Mobile App Planning for Startups | Complete Guide

“Everything begins with an idea.” — Earl Nightingale

Coming up with a good app idea is 50% of the project. Now, getting that idea executed is where things get complicated, especially when you lack the technical expertise. Mobile app planning is crucial to getting your app developed smoothly and just the way you intended it to be.

With the right strategy, you can turn your vision into reality in no time. You can share this strategy with your mobile app developers to get them on the same page. MAD will share with you a step-by-step approach to creating a plan for your application.

What do you want to achieve with your app?

Answering this question will help you understand what features you need to develop. For example, if you want to develop a ride-sharing app, location-based features are going to be your primary focus.

This information will also help you refine your marketing strategy for your app.

Once you know what your app achieves, it is important to understand who you are developing it for. Here are certain things you need to be clear about your target audience.

Once you know what your app achieves, it is important to understand who you are developing it for. Here are certain things you need to be clear about your target audience.

Segment your audience based on factors like behaviour and preferences. This segmentation is invaluable for feature customisation and personalised marketing.

If you are struggling with audience research, give us a call. MAD will guide you on how to find the precise target group that digs your mobile app.

Competitors and industry trends stand between you and your target audience. By getting ahead of your competitors and leveraging industry trends, you can build a successful mobile app.

There are two types of competitors you need to be aware of: Direct and Indirect.

Direct competitors are the ones who offer the same services as yours to the same target audience. On the other hand, indirect competitors take a detour to solve the same problem.

Understand what your competitors excel at and where there may be unmet user needs. That’s the place you need to tap into.

Technology has advanced substantially in the past year with the boom of AI. Startups that leverage this technology are going to be industry leaders in the coming years.

Figure out ways in which you can implement AI to make your app more compelling to users. Think about where you can make your app stand in the coming metaverse.

Once you have your app idea in place, conduct a SWOT analysis to see where your app will stand in the market.

What’s the main USP of your app? Figure out ways in which you can enhance this strength. It could be with the right marketing or by adding some AI features.

Is there any feature that your app lacks but that your competitors have? Try to implement that feature, or think of ways you can work around it.

Are there any external market changes that you can benefit from? For example, a rise in popularity of food delivery apps or AR/VR integrations that you can follow.

Are there any external scenarios that can adversely affect your mobile app? This could be changing user behaviour or stringent regulations.

You will uncover potential challenges and opportunities in the market by conducting a SWOT analysis. This step can be a little tricky, so feel free to reach out to us with any queries.

A mobile app product roadmap is a document that describes the stages of development. It is something that aligns your entire team, from developers to marketers, towards a common goal.

The main purpose of a roadmap for you is feature prioritisation. Not all features are created equal. Certain features serve major functions in the mobile app and have to be developed first. With a product roadmap, you will be able to direct your mobile app developers on which features you want to see first. All of their efforts will be channelled towards what matters most.

A product roadmap also sets the timeline for your project. Your developers will be able to adhere to the timeline and get the right features developed within the set timeframes.

If you have limited resources and want to develop for both iOS and Android simultaneously, cross-platform app development is the way to go. At MAD, we use technologies like Flutter and React Native to develop cross-platform apps. With these technologies, we can write a single code base and deploy it on multiple platforms.

Cross-platform app development is great if your app does not have high power requirements or demands access to device-specific features. It allows you to provide a consistent user experience across different OSs as there is a single code-base.

Once you have everything figured out and have created the product roadmap, reach out to MAD, your development partner.

“It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” — Scott Belsky.

That’s what we at MAD specialise in, turning your app idea into a full-fledged, feature-loaded mobile application. Even if you don’t have a roadmap ready, we will brainstorm with you on how you can enhance your app idea. Our business analysts will elaborate on your app idea, adding essential features, providing design ideas, and choosing the right technology.

Let’s work together to create a benchmark-setting mobile app! Contact MAD today!