Today, people rely on apps for a wide variety of activities. Consumers use apps to shop online, get in touch with customer service representatives, manage online accounts, and access convenient payment systems. And technology can help your business grow, whether it’s cybersecurity solutions, inventory management, or websites. This also includes apps. If you’re looking for ways to boost your sales and break into new markets, creating an app for your business could be a great investment.

Building an app is no simple feat. You have critical steps ahead of you, from hiring the right developers to investing in high-performance workstation upgrades. Here’s a quick rundown of the steps involved in building a mobile or web app for your business, courtesy of the International Information Technology Team.

Conceptualize Your App

You will put a lot of time and money into your app, so it’s crucial to start with a well-conceptualized plan. Start by thinking about your goals and objectives. How will your app provide value to your customers or business? For example, you may want to build a mobile app to make your customer’s lives easier, expand your sales channels, boost brand awareness, stand out from your competition, or reach younger demographics. Your app could also serve as a marketing tool by offering special loyalty rewards to app users.

Don’t limit yourself to mobile apps! Web apps can also be incredibly valuable. You could even build an internal web app to streamline your business processes. As Bplans explains, web apps make it easier to track customer behavior metrics like menu selections, button clicks, swipes, purchases, and video plays.

Assemble Your Development Team

Once you know the role your app will play in your business, it’s time to assemble your development team. The size of your development team will depend on whether you are building a hybrid or native app, but in general, you will need to hire a variety of experienced design and development professionals. Think a UX specialist, mobile designer, graphic designer, IOS and Android developer, back-end and front-end developer, marketing professional, application security expert, and copywriter.

You can find these people through app development agencies or freelance job boards. Keep in mind that you might already have a few in-house developers who can help you out. Another option is simply to search for App Development Companies and get everything you need in one package.

Market Your App

If you’ve been running a business for a while, you’re likely very familiar with the process of marketing your website. But marketing an app differs in a few ways. First of all, the primary goal of app marketing is to get the user to install your app. Your secondary goal is to drive users to engage with your app continuously. Since the retention rate for apps is fairly low, you’ll have to keep coming up with new ways to convince your users to open your app. When it comes to actually marketing your app, Neil Patel recommends using QR codes, mobile advertising, social media advertising, and guest blogging.

Measure Your Success

As your app user base grows, you need to find ways to measure how it’s performing. Monitoring performance metrics is essential for determining what’s working and what’s not, so you can fine-tune your design or marketing approach to better connect with your consumers.

This is where end user experience monitoring (EUEM) comes in. EUEM will enable you to keep track of your app’s performance from the perspective of the end-user. When it comes to monitoring the user experience of a mobile app, your developers will need to use a software development kit (SDK) or mobile wrapper. Some key app metrics to monitor include app downloads, active users, app session intervals, and app retention rates.

Building an app can enhance your business in numerous ways, but getting started isn’t easy. Take it slow and be sure to dedicate plenty of time to planning and research. With the right development team on your side, your app will be in good hands!

International Information Technology Team builds and manages mission-critical applications for our Clients and we work with our clients to offer a range of off-the-shelf, as well as custom built applications to address their business functions. Call 732-417-9301.

Gloria Martínez

WomenLed

g.martinez@womenled.org