A mobile application is an element that will allow you to reinforce your ecosystem of digital communication tools that you may already deploy. Indeed, it will be complementary to your website, to your different pages on social networks and online review sites and to your Google My Business description.
Generally, having a mobile application for your business is a sign of strong digitalization because it is a more complex tool to set up than those mentioned above. It is a significant asset for the online presence and brand image of your company. Indeed, it will allow you to stand out from the competition, as it is more common to find large companies on the download platforms. It is certainly a certain investment, in human and even financial means, but you will certainly distinguish yourself from your competitors who do not have it.
The launch strategy and the versioning strategy of your mobile application
Launching your application on the market
Your launch strategy is essential for the successful insertion of your mobile application in your ecosystem of digital communication tools. Indeed, a successful launch strategy will allow you to benefit from the users of your existing communication tools while attracting new prospects.
For a successful launch strategy, we advise you to carry out a communication campaign that uses all the communication tools you have at your disposal. You can talk about your application on your website or in a publication on your social networks, but also consider a print communication campaign with posters or flyers on which would be printed a QR code that would allow you to download the application. As if it was a physical event, make the release of your mobile application a special and memorable event: this is the best way to attract new users.
As mentioned above, it is appropriate to launch your mobile application on the market with only the necessary features at first, the ones that fall under the MVP. There are several strategic reasons for this: it allows you to get your app out faster by reducing time to market, while smoothing out production costs over the long term and allowing you to roll back if the app fails. It is thanks to user reviews that you will be able to evaluate the reception of your mobile application.
Update your application to keep users interested
As we said, spreading out the addition of different features over time allows you to better manage your production costs, but that’s not all. It also allows you to communicate on each of your updates to make users want to download your application, to come back to it or to use it even more.
The evolution of the contents and functionalities of your mobile application is part of a versioning strategy that will allow you to plan which functionalities and which contents will be added to your application, and when. These are all possibilities for your freshly updated mobile application to be highlighted on one or the other of the stores where it is distributed, either through in-store natural referencing or through an ephemeral thematic focus in which it could be inserted.
Updating your application is essential to maintain the wow effect of your user community. This surprising effect naturally erodes with time: it is therefore to organize the retention of your users and even to attract new ones that you should stagger the addition of new features on your mobile application.
Know your customers better with your mobile application
Thanks to your mobile application, you can learn more about the profile and habits of your customers. Indeed, you can collect information about your users in several ways.
The collection of personal data
A mobile application, like any other website, can offer services that are reserved to users who have registered. This registration can be free or not. In any case, to allow the authentication of the users, a certain amount of personal information is necessary to set up an account: at least the email address, but also very often the date of birth, without forgetting the name and the first name, and even the postal address. Moreover, the telephone number is becoming more and more essential, especially for the implementation of the two-factor authentication which represents an additional level of security for your account.
However, this collection must be done in compliance with the RGPD, which is the European regulation for the protection of personal data. To do so, you must inform your users of the data collection and for what purpose(s). They must then be able to accept the collection of this data positively and voluntarily for the purposes they have approved. Your users must also be informed of their rights regarding this data (rectification, limitation of processing, deletion, etc.) and be able to exercise them. As the person in charge of your mobile application, you must finally be able to guarantee the security of this personal data, and as much as possible, collect only the data necessary for the proper functioning of your application.
Personalization and user journey analysis
You also can personalize the user experience of each of your customers according to the choices they have made within your mobile application. These choices can be predefined according to the personal data and preferences you have collected from them. It is also possible to automate this personalization based on the consultation history of each user: this will allow you to highlight search results or products like those previously consulted.
At any time during the life of your application, you will also be able to monitor several key performance indicators: the number of downloads, the uninstallation rate, the time spent on the application, the most consulted, purchased or used functionalities, products or services, the click rate on push notifications as well as the percentage of users who have completed the integration phase, i.e. the minimum steps that allow you to better measure the retention rate of users after downloading (creation of an account, use of a first service, etc.). This will allow you to adjust your versioning strategy, to create the most optimal application for your user community.
It’s time to develop your mobile application
If all the arguments mentioned in this article have satisfied you, you might want to take the plunge and start building your mobile application. Nothing could be easier! Indeed, there are various solutions at your disposal depending on the level of development skills available within your company or available externally.
Develop a low-code or no-code mobile application
Do you want to develop a mobile application in-house but don’t know how to create an application from scratch? Or do you want to take advantage of a technical solution that is easy to set up independently and on which you can receive technical support from your IT department?
No-code platforms allow you to create a functional mobile application without the need to increment a single line of code, using a simple and user-friendly graphical interface that allows you to drag and drop blocks containing the essential functionalities and to preview in real-time what your application will look like. Low-code interfaces, on the other hand, work in a similar way, except that incrementing a few lines of code allows great flexibility in the finished product.
Get into mobile development or use a mobile application development agency
If you want to get into mobile development, you are probably wondering which programming language to choose over others. To create an Android application, the most used languages are Java, Kotlin, C, C++, and C#. You can also use the Android Studio IDE (development environment). It offers an emulator that will allow you to easily preview your mobile application at various stages of development. For iOS applications, you should use Objective-C, Swift and C#.
If you don’t have the necessary skills in-house to develop a mobile application, you have the option of using the services of a mobile application development agency. Such a service provider will be able to develop the mobile application of your dreams with the help of the carefully prepared specifications you provide.
Contact us your mobile application development ideas.
