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5 Things You Absolutely Need to Build a Mobile App

If you’re here, you’ve probably already gone through the 6 questions you need to ask before getting a mobile app and decided to join the mobile revolution. It’s an enormous task for both technical and non-technical people alike but don’t worry, you’re on the right track and your business will “app”reciate you for it later.

It’s time to think about exactly what is going into your mobile app. This is perhaps the most important part of the app building process as by the end of it, you’ll be connecting with your users for the first time via mobile. Here’s what you HAVE to have down before you start developing.

1. PURPOSE

This is the easiest and hardest item on the list. Easy because it should already reflect everything your business or brand has already done to get here. The devil, however, is in the details and that means that the purpose of your app should somewhat be different from what your website is already doing. Ask yourself:

  1. What problem does your app solve and how are you solving it differently?
  2. If your app doesn’t solve a problem (think games or Spotify), what value does it add to your user’s life whether as a service or entertainment?
  3. What conveniences do you want to offer with your app that can’t be addressed on a PC?
  4. What in your strategy and delivery sets you apart from everyone with this app?

The success of the rest of the items on your list are contingent upon your app’s purpose so this is usually the longest step to get right and often needs to be revisited throughout the process. Aim to make your app describable in a 1-2 sentence snippet. After all, you can use the description when you submit it to the App or Play store later.

2. CONTENT

Websites are great at delivering a lot of content. Apps are better at delivering accessible, need-to-know-now content. That means that the amount of information that you put in an app should not be overwhelming and certainly should not be a translation of your website. Things like a subscription page or a “meet the team” page can be scrapped for the sake of simplicity and efficiency. Your app should serve as a corner store in your user’s phone so making services and support accessible with “one tap” is crucial.

There’s a positive correlation with good content and amount of “time spent in app”. Since content is king, it’s important to make sure of the following things:

  • Make your content relevant. That means putting scores up on the homepage of your sports app or making an interactive venue map accessible in “two taps” if you’re a conference organizer.
  • Put pertinent information at the top. Readers have a shorter attention span when they’re in need of critical information. This is doubly true when you they’re on-the-go reading from their smartphones. Make sure you answer or provide relevant information within the first paragraph or two of each page.
  • Short and concise. When your screen is 5 inches tall and 2 inches wide, it’s difficult to read blocks of texts. Tighten your writing and deliver short, powerful messages in 2-3 sentences at a time.
  • Images > text. Studies show that mobile users stare longer at images and videos than text itself. This doesn’t mean you can’t have written content but you should be using visuals either as a background for your text, a break from it, or a way to explain to the user what they’re reading.

3. DESIGN

Your app should an extension of your brand. Everything your design team implements, from your logo to the placement of each feature,  should account for user experience. Here are some design tips that Mobile Roadie uses to ensure the best UX experience possible:

  • Understand the capabilities and limitations of the hand. We optimize tab navigation so that it’s one-hand and thumb-friendly.
  • Use the “3 tap rule”. Some complex apps have a lot of content but Mobile Roadie adheres to the belief that every piece of content should be accessible in 3 taps. From the home screen, we ensure that each section has a maximum of 3 tiers of categories so that users can intuitively navigate through the app.
  • Utilize obvious call-to-actions. All of our apps use an attractive navigation bar at the bottom of the screen that’s thumb-friendly and directs users to the features of an app like an activity feed, interactive map, search bar, or support page. It ensures that your users are getting the most out of the app by calling their attention to navigation buttons.
  • Map out everything manually. Create wireframes, layout user stories, and chart experience maps to understand the motivations and feelings of users when they see a screen or interact with a certain feature.

4. TARGET AUDIENCE

Knowing off the bat who your users are (age, gender, location, demographics) will allow you to design and create content appropriately. If you own a single-purpose app (think of when Facebook made Messenger a stand-alone app), your audience might be those who need to access it quickly and often so cluttering it with excessive content or a complex design won’t work.

You can get a better grasp of your audience by creating personas (imaginary characters made up by the expected interactions with your app) and user scenarios (imaginary situations and what people would do step-by-step to solve them).

Sometimes, you might have two different audiences. Take for example, an app created for a school and meant to be used by both students and parents. The former might need a map of the school, schedule of classes, and sports schedule while the latter might need access to report cards, school forms, and parent-teacher conferences. In that case, Mobile Roadie ensures that both parents and students receive group-specific information and have access to shared news by creating accounts for every user. This way when each user logs in, the app will populate content specific to the student or parent.

5. MVP

No, we’re not talking about the most valuable player although you’re pretty awesome. The minimum viable product is the absolute bare bones release of your app limited to only its basic features. It is one of the most valuable (see what I did there?) tools to receive the initial round of reviews and comments so you know what direction to improve in before continuing with development. Mobile Roadie actually developed an app that allows you to preview what your app looks like in real time and experience the features for yourself. Called Mobile Roadie Connect, our version of an MVP “app previewer” also helps you figure out:

  1. How easy is it to use your app?
  2. What fixes do you need to make to bugs found in the MVP?
  3. Does your app still align with business and customer values?
  4. Is your app ready for the app store?

The best way to ensure that your app will continue to get downloads once in an app store is to revisit your purpose. After you’ve reached the end of this article, go back and make sure that your content, features, design, and product all fit with the problems you want to fix or the services you want to provide in people’s lives.

If you’re ready to build an app or have a question about anything you’ve read above, Mobile Roadie has a budget-friendly, low-code app approach that could power your new mobile app. Our new Client Services division is dedicated to helping prospective clients get their app off the ground and into the app stores so contact us when you’re ready!

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App Store Optimization: Take Your Game to the Next Level

iphone ios app store logo mobile optimization mobile app marketing

If you’re a software or mobile app developer with some experience in the industry you’re probably familiar with the acronym SEO, or “search engine optimization.” But for those dedicated to taking custom mobile app development to the next level, there’s a new three letter word that may prove more valuable: ASO – “app store optimization.”

More than ever, consumers are discovering new apps by browsing and searching within the app store. It’s by far the most popular discovery method, accounting for 63 percent of app discovery among iOS users and 58 percent among Android users.

In app store searches are twice as popular a discovery method as the ubiquitous “most popular” lists. This means new kids on the block have a chance at competing with recognized players…if they understand and utilize ASO.

But no matter how genius and groundbreaking your app, without ASO utilization there’s a chance it will go completely overlooked. It’s a lesson that every successful mobile app development company has already learned: it’s absolutely critical to ensure that your creation is tailored to the medium it will be sold through before it hits the marketplace.

On paper, the process is simple: (1) get discovered, and (2) capture consumer interest. Once you do these two steps right you’ll be 90 percent of the way there. In practice it gets a bit trickier. But if you can successfully incorporate the following fundamentals into your app design, you’ll already be beating the competition at ASO.

  • Keywords. Use these in the title of your app in order to cast the widest net and catch the most search traffic. According to a study of the top 25 most popular apps for sale, including a keyword in the name of an app increased its ranking by an average of 10.3 percent.
  • 25 characters or less. Any longer than this will no longer be viewable on the preview in the app store. Having your title chopped off is unattractive and will make a consumer – especially one with a short attention span – move on.
  • If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If you’re reading this once your app has already gone to market and feeling inspired to change the title of you app…don’t. Once you’ve already gained traction, it’s best to stay the course in order to create name recognition and word-of-mouth buzz.
  • Understand long-tail. Long-tail keywords, which appear in your app’s description, offer another great opportunity for discovery. If you want create a communal carpooling app, you probably shouldn’t call it “carpooling.” But by including that phrase in your description, you’ll capture all app store users who search that term.
  • Be a genre trailblazer – More often than not, app store users don’t search for a specific title, but instead a genre – e.g., “maps” or “music.” In fact, searches by genre account for 80 percent of all searches. By getting out ahead of the curve and anticipating a genre that will be popular but is not yet oversaturated, your software development company can vault its app to the top.
  • Appeal visually – Your icon should have visual appeal and somehow describe what your app does. Snapchat’s playful ghost speaks to its ephemeral photos while Tinder’s red flame suggests a spicy fling. Once you’ve put your idea into words, create a descriptive visual as well.

If you can effectively apply these tips to your own app, there’s a bonus on the back end: the more downloads your app achieves, the higher it will rank. It’s a classic case of success breeding success – app store algorithms recognize what consumers react positively towards and attempt to give them more. A great app development company is one that recognizes the importance of beating the algorithms.

So keep plugging away with your app, but make sure that you don’t sell yourself short during the final step of the process. Don’t forget to do your ASO!

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Millennials Make Mobile A Must For Hotel Marketers

Personally entitled, professionally lazy, technically gifted, and socially progressive are just a few of the labels applied to Americans born in the final 20 years of the 20th Century.

Volumes of market research have been devoted to determining exactly how true those descriptions are, but there’s at least but there are at least two attributes that aren’t up for debate:

1) Millennials embrace mobile devices and engage with them more than any other group

2) Millennials are now the largest generational segment in the U.S., representing more than a quarter of the total population.

As a result, catering to this pivotal customer segment has become a business priority for modern marketers. And for those stationed in the hospitality industry, smartphones open up a crucial line of communication.

TECH GUIDES TRAVEL EXPERIENCES

As anyone with an Instagram account can attest to, smartphones play a major role in how Millennials discover, coordinate, experience, and share their travel adventures. It’s no surprise, then, to see recent research from Oracle confirming hotels as a hub of mobile interaction.

Prior to arrival, 55% of Millennials have browsed a hotel website via smartphone while 45% have directly reserved a room using a smartphone.
Once at their destination, 24% check-in via mobile while 84% connect their device to the hotel’s WiFi during their stay.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT REMAINS

The hospitality industry at large deserves credit for embracing mobility faster than most, but there is still plenty of work left to be done.   

One of the more interesting findings from the Oracle survey revealed that just 12% of Millennials had ordered hotel room service via mobile device.
Initially, it might be tempting to explain that statistic as more a matter of luxury than technology – that Millennials balk at the cost of room service. But when framed against the fact that 39% of Millennials have ordered food delivery via smartphone in other contexts, it seems to suggest hotels may be fumbling an important opportunity.

That suspicion was confirmed by Millennial hotel workers themselves, one-third of which felt their employers “made bad use” of technology. Perhaps worse, only 15% indicated that their employers were receptive to staff feedback on technology issues.

WHERE DO APPS FIT IN?

The sum of those survey findings could feel discouraging to some, but for hotel marketers ready to embrace change, it has all the makings of an attractive opportunity for revenue growth..

The most powerful way to turn mobile into a competitive advantage is through the development of a dedicated app. When everything from booking rooms and massages to discovering attractions and directions can be accomplished from a single, portable interface, guests can’t help but be converted by the convenience. Every time they open a device with the hotel’s app installed, they will be greeted with the hotel logo introducing them to services they may not even have been aware of. And by integrating smart social media features, you’ll give loyal guests a stage to sing your praises and convince prospective customers. Thereby a mobile app becomes a way to engage customers prior to arrival, upsell them on services during their stay, and gives them an opportunity to advocate for the hotel brand following departure.

But hotel app development cannot be approached with a “build it and they will come” mindset. Considering that just 13% of the surveyed Millennials have used a hotel app to facilitate a trip, promotional efforts may still be the weak link in app strategy. As a result, hotels need to make sure any app they do create becomes the focal point of mobile marketing efforts moving forward.