How To Improve The Lifecycle Of A Mobile App

You could read in many articles that mobile presence is a huge sales channel, be it an app or a mobile website. Mobile usage is increasing, apps are getting more diverse, and businesses just can't afford losing numerous mobile customers and spending time catching up with more active mobile-oriented rivals further on. Therefore businesses and appreneurs need to roll out great products as fast as possible.

But while the fact that you should start conquering the market with a high-quality product is mentioned everywhere, the fact that you mustn't falter afterwards is sometimes overlooked. There is no way to slow down the lifecycle of your app. At least it mustn't be slower than the pace of technology or lower than user expectations. How can you do it? There are several things to keep an eye on.

#1. There's More To User Feedback Than App Store Reviews

It's so if just for the fact that some users don't bother explaining in their reviews why they love or hate your app. Thus feedback from app store(s) is not the only thing to rely on. There are more sources (you may learn about themhere) and there are analytics tools that help you measure user interest, engagement and retention. If you don't lag at gathering and reacting to what users say, your app will be fit and healthy.

#2. Up-To-Date Is The Key

Excluding minor updates with tweaks as a reaction to some problem identified by users, it's practiced to update apps from about once per 2 months to once a month. It's not about the content, which can be updated by you with a CMS on the backend side, but rather developers' work: expanding the functionality, checking compatibility with emerging mobile devices with better performance, bigger screen resolutions, different screen ratios, and so on.

The simplest solution is handing the job to the team that built the app for you. Do it on a regular basis – use the help of automated testing to identify problems earlier than users, and involve the people who know your mobile product on the inside. The importance of being up-to-date doesn't depend on the size of your business – it works for such giants as eBay and its mobile client app, and any local business that can offer value to mobile customers with its app.

It's also vital to support each upcoming platform version before its release, so that your users wouldn't face any serious problems. Even major apps still have glitches on iOS 8; but while calendars or to-do lists still have time to fix them, for a banking app that involves transactions it could be fatal.

#3. Whenever MVP Changes, It Still Must Be Solid MVP

Apps can change their philosophy if there's a market opportunity in grasping a bigger user audience with minimal functional changes. You should always think in terms of MVP. When you identify it for the first time, you get a set of the most valuable features for users. Then you get validated feedback from actual users, and the wheel's in motion.

Local dating apps may become popular with students who use it for its location-based features – just to find each other on campus and communicate via the messaging feature. Don't be afraid to change philosophy if it's promising, yet there has to be distinguishing value. And sure you can enlarge the audience with the help of the abovementioned feedback.

#4. Maybe You Should Go Multiplatform?

There are many reasons to do it. You might need corporate software to support your BYOD policy. You might want to embrace a bigger audience with enough budget to do so – by building native apps for all the mobile platforms you need to cover. If the estimations are out of budget – there is multiplatform development that takes less time and money, but it's not a perfect cure either.

High-performance multiplatform apps can be created only by experienced hands. Thus you either find a software company with the multiplatform as the major field of activities, or abandon the idea since a badly constructed app will most likely not live up to users' expectations of speed and stability. Together with a software expert you'll be able to understand whether your features and other requirements can be implemented with native development only, or it's reasonable to build a web-based multiplatform app with very high code reuse (on average over 80%), then adjust it to each platform.

As you can see, a healthy lifecycle depends on you who steers the wheel as much as on the team that takes care of your software. Its quality defines the way it will go from discovery and adoption to trial and long-term use. Always focus on your customers and their needs – they never tolerate poor UX. A professional development team will help make your mobile app a worthy representative of your company, your brand, your image.

Get more:
How To Get The Most Out Of App User Feedback
MVP: How To Make A Profitable App With Limited Budget
Support & Maintenance: What Comes After The App Is Deployed?