Creating a mobile app: Step no 1 – RESEARCH

You’re already persuaded that your business could use a mobile app. So the next step is to do a little research to figure out who you should approach to make it for you.

Firstly, ascertain what you need an app for and what purpose it serves towards your business. This largely depends on your product and on customer demographics. Apps get you closer to your customers and are for day-to-day usage, not infrequent employment.

You might have come to the decision that having a mobile app for your business is of strategic importance to your sales and for the general reinforcement of your brand’s name. So now to the business of choosing the right kind of app that doesn’t end up being a disservice to you, in this 7-blog series we have listed some of the cardinal questions you need to be asking yourself in order to make well-informed choices.

To use a basic example, for a company selling wedding clothes, their app would require an excellent look-book feature and robust payment options. Customers belonging to this demographic will want to scrutinize the details of these products before settling on any one. However, for a company that plans weddings, they would require a look-book featuring their different themes and styles but won’t have payment options as they aren’t selling products off the shelf, but instead a service.

To use another example of utility and style, let’s compare an automobile dealer with an automobile customizer. The dealer will showcase different cars with options to view the different exterior and interior components and details on the model and type. He sells the entire vehicle so these are all the details pertaining to the sale that are required.

However, a customizer is selling different components – and more vaguely, different styles – that can be allied in different permutations and combinations to get the looks that one desires. So while she/he may be able to display a few specific products – e.g. lights, stereos, tyres, grilles and fenders – they will need a fabulous look-book, too, so that potential customers can browse through to form ideas of how they can combine and compound their vehicles. And unlike the wedding-planner’s app, they will require payment options.

Additionally, if the customizer really wants to amp-up their app and leverage its advantages, they could customize it to allow customers to virtually sample the styles on an image of their vehicle.

So as you can see, each business has its own demands of an app and require different things. Once you know what your customers and you require of the app, you will be able to choose the right options from your app maker.