How Do I Know If My App Idea Is Relevant?

It seems that almost everyone has an app idea these days. Something about technology being so accessible, like everyone having a smartphone, makes it that much more likely that innovation can happen anytime, anywhere, for anything. That’s marvelous! 

So how can you determine whether your app idea is relevant and good enough to turn into a business? How do you distinguish between a “hobby” app and something that the masses will want or need? 

It all starts long before you raise capital or hire a mobile application development company. The most important (and the cheapest) thing you can do to validate your app idea is to ask potential target customers what they think. 

User Personas
Develop one or two user personas by writing down the ideal characteristics of your potential customers. Think about your users’ annual income, what they do for a living, how they hear about new products and services, how they interact with (or don’t interact with) social media, and what platforms they use. 

For each user persona, come up with a name (first and last, such as “Karen Mattingly”) that evokes that user personality for you; and for bonus points, you could even find a photograph online that feels like a match for the name and persona. As you begin talking to potential customers, categorize them as one of your personas.

Customer Validation
Identify as many people as you can who fit into the user personas you created and schedule a time to sit down with them to talk about your idea. Some of them will be people you already know but be ready to make a bunch of new friends. Ideally, you’ll talk to 100 – 150 people who fit into one of your user personas in order to fully validate your app idea. 

Give yourself 30-90 minutes, depending on your idea’s complexity, and spend some time beforehand working out questions that will probe each person’s level of interest in your idea, what kinds of solutions they use today to solve the problem you are helping to solve, and how likely they are to use a new app or technology to help them solve that problem. 

You will gain so much invaluable insight into the potential viability and relevancy of your app or technology idea by doing this very simple thing! The more interviews you conduct, the more consistent your data will be and the more you’ll start to see patterns. It could be that your idea is spot-on, and it makes a lot of sense for you to move forward with app design and development. You may also start to see patterns emerge that lead you to tweak your original idea and open up your potential market immensely. 

So, the next time you say to yourself, “I have an idea for an app”, spend some time thinking about the problem you’re solving, and talking to the people you’re solving it for, to help you determine whether your idea has legs!  

GotAnAppIdea is an app design and app development company, primarily working with new ideas in the earliest stages of incubation. As one of the top app development companies in the Denver, CO, area, we help new start-ups get from idea to execution planning quickly, efficiently and with as little time and money invested up front as possible. Our philosophy is that failing quick and often leads our clients to better outcomes, bigger businesses, and healthier work-life balance. Need Android app development, iOS app development or app design help? Call us today!Mobile application concept. Hands holding phones. Eps10