Finally, you have an app idea in mind! Are you sure that it is good enough? Do you think it will click with the users? Is it unique enough to fetch downloads and retain the users as well? Sounds as challenging as implementing a new business idea and believe it or not, it is! For this reason, it becomes essential to validate your mobile app idea before you invest thousands of dollars in developing it. After all, you would not want to spend on it and forget it, just because there are no takers. Before your mobile app development company moves ahead with design and coding, you need to validate the idea.
Before validation: Have an app idea in the first place
Even before thinking in terms of validation, you need to have an idea in the first place. The best way to do it is by identifying a pain point and building a solution that addresses it. Think of the problems that users experience in real-world, specifically the ones that do not have a tangible solution yet. There may be multiple solutions to a problem; so try coming up with one that makes sense, is effective and affordable, and has not been explored yet.
Study your potential market
Even if the app seems to be capable of solving a significant problem for targeted users, your idea may not become a success if there are not enough people you can target. Proper research of your potential market is needed to identify whether it is big enough to be worth making an effort. To get an idea of your target audience size, you can search a few terms that your target audience is likely to look for in Google to find a solution to the challenge your app solves. Additionally, you can check social media groups and forums which focus on the problem that your app addresses.
Listen to your audience
When you come up with an app idea, it is just for your audience. To make sure that they onboard the app and use it regularly, listen to them and replicate their mindset in the solution. The best approach would be to build a user persona, understand their expectations, and avail professional mobile app design services to get them implemented. Try to understand their challenges at the granular level and also the solution that would work for them. Be willing to ask questions and listen and you will be able to validate your idea.
Check the latest trends
Another useful tip for validating your app idea is by ensuring that it matches the latest trends. For doing so, you can explore the App Store or Google Play Store to find the trending apps which are resonating with the users. Though the strategy will not give much idea about the specific target market, it will still tell what the masses want right now. The information can be valuable if the app is meant for targeting a broad base of users.
Build a Minimum Viable Product for testing
Once you are confident that your app idea runs in tandem with the audience expectations, the next step would be to build a minimum viable product (MVP). Essentially, an MVP resembles a prototype as it is not a fully-developed product. But it differs from a prototype because it is fully functional and you can share it with the users to see how it really works. The concept is that you add only the most important features that address the primary pain points of your audience. So you can have a viable product up and running without spending too much time and money. When you have an MVP, you can test it by sending across into the market for the feedback of real users. You can share it on social media groups, spread the word in your network, and ask contacts to share it with your target audience.
Upload rough version on review sites
Besides getting feedback for your MVP, you can also come up with a rough version and upload it on review websites. There are several sites where you can share your app idea and see how the prospective users, other entrepreneurs, and tech enthusiasts are reacting to it. The best part is that you may do it without preparing a prototype. These sites enable you to open pages where you can showcase the app’s description and potential feature list you have envisioned for it.
Create a Coming Soon launch page
Creating an app launch page is another thing essential for the validation of your app idea, though you can do it before or after creating your MVP. The objective is to communicate the unique value proposition of the app to the audience, simple and clear in just a headline or two. You can collect the email addresses of the interested users with the help of a CTA that says “Let me know when it is ready!” and you can actually get the message across once done.
Conclusion
The first step for building a successful app for your business is to come up with an idea. Beyond you need to be sure that the idea exhibits the markers of success before you invest time, money, and effort into building it. While you can do everything mentioned here, the better approach would be to collaborate with a professional app development company that understands your customers and helps you validate your idea even before investing in it. At Mobibiz, we are renowned for rapid app development and render MVPs and fully-functional mobile apps that replicate your ideas within the shortest span of time. Share your requirements with us and we can help you with the right solution.
