Launching a successful app is, unfortunately, a little more complicated than simply building the best product. In a fickle and highly competitive market, a superior app doesn’t always come out on top. Making sure you’ve researched your market, enacted a social and marketing campaign and keep on top of user feedback is all essential to app success. Read on to hear our top tips for launching your app on Google Play.
Research Your Market
You may think you have a unique and brilliant idea for an app – but are you sure nobody has beaten you to it? The Play store is full of lookalike apps competing in an already crowded market. It’s essential to undertake a full phase of research into the market for your app and what your competitors are already doing.
However, don’t worry too much if there are already similar apps out there. Use this as inspiration to give your own app a USP (unique selling point) and innovate further on what’s already out there. You need your app to stand out from the crowd.
Establish A Pricing Strategy
How you plan to monetize your app may in fact influence how you develop it. If you’re launching an app that hooks users by starting out free and then has paid addons or extra features, you’ll need to develop it along a very different model than if your app is a sophisticated paid version from the outset.
Your market for the app may also influence your pricing strategy. If you’re aiming for a specialist niche and your app targets a specific problem then you may consider launching a paid or subscription model. If, however, you’re targeting a broader audience, a freemium model may be the best way to monetize your app.
Test The App
When bringing an app to the market, testing is one of the most important phases because it allows you to discover exactly how your app is functioning and tweak any bugs that may appear. If an app is not fully tested, users will quickly discover its flaws and you’ll be a flop in the Play Store.
Terry Gibson, app development blogger reports that “it’s especially challenging to develop an app for Android because this open source platform is supported by over 4000 different types of device. That means you need a thorough testing strategy to make sure your app is ready.”
Think About Screen Size
With so many devices to develop for, you need to ensure your app is functioning on a wide variety of screen sizes and ensure that it scales well. Having your app run in two possible resolutions, so that it looks great on both devices with high resolution screens as well as lower ones is absolutely essential to producing a successful Android app.
In the Play store you can define the devices that you want your app to be available to – this lets you restrict who can use your app. If you want to bring your app to market faster you can be more restrictive, releasing an early version with limited devices in mind.
Get Testimonials Before You Launch
In the competitive app market people are unwilling to take a risk on an unknown entity, which makes launching a new app quite a challenge. One way around this is to get some early testimonials for your app – these stand out as encouraging reviews that make people more likely to purchase your app.
A testimonial from a trusted source can have the biggest impact – a simple statement of enthusiasm from a celebrity or newspaper source, once placed in your app description, can make a huge difference to how people perceive your app and ultimately start shelling out for it.
Plan Your Marketing Strategy
App developers know the value that their app offers – but unfortunately not everyone else does. You cannot assume that a “Field Of Dreams” model will work for your app – just because you build it, it doesn’t mean that they will come!
You need to establish your marketing strategy from the outset to ensure that people are aware of your app as it hits the Play Store. Issuing a press release is an excellent way to build up a buzz about your app before it launches and social media is invaluable for building a campaign.
Get The Word Out
As well as an effective marketing strategy you need to make sure that once people are using your app they’re encouraged to spread the word. This will grow your app into a Play store sensation.
Reaching out to blogs and getting posts shared on Twitter and other social platforms are essential for building a strong network of people discussing your app.
Track Your App
If you thought all the hard work was over once you’ve launched your app, think again. “Launching your app is really just the beginning,” says Timothy Barajas, tech writer at Last Minute Writing. “You need to pay close attention to how your app is faring once it’s out in the world, so you can intervene if uptake isn’t as high as expected.”
Your marketing strategy and social media approach should be flexible, not fixed. By leveraging Play store analytics you can ensure a real-time response to any flaws that emerge in these strategies.
Offer User Support
No matter how much you tested your app, you can’t assume it’s perfect so paying attention to user experience once the app is launched is essential. Building a system that listens to users and responds to feedback in a responsive manner is the best way to ensure your app is able to grow.
An FAQ enables users to get information immediately, as does a live chat on your website. User feedback is essential to your apps long-term success in the marketplace.
Conclusion
There’s a lot to consider when launching an app and it comes down to more than the code. These top tips will give you the recipe for app store success. Ready, set, launch!
Author’s Bio: Ronald Cain is a tutor at GumEssays.com. He’s been an avid videographer for over a decade now and loves sharing advice and tips on his personal blog. More recently, he’s started helping businesses get up to date with how video can help them spread brand awareness and how to create impactful video that’s worth producing.
Android Play Store Apps – Image by 200 Degrees from Pixabay.