5 Ways to Prevent App Failure in Mobile App Development

Businesses are responding quickly to the need for employee and customer-facing mobile apps. Rushing, on the other hand, carries a risk. Here are five methods to avoid releasing a mobile app prematurely.

Because employees and customers are constantly on their smartphones and tablets these days, it's no wonder that businesses are racing to develop mobile applications to better serve their staff and customers.

Some companies fail because they produce an app too quickly, which forces them to then make updates along the way based on feedback and functionality. To avoid pushing out a mobile app prematurely, here’s a laundry list of things you need to do and do right.

1. Create a roadmap for your mobile app.

You must have clear preparations in place before launching a mobile app. Decide on the app's overarching aim, how it will be measured, and how it will make users' lives simpler. "Most firms' biggest challenge is that they don't have a clear description of what they actually want," says Jack Gold, founder and principal analyst of J. Gold Associates.

Companies, according to Gold, must create a thorough roadmap outlining what actions must be taken when and how much each will cost. According to Forrester, design and development expenditures range from $200,000 to $350,000 on average, thus every dollar must be carefully spent. Also, remember to provide padding in the roadmap's timetable. "Assume it will take longer than you want it to and cost more than you expect," Gold advises.

Collect detailed information on users and their behaviors for each phase, as they will be the ones who will be using the app and perhaps benefiting from it. "Do your homework, clarify what you want, and collect client input," Gold advises. "If you can, do it correctly the first time and understand what you're attempting to construct before programming it." Don't do anything simply because your rivals are."

2. Determine if you want to hire an outside agency or hire full-time mobile app developers.

You should think about whether development should be done in-house or outsourced to an agency or freelancers. Because they have larger IT staffs, major organizations are more likely to have the resources to hire full-time in-house developers. "They might have a full-time individual if it's a major organization with a really solid web presence and lots of mobile apps," says John Reed, senior executive director at Robert Half Technology.

Nominating an internal IT expert for a mobile app project, according to Michael Facemire, senior analyst at Forrester Research, necessitates several inquiries. He explains, "It relies on [more than] how much software work you've done in the past." "People who have done a lot of software [work] say it's different with mobile."

Gold claims that finding a single individual with design and programming expertise who can handle a complete project is quite tough. "Finding a strong general practitioner is difficult; you're better off finding a specific skill set," he adds, implying that a group of freelancers or an agency team would be a better choice.

Companies frequently believe they can locate the ideal individual inside, only to discover later that they should have hired an outside agency. "It's more frequent to see people declare they can do it, but as the project progresses, they realize it's not working out," adds Facemire.

According to a recent Forrester analysis [Build Your Mobile Engagement Strategy], just 17% of IT decision makers consider hiring IT personnel with mobile development capabilities a priority this year.

When contemplating working with an agency, seek for companies that are similar in size to yours. According to Gold, large corporations frequently hire large consultancies, whereas mid-sized corporations may hire smaller consultancies, and so on. He responds, "Your representation may precede you." "In general, major consulting firms obtain substantial contracts."

According to Facemire, working with an outside agency is equivalent to purchasing corporate software. He suggests starting with a Web search of local agencies and looking at what they've done in the past. "A lot of the work that is done for other businesses is public," he explains.

Gold says you should demand evidence of the agency’s prior work, similar to how engaged couples would select a wedding photographer. “‘Show me,’ that’s what I’d be asking,” he says. “Ask them, if you’re serious, to do a sample, put something together and show what the design might look like and do a few screens.”

Lastly, be sure to find out how the agency has integrated apps with existing software systems or lifecycle management systems at previous companies and how they plan to with yours. “You don’t want a one-of offering,” Facemire says. “You want it to work well with your system so you can continue using it for all your systems and investments around applications.”

3. Choose an IT project manager or a business sponsor to represent you.

Designate someone in IT or the line of business to function as the project sponsor once you've chosen the firm or individual to lead your mobile app project. For example, if the app is intended for marketing personnel, choose someone from the marketing department to manage the project and ensure that it adheres to their objectives throughout. Alternatively, if the app will require IT maintenance or other work in the future, include an IT person in the process so they are informed.

Gold says it’s more important to have a line of business person associated with the mobile app. “You need to have a champion in the line of business,” he says. “Line of business folks are in a better position than IT. Look at this as a partnership. You have to have IT in there, but IT shouldn’t lead.”

When working with an agency, Facemire says to be aware that “rarely is it a purely business agreement, there are always individuals or internal people doing the work, or internal people that work with agencies to coordinate the work that’s being done.”

4. Do the Pilot

Because programmers and designers will not be the actual users, feedback is one of the most crucial factors to consider when releasing a mobile app. Developers should get away from their computers and immerse themselves in the app to get a sense of what consumers will enjoy and hate. "Having a coder who never uses it and doesn't get input from consumers is the one thing that will ruin an app faster than anything else," Gold explains.

Your developers can either build small pilot groups or distribute the app to the whole user base to guarantee you obtain accurate feedback. They should ask testers to use it like any other software and make notes on the benefits and drawbacks.

5. Seek feedback from users

Request a lot of input during the pilot and go through it thoroughly before releasing the app. The feedback loop should thus not cease after the app has been released, but should instead be a continuous process throughout the app's existence.

Forrester advises adopting mobile feedback management technologies like TestFlight, HockeyApp, or App47 to automatically gather input from customers in a recent report [Build Five Star Mobile Apps]. You may get feedback not just through the app itself, but also through social media, the company's website, and the app store. Feedback does not have to be optional; firms should seek it out whenever possible.

Eventually all the feedback will start to pile up at which point Forrester says it’s helpful to assign someone or a group of people to listen to the responses and circle back with users, especially the unhappy ones.

Gold says all-in-all the process of developing and launching a mobile app should never be like throwing spaghetti against the wall. A lot can ride on a mobile app such as perception of the company, customer satisfaction and big money investments. “[A] bad approach, is costly,” Gold says. “This stuff isn’t free and it ticks off customers. Once they try it and don’t like it, the chance of them coming back is not real high.”

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