Mobile apps development is a tricky and competitive business, especially with the deluge of apps being released every year, and all of them potential competitors. The development process should be exciting and rewarding for you, but you’re ultimately creating it to bring in revenue so you need to constantly be mindful of that. Here are a few aspects of development that mobile app developers often ignore, resulting in lessened user-appeal and ultimately, lost revenue.

1. Know Your Target Audience. Identifying and understanding your target audience, the people you plan on building the app for, is absolutely crucial to creating a successful mobile app. If you understand your target audience it will help you decide on what sort of written content to use, how to market it, where to set the cost price and which design features to use. Do extensive research on the types of people who would be interested in your app, and the sorts of things they might expect.

2. Mobile Apps Aren’t Websites. A mobile app is not a website, so don’t assume it will offer you the same benefits as a website, and vice-versa. While a well-built website is accessible from most mobile platforms, mobile apps have to be optimised for a range of mobile Operating Systems. Also, a study has revealed that 67% of people would rather buy from a mobile website than from a mobile app; so if you’re running a commercial business, relying exclusively on an app will cost you money. Furthermore, mobile apps have no form of SEO, unlike websites which are ranked by Google, and this severely limits their discoverability. Consider the purpose of your app carefully, and whether or not a website might be a better fit.

3. It’s Not All About You. You’re developing this app for other people, not for yourself. So if you don’t personally like a function or topic, but you know that it will appeal to your target audience, include it regardless. If you want your app to make any money, it needs to be developed for your target audience and not for yourself. You need to ultimately be proud of it, of course, but you can’t design it to the extent that it’s only for yourself. This is where knowing and understanding your target audience plays an important role.

4. Understanding the Mobile App Lifecycle. Mobile apps are very different to websites, because the operating systems that run them are constantly changing. Because of this, developers need to ensure that the mobile app they release will be compatible with the correct version of whichever OS they’re releasing the app on. Often times this requires the developers to create an app targeted for an OS version that is not yet released, due to the length of time involved in making a great mobile app. Making sure that your mobile app is compatible with the targeted Operating System’s functionality and coding is absolutely crucial with this type of development.

5. Keep It Simple. When creating their app, many developers lose sight of the app’s ultimate goal and start adding unnecessary and often complicated features. This can turn the app into a complex and difficult-to-navigate money pit; something your users would not enjoy. Rather focus on the main service goal of the app, and build that as best you can. Adding extra functionality that doesn’t serve the main service goal is a waste of time and money, and will frustrate users who are all looking for simplicity in their busy lives.

Mobile app development is unlike most other forms of development, and it requires out-of-the-box thinking on the part of the developer. But paying attention to current trends and all aspects of the development can be great stepping stones on the road to success!