The 7 Success Secrets for Building a Million Download Mobile App

The 7 Success Secrets for Building a Million Download Mobile App Publisher- Silver Touch Technologies Ltd. Editor- Disha Kakkad Copyright 2017 Silver Touch Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this Guide shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from Silver Touch Technologies Ltd.

Contents Introduction... 4 Understanding and Analyzing the Market...5 Deciding the Category of the Mobile App...7 Deciding the Platform... 8 Deciding the Type of Monetization... 9 Designing and Development... 10 App Store Optimization & Marketing... 12 Retention of Users...13 Conclusion...14 3

Introduction The mobile app market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world with increased number of businesses getting into mobile app development. In this crowd of mobile apps across all app stores, it is very difficult to distinguish your mobile apps from others in the market. There is a huge competition and numerous apps available in various categories. So what does it take to develop a distinct mobile app? An app that can attract more number of users and lead to a million download. It is challenging to build highly-popular mobile apps keeping in mind the success and failure trends in mobile app development. Many factors are to be considered and some valuable lessons to be learnt, before venturing into mobile app development to achieve high success ratio. We will reveal some success secrets and share a few tips to help your mobile apps cross the one million download mark!! 4

Understanding and Analyzing the Market App idea is one of the deciding factors for the success of your mobile app in market. It is vital to conduct a market research before getting into the app development process. Understanding the characteristics of the most popular and top mobile apps can help you in finding out the choices and requirements of customers. You will understand what exactly customers want; helping you decide what type of an app you will build. Download and use the successful apps available on the app stores. You will find the list of popular apps on the app stores itself; giving you an idea about the latest trends. You will be able to figure out the reasons for success of these apps and for their huge demand among users. You will even understand the usability, features and what competitive advantage these apps have over others. Based on the research you will get an idea about various competitors that are there in the market for your potential app. You will have to think what additional you can provide in your app, what USP your app will have over your competitors and how can you enhance your app idea to attract masses to download it. 5

Deciding the Category of the Mobile App While analyzing the app market and downloading the most popular mobile apps, you will come across various categories of mobile apps like Social, Business, Entertainment, Music, Productivity, Photography, Media, Utility and more. You will be able to decide the category of your mobile app after going through the category of these popular apps. For example you will find various popular Social apps like Instagram, Facebook, popular Communication apps like WhatsApp Messenger, Facebook Messenger and popular Photography apps like PicsArt, Photo Grid on app stores. Mobile apps under these categories are of great demand, are highly preferred and are of great use to customers. So selecting the category of your mobile app that can attract masses should be your next step after market research. 6

Deciding the Platform ios Android Windows BlackBerry This decision is equally important as there are various platforms available including ios (for Apple), Android, Windows and BlackBerry to list the major ones. ios users have a tendency to spend more on apps as compared to Android users. Decision to choose the platform will also be dependent on the number of users for each platform and its popularity in various countries. For example in US, the number of ios users is more whereas in India number of Android users exceeds ios users. Use of Windows platform is increasing, but is less as compared to Android and ios. Apps that can run on various platforms can also be built, giving you more chances to popularize your app. 7

Deciding the Type of Monetization There are various monetization options available for mobile apps including premium version, free download and ad networks. In case of paid apps, a specific amount is charged for getting the app from the app store. Paid apps are a good way to earn revenues, but can lead to a less number of download as masses prefer to download free apps. You can even upload free mobile app on apps stores and allow upgrading to premium version by paying a specific amount. This is an attractive model as it attracts masses due to its free availability. For the users wanting to avail additional features of the mobile app, a premium version can be downloaded. Numerous such apps with two different versions are available in the app stores. Advertising is another way to earn revenues. App and its content can be free but you can still earn through advertising. For example, users visit some apps regularly like social apps and also stay there for a while, thus giving an opportunity to place ads. Your success rate will depend on the advertising partners and the place of ads to boost the revenues. You can also cross promote your apps through your free apps. You can provide cross-application features as well. 8

Designing and Development For building a mobile app, you needn't be a developer or programmer yourself. You can hire a team for carrying out mobile app development. In case of team, you need to choose the right team having rich experience, technical competency and a zeal to create innovative apps. Some important points are to be considered before you undertake the design and development process, either by yourself or through a team. The look and feel of the app is very important for the success of a mobile app. When a user downloads it and opens it, he should come across an elegant UI. If the user will not find the app attractive to use, he will simply uninstall it without taking the pain of understanding and using it. The app should be fluid to navigate, intuitive and light to use. It should fit various screen sizes of your users' smartphones and should be polished and finely detailed, providing users a splendid experience! The icons & buttons used in the app should be self-explanatory to the users, giving them a familiar feeling and allowing them to learn the functioning of app instantly. An app should be user-friendly and be helpful to the users to do things on the move through their smartphones. To state briefly, it should adapt to a user's needs. The app should occupy less memory space in a smartphone and should be quick to install. It should be of high-quality, with releases given at regular intervals involving enhanced features and fixation of bugs/errors. The app should be upgradable to latest technology and versions. Continuous improvements should be brought in it to avoid users to uninstall it after some time. It should keep on including market's latest trends in its releases. Continuous support should be given for mobile apps in case of any queries or issues, which otherwise might lead to unsatisfied customers. 9

App Store Optimization & Marketing Publishing and uploading the app in the app store will not garner huge downloads. A new mobile app should be properly marketed and promoted to make the audience aware about the availability of the app. You can promote this new app through your website or by sending across newsletters to users. It is important to design advertising material with only the highlights of the features and the USP of mobile app. Readers shouldn't get bored or leave reading after two lines. You can even use social platforms to market your new app. Reviews of happy customers are helpful to encourage more downloads of apps. A new user generally goes through the app reviews to decide whether the app is worth downloading. Thus it is essential to encourage happy customers to leave their reviews on the app stores. Ratings of customers are equally important. Potential users generally download apps with high ratings. A kind of screen alert or notification can be put to remind customers to rate your app or give their reviews after downloading or updating the app. Users should also be able to search for your app easily. The title, keywords and app description should be set properly following the basics of App Store Optimization (ASO). It should be search engine friendly and be able to reach masses. 10

Retention of Users This is a very difficult task, especially due to cut throat competition in the mobile app market. You need to make your users return to your app regularly and avoid uninstalling from their smartphones. You can send them notifications of exciting features, discounts, coupons etc. and use engagement mechanisms to encourage users to continuously use your app. Updates can be sent through app stores with a list of improvements, enhancements and new features of your app. All these tricks will help you to keep users involved in your app and encourage them to use your app regularly. 11

Conclusion In the end, it is essential to understand that the trend of mobile apps doesn't seem to end anytime soon! Then why don't to seize this opportunity and promote your enterprise through this powerful tool! However, before embarking on an enterprise mobility initiative, it is important for you to be fully aware about the kind of mobile apps your enterprise requires. Having proper knowledge about the various considerations and benefits delivered by different types of enterprise mobile apps can surely lead to achieving desired results! 12