The 9 Stages of App Development
You may have a great idea for a useful or even fun app but just how do you take your great idea to the launchpad and release it upon an unsuspecting world?
We would like to present our App Development Framework. This is our way of pulling back the curtain on what we believe are essential steps and considerations required when creating an app.. Although it may look like your Grandma’s knitting pattern at first glance, this is a straightforward and easy guide to the many complex stages of creating, developing and launching an app.
Why are we sharing this? In the 9 years we have been operating, we have seen multiple app ideas and prospects that just didn’t make it to market. The reasons for this are many and varied but we have witnessed commonalities along the way that are able to share now, knowledge that might help you from making the same mistakes along your own journey.
Imagine you’re making a meal for friends, you have all the ingredients and the recipe, you just need to get it right on the night. Wouldn’t it be so much easier, with some guidance from somebody who’s trialled, errored and perfected it already? Knowledge, as someone once said, is power. Shared knowledge is even more powerful…
We as a company and as individuals, benefit from the open nature of the app marketing world and we feel it’s our responsibility to give a little back when we can. Just a few minutes considering our App Development Framework here could save you months of stress and difficulty further down the line. All the thinking you should be doing about strategy, planning & analysis, design, development, testing, deployment and support has all been done for you.
As an app marketing agency, we frequently see examples where apps struggle in the user acquisition phase. Often this is simply because they haven’t sufficiently addressed or completed the key stages in the run up to the marketing phase. One of the most common starting mistakes is not enough research. What exactly is your niche? Is there actually a market for your grand idea of an app? All too often, failure to adequately undertake competitor research could quickly see apps failing to stand out from the crowd.
So, to help with this, we have drawn on our vast app marketing experience to publish a free and comprehensive visualisation of the App Evolution Framework. This is a roadmap to app development and marketing that has been created to complement your own abilities and to assist with filling some of those inevitable knowledge gaps. It’ll also help you to see where important app marketing strategies such as Search Ads and ASO, fit into the overall picture.
Information is really just the data or details of a subject, but knowledge draws from the experience of somebody who’s understood and used that data. We think that sharing knowledge is great for building rapport and relationships and the process we are detailing here is something we do for all our clients, big or small.
We have never thought of ourselves as gatekeepers, creating a knowledge-sharing culture allows everyone to tap into a wide and useful range of experts! We have people who have built skills, techniques and best practices that are specific to your app. By sharing those experiences, we can help skip the trial and error phase of any app development and get straight to success. Even if you are partway through your app development, you can jump in anywhere and find the right steps that will lead your app to success. It’s also a useful way to review what you have achieved so far and make improvements.
Take a little time now to consider our App Development Framework and save yourself a lot of time and trouble in your own journey. In this spirit of openness, we will publish a more comprehensive view of the process soon.
THINK. DESIGN. BUILD. & WIN
Ever wondered how to take your app ideas and turn them into successful products? The iOS App Creation Funnel from Redbox Mobile provides a clear guide to achieving just that.
- Market Research: Analysing competitors and the market is a great way to identify what your app needs to offer, in order to be competitive
- Planning: Agreeing your key features, unique selling points and how to monetise your app, will make creation and design a lot easier
- Design: Before you start building your app, create the look and feel. Take time to consider usability so that customers get the most from the app
- App Build: There are several ways to build an app and it's important to familiarise yourself with the pros and cons of each
- Testing/Feedback: There are a number of test tools available. User feedback on your app is invaluable as you get a chance to understand what works and what doesn't
- Launch Strategy: Before you submit your app, it is important to create buzz around it and make sure potential users are aware of your upcoming product
- Publish: Once your app has been submitted to the App Store it will go through a review process; for best results, make sure you're aligned with App Store guidelines!
- Marketing: Prepare your launch strategy early and execute it once you submit your app. This is the moment to start building consumer awareness and interest
- Analyse: For greater understanding of how users interact with your app and how your marketing efforts are performing, you need to have an analytic framework in place
If you have any questions or would like to discuss our ideas and how they could benefit your business, get in touch today!