Reasons for Conducting Market Research For Mobile App Development
Introduction
Mobile apps had come a long way from when they were limited to a few niches; almost every business can create an application resonating with their business idea now. There are apps for everything, even for providing information, but they aren’t always successful, are they? That is why we are here today to discuss the right way to research for your mobile app’s development.
There are multiple ways to market research, and while some may be feasible for some, for others, they might not be. But we need to put in our perspective and business in the points we will mention, to draw out if the strategy works for you or not. Before we get started on tips for conducting market research, we would like to walk you through why mobile apps are important, and statistics to prove so.
Why Should You Consider Getting a Mobile App Developed?
Internet is a necessity for a business to survive, it is the only way to build a presence outside of your locality. Even if we consider your locality only, people check the authenticity of a business, be it of any type, by searching for it on the internet. Take an example of a very small bank, would you put your money in it if you can’t find it online? The simple answer is no one would, and internet presence is a must to build credibility.
The two most popular app stores have about 4million apps cumulatively, according to this statista report.
The world is going towards optimization so fast; it is almost reaching perfection for the technological capabilities we have. While we wouldn’t rule out getting a website, that too is a basic necessity, getting a mobile app developed would be the only way if you want an application. Web applications are advancing with desktops, but for mobile users, they are nothing but a pain to operate and use. Building an optimized UI/UX is only possible when you choose mobile app development.
Importance of Research
Research is an integral part of expanding or starting up a new business, no matter the business type or the niche you are planning to target. Now, even if a mobile app is only going to be a small wing of your business, it will be an engaging medium for mobile users and should be researched very intricately.
And let’s face reality, even though mobile apps promise a very high RoI, the investment involved will be quite a bit, even if you go around building Hybrid apps.
There will be real money involved, targets, achievements, engagements, and a plethora of possible new customers. So take research seriously, you would save a lot of money and time when you wouldn’t have to rectify basic problems.
Why and What You Need to Research When Building a Mobile App?
Both why and what goes hand in hand when it comes to researching before starting your mobile app, and we will explain to you each of the points below briefly. From idea validation to who you would need to hire, in case you made up your mind while going through these points, we will cover it all below.
- Idea validation
- Competitors
- Need for an app like yours
- App development technology to choose
- Who do you need to hire?
Let’s start with an explanation of each of the points mentioned above.
Idea validation
The first and foremost stepping stone to mobile app development, it begins with simply asking your family and friends, to even after you have run the app in pilot mode. Research is a very important tool for validating your idea, even if it means investing time and money in it. Validation isn’t about asking your friends, but making an analysis based on different types of users, in the audience, you finalize as your target audience.
Your target audience would be those who would be most likely interested in downloading your mobile app, and The filters could be many, age, sex, demographics, even users bifurcated according to Android/iOS (you will need this), and many more. This will help you set everything up much better, and can help you with both saving development cost and marketing costs.
Competitors
Have you ever heard of the competition giving you things? In this case, the competitors would likely give you a lot of information about what works and what should be avoided. Take all your time to analyze the top 10 mobile apps in the niche you are targeting, look out for everything small to big. In case you don’t have competitors having a mobile app, there is a big risk involved as if there’s profit people would be there.
In an ideal scenario, if you are the first one in the idea, the road ought to be tougher, as you won’t have anyone to look up to, or even around for that instance. We highly recommend you widen your search to macros, and search around, to see if someone who is secondary competition exists, and follow the same approach mentioned above to analyze their strategy.
Need for an app like yours
Opening a random website is no hassle for nobody, and people still jump if it doesn’t load in 3 seconds. We are in the downloading a mobile app league, for which it takes times, along with boosting hopes of the customers from your business. If not worse, people will at least leave bad reviews for bad apps, and for many that have been the end of their respective apps.
Put it in your research, use tools like Google Trends, to see if what you are planning to offer is trending, or do market research based on so. This is one of the most basic and important research required, try surveying, and try finding people to ask if they really need your app. Focus your energy on this step, because without a purpose, people may download your app, but won’t be using it.
App development technology to choose
Since there are a lot of ways to get a mobile app developed, it is rather better to research which one would suit your needs beforehand. Research thoroughly on different technologies to draw out which suits your budget and timeline. The first choice would be where your users are if you want to target both app platforms or if your users belong to the one.
If you are planning to target one platform only, native should be a top choice, but then you can get 2 for the same price if you choose Cross-platform or Hybrid app development or even PWA development for some cases. Let’s talk about each of them briefly to give you an idea about how each of the development technology will workout depending on what you choose.
Native app development
It is the most capable and expensive development path to walk upon if your target users belong to both Android and iOS, and if you plan to optimize your app to the greatest, consider Native app development at top priority.
Cross-platform app development
One of the most sought after technologies in the mobile app development world right now, short time to develop, reducing the cost, team size, yielding two slightly less optimized iOS and Android applications compared to native apps.
Hybrid app development
Works on multiple platforms, adding new ones is even easier than cross-platform app development, they run in the browser engine. They are based on reviews, less pricey and comparatively less optimized, less performance-oriented.
PWA
Progressive web apps tap into a different market, as these can be downloaded on multiple platforms with no separate coding, and can be downloaded on devices through websites directly, which means bypassing strict app store laws.
Choose based on other requirements, make a cumulative decision based on requirements, budget, developer availability, and the rest of the points mentioned in this blog.
Who do you need to hire?
This is one of the toughest questions for both entrepreneurs and business owners, who do you need to hire for your mobile app’s development? There are two vivid wide choices, outsourcing the project to a mobile app development company, or building your own team. Either of the choices will set a course of action for your app development journey.
You need to make a choice between if you need to work on the app forever, and have investment to pour, building your own team might work better. But then there are, of course, custom mobile app development companies which already employ the best developers there, who probably wouldn’t like to join a business with a dicey future, increasing risks further.
Let’s briefly see the benefits and cons of both.
Building a team by yourself
The possibilities are endless, you can employ as many people at your will and your affordability. You can have them work in your office if planning to hire local developers and get everything done at priority. But many believe this is an old and inefficient strategy, as it costs much more than hiring a mobile app development company.
Hiring a mobile app development company
Finding a good mobile app development company to work with is probably the only hassle you would face, Matellio, for instance, provides the best of services, and you wouldn’t know until you were here reading this blog and knowing the name. The only con to it would be finding companies that hire inefficient developers, researching the best ones can be a good bet to enter the app market.
Conclusion
Off to the conclusion to this blog now, we hope you have gained insights on what to research, how to research when planning a mobile app for your business. Mobile app development is both a high risk – high reward business, and a low risk – low reward, based on your niche and of course, your idea’s feasibility. Many top companies we see today, started from just an idea, built a mobile app around it, and are world leaders in the services they provide.
With the right amount of research and the right mobile development company by your side, building a capable mobile app is very much possible. Focus much of your resources on planning to minimize and mitigate risks involved in entering the mobile app market. If you have any more questions, feel free to contact us anytime, if you are looking for quality mobile app development services, we can provide you with it. Wishing you the best for your mobile application development endeavours.
