Thousands of mobile apps offering distinct features get added every year on various platforms like Google Play Store and Apple Store. According to Statista, over 2.55M mobile apps were available on the Google Play Store in the first quarter of 2020. Thus for an app to stand-out and be successful amongst this competition, it needs to be unique. It is advisable to conduct in-depth market research for developing a unique mobile app.
Market research is a comprehensive process and must be performed in a well-planned way. It helps you know what your competitors are missing and also a great deal about the users. You can learn what features and functionalities in your app will make it distinct from others and useful for the users. In this post, we will discuss some strategies that you should follow in your mobile app development that can improve your market research.
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Tips to follow in your market research
#1 Defining a target audience
Identifying the target audience is a very important step for any market research. The target audience is a part of the market’s population for whom you want to develop the app. Once the audience is defined, you should try to focus on their needs and the features they are looking for in an app. For fulfilling this purpose, you can take a little survey among the target audience and try to jot down the functionality and features most of them have in common in their wishlist. This wishlist of the audience can help you define the potential features and functionalities to keep on priority while developing the app. Integrating these features into your app can help you achieve early success in the market.
#2 Look for competing apps
Sometimes there are apps based on the same concept as yours already present on various platforms. Use this opportunity to your advantage and dig a little deeper to know the loopholes and inefficiencies in those apps. The feedback and reviews given by the users on various platforms should be accessed for finding the best and worst things about the app.
Most of the time, you can find the features that users want in their app or want to improve. By focusing on these noted points, you can gather enough knowledge or ideas about what your app should look like and the features to include to make the app unique. In this way, you can ensure that your app is not a mere replica of the competing apps already present. Neglecting the need to monitor feedbacks and reviews towards an app is a big mistake many developers make.
#3 Run a survey on your app idea among the potential users
Once the concept or an idea behind the app is finalized, it’s a good practice to rerun a survey among your potential users. Organize a private study for a selected population from the targeted audience. This survey’s main aim should be to propagate your app idea among the selected ones and collect their views regarding the app. Running these types of surveys is very important to know what the users think about your idea.
By judging their excitement level towards your app, you can predict the response it’ll receive once launched in the market. You can also collect suggestions from these potential users for modifications and additional features to add to your app. Based on the response gathered, you should decide the next step towards your app development process. Surveying will give you a preview of how your app experience will be for the user.
#4 Look for emerging trends in app development
The developers should look at the running and emerging trends that are being used in mobile app development. At present, integration of IoT, Blockchain technology, AR and VR technology, Artificial Intelligence, 5G technology, etc., has been a rising trend in mobile app development. To keep a watch on the past, present, and future trends is very important for developers. This helps developers to upkeep with the rising trends and integrate those trends with their app to survive in the competition and stand-out. Following the increasing trends and the ones that will shape the future is very important for developers to improve user experience and engagement.
#5 Analyse your keyword ranking
Once you’ve finalized the app idea, it’s good to analyze your keyword ranking. App keywords are those words that define your app’s core functionality. For example, hotel apps, grab food, online shopping, etc. are keywords that users use or type most often while searching for an app. It would be best if you tried searching for keywords relevant to your app on various app stores. As a search result, if you get a good number of apps with good download rates, you should move forward with your app idea. This shows that the keywords you are working on are attracting users already. So working on these app ideas with those keywords will be fruitful.
Wrapping up
Mobile app development without proper market research is not only a big mistake but can lead the app to failure in the market. Therefore it’s vital to conduct in-depth market research by following proper strategy before launching a mobile app. Market research helps the developers in understanding the target audience and their needs. It also facilitates you to identify which features and functionality the app should have. Market research not only involves learning about the audience and what they need but also involves learning about the competition. The strategies mentioned above should be followed by every developer while conducting market research.
Author Bio:
Hi There, I am Shaun Williams, a content writer with Goodfirms, a research platform for Cloud Computing, Ecommerce companies, Translation services companies, among many others. I enjoy communicating ideas and knowledge creatively and also ensure that the readers never suffer from boredom while reading my posts.
