Change is the only constant when it comes to business survival. Innovation and adaption of ongoing market trends is the key to gain an edge over contemporaries and rivals in the market. In today’s fast-paced technology world, it’s all about making your business available to your consumer on each device and platform that he/she is using. It is this idea that drives most businesses today and hence the flurry of mobile apps that flood the Play Store and App Store. To beat your competitors and to stand apart in App Stores is a lot of pressure.

Fortunately, considering the following 6 techniques before starting mobile app development will help you craft a mobile app that offers unique user experience and inspires your app users to become loyal advocates:

1: Research & Analyze Target Market

In an article that appeared in TechCrunch, it is stated that apps that entertain are more popular than others. This totally makes sense when you consider the craze for gaming apps compared to news or sports app in general. This is also clearly evident by the popularity of entertainment apps like HBO, Hulu, and Netflix. The consumer base for all these companies has grown by leaps and bounds with many of the new gen consumers opting for in-app subscriptions over watching these streaming services over televisions or laptops.

Does this mean that your app won’t be popular? Most certainly not! Utility apps have great value too; after all cab services, food delivery services, etc. are indispensable, aren’t they? By looking at popular apps, you’ll get an idea of what your users like and thus can model your app based on their preferences. Doing adequate market research is no longer enough, it is important to connect with your target audience and understand their mobile habits. This will give you a clear picture of what features you need to include in your app.

2: Choose the Right Platform & Development Partner

Whether you wish to be available across all platforms or target a selected group only, you should have a proper roadmap charted. Here is the list of a couple of factors to consider before finalizing the platform for your app – the reach of the platform, its revenue generation potential, the kind of devices that you want to target, security, user experience, and device fragmentation. In case your target audience uses Android as well as iOS platform, it is advisable to first launch your app on one platform and then go for another. The response you get from the Android app users will help you decide the changes you need to make in your iOS app.

In this context, choosing the right mobile app development company to work on your app is important too. You can either hire best full-time app development companies or appoint freelancer mobile app developers on a temporary basis to get the work done. Websenor has done extensive research on all app service providers across the globe to list top mobile app development companies. These elite performers are renowned for delivering best app solutions. So, review this list and pick a company that best suits your needs.

3: Get Your Facts Right

Most people believe in common misconceptions – apps are mainly used by men, most gaming app users are men and so on. However, you might be very surprised to learn the fact that such gender biases and common perceptions are totally unfounded when it comes to mobile apps!

Do you know that more women play games than men?

As per a study conducted by Internet Advertising Bureau, nearly 52% of gamers are women and this figure is on a constant rise. Women trump men by about a percent or two when it comes to shopping using mobile apps and using mobile apps in general! Targeting both males and females as part of your outreach is important and this is why we reiterate that knowing your target audience is vital!

4: Understand App Usage Patterns

Apart from learning who uses which kind of apps and how to market them, it is also important to know the timings your app users are most likely to use the app. Take gaming apps for instance, users ideally visit them more than once a day. If users are offered incentives and rewards every few hours, they are tempted to visit the app and resume the game from where they had left off. This is typically called snacking behavior. Encouraging users to visit your apps through the day will help you generate more revenue and convert leads into customers.

One of the interesting papers that we came across uses in-app ads to understand app usage patterns and it is evident from this research that app usage patterns see spikes around early morning with weather and news apps hitting the peaks in early mornings while sports ones peak in the early evening. Thus, understanding consumption patterns will help you target your users in a focused manner.

5: Craft an Effective Promotion Strategy

Promoting your app and creating a buzz around it is important to get the interest of your target audience. Your promotions should be designed to pique their curiosity and ensure that they are tempted to try out your app. Advertise it on your website, promote it across popular apps via ads and also try other marketing channels like email marketing and social media marketing to generate interest and traffic.

However, don’t overwhelm customers with too much information. Confusing them can have a negative impact on your app downloads. If app marketing seems like a challenge, there are several top-notch app marketing companies that will help you boost your download stats with their well-designed marketing strategies and tactics.

6: Conduct Competitive Analysis