With mobile app planning, businesses are trying to take advantage of the ever increasing trends towards mobile. Success within this landscape can become a reality – but only if supported by a well managed.
One of the reasons why some mobile apps fail is because of poor planning. So, building a solid mobile strategy is no longer just a good idea, it is a requirement.
So, when you develop a mobile app, you need to start with a clear understanding of what you’re building, for who and why. This is essential to provide the business and the development team with clear direction going forward.
Mobile App Planning
Also, the first stage of developing an app involves answering two distinct sets of fundamental questions:
- Why do you want to create this app? Why should it exist? How will it help create value for its users? Will people actually want to use this app? Which people? Why?
- Does this type of app already exist? If it exists, why do you believe it can outperform your competition? How will your app be different and better than what’s already available?
So, to be able to answer these questions, you should research your target market and your ideal users. Because ideally you conduct in-depth research on market demand and customer needs, making sure to…
- identify and justify a “monetizable customer pain-point”, because a problem that your customers experience that can be solved and monetized using an app
- calculate the size of the market
- validate the proposed solution.
Product Roadmap
Developing a mobile app is always risky, so creating a product roadmap is essential for a successful project. This strategic document outlines the major stages of the app development process and its main goal is to link your product vision and your business goals.
Creating a product roadmap is all about prioritising the features of your app. Start by asking yourself what the core functionality and value this app offers to users? What is the most essential value stream that the app will deliver to solve your customers’ problem?
Usually, a roadmap contains the following key points:
Product vision – what you want your final product to be
Strategy – overall execution plan detailing what you need to do to deliver the requirements
Goals – objectives to be measured by specific metrics
Metrics – what needs to be measured to assess meeting the goals, e.g. organic traffic, download rate, subscription conversions, churn rate
Iteration Plan – what dates and potential features will comprise each staged release of the app
Feature – a piece of a product: functionality or a 3rd party application
Time frame – time necessary (approximate value) for a certain goal/feature to be completed
Prototype
A prototype is a representative, demonstrable version of the planned mobile application. Prototypes are often built where a cheap test or demo version of the app is required for a specific purpose such as fundraising, resource allocation, ideation or market validation.
Prototypes are useful in bringing mobile concepts to life and in aiding stakeholders envisage the value proposition of the app. Written descriptions of mobile applications sometimes fail to resonate effectively. Producing mobile applications can be risky because of the time and cost involved. This risk can be mitigated by first producing a prototype version that can be assessed by internal planning teams, potential funding decision makers, target audience members and others whose opinion is of value.
Minimum Viable Product
Define your minimum-viable-product (MVP) and prioritise this for the initial launch.
An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is a first basic operational version of the app product with minimum and sufficient characteristics to be submitted to users, with the aim of understanding its potential and how it can be useful to them. If the prototype helps you understand the functionality of a product, the Minimum Viable Product is what can help you understand its desirability, usability and potential commercial value.
What Is Mobile App Planning and Why Is It Essential?
It’s easy to get excited when you have an idea for a mobile app that you think is revolutionary. However, before you start full-scale development, it’s worth thinking about mobile app planning. Do an in-depth market analysis, create a product roadmap and finally, you can create app with ON AIR App Builder. Start Now!
