How To Grow Your Business With An App (in any industry)
Grow Your Business With An App Prototype
By far the best apps are ones that make our lives better or simplify a complex task that we need to get done to feel good and productive. Mobile apps that solve real problems for real people will always generate more revenue. So how can you use this principle to create an app that will grow your business, regardless of the industry you’re in?
Find a problem that people in your industry have
Look at your everyday business: how you operate, who your customers are, who your competitors are, how you market yourself, any aspect of running your business. Consider your top 5 biggest pain points and look to see whether others in your industry have that pain point too. This could be an avenue to generating revenue by developing a mobile app that allows you to make money off of others running businesses in your industry. That’s called B2B, or business to business.
Alternatively, consider your customers’ top 5 biggest pain points, whether that’s your own customers or the customers of your competitors or other businesses in your industry. This is D2C, or direct to customer. Can you develop a mobile app prototype to solve any of those problems in an easy and potentially fun-to-use way?
Research potential existing solutions to the problem
Look around at your competitors, their competitors, and companies in other markets that are solving similar problems. How are they doing it? Do they have an app that sparks ideas about how you could help your customers solve their problem? Is there an existing solution where there’s an opportunity to partner with someone to provide the app or service that solves your customers’ or competitors’ problem without spending your valuable time and money on custom mobile app development?
Determine monetization options and potential ROI
A custom mobile app for your business or as a potential new revenue stream only makes sense if the ROI (return on investment) will actually increase your profitability. You need to consider how much per month or per year (or maybe only as a one-time download fee) your target users are willing to pay. Then you need to look at how large the market is that contains your target users and estimate what an 8-10% share in that market looks like. What is the annual revenue expectation based on those metrics?
If it’s going to cost $150,000 to build your custom app or software idea, and your max expected revenue per year is $50, 000, you have to determine whether it’s worth waiting at least three years to break even and start making money. If, however, you can make $200,000 per year with an 8-10% market share, and you can hit that within 18 months of launch, that’s an idea that has very real potential to increase your business in a meaningful way.
Will your users download your app?
One additional thing to keep in mind is that the mobile app market is highly saturated, and users are becoming more and more hesitant to download “yet another app”. In many cases a cheaper, faster and better option is to build out your idea as a responsive mobile website instead. People are very comfortable in this day and age with opening a browser to accomplish certain tasks, and they will be more likely to request a mobile app later if they find they really like and need the service or product you’re providing. That can be a much easier (and less expensive) way of validating your idea and gaining revenue to support the build out of your custom mobile app later.
Bottom line, as always, is that users come first! Talk to your users (whether B2B or D2C), discover what they really need and what their actual usage habits and patterns are, and then look at all of the options and their costs versus revenue potential. You’re a smart business person already, so if you do the research and consider your options, you’re much more likely to make the right decision.
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!