Many existing and new businesses always make mistakes while launching an app for their ideas in order to keep up with the trend of enhancing digital presence and also to generate more sales and revenue.
What most entrepreneurs often fail to realize is that an app launch is as essential as the development of the app. While most people observe scrutiny during the development process, they get too overconfident and forget to monitor and optimize the launch of the app. Bear in mind that a weak app launch or a poorly received app can not only be considered a failure and waste your resources but also profoundly affect your brand value.
Inadequate Market Research
It may sound old-school, but some trends never get old, and doing ample research before dipping your toes in the water is a practice that will never be outdated. It will only add value to your business, help you better prepare for any unpleasant surprises, and enable your product to reach the right people in the right manner.
Many entrepreneurs undervalue this stage and are too eager to jump into the market with their half-cooked idea and later pay the price! You don’t want to be them, so invest proper time and resources in cultivating extensive research analysis about the industry you’re getting and the audience you’re targeting.
Choosing The Wrong Platform
There are two most popular platforms, Android, and iOS. Both have their own perks. It is you who has to decide what the need of your app idea is. Android happens to have a larger reach, but iOS apps usually have a more loyal and focused user base. There have been many instances where apps perform brilliantly on the app store and not so well on the google play store. Your objective at all times should be to make the choice that can deliver the best impact and connect with your target audience.
Not Building An MVP
Another common mistake that has been often observed among entrepreneurs is not getting their idea validated with an MVP. It is a known strategy to test the waters, see how your audience is responding and how you can adjust the features to provide the best user experience merely by launching a functional minimal viable product (MVP) beforehand. This practice gives invaluable insight to tailor your app as needed to make it a success in your audience.
Not Focusing On UI/UX
Most entrepreneurs are so eager to get the functionality and development right that they forget to give due importance to UI.UX of an app. An engaging UX and strategic UI are the heart of any app and can make or break the success of your app in the market. The visual appeal of how the functions of your app come together and its user-friendliness is of crucial importance and sadly overlooked.
Not Focusing On An App Store Optimization
Whoever told you that after launching the app, your work is done was very wrong! In fact, the real part is just getting started. App store optimization is something most entrepreneurs overlook when planning the launch of their app. App store optimization (ASO) ensures that your targeted users can get their hands on, or in this case, able to search your app.
Merely dumping your app on the store does not cut it and will not bring you, users. You have to hustle to make sure it is visible in their suggestions and offers. With the cut-throat competition out there, you need to go the extra mile for your app to stand out from similar apps like yours.
The best way to go about this is to plan some ASO strategies beforehand and religiously follow them to build your traffic and audience. ASO is quite similar to SEO practices. You have to find the most relevant and search-friendly keywords and embed them in your app intro to ensure it pops up in searches of your users.
Lack Of Promotional Activities
Planning promotional activities is crucial to ensure the success of any launch. This stands true for any and all kinds of launches, and an app launch is no different. You have to meticulously plan your pre-launch, launch, and even post-launch activities. Let’s dissect them one by one.
Pre-Launch
Just like movies release their teasers way before a film is complete, you should also plan to share a trailer of what your app is going to be all about to build suspense and anticipation for the release and launch of your app.
This is a marketing tactic to engage your audience before delivering the actual product or service. You should plan other social media strategies as well to ensure you create a memorable pre-hype.
Launch
These days, people follow and engage with things that bring something out of the blue or unconventionally connect with them, making it viral. Use that element of virality to boost the reach of your app. This helps create brand awareness beyond your targeted audience. People who are not even directly your users would have also heard about your app.
Post-Launch
This goes without saying, but keeping tabs on the activities that you did and sharing the response of people in a post-launch strategy is a great way to show that you value an everlasting connection with your users.
Not Tracking App Performance
Let’s say you did extensive research, created a viable MVP, and based on insights launched your app with a bombastic launch campaign creating ample pre-hype and an element of virality on social media. But all of this would only fulfill your short-term goals if you do not track your app performance.
Even after using the MVP, there would still be many things that you figure out along the way post your app launch. Make sure you use measuring metrics and tools to know which feature is most liked and which feature is just taking up space on your app that can be replaced with something more useful. Continuously try to find ways you can add more value to your users, and that is a sure shot key to maintaining your current loyal user base and to attract new users as well.
We hope that you will avoid all these mistakes and not let your app suffer due to ignorance. In case you need any assistance with app development or app launch, we are happy to help. Hit us up.