Here are s om e recent head l ines s potted in UK news papers :

In-app purchas es to top $3bn by 2016

Gar tner : 25% of enterpr is es wi l l us e corpora te app s tores by 2017

Dennis Pub l is h ing inves ts in app s tar t-up Padi fy

Schoolcom m s com m unication app cou ld s ave s choo ls £m i l l ions

It’s no s urpr is e that as a res u l t, m any bus ines s owners are enticed by the pro fi ts from appdeve lopm ent. They want to know how they can “get an app done” fo r the i r bus ines s .

Th is is one o f the m ore com m on reques ts we rece ive. In fact, the word “app” is jus t th rown aroundas a reques t, m os t o f the tim e wi thout a rea l unders tand ing o f what i t m eans .

Whi le the word “app” genera l ly m eans any p iece o f s o ftware, thes e days peop le us e th is word tore fer to s o ftware that runs on m obi le devices s uch as s m ar tphones , tab le ts , and o ther handheldgadgets .

Natura l ly thes e im pres s ive num bers m akes i t tem pting for organ is ations to want to jum p in on thetrend. But not s o fas t - is a m obi le app rea l ly crucia l to your bus ines s ? The ans wer to that is nota lways a ‘yes ’.

An app is s im ply a m arketing too l . Like any too l , i t’s us efu l fo r s om e bus ines s es , but not a l l . It canhe lp you reach s om e of your ob jectives , but i t’s not a qu ick-fix fo r a l l o f them .

So i f you ’re cons ider ing getting an app bu i l t fo r your bus ines s , i t’s bes t to as k thes e ques tionsfi rs t:

Who is your t arge t marke t ?

Determ in ing who you want to reach wi l l he lp you s ee i f an app is a wis e inves tm ent or not. Takenote that the m ajor i ty o f s m ar tphone us ers (62%) are aged 25 to 34 years o ld . If you want to reachth is s peci fic age group, then an app cou ld be a good inves tm ent.

But you a ls o need to as s es s s peci fica l ly how m any o f your 25-34 year o ld cus tom ers actua l ly us es m ar t phones . P lus , you need to know what they us e i t fo r and which p la tform s they are us ing.Th is cou ld be done eas i ly wi th a cus tom er s urvey.

Unles s you have the neces s ary facts about your ta rget cus tom ers ’ m obi le us age, i t wou ld beunwis e to as s um e that they would want to us e your app.

What do you want t o achie ve ?

Apps are vers ati le , but th is does n ’t m ean that your app s hou ld be ab le to do everyth ing a t once.For s im pl ici ty, des ign i t on ly to ach ieve one or two o f your m ajor bus ines s goa ls . Here are s om es ugges tions to get you s tar ted:

Brand recogn i tion . Do you want the app to be a way to prom ote your brand, and m ake yours e lvess tand out from your com peti tion?

Main ta in cus tom er loya l ty. Do you want the app to encourage recur r ing vis i ts , purchas es , orrevenue from cus tom ers ?

Encourage d i rect m obi le purchas e. Do you want your cus tom ers and us ers to buy yourproducts /s ervices m ore eas i ly th rough the i r phones ?

Does Your Business Really Need an App?blog.activatemedia.com /post/55191911039/does-your-business-really-need-an-app

Spark s ocia l m edia in teraction. Do you want the app to encourage us ers to s hare your content -and there fore , your brand ing - wi th the fr iends , fam i ly, and o ther connections they have on s ocia lm edia?

Addi tiona l s ource o f revenue. Are you p lann ing on re leas ing the app as a s eparate pa id productby i ts e l f?

J us t p ick one or two from the l is t above and focus on that. Otherwis e your app m ight be too b loated orwors e, too com pl ica ted for your cus tom ers to us e.

What be ne f it s can your app of f e r t o your t arge t cust ome rs?

People download and us e apps on ly i f they find va lue in i t. What va lue can your app g ive them ? How wi l li t enr ich the i r l i ves , s o lve the i r p rob lem s , or he lp them reach the i r goa ls ?

As an organ is ation, you need to know the ans wer to that before you inves t in an app. Here are s om epos s ib le benefi ts that your cus tom ers m ay be looking for :

Co nvenience i s the m ain advantage cus tom ers want from trans actiona l apps , wh ich a l low them topurchas e products d i rectly from the i r m obi le device. The s m oother and eas ier the trans action, them ore va luab le your app is .

Getting o n-t he-go ent ert a inment i s another reas on, s o i f your bus ines s is re levant toenter ta inm ent, an app would be a good way to cap i ta l is e on that.

Rece iving up t o dat e inf o rmat io n and rea l tim e news , whether i t’s about your product, yourcom m uni ty, and/or o ther top ics im por tant to your cus tom ers .

Getting cust o mised co nt ent i s a ls o im por tant to us ers . The m ore ta i lo red an app ’s content is tothe i r needs and pre ferences , the m ore l ike ly they are to find i t us efu l .

Do you have t he budge t f or it ?

There are m any th ings to cons ider when s etting as ide a budget fo r app deve lopm ent. A s im ple gam eappl ica tion can cos t a t leas t $10,000 (£7,000) . A s im ple tab le or databas e-re la ted app l ica tion can cos tyou m uch les s . A fu l ly branded app wi th s ocia l m edia in tegra tion, fu l l -fea tures , and r ich graph ics caneven reach up to $250,000 (£166,000) .

P la tform com patib i l i ty a ls o a ffects an app ’s cos t. Which devices wi l l your app run on? Som e of the m ainoptions are iOS devices , Andro id , and B lackberry devices . You a ls o need to cons ider o ther p la tform ss uch as Micros oft, Nokia , and Sam s ung i f you want a wider reach, but th is wi l l increas e your cos ts .Better to s tar t wi th one or two key p la tform s and s ee i f there ’s a dem and for com patib i l i ty wi th o thers .

Mobile We bsit e s Ve rsus Apps

Before s pending on deve lop ing an app, you m ight cons ider creating a m obi le vers ion o f your webs i teins tead. Som etim es i t can be m ore practica l to do s o.

Mobi le webs i tes are eas ier to recreate and a lo t cheaper . If you don ’t have the budget to deve lop anapp, then tes t out th is fo rm at fi rs t. Bes ides , i f your webs i te a l ready ans wers the bas ic needs o f yourcus tom ers as i t i s , then there ’s hard ly a reas on to s h i ft to an app p la tform .

Busine sse s T hat Got it Right

Starbucks created an app in 2011 that com bines a m obi le paym ent s ys tem and a loya l ty rewardsprogram m e. Cus tom ers are g iven a d ig i ta l wa l le t tha t a l lows them to get a cup o f co ffee cas h les s a t anyStarbucks branch. They a ls o get a s tar fo r every cup they buy that can be accum ula ted and exchangedfor a reward. The app generated 26 m i l l ion trans actions which am ounted to $110.5 m i l l ion (£73.2 m i l l ion)in revenue in les s than 12 m onths .

Trave l webs i te Tr ipAdvis or a ls o cam e up wi th a s ucces s fu l app ca l led SeatGuru. Th is app a l lowstrave l le rs to s earch for fl igh ts , check fl igh t s ta tus and p ick the bes t s eat via a h igh res o lu tion s eat m ap.The app is ava i lab le to anyone and can be downloaded a t no cos t, ye t i ts o fficia l s i te (SeatGuru.com ) isgenerating around $500 (£330) a day in adver tis em ent revenue a lone.

Audi natura l ly p icked a car racing gam e app to es tab l is h i ts brand in the autom obi le wor ld . Gam ers ti l tthe i r phone l ike a s teer ing wheel to get th rough a l l fi ve racing cours es . The idea is to g ive us ers therus h and the tas te o f what i t i s l i ke dr iving an Audi A4. The Audi A4 Dr iving Chal lenge app has beendownloaded by m ore than 3.5 m i l l ion us ers .

As you can s ee, an app cou ld greatly im prove your typ ica l cus tom er exper ience, broaden yourcom pany’s brand ing, and m ay even ra is e your pro fi ts . But the bes t way to ens ure thes e pos i tive res u l tsis to get to know your cus tom ers deep ly, and then p lan an app that they’l l find extrem ely va luab le .

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