The One and Only Correct Approach to Building a Mobile App in 2021

Best way to create a mobile app in 2021 

The mobile applications market is one of the most rapidly developing industries in the world. According to some reports, more than 3.8 billion people have smartphones, that is, almost 50% of the world's population, making it the most favorable mobile device. Simply put, the mobile app market has the broadest audience possible, so it's no surprise that despite the fact that, for example, AppStore opened just 10 years ago, the number of apps downloaded from there and Google Play reached 258 billion in 2021. The coronavirus pandemic has also accelerated download growth, with total mobile app revenue promising to hit an incredible 935.2 billion in 2023. It is important to remember that all charts related to mobile applications and smartphones always go up, so all these numbers will increase.

Looking at these figures, it is no longer comes as a surprise that every year more people appear who are ready to invest their time and money in building new mobile applications. For many, this is the ideal startup option. Despite the exploration and breadth of the market, this process is still associated with a lot of pitfalls. Today, we offer you a small guide on how to create mobile applications in 2021, increasing your chances of a good result and minimizing risks.

The foundations of building a great mobile app

Despite impressive statistics, most mobile apps fail. This is due to the fact that often entrepreneurs approach the process of creating an application incorrectly, hoping for luck, uniqueness of the idea, or good marketing. In reality, even a brilliant idea is not enough, since this determines only part of future success. And while the future of mobile app development can change everything, today there is a versatile guide on how to minimize the chances of failure.

Meditate on your idea

You may think that your idea is brilliant and unique, but even the smallest research can show the opposite result. As we said above, one idea is not enough. Nevertheless, at this stage, it is necessary to study your idea as much as possible and formulate it literally in one or two sentences. These proposals, which carry the essence of the future application, will serve as a motivating factor for users to download your app.

It is worth noting that 21% of users download an application, open it once and abandon or delete it instantly. Installation alone is not enough for the application to become successful, and therefore the essence and idea of your application should be such as to motivate users to use it constantly.

Investigate your target audience

Understanding who your target audience is and what pains they have is a key factor for the success of the application. Your product should bring value to specific users, so before starting any processes, you need to carefully study what problem your product will solve.

All mobile applications can be roughly divided into three types: cheap or free applications used by everyone, expensive applications used by a very limited number of people, and the third type is a cross between the first two. Ideally, you should target as wide an audience as possible, however, applications that find and solve a specific problem of a limited number of people more often become successful. In view of the fact that this is a rather specific task, users will be ready to give their money to get this value.

In the end, understanding the pains and problems of your target audience will help you identify the necessary features for the application and rank them in ascending order of importance. All this, however, is already part of the following process.

Go Lean

The success or failure of an application depends on many factors. You can influence some of them. For example, to minimize risks in order not to lose your entire budget and get a mobile app developed properly. The most versatile method in this task, and even when launching a startup of any kind, is the Lean Startup method. The method itself has existed and has been used for a long time since it is based on understandable goals: to minimize risks, build only what will be in demand, be able to pivot in time, and so on. Nevertheless, Eric Ries managed to clearly formulate the method and its principles in 2011. Since then, this method, which is based on the development of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), has undoubtedly been the best option for launching a startup, including in the form of a mobile application.

The main thesis that needs to be remembered is the hypothesis-driven approach. The essence of this approach is that you, as an entrepreneur, study the market and come up with some hypotheses. In the future, you build an MVP in order to validate this hypothesis and, based on the results of the validation, make a decision about where to go next.

 

There are three main types of hypotheses:

• The hypothesis of a problem in the market. You have studied the segment and you have come to the conclusion that users have a real problem there that needs to be addressed. In this case, with the help of the MVP, you validate your hypothesis that there is a problem in the market. Thus, the MVP can be in the form of an online survey, in which users will be asked to answer some questions. Based on their answers, it will be possible to conclude whether your hypothesis about the presence of a problem in the market has been confirmed or not.

• Solution performance hypothesis. This is the next stage when the problem has already been confirmed and is clearly visible. In this case, you start developing a solution that solves this problem. This is the stage you are at if you started developing a mobile application. Logically, you are already convinced that there is a problem in the market. Now you want to create a solution that solves this problem. However, do not rush, because your decision may not be useful to anyone. To minimize software development risks, you should hypothesize the performance of your solution. Based on the results of validating this hypothesis, it will be possible to conclude whether your decision is beneficial or should be abandoned in favor of other solutions.

• The hypothesis of the presence of a solvent segment. The third type of hypothesis exists to test whether there is a certain number of people in a given segment or market who are able and willing to pay for your solution.

In the case of a desire to develop a mobile application, we focus on the second type of hypothesis.

Build an MVP (HADI + BMLR)

Finally, the stage of development begins. By this stage, you have already studied the market for the presence of a problem and made sure that it really is. You have studied your target audience and thoroughly understood what pains and problems they are experiencing. It's time to create a working MVP solution that will bring value to customers and solve their main problems. At this point, you already know what features your product should have to accomplish this task. To create an MVP, it is worth choosing a key feature that will show your application in all its glory and bring maximum value to the customers.

There is nothing unusual in the development of an MVP and the process as a whole doesn't differ from the usual development of a mobile application. The only thing worth saying is that many specialists sacrifice design at this stage in favor of developing the main feature. However, this depends on the specifics of an application and isn't always the rule.

In the process of MVP development and hypothesis validating, two approaches should be remembered - HADI and BLRM. The first refers to the validation of the hypothesis and is interpreted as - Hypothesis, Action, Data, Insight. You start with a hypothesis and end with an insight into whether your hypothesis has been validated or not. The development of an MVP is located at the Action-Data stage. During the development process, we will decipher the second abbreviation of BLRM - Build-Measure-Learn-Repeat. This cycle is the essence of the MVP and Lean Methodology and the essence of the right approach to the development of a mobile application.

• Build. Create an MVP focusing on the main feature of the application and delivering maximum value to the customers.
• Measure. Collect as much feedback and information as possible.
• Learn. Examine the obtained data in order to:

- make changes and start the cycle again (Repeat).

- turn the MVP into a full-fledged product

- abandon this MVP in favor of another solution or idea.

To sum up

In the end, we would like to say that this method is suitable not only for startups but also for medium-sized enterprises and large projects. The hypothesis-driven Lean Startup method is based on the creation of MVPs and minimization of risks with the most logical budget spending. With the correct application of the above methodologies, you will, in the shortest possible time and with the minimum expenditure of the budget, build an application that will definitely be in demand and have its early adopters. At the same time, all risks will be minimized.