our marketing team then implemented a second strategy that consisted of reaching out to thought leaders and influencers. First we needed to know our demographic. Our research determined that our user demographic consisted of teens trying to get their driver’s permit for the first time. Using this date, we compiled a list of influencers that resembled our demographic and reached out to them.
This strategy resulted in Zutobi averaging 100,000 monthly users within the first year. Fast forward to the beginning of 2021 and we are now averaging 250,000 monthly users.
Provide Incentives For Return Visits to App
Providing users valuable, time-sensitive incentives will promote return visits to your app. Offer some sort of reward for returning each day for the first week to get new users in the habit of opening the app regularly. Ongoing incentives can also work over longer periods to keep the user coming back.
Learn About Marketing Apps
You have put in a lot of time, effort, and energy to develop, create, and launch your business app. To reach your app’s specific objectives, you will need to learn about the various ways and methods to market the app and get it in front of those users who can benefit most. There are a variety of marketing apps to help you get your app noticed and build traction.
Develop What Users Want, Not What You Want
It is fun and exciting to create app features and functions that you enjoy. However, not everyone may have the same sensibilities and passions. Ensure you are developing an app with functionality and information that mass numbers of cell phone users will want and not simply an outlet for your personal preferences alone.
Ensure App Can Handle Growth
One of the primary objectives of launching an app is to grow your customer base and your business. Assume your app will be a huge success. Build in the necessary safeguards and developmental elements that will help you handle rapid growth of app downloads, website visits, and sales.
Keep Updating to Offer Fresh Value
Users have a lot of choices and will only return to your app if you provide fresh content and value with regular updates and feature additions. Make each update and function improvement a big deal with anticipatory announcements, social media postings, and press releases detailing the changes and updates ahead.
Have Fun!
The development and marketing of cell phone applications is a fun and exciting venture. It is an exercise that combines the best of technology and creativity. If you are not having fun with the process of developing and launching a new app for your company, existing and potential customers will feel it when they log onto the app.
Ways to Make Money From Your App
In addition to supplying important information and deals to serve and expand your customer base, your app can also be used to generate additional revenue streams. Common ways to use your app as a money-making tool include:
In-App Advertisements
Banner displays and video ads are the most popular ways to make money from your app. You can also charge to upgrade the app to a version without ads.
Purchases Made From the App
More than half of all apps on the market today use some sort of in-app purchasing model to generate revenue. You can charge for premium content bonuses, games, and upgrades.
Subscription Fees
Users pay a premium subscription fee to access premium content.
Charging for Your App
You can charge a flat fee for your app, though most people will sacrifice quality and functionality for free versions of similar apps.
Mobile App Development Can Help Grow Your Business in 2021
As we head into 2021, with so many people continuing to work and learn remotely, mobile communication will again be a primary resource for individuals and businesses.
A mobile app can be a highly effective tool to connect and engage with existing and potential customers. In today’s crowded and complicated digital marketing landscape, it is more important than ever for your new app to offer quality content and real value to the consumer.
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General FAQs
Top trending apps like Uber, Amazon, Netflix were also dreams but today they all are successful enterprises.
There’s design and development work, coding, testing, refining, and finally, launch. On average, the whole process takes 12 to 18 weeks, and can require a sizable team, depending on what you’re building.
With over ten years of data at our disposal, most quality apps cost between $100,000 to $1,000,000. Some apps will be less and some more. If you’re looking for an app built with great design, superior development, and clever marketing though, it will be somewhere in that range.
