In this time and age, the competition in the software market is getting fiercer as time passes by, and even if you have come up with a unique app idea, it won’t be easy to stand out. You or your development team needs to invest time, effort and the usage of tools like PractiTest’s test management tool to ensure the quality and efficiency of your software or app before releasing it into the market. Besides, pushing into the deployment stage unprepared is too risky since it may lead to costly, brand-damaging, and frustrating mistakes.
To help you and your team to be in a competitive advantage, we listed below some fundamental building blocks before pushing through the development process.
Let’s get started!
Perform an in-depth search about your concept in the market
This is something that most software or app developers neglect or forget to perform before jumping into the development process. As a software or app development company, it is essential to conduct an in-depth search of your concept in the Apple App Store or Google Play. Since there are already thousands of software or apps deployed, someone might already have created that very same idea that you have and being sold for some time now. After all, smart people tend to come up with the same ideas at the same time, so it’s highly possible that someone out there has already worked with the same concept as yours. However, what’s important is that you need to ensure that your software or app concept provides a solution to a problem that someone is currently facing. With this, you’ll have a better chance of winning the competition.
Consider your target market
After your in-depth search and finding out that your software is unique and has a competitive advantage among the rest in the app market within the same niche, it still doesn’t guarantee success. The reason is that you also need to consider your target market. After all, the people to whom you are going to sell your software will determine the success of your software as well as your business. No matter how good your software is if only a few could use it, then profiting out of it would be not easy.
So aside from considering how your software could solve people’s problems, also consider if there will be a lot of people who would want it for themselves. What you can do is release a trial version of your software during the development stage and see how the market will react and how many people will show interest in your software or app. It’s like giving them a teaser trailer from an upcoming movie. Use this opportunity to get user feedback so you can better plan the functionality and the design of your software according to your market’s preferences.
Mobile compatibility and platform
In the world of smartphones and other types of mobile devices, the two most popular operating systems being used are Android and iOS. Having said that, choosing only one mobile platform could also affect the success of your software. Apps for iOS are totally different from Android apps. Apps for iOS are developed using Swift or Objective-C programming, while Android apps are made using Java or Kotlin.
But thanks to our ever-evolving technology, a cross-platform framework has been created. By using a single programming language called “hybrid,” it could create apps that could run both on Android and iOS. With this new mobile platform, you can create a single app instead of two for these types of mobile operating systems. However, all three of them have their own disadvantages and advantages, so it is still important to have a solid understanding of them and consider your business needs.
Choose a speedy database
Almost all users nowadays are pretty sensitive when it comes to performances of their mobile apps, especially when we talk about speed. If any of their apps installed have glitches, chances are they’ll uninstall them quickly and find an alternative. Having said that, it is the reason why you should choose a speedy database for your apps since it can significantly affect your apps overall performance.
Below are some of the most crucial feature that an app database should have:
- Data structure
- Scalability and speed
- Data size to be stored
- Data accessibility
- Data security and safety
Conduct data testing
Another way to stand out in the competition is by ensuring the market that you have highly reliable software to offer. One of the ways to achieve it is by having a test management tool that could help you polish your software or app before releasing it in the market. A test management tool helps both software developers and QA testers in your team to perform several tests and detect issues that may potentially arise and resolve them accordingly. With data testing, it removes the issue of unreliability, which gives your software or app a competitive edge in the market.
Moreover, having a test management tool is also cost-effective in the long run since you don’t have to hire more people for quality assurance. The test management tool can do the rest of the data testing and would only require less human interaction.
Don’t forget about data security
Users nowadays are worried about the security of their personal information, especially their account passwords and bank details stored on their mobile devices. For instance, our smartphone is more like a gold mine since it contains lots of sensitive information about its owner, and unfortunately, some people would like to get their hands on it. It is essential that you ensure your potential customers that your software or app is secured and any data about them is well protected and will not be shared with third parties.
Create an engaging design
While creating a beautifully crafted design would entice potential users, it should be engaging and remove unnecessary elements to reduce distractions. In your registration form, for instance, having less than three input fields will be more straightforward than putting more fields. It will only make users get annoyed and frustrated, and the chance of abandoning the registration process is high due to terrible user experience.
To make a better experience for each of your users, try to create a conversation flow. It means your software or app registration or application process must be user-friendly as possible. Give them an impression of having a real conversation from a human. Also, it is highly recommended to avoid too much use of push notifications since they can sometimes be really annoying and distracting as well.
Utilize mobile analytics
Mobile analytics is essential to make technological innovations in the future. It helps you to check how things are working. Implementing analytics can help you to understand your customer’s behavior, thus enabling you to enhance the performance of your software or app. You can use the data to make better user interaction and engagement.
Consider monetization options
One of the primary or probably the most obvious reasons why lots of companies or people like you develop software or an app is to generate a profit from it. If it’s true, there are different types of app monetization models that you could use to money directly from your app:
- Freemium apps – These types of software or apps are free to download. However, some of the app’s features and premium contents are temporarily locked until they purchase the full version.
- Paid (premium) apps – These apps need to be purchased in order to use it. However, since it has a cost barrier, your app needs to demonstrate a superior value compared to the freemium apps.
- In-app purchases – This process works by selling either digital or physical products via your app, making it a commerce sales channel.
- Subscriptions – Similar to freemium apps, getting the app is free as long as users make subscriptions and use their email addresses for your future email marketing.
- In-app ads – This is the simplest way of monetizing your app, and it won’t cost your users any cost too. However, it is crucial not to sacrifice user experience to create advertising space.
- Sponsorships – This type of monetization model can only become possible if you can achieve a great number of user subscriptions or engagements. With this, it allows you to collaborate and make partnerships with brands and advertisers.
Whatever your choice, each of them has benefits and disadvantages, so better to do some research first about what monetization options are best for your app.
Final Thought
If you consider these tips mentioned above when developing a software or an app, more likely, you will produce a masterpiece. However, one should take note that every software or mobile app can’t stay and be deployed forever. For example, even if your software or app stably works today, it won’t guarantee that it will always be so. This means that you either do app maintenance or create better versions in the future to keep your app up-to-date as well as keeping your customers happy.
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