Skylark Team
The most inquired question these days is how to create apps, and it is due to the technological advancement in internet transmission has brought the world closer to the fingertips. This is the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, and the IT sector is rising with full speed to cater to the most prominent organization and the farthest individual. In the current scenario, we all are consumers of the internet in some way or another. It is being realized by the business ventures, who are eagerly looking towards software companies to launch themselves online.
The first website came into existence in the 90s,’ but it took years for web development to get popularized for business activities. The online presence has become a lot more necessary nowadays for even a small firm or startup, to receive a percipience of authenticity from the clients & customers. In continuation for the apparent need of business growth & expansion, it is an intelligent step to plan and create a business app.
Android and iOS app stores are flooded with applications such as games, education, health care, payment banks, etc. Whatever your idea is for a mobile app, it is imperative to follow proper guidelines to make an app. The mobile app development process is a multi-stage procedure from contemplating an idea to finally reaching the portal. But before moving towards how to make an app, let’s discuss some critical points about mobile applications.
Why Create an App for Your Business?
With smartphones reaching from the improvisation stage to the advanced stage and the internet reaching an all-time high, it may not be called mandatory yet, but it is obligatory to create an app for your business. It may be any business plan or legal need in an organization, but mobile applications cover every industry. Here is a brief explanation of why you should look forward to creating an app.
- Mobile applications are one of the best ways to create your brand image by providing authentic details on the panel.
- With the help of mobile apps, you can suitably promote your business by providing special offers to loyal customers.
- Mobile phones are accessible more than computers to the majority of persons, and hence giving a mobile solution to the consumers will fetch more business.
- Through mobile applications, it is easy to gather a customer database.
- Businesses that involve commercial activities must go for an app for stable growth and a broad customer base.
- It is easy for the customers to engage with the support team through apps for resolving their queries.
Also Read: 101 Mobile App Ideas for Startups to Make Money in 2021-22
When can You Plan to get a Mobile App for Your Business?
Mobile applications are not the newest thing now, but the undeniable fact is that apps are available in multiple categories; sometimes, the app itself is a business idea. You may already own a functioning business out-front and plan to make your app to enhance your reach or create an app from scratch for an innovative mobile app idea. Apps have vital importance, and depending upon your business idea; you can opt for a mobile app anytime.
What is the Cost to Create an App?
Mobile phone users are increasing in high numbers every year, and according to the consumer data reports by Statista, the projected number of mobile phone users by 2025 is 7.49 billion. A few years ago, not many companies were available to make an app, but now almost every new IT startup has a branch extension in mobile app development.
With many companies competing in the same sector, it is tricky to quote for creating mobile apps. Most companies have less knowledge about the technology and usually outsource the project to small firms or freelancers, and everything runs in a dilemma. It is essential to thoroughly research a qualified mobile app development company with a proven portfolio working in advanced app technology and understanding your problem suitably.
But decoding the exact cost of creating an app may not be that easy as it relies on multiple factors like app category, style, iOS/Android or both, requirement, customization, and much more. Besides this, the cost of mobile app development even varies from country to country, and the per-hour rates may go as high as $250 per hour.
Mobile Application Platform & Technology
Business owners prefer mobile applications for various reasons like customer service, commercial purpose, brand management, and much more. Every application is at least expected to deliver the required purpose, along with being smooth and user-friendly. Many entrepreneurs are research-oriented and deeply involved in business-related activities. In a similar context, they tend to inquire about the mobile apps, their technology and depending upon the market trend, whether to create an Android app or create an iOS app or launch in both the platforms together.
To briefly describe the technology used in the development, the programming languages used in app development are Swift, C++, Java, HTML5, and PHP. It primarily depends upon the purpose of the App, to opt for the base programming language. The cross-platform frameworks give promising results in learning how to create an app, and the best frameworks on the list are Flutter, React Native, Ionic, Felgo, etc.
Latest trends in mobile app development that you should keep in mind once you plan to create your App include AI & AR. Artificial Intelligence is in automated voice assistance or chatbots, etc., while Augmented Reality is usually adopted in healthcare, education, maintenance, and other industry standards. The payment apps are willingly included to receive instant and secure payments. One of the necessities of every mobile App is to work on the loading time, which indirectly affects the app ranking and customer conversion rate.
Can Anyone Make an App?
With the launch of mobile phone technology, efforts are continuously made for improvisation. It is in recent years that bulks of companies are taking a step ahead in mobile technology. There are diploma courses and live training projects to create talented developers who research and explore new dimensions of smartphone engineering.
Mobile applications are built over platforms like iOS, Android, or Windows (in some cases), using a specific technology system. It is essential to approach an experienced app development company to make an app. However, some more prominent brands prefer dedicated employees to develop a technology division as an independent department to work over their projects. But this is a lot more time-consuming and expensive as hiring a professional team and leading them in the project needs detailed knowledge about the subject and how to create an app.
It takes a lot of time to hire employees and explain the concept, and with that, you need to manage to purchase expensive tools and equipment with monthly pay-offs. Another possibility is to hire freelancers who could work remotely to deploy the project. But that itself requires thoroughly studying the plan to look for a freelancer with the required knowledge. You may also need to connect with more than one freelancer for different modules, and this entire hectic workout may turn up negatively to create an app for your business.
Currently, there are some of the fantastic mobile app-building platforms available in the segment to help create a business app. These tools are easy to use and do not require any coding knowledge in developing an app. But the fact is you cannot expect something dynamic from an automated & pre-format system. And hence a simplified app is possible though it needs time engagement; a suitable & suggestive solution to create successful apps is to contact a competent app development company.
11 Steps Process to Create an App for Your Business
Mobile applications purposefully made for a business venture are generally customer-centric, who are not expected to possess technical knowledge. It subjectively means the customers are not likely to spend their time & Money on apps with technical flaws or are less engaging. Hence it is imperative to apply the 11 fundamental step processes to create successful apps.
Let us discuss the steps in detail.
1. Purpose of Creating Mobile Apps:
There is always a pre-defined purpose behind anything new that we begin. When deciding to create an app for your business, it is essential to have a justifiable reason, which gives a direction to the project and inspires you to start with enthusiasm.
So the first step is to understand why you wish to make an app. If you are an owner of an established business firm, it would belong to healthcare, eCommerce, travel, education, finance, or any other industry. Your business industry will focus on app design, but the goal behind app development could vary from brand promotion to any commercial purpose of generating wealth.
A venture of the fashion industry may serve only intent on promoting the brand, i.e., about the unique clothing. But it may also aim to sell the products, which requires customer login, payment gateway, order tracking facility, and much more. On the other hand, if you own a company and need to create an app for staff interaction and information, it is altogether a different framework.
If you’re planning an App-based startup and wish to create an app from scratch, you need to be very clear about the basic concept of the business idea. Since it is not an online extension but the base of the enterprise, you need to plan out how to begin the brand introduction, promotion, and ultimately monetize from it.
2. Market Research:
The mobile app segment has just crossed its initial years of development, and now the application market is crowded with an infinite list of apps in every category. Every innovative business idea belongs to a preset market and consumers that it will serve during its progression. The user gets ample options before finally choosing to trust an app.
With deep research, you may probably find out a lot of existing projects similar to the one you are about to make your app. It is wise to use these mobility solutions and perform an in-depth analysis to understand how they work. You may even get to know about the flaws of such apps and note them down to not repeat the same in your plan. The competitors should not just be seen as business rivals as you could also learn and get motivated by their growth and idea of implementation.
The primary takeaway from a competitor while market research for mobile App is:
- How do they serve the customer
- Customer review; if they are satisfied or complain about any module or service
- Is there a proper customer base in the segment
- What does the consumer expectations, or what do they miss-out
- Analyze other apps features & functionalities
- Analyze product pricing, and their overall growth
- How well you can improvise in your App
3. Plan How You are Going to Proceed in App Development:
Now you have the purpose behind app creation, and the market analysis about similar ideas has made you understand the basic requirements create a business app. It is time to decide how you are going to proceed from app development to app deployment.
If you think the project is simplistic and easy to create an app, then it isn’t a bad idea to try it yourself or with the help of some knowledgeable persons. But suppose the scope of the mobile App is broad & complicated, which requires special attention with every module along with dynamism of features. In that case, the most appropriate choice should be to hire an app development company.
The idea behind the application defines your business model, and a slight mistake in the performance or implementation can damage the brand. The app development company already has a team of experienced professionals who can readily understand the problem and rectify it earliest possible manner. It is usually not fruitful to manage each department in one place, and this is why companies prefer to outsource the work to competent service providers.
Also Read: How to Choose a Database For Your Mobile App
4. Consult With an App Development Company for Budgeting & Timeline Analysis:
Choosing an app development company to create your app is undoubtedly the right decision. It would help if you only were concerned about conveying your overall business plan and the idea behind app-making. The IT consultant will quickly understand the project requirements and suggest some of the advanced versions & features that will present your App according to the latest accepted trend.
A credible mobile app development company has a trained workforce with a resourceful workstation to handle multiple projects at once. After considering the knowledge base and ample experience in app development, it is easy for the developers to get along with the primary aim and create your app with the slightest discrepancy.
Once the project analysis is complete, you can consecutively discuss the cost of creating an app and approximately how much time it will take to launch the App. The time-lapse depends upon the scope of work since integrating multiple features may take a bit longer and regular after support. It will eventually affect the total cost of app development.
To know how much does it cost to create an app, you should clarify your requirements. As per your consumer base, you need to focus on either Android / iOS or both platforms, which justifies the price. Choosing between a native app and a mobile-friendly app is another perspective that affects the cost.
You can initially opt to create a minimum viable product (MVP), a product prototype, to demonstrate it before the investors and generate funds. While budgeting for your App, you should also consider the extra expenses over promotion and maintenance.
5. Select The App Platform:
Depending on the market trend and your business format, it may be expensive to create an iOS app. But if you opt to create an Android app& iOS App together, then the developer would use cross-platform technology, which would ideally justify the cost and reach of the application.
Since you are planning to create an app for your business, it is evident that you want to cover maximum smartphone users. Now here is a chance that you may decide to go initially with any particular platform depending upon your market segment and the target region. Many mobile applications are exclusively for iOS mobiles, focusing on the top-notch users, which becomes their USP. But on the other hand, there are plenty of apps only available on Android mobiles targeting average income users.
Altogether an app built over multi-platform gains more popularity, brand awareness and helps business expansion for most of the population. So if your wallet allows, and you can manage the funds wisely, then the advice is to opt for both iOS & Android at the same time.
6. App Development Process:
You are ready to make an app after a sequential level of planning and analysis. To finish off with the formalities, you should first & foremost sign the contract, Non-Disclosure Agreement, or NDA. Its purpose is to bind both the client & company to keep the secrecy of the information shared during the project detailing and protect the exclusivity of the central concept.
Now that you have fetched all the details about your business plan from the developer, it is time to begin with how to create an app. A mobile application has a unique name that is not just the identification but is also an indirect part of branding & promotion to the business. An app name that quickly sets into the minds of the consumers helps reach out broader audience in considerably less time.
App design involves many backend processes, and the runtime and user engagement can measure its complicatedness. Games, social media, or eCommerce apps generally capture more hits, while other industries also have their particular user-interaction. It is evident to manage uninterrupted data flow. Hence a proper app layout design is necessary to proceed systematically and eliminate technical flaws or re-work.
Also Read: 15 Best Mobile App Development Frameworks
One of the primary criteria to create successful apps is to have a user interactive app design. Whether your app idea is to build a gaming app or a payment wallet, it should be easy to use, and the app design should be attractive. A stable app development company has experienced UI/ UX designers who apply their creativity & knowledge base to collaborate data structure with appropriate design such as buttons, colors, page outline, etc. Incorporating Artificial Intelligence & Virtual Intelligence in the app design gives a tremendous interactive approach, and users find them interesting to install & use.
Tools like Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD are helpful in the designing process. It begins with assembling the data, with details about the functions & features in the final goal, forming the app architectural part. Next is to create a wireframe, which includes making a dataflow design or outlining the programming structure; a unique style is chosen like color schemes, fonts, and an overall unique pattern. And finally, a sample design known as app prototype is created by following all the constraints for app testing and analyzing if any imprdovisations are needed.
After finalizing the app design, it is time for the coders & programmers to complete multiple modules and produce the desired result. In the backend or server technology stage, the programming language experts perform their level best in operating with data & requirements to generate specific modules or structures. The Application Programming Interface (API) works to connect those modules into a particular set of programs. In contrast, the frontend developers incorporate graphic designs and other backend programs to develop the main interface.
7. Mobile Application Testing Phase:
Testing is an essential step before finally launching the application on the app store. While analyzing the technical detailing of the app design, there are chances of observing a few unknown technical errors. This is the best chance to rectify them before producing them in front of the users. The Quality Assurance (Q/A) team members perform the duty of examining the product in multiple phases and specific groups, which is sometimes a bit long process.
All the features & functions of the App are analyzed in the operational testing phase, while the performance testing is applied to record its efficacy and ease of use. A feasibility testing is also performed to understand if it justifies the primary goal of its creation. If any rectification is done in any module, then-new test cases are designed to res-test the module under the regression testing phase. Security testing is necessary to check out if any virus attacks or system hacking is denied. Finally, platform testing is required to verify the App’s compatibility with iOS and Android stores guidelines.
8. Mobile Application Launching:
The testing process is completed with any rectification if occurred; now your application is ready for a launch over the platforms of iOS & Android. A proper guideline is provided for each platform’s upcoming apps, which is mandatory to follow by every App Development Company & client. So it should be strictly applied while creating an app.
To launch an app over the Google Play store for Android phones or over Apple Store for iOS devices, the user must create a user login or the developer’s account as a self-identification. While uploading the file on the store, you’ll need to provide the app details like a screenshot of a few pages or activities, about the App, app title, keywords, etc.
Once you create your app and successfully upload it over the app store, it is processed for review from the concerned department. The Apple store, in general, takes a longer time for approval than the Google store. You will receive the review notification if any issue is raised regarding the store’s guidelines, and you will have to rectify the problem. The App must get approval against the preset policies from the app store, and only after that will it be available for user download.
9. App Promotion:
When you decide to create an app for your business, you must allocate a segregated fund for its promotion, and app marketing is not an overnight job. Still, it is performed forever with business growth & expansion. It is a fundamental rule to let others know about your idea by the spread of mouth or any other means. Otherwise, it is of no use as nobody will find its existence on their own.
To market your App in the industry, you need to put effort into using traditional and out-of-the-box methods. It is imperative to create an app with a quirky design with attractive & addictive features to engage the users and be helpful in promotional activities. , For instance, you can use social media & blogging to promote your App and generate visitors to the webpage that may later turn up to install the App.
Depending upon the user (old or young) base and their preferred choices from television to popular digital means like Youtube, you can create advertisements. Paid ads on search engines that work on a pay per install or cost per install are profitable solutions, while you should also work over the App Store Optimization technique to capture organic installs.
Implanting promotion tactics is a combination of well-planned & channelized marketing operations. One of the common reasons behind unsuccessful apps due to the lower number of installs despite spectacular features is the lack of advertisements as per the trends.
Also Read: How to Make an App Go Viral – 10 Efficient Marketing Strategies
To overcome such potential failures, you can extend your app development contract with your mobile app development company to handle promotional movements in the most appropriate & sequential manner. Again holding the responsibility to an experienced team of an equipped app development company that applies a standardized approach to run campaigns will be fruitful in the long run.
10. User Feedback:
You worked on your thought process and made all the efforts to create a business app, not to use it for yourself, but for the most apparent reason of gathering maximum users. Hence, it is essential to ask for genuine feedback from all the users and accept their opinions humbly.
Your idea to make an app may look perfect in some perspective, but there is a sheer chance of having flaws that are inappropriately attached in some of the features ¬ readily undertaken. While using the App, a consumer may realize difficulties and revert to the feedback section to give details about the problems and expect rectification. It would help if you were open to appreciation and negative reviews and suggestions to work on them positively.
11. Improvisation & Upgrades:
Software & mobile apps are developed over trends & observations. With constant changes in user behaviors or competing with competitors to stay on top, it is necessary to keep on improving the application’s features. Mobile apps are usually upgraded to newer features after customer opinions or adding new functions to the App.
After every system upgrades, the whole App has to go through the regression testing phase to analyze its functioning, and if anything goes wrong, it should be corrected so that the end-user does not have to face the trouble. Improvisations in mobile apps with regular upgrades as per new models impact positively to the users, provided the creativity enriches the experience of using it.
Conclusion:
Planning to create an app and finally launching it gets standard installations is a complex process and is best managed by proficient developers at a credible mobile app development company.
Skylark is listed as the top-performing mobile app development Company in Singapore as it is headquartered here. The company has made some excellent app solutions worldwide, such as NLB for Library, CitiBank Mobile App, Sing Pass Mobile App, and much more. The company’s hard work is shown in its flawless designs & advanced technology, and the positive customer feedback in our number of mobile app development services proves its worth. The client can contact us to inquire how to create apps or share their ideas to create successful business apps in any industries such as Real State, Wellness & Fitness, Healthcare, Travel & Transportation, Retail, Education, etc.
