Developing an App for Your Business? Avoid These Common Mistakes

*Guest Post*

Mobile apps are a fantastic way to expand your business’s offerings and make your product or service a part of peoples’ everyday lives. As smartphones become more and more ubiquitous, businesses everywhere are trying to figure out how to capture the mobile market. It might be time for your business to make its mobile mark. 

However, there are some significant — and, unfortunately, fairly common — mistakes business owners make when diving into app creation. Luminwise presents this guide to help you anticipate some of these issues and avoid them before they arise.

 

Putting Out a Hard-to-Use App 

Obviously, all businesses want to create great, highly functional apps, but many wind up putting out something else altogether. For some businesses, this comes down to the choice to use a DIY app builder. These are appropriate for some very specific circumstances, but most businesses should avoid them. They might save you a little bit of money, but you’re likely to end up with an app that doesn’t stand out and might be less functional than you’d like. Plus, if you wind up hiring a developer to replace it later on, then it’s money wasted rather than saved. 

If an app builder is appropriate for your business and circumstance, you should still be mindful of how the final product turns out. Hiring app testers to systematically check your app can make a big difference. Not only will they be able to catch any major issues, but they can also give you general user feedback. This can empower you to address any counterintuitive elements that might turn customers away. 

 

Delaying Until the App Is Perfect 

The flipside of app functionality woes are businesses that delay putting out their app until it’s completely perfect. Holding your business to high standards is great, but upgrades, changes, and fixes are the nature of app development. Creating and maintaining your mobile app is an inherently ongoing process, so it often makes more sense to release your app at its minimum viable product point. 

In this case, that means an app that provides an obvious and intuitive function and connects properly to any databases that it must to function properly will suit your company’s brand and mission. Once you’ve reached this point, you can get your app into stores and make changes with feedback to guide you. User reviews can be absolutely invaluable when it comes to building additional features down the line since they allow your customers to tell you exactly what is — and isn’t — useful for them. 

 

Failing to Adapt to Trends and Research 

Finally, you can put out a wonderful app that customers can download and use and still wind up failing in the end. To illustrate this point, let’s compare Vine and Instagram. Vine was an extraordinarily popular app, but it remained mostly the same from its creation to its downfall — which only lasted about three years. Although this lack of innovation is only part of the picture of Vine’s short lifespan, the app failed to recognize trends that might have allowed it to sustain itself longer. 

Compare this to Instagram, one of the most popular and long-lasting mobile apps on the market. This platform is constantly testing new features on small markets, getting feedback, and releasing what works onto their app as a whole. They take a very systematic and user experience-informed approach to making sure the app stays current and provides functions that customers want. This approach is an absolute must for any business that wants to keep its app alive for the long run. 

 

Not Paying Close Attention to Your Business

Last but certainly not least, you need to keep a close watch on the “business” of developing your app. To help you out in this regard, turn to apps and business software that can help you streamline certain aspects of your business like customer relationship management, cybersecurity, and payment processing. You can also use “hacks” to help promote your app in the lead-up to its release; use an online banner maker, for example, to create graphics and artwork for your website and social media pages. These tools are free to use and extremely easy to customize.

Your business’s mobile app could be a fantastic way to engage with your customer base over a new medium. We hope this article gives you the information you need to dodge some common pitfalls and create an app that lets your company shine!

 

Guest Post by Amy Collett of Bizwell.org

Photo Credit: Unsplash

 

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