Category: Marketing

In our world of smartphones and mobile devices, there is an incredible competition between applications to become the most used and the most popular. What makes an app popular is more complicated than you may think. The content of the app needs to be on point as well as the design.

Users need actually to be interested in using the app in order to consider even it. You no longer need to wonder why certain apps have found success and why others have bombed.

READ ALSO: How do apps make money

We have shown some of the key factors and ingredients when it comes to developing a great app that people will also want to use. These can be used to guide developers and even to help users decide which apps they should keep on their devices and which ones should be removed forever.

Once Users Try It, Will They Be Able To Live Without It?

Users of the app need to have their lives drastically changed and improved when they use it. Otherwise, it will not be downloaded or will be deleted immediately to make room for more useful applications.

Applications that save users time and money are the most popular because users find that they would be lost without the assistance the app is providing. When a user is able to see the value in an application and is thankful that they are able to incorporate it, then the app will be successful. 

READ ALSO: Mobile App Development for Law Firms

Not only does this app need to deliver on this in terms of use, but if they want to be successful, then they need to market their app to show potential users the benefits. Users will only discover that they cannot live without the app if they download it in the first place.

Does This App Have A Purpose?

One of the first things developers need to assess is if the app has a purpose. Are users going to seek out this kind of app? The application that users want is one with a clear purpose. They want to be presented with a problem and know exactly which app will best help them to solve it. For example, if a user is lost then a map application is exactly what they will choose to help them navigate.

These apps, such as Google Maps, have a clear purpose. Mobile device users would actually prefer to use an app than spend time trying to navigate through websites to find the information they need. An app that helps users and has all of the information they could need is one that they would regularly use.

How Easy Is The App To Use?

No user mobile device users want to struggle to understand apps or what they are for. That is why making it easy-to-use is incredibly important. The information and the usability of the application can be complicated in nature, but they need to be easy for the user to handle in order to be successful.

READ ALSO: App crowdfunding

It needs to be very clear from the beginning because even if it takes reading a few instructions, users are going to look elsewhere for the services you were aiming to provide. If your application is based in retail, then the entire process should be clear to anyone. For example: finding the products, their reviews, making purchases, and searching through the inventory should all be straightforward.

Is This An App That Will Play A Daily Role?

If an app is something that users turn to on a daily basis, then it becomes part of their routine and quickly becomes something that they need for their day to be a success. If an app can be used daily, then it essentially becomes irreplaceable for a certain length of time.

Creating an app that is crucial to the day of a user should be the aim of all developers. This is something that the developer should consider for the long-term. The app should be something that the customer will use daily for many years, not something that they will use daily for just a short period of time. This short-term daily use can be seen in many diet apps, but if the app relates to overall health rather than just weight loss, it more likely to be a success for longer.

How Does It Look?

Users are drawn to the way apps look, almost more than they are drawn to the uses. If an application looks professional and visually appealing, then it is more likely to appeal to buyers initially and more likely to be kept on devices. Developers should consider every aspect of the design from the graphics to the color themes, fonts, titles, backgrounds, pictures, etc. Of course, the cost to develop an app would be higher. 

Crafting The Perfect App

In such a competitive market, developers need to focus on the customer and completely tailor their services. Also, developers should follow mobile application development trends. This includes everything from relevance, usability, and design. When developers have covered all of these factors fully, then their app will be much more successful than it would have been without investigating uses and users further.

You may think that you have come up with a great idea for a new app. There are tons of people out there that have made a fortune just by developing a program that customers love, and one that they are willing to pay for. However, without doing the proper mobile market research, you can find yourself wasting a lot of time and energy on your app (and do not forget about cost to develop an app) only to find out that it is not something that people want.

Before you put everything you have into your next invention, it is essential to do some research to get a better idea of how successful your idea will actually be.

Finding Your Target Audience

In order to create an app that people are going to use, want, and need, you need to discover what that specific audience is lacking. Your first step is going to be defining the audience you want to appeal to. This is also called a niche. When you decide who you want your app to be for, then you can go to work exploring what this specific audience is missing from their app list. The size of your target audience is ultimately up to you.

You may decide that you want to target a smaller audience to appeal to a more direct group of people. This is called a micro-niche market. An audience like this could be a group of young adults who like art. A larger niche, called a broad niche, would appeal to more people.

However, it can be much harder to develop something targeted towards them. For example, a group of people between the ages of 20 and 30 are going to like some of the same things but they will not like all of the same things. Your app may grab a part of the audience but if you aren’t careful on what you choose it could be a very small part resulting in very small success.

Focusing in on a Micro-Niche

Focusing in on a micro-niche audience can turn into very large profits. Even though you are not gaining a lot of customers, you can give the smaller audience exactly what they are looking for. Because your app is so specific, you can charge higher amounts for a specialized product. This turns into bigger sales and more money in your bank account.

When you want to appeal to a specific high-class group like doctors, lawyers, and other experts, you can charge the money that these professionals are willing to spend. Also, when choosing to target a smaller audience, it is easier to discover whether or not your product is going to be one that people want.

One way of discovering if your app is going to be popular is by going into the market of the business or individual you are targeting. Ask them what they want or need for their company and what they are willing to pay to get it. You can open the door by inquiring about any problem areas they are having in their industry.

By defining these issues, you can discover how to be the solution. You now know who your customers are, what they need to improve their business, and how much they are going to pay you for your assistance with their problem.

The other way of learning what companies or people want is by coming up with your own ideas. When you have a basic concept, you can reach out to the heads of the industry you are trying to target. Ask for their thoughts and opinions on the product you have created.

You can then take those ideas and alter your product to meet the wants and needs of your micro-niche audience. The result is going to be a finished app that people are going to want to buy. When you have your final product created you can go back to those supervisors and managers and offer it to them. Let them know that they inspired your product, and it is something that they are looking for. You now have your very first customers before your app even goes live.

Focusing on a Broad Niche Market

When you decide to create an application for a broad niche market, your main goal is going to be finding out what is popular at the moment. All groups of people go through trends from games to discount apps, sports programs, and more. When you are developing an app for the larger market, you need to research the mobile app stores and find out what people are buying.

Discover what Customers are Buying

The best way to learn about what customers are using and more importantly buying is by visiting the App Store yourself. Some of the most successful app developers check the popularity charts found here as much as once an hour. This may be a little bit of overkill, but it goes to show that knowing this information is key to being successful in the app world.

There are several different areas to explore when checking out these popularity charts. First of all, look at what the most popular free apps are. This shows you what people are doing on their mobile devices. You can get your ideas on what type of app you could start working on. Secondly, look at the paid apps. By browsing through this information you can discover not only what people are doing but what they are spending their money on, and how much money they are spending.

One important thing to remember when browsing through these charts is that the information you see is targeted to a specific country or region in the world. You need to explore further to find global trends or seek out the individual area you want to target in order to find the local trends.

Finding Worldwide Trends

The App store does not give you information on worldwide trends so when looking to do a broader search, you need to do other methods of research. One way to discover popular mobile application development trends across the globe is by doing searches in other places.

A popular place to do this is Google Trends. Here you can find what keywords are being searched the most. You can then take those findings and match them up with the information you have found during your App Store search to create the most popular downloads happening currently.
When seeking out trends this way, it is important to narrow down your search as much as possible to get the most specific results back.

This can include lessening down time frames or seeking out a specific area of the world. Google Trends will only show you the top 10 results from your search but with a quick download of the available CSV file, you will be able to see much more.

After gathering the keywords you want from your Google Trend search, you input them into the Google Keyword Tool. Here you will be able to see exactly how many searches of any specific keyword have been done based on the factors you create yourself. Be sure to choose the advanced options in order to the most refined results possible.

Make Sure Your Results are Legitimate

Now that you have done your search, and you have decided on a topic for your app, you need to be sure that it is, in fact, a popular one. There are programs available to assist you including TopAppCharts.com.

By inputting the information, you will get results of where your keywords rank among the App store. If you do not get a lot of results back, chances are the keyword evaluation you have done is not a valid one, and creating an app-based on them will not be successful.

Xyologic is another place you can discover if your app is going to get the downloads you are hoping for. Search out your keywords and the apps that are related to those keywords will be shown in the results. If there are a lot of similar downloads, moving forward with your idea is probably going to be a profitable one.

When you want to check the popularity of your app idea on a daily or monthly chart, AppAnnie can give you the results you are looking for. No matter what website you look through, you should always do whatever you can to make sure your research and findings are legitimate and popular among your targeted app users.

Prepare for what is to Come

Finally, when coming up with new app ideas, you can use the popular trends found outside of the App Store. Think about upcoming events or holidays and create something that is related to those ideas. For example, during Easter, coming up with an app that is related to creating Easter egg hunts for the family is likely to be successful. This of course would not be as true during the summer months.

When creating an app for any audience, you want it to be profitable. By following these mobile marketing research ideas, you are sure to be on the right path to victory.

What our clients say 

The omnichannel experience is a term that most business owners will hear about but very few can implement them successfully. Many make the mistake of thinking that providing three or four channels for customers to contact the company is providing a full-fledged omnichannel experience.

To really achieve an omnichannel customer experience a business needs to view their multiple service channels as a single force that works flawlessly together. A successful multi-channel service ensures that each one is completely integrated and consistently supports each other channel a customer may use.

The majority of companies have different departments running each form of contact: email, phone, web forms and text messages. This may, at first, seem the most efficient form of management, but customers see a company as being a single force and therefore already assume an omnichannel customer experience.

READ ALSO: 5 reasons to develop apps for smartwatches

The fact that very few companies pay close attention to the integration of their connection channels means that there is a gulf between what the customer expects and what the company supplies. In order to avoid this common mistake here are five steps to follow for an efficient omnichannel contact experience.

1) Create A Variety Of Support Channels

The easiest place to start is to review if the company is offering all of the support channels that customers actually want. Carefully considering the customer and their preferred method of seeking information in their daily lives will help to make the contact avenues more efficient.

The most obvious place to see these mistakes is with phone-calls. The majority of companies will offer phone support as their main assistance channel. The average American will make between 1-5 phone calls a day, and that same individual will send and receive over 10 times as many text messages. With these statistics, it is strange to consider that very few companies offer text message-based contact channels.

Implementing certain channels of contact can be costly but to combat this each company should identify the three or four most desired avenues and only offer these to their clients. This will boost a customer’s willingness to contact the company and their overall experience. The chosen channels will vary based on the customers but should always be promoted on existing channels.

2) Centralize The Storage Of Customer Data

Centralizing data will change everything. One of the most annoying issues for a customer is having to explain the same problem to several service reps. Once a company has their chosen channels in place, then the first step to making these into an omnichannel customer experience is to combine all data in one central location.

This means that every member of the customer service team will have the same information and can pick up each conversation exactly where it finished last. This step is one of the easiest to implement and has extremely quick beneficial effects.

3) Integrate Channels

Having the channels in place that customers really want is a great start but until these channels are integrated, they can still cause problems. Customers not only want to contact a company in their preferred manner, but they also want a smooth and seamless experience. Switching between channels is rarely an easy thing to do with most companies.

Using an omnichannel communication platform will track exactly at what stage each customer’s interaction is with the company. The benefits of integrating the channels are huge. Firstly the service can be personalized, and each customer will feel the company is closely following their communication.

A second benefit is that each channel that suits the situation can be used. For example, text messages can be used for quick updates on information, which could be quickly switched to a live chat version if the information is not completely understood.

Aim to make everything quick, simple, and designed to benefit the customer as much as possible.

4) Automate

Live agents and the related waiting times can be one of the most frustrating aspects of a company to a customer. Automating at least a portion of the contact routes means that the business can offer a cheaper, more informed and more efficient customer experience.

Many companies avoid automation from fear of losing touch with their customers, but the reality is that the world is moving towards being completely free of human-to-human interaction for many processes, just consider purchasing train tickets, bank transactions, and airline check-ins. Considering where a company can automate without becoming annoyingly difficult to contact is the key to a successful omnichannel experience.

5) Form An Action Plan

Following these four steps shows just how simple the theory behind an omnichannel experience is but should highlight that implementing it in reality is not quite as straightforward. Therefore, it is important to create an action plan to make sure the business is on its way to integrating all of the channels and make the customer experience the best possible. The key to success is to follow these steps:

1. Research: Spend sufficient time finding the channels that are most used by customers or those that they would prefer to have as options. The assumption is the enemy in this step; often the business owner would approach a company in a far different way than the average customer. Conduct questionnaires to gather this information.
2. Centralize: As soon as possible move all data into a single location. Find a cloud-hosting platform that suits the number of customer records the company has. Research which platform suits the company in regards of size, usage levels, and the price.
3. Communication Platform: Find a company that offers a multiple communication platform that allows flawless switching between each channel. The best company to go for is one that offers complete integration and some level of automation.

The most important part of creating an omnichannel experience is to consider customer care. Each company will have a slightly different model that focuses more on a variety of channels, understanding the customer will make sure the business does everything to make communication as perfect as possible. Following the five given steps will put any company well on its way to achieving this.

Believe it or not the industry of enterprise mobile application development has a promising future, one that could lead to a billion-dollar market. At one time cloud applications were all the rage, but now mobile apps are increasing in popularity and are set to enter into a $100 billion market. Today, mobile enterprise is following closely in the footsteps of its predecessor, cloud application enterprise.

The ease of this movement can be attributed to the incredible accessibility and affordability of mobile technologies. What’s more, mobile technologies are seemingly more user friendly than cloud technologies, thereby making the mobile applications an incredibly viable enterprise. Nevertheless, mobile applications have hidden benefits that many are unaware of: The fact that the apps will make the mobile app technology pervasively accessible for businesses, particularly those in distant locations and underserved business sectors.

Read also: TOP 9 REASONS WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS ITS OWN MOBILE APP

Mobile technologies penetration around the world

While there are over three billion people who work in some job position around the world, a mere 20 percent of all the people get access to the mobile technologies needed to help make their job easier and to make their performance more efficient. This means about 2.5 million individuals aren’t getting access to the advanced, simple technologies they could use to make their job performance more effective.

For instance, a look at the construction industry reveals less than 1 percent of all of construction revenue, which is $8 trillion per year, is used on Internet technologies. Or look at the industry of manufacturing, with some 40 million workers, being the fourth largest industry in all the world, uses a mere 2 percent of its revenue for the purposes of Internet technologies.

Many workers without technology at their disposal reside in developing countries. Out of the 2.5 billion people who do not have access to mobile or Internet technologies:

• 50 percent of those individuals reside in the Asia Pacific
• 10 percent are in the Middle East and Africa
• another 10 percent are in Latin America

However, the latter figures may soon change as mobile technologies is a force to be reckoned with and is poised for actually capitalizing on this gap in the market.

The opportunity of enterprise mobile app development 

The opportunity of enterprise mobile app development is tremendous. Let’s consider some facts to determine the potential impact mobile technologies will have on the industry. Imagine the following scenario. The 2.5 billion people without access to various technologies, do not work at a desk. Imagine monetizing each person at about $40 annually, which is a thread of what desk workers spend on technology, and you’re looking at a $100 billion potential market, all of which could be consumed by mobile applications and devices because of their affordability and accessibility.

This kind of sizeable opportunity is huge and something that has not been seen in the past as far as technological enterprises are concerned. This means that an industry that might be able to take full advantage of smartphones and their current features can make use of an enterprise mobile solution for business.

Construction businesses could make use of mobile apps and cameras to make customer quotes or the devices can be used for making communications between workers on site and headquarters faster and more efficient. Those who work in the field of transportation and delivery could make use of mobile tools like phone billing, signature collection, and maps with driving directions.

What’s more, with the biggest opportunity in India presently being the healthcare market, the mobile healthcare apps are bound to prove profitable as well. As of this moment, there are 500 startups that have started up a fund that will be used as an investment in mobile health in Africa, China, and India.

Enterprise application development cost

It takes highly specialized resource and expertise to make an enterprise app that covers all business needs. But the rewards for getting it right can be enormously lucrative.

Answering the question, “What is the cost to develop an enterprise app?”, there is no determined price. To build an app for enterprise is more complex as it could seem.

An accurate cost estimate depends on the number of factors.

Hereby we gathered the app development cost drivers:

• The number of platforms and devices that will be supported
• The number of enterprise systems the app will interact with
• The number and kind of features implemented in app
• The size of app development team: basic or extended
• The cost of labor

When it comes to hiring enterprise application development company you should take into account the following.

Assembling the right team players is extremely challenging in itself, so you have to explore the market carefully. You need individuals who are highly skilled and focused on a particular area of expertise.

Have a look at the chart below to get understanding about development prices in different regions.

If you are looking for low prices and high quality turn your attention to developers from Eastern Europe and from Ukraine in particular.

How to start?

So what is necessary in order to take full advantage of this exciting opportunity and to establish a mobile enterprise that can address the growing needs of the mobile market? Here’s a few things to consider:

Capitalize on the Original

If you want to truly capitalize on the mobile enterprise opportunity, focus on that which is original, unique, and different in the existing market. Mix the unique with the best, most coveted features, and you’ll have a winning mobile solution perfect for addressing the needs of the mobile market.

Consider using the best features of the smartphone like voice navigation and control, GPS, cameras, and sensors as an advantageous tool. Consider an app like Expensify that relies on the use of the camera in a device to take images of expense-related receipts.

Lean on Those Who’ve Gone Before You

Look at the best of the best in terms of mobile platforms. Consider how Salesforce and Box might help you out as you start to scale your mobile enterprise. Also, you might want to mirror the behaviors and practices of different companies that have reached an international market and use the example to figure out ways to expand your own enterprise. Partnering up with another business to offer innovative mobile solutions is another method you can undertake: One that can prove considerably successful.

World Wide Orientation

When it comes to mobile enterprise a lot of developers are keeping their attentions local. However, if you consider addressing international needs, it can be to your benefit. Mobile space is definitely a wide-open range when it comes to mobile enterprise and the opportunity can land you a serious edge above the competition.

When planning your enterprise from the start, don’t forget to consider how you’ll eventually expand into the international market as well. Bear in mind when you are planning your enterprise that some 70 percent of all the great opportunities are going to be beyond current developed mobile markets. Of course, make sure you make your product localized as well.

Ready Yourself

Technology is bringing about an evolution in mobile enterprise, and those wise enough to ride the wave will assuredly benefit from the boom in the market. The pace the mobile market is currently growing at is clearly evidence of its potential in years to come. A smart developer will definitely jump on the opportunity presented.

Finding customers that will come back, again and again, is a process that is different for every application. For email and social methods, this is no different. The number of users, the frequency with which the app is used and many other factors need to be considered by mobile marketers.

Comparing and considering the benefit of each is something that will help mobile marketers direct their efforts. Determining which is better for businesses will certainly make a difference when it comes to finances and app success.

Social Benefits

The main difference between social methods and email methods is that an organic social approach fetches a huge volume of users while email gets high-value users. In a world that is becoming more and more connected, this is not surprising.

Due to the users acquired, mobile-first publishers should choose organic social marketing methods as their first choice for user acquisition. This method outranks many others that may seem to be extremely effective, but simply do not compare. The outranked methods include video ads, emails, and even installs that come with appealing incentives.

Those that will benefit most from this social organic install source will more often than not be small publishers. As a smaller or startup company, chances are the budget will be limited. Social methods are a more appealing option for small businesses that are still building their user bases. This is a good place to start acquisition on a budget.

This social method will attract medium-value users. This means that the cost of using this method returns less, but the cost of the acquisition is less as well. Mobile developers that put the focus on this method will generally end up with more attractive spreadsheets of results as they will be making some money and spending less than they would with email.

There is no better way to go about marketing for the purpose of acquiring users for a particular organization. Each business is changing, and the market is changing as well. This means that the best method probably isn’t just one thing but a combination of many different tactics at once. It has been shown that the most successful in business use many different methods that include optimization in the app store as well as PR.

Email Benefits

Email marketing methods of acquiring users is a tactic that has been around for a long time. This is not just because the email has been around longer but because this method works. In order for this method to be effective, the company has to have a large base of users that trust the company and what they offer. Though this is not something that can be built overnight, the relationship is something that can be very beneficial in acquiring mobile users via email.

It has been shown that companies that put their time and effort into feeling out their existing customers via email to convert to mobile have a huge success rate. The fact that the company enjoys such a high conversion rate and lifetime value is what makes this a favorite tactic among traditional marketers.

There are companies that have executed mobile user acquisition by email well and those that have not quite mastered the tactic. As always companies and marketers need to do a thorough analysis of the method and the potential for success for their venture. This will help marketing teams to optimize their campaigns and use them more effectively for the specific acquisition method and in general.

The size of the company and the budget do not matter when the company uses the mobile user acquisition method that suits them. This will help to maximize success and mobile marketing reach.

While some mobile app developers count the number of app downloads as a method for measuring the likeability and desire for an application, the actual download count is not necessarily indicative of the app’s overall success. While high numbers painting a picture in hit charts might make it seem that a mobile app is doing well, there are other metrics to consider when it comes time to weigh the caliber of a mobile application.

When attempting to determine the desirability of a mobile app, the developer needs to take in a number of metrics into consideration in order to get a true picture of an app’s success rate. First, the developer will want to know what people are downloading the application: This will give the developer insight into what audience the app appeals to and if the mobile app is reaching its target audience.

The developer needs to examine how many people download the app, if the user opens it, and how each user is interacting with it. In fact, understanding how long a user makes use of a mobile app and the average time the user spends interacting with the app are also important figures to know. The latter information can give insight into what features in the app are appealing or not and thereby give the developer some hints about the necessary changes that can make the app even more successful.

READ ALSO: Price of app development

Other things a developer needs to consider is app feedback and comments. Knowing what people are saying about an app and if they will recommend it, helps the developer know of any potential changes are necessary as well as what features users like the most. The mobile app developer also needs to consider in what form users will be able to access the app. Will the app be free with advertisements supporting it? Will it be a lite version that leads to the purchase of the full version? Of course, offering in-app purchases is another option the developer has for monetizing a mobile application.

Mobile analytics will help ensure the success of your app. A good developer with any level of experience knows that the initial launch of an app is not the end of the story. In fact, applications are under a process of evolution and the developer continues to upgrade and perfects the app over the course of time.

With the latter notion in mind, it is easier to understand how the number of downloads associated with an app has no reflection on the app’s overall success since the number does not reflect the quality of the application or the version downloaded. Additionally, when the download numbers suddenly drop, turning to reviews and feedback may not be quite enough information for the developer to identify the issues with the app. It is because of situations like this that mobile analytics is of tremendous import.

Best Mobile Analytics Tools

Appsee

Appsee is a user-friendly analytics program that will reveal the total users of an app, how many launches an app gets, and it will also reveal the average session length and if the app crashes. It also records some of the app user’s usage so you can look at the interaction and determine what is wrong with the app, if applicable.

Appsee lets you identify why a user might stop using the application, what features are most desirable, and when the user stops interacting with the application.

Price: Free.

Flurry 

A complete toolkit to measure the caliber of an app. Flurry is like the Facebook of mobile analytic programs, and in the industry, the program is the standard when it comes to mobile analytics program development. The program works with Windows, Blackberry, Android, and iOS devices. The program requires you use three lines of code to start getting analytical information on an app.

Flurry is a program that allows the user to customize the program in order to measure the most meaningful metrics for the developer. Users of Flurry can find out about demographics and other important statistics so the developer can increase the success of an app.

Price: Free.

Google Analytics

Yes, now Google Analytics includes an app that can measure the statistics associated with a mobile application. With the app, the developer can witness user action, demographics, in-app purchase information, and more. If the developer makes a decision on how to monetize an app, there is Google Mobile available for iOS and Android platforms as well.

With mobile analytics through Google, users can find out about relevant users, traffic sources, real-time reports, flow visualizations, event tracking, exception and crash reports, and custom reports, all through a single program. The types of reports you can get out of Google Mobile Analytics include app profiles, and iOS and Android software development kits (SDKs).

Price: Free.

Mixpanel

Mixpanel is a mobile analytics resource supplying details on how a user discovers a mobile application, the location of the user, and details on how the user interacts with the app and for how long. Mixpanel relies on user surveys and A/B tests to generate analytic results. The user of Mixpanel gets access to custom reports revealing information on user retention and engagement.

With Mixpanel, users can access whether or not advertising campaigns are working or if the user needs to change up the way they are marketing an application. The app can even tell the developer if users are sharing the mobile app under analysis. Price: Varies, depending on the plan you choose.

Using one, a few, or even all of the above mobile analytics tools can help a developer begin to identify the real success of a mobile application. Rather than rely on the superficiality of a number of downloads count, the above programs give the developer insight into user behavior, interaction, and appealing features, but it will also help the developer find out about problems and issues with the application that require repair. The analytical programs available to developers are vital to the ongoing evolution of a mobile application and to the long-term success of the app as well.

Mobile users have quickly adapted to using these devices in almost everything that they do. While this is great for the industry, it makes it hard for mobile marketers to keep up. These marketers not only need to keep up with the changing desires of their customers but at a speed that has never been seen in marketing ever before.

A few challenges are more prevalent for mobile marketers than others. Here are the three biggest issues they face in the market today and how these issues can be solved.

The Competition Is Fierce

The hypercompetitive market of the mobile marketing world makes it difficult to cope and makes the cost per install (CPI) higher. The industry is flooded with apps with over a million being offered through Google Play and Apple’s App Store. This is not surprising when you consider that stores like these receive over one thousand submissions of new possible apps every day.

From these numbers, analysis has found that the most competitive app category is games. The number of active games that users can download is nearly 400,000. The second most competitive category is business though it only has about half the number of active apps that games have.

The number of apps is only increasing and so is the cost per install. This number is growing along with the number of downloads available. Discovering an app organically is something very rare. This is why developers need to use paid installs, which are achieved via marketing. This highlights the rising costs as they are connected to the growing demand.

READ ALSO: Mobile app costs

What do the growing costs mean for the company acquiring new users? It means that since the cost is almost always increasing, the company will spend the same amount of money for fewer users. If they would like to maintain the number of new users that they get each month, then they will need to increase their spending.

How Do We Solve This?

It can be assumed that the trend of growing demands and growing costs will continue for a long time. Mobile Marketers should use this information and all of the information available to them to address this problem and make decisions.

Ensuring the money of the company is spent in the most effective and fruitful way is where this begins. Companies should use a performance-driven business model that only charges the company for actual use rather than for the installation. This can be made a condition of spending with a network that runs it. If the network does not seem interested, then it may be a sign of the network itself having problems. If the network is having problems and cannot deliver users as promised, then it is probably time to cut ties.

Assessing the network completely can ensure that working with the network will actually pay off rather than be a waste of money. An activity can be measured after the installation has been completed and from there the user can be assessed through the network.

Keeping Them Interested

Mobile marketers need to deal with the problem of retention when it comes to their users. They need to ensure that the app is changing and growing to fit the needs of the users. Marketers need to be in tune with what the app is being used for and how to ensure it continues to keep the attention and the interest of the users.

It is incredibly common that users will download an app, open it, and play with it once and then never think about it again unless it comes time to clear some room on the device. Through analysis, this is thought to happen roughly with around 20 percent of users. Although downloading and installing an app is part of the process, it is not enough to keep a business going. The app needs to be downloaded and used for the company to make any money.

The Solution

There are ways that mobile marketers can see how many users, based on percentage, return, and continue to use the app. This gives the marketers a general idea of how much they need to adjust in order to take that number from whatever it is, to be closer to 100%. This can be found by carrying out a cohort analysis.

From there, the marketer can use visual analytics in order to understand better how the users are using the app and how often. Essentially this helps to understand the general use. Analyzing each aspect of the user’s experience can help to pinpoint the areas that could be improved. Once these areas have been improved, then the percentage of customers that are returning or frequent users will certainly increase.

Note: There are important advertising-related fixes you can make to measure retention-related in-app events to know who the loyal users are and then connect them back to the networks that acquired them.

The Downsides of Linking an App

When an app download screen comes up unexpectedly and interrupts what the user was doing, it is not likely that they will just go with it and download the app. This disruptive linking happens at random times and can even come up when the user has already downloaded that specific app. In whatever scenario this happens, it can be detrimental to the app’s success.

How Can This Be Fixed?

Deep-links is something that mobile marketers can use in order to remedy the problem. These links will allow the user to be directed to their desired screen once the app has finished being installed. This kind of link, like many others, can also help to save user information, which can create an even more positive experience.

The seamless transitions deep-linking provides makes it easier for the user to navigate and get the information they wanted. This is something that also enhances their experience.

Mobile markets that are better able to focus their work on the mobile user experience and how the app is really being used will better be able to craft their app to be more competitive, keep users loyal and provide meaningful and useful links.

When Apple Pay was launched in October 2014, that’s when m-commerce had come of age. The Apple Pay was part of the iPhone 6’s innovations, which brought together point of sale (POS) transaction processing with Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies. Essentially, it was with the iPhone 6 generation that a mobile user could touch his or her device to another device with NFC technologies in order to make transactions in a brick and mortar store.

It was the first time a mobile device could be used as a credit card, and it was the moment Apple entered into the realm of transaction and payment processing. As m-commerce quickly evolves, more big-name brands are looking to get into online payment options, including the likes of Amazon and Google.

The year 2015 has ensured that more and more people are accessing the Internet with mobile devices. In fact, the desktop computer is quickly becoming a less coveted item as mobile devices are heralded for their convenience. In the year 2014, Goldman Sachs made a prediction pertaining to mobile shopping and spending, and that forecast suggests that by 2018 will increase to as much as $626 billion.

Read also: Cost of mobile app

Bear in mind that a phrase like m-commerce or mobile commerce has multiple meanings. For one developer it may refer to in-app purchases, to another it can refer to premium apps. For someone else, the term m-commerce can suggest touch device technologies or a mobile POS allowing users to pay for something with their mobile device. The categorizations for m-commerce are myriad. There are, however, six key categorizations in the realm of m-commerce. The top six categorizations are as follows:

• Coupons sent digitally to consumers for use in brick and mortar establishments.
• Response when buyer users a website to buy products/services (Mobile Optimized).
• Retail Point of Sale (POS) mobile payment solutions.
• App Only Purchases on Mobile (e.g. Square or Uber).
• Social Media Purchases (In-App) (e.g. Twitter/Facebook).
• Mobile Access to e-commerce website online.

Mobile Devices and In-App Purchases

Mobile users commonly make purchases when using an application: This is the foundation of in-app purchases. Nevertheless, the amount of app that people are interacting with has reached its peak. This means that Facebook is one of a select few that can pull off the development of its own payment system. Thus, social games and their developers may be more reliant on Facebook credits or other options in order to bring in money from gaming applications. Bear in mind that it doesn’t really mean that there’s a challenge against the position of Google Wallet.

Starbucks has jumped on the payment processing bandwagon too, and the company created its own m-commerce platform as an addition to the company’s already existing infrastructure, thereby presenting the loyalty point and transactions via a mobile phone in a useful package that mirrors and complements the company’s offline experience.

Of course, Amazon is an Internet giant in sales so it’s no wonder the company has its own payment processing solutions. What this all means for the app developers throughout the remainder of 2015? There are plenty of viable, outstanding, and trustworthy payment options that can be integrated into m-commerce apps where customers are already participating with one of the big name providers in pre-existing payment processing environments. Thus, mobile app developers can create apps that reward users with things like Facebook credits or Amazon points and other related rewards.

m-Commmerce is More than Mere Shopping

The way brick and mortar retail shops operate has been forever changed by the innovation of mobile devices. Handheld mobile devices have brought an entire entourage of innovations to the retail setting and businesses are following the hottest application development trends. The gap between the physical and virtual store has now dubbed the gap between “bricks and clicks,” and businesses are doing everything in their power to make that gap as small as possible.

The methods businesses are using mobile advertising solutions include offering discount coupons that are scannable via a mobile device, making use of mobile solutions for business is on the rise. For instance, Buzztala has created a platform where users can create video reviews and/or customer testimonials for whatever websites they favor.

Social Media Marketing Remains Meaningful

And of course, for the remainder of 2015, the ever-increasing pins on Pinterest and Likes on Facebook will continue to prove important to the thee-commerce/m-commerce business. As per SocialCode’s Max Kalehoff, there are businesses out there that are spending budgets that are the size of television scale advertising budgets, and it’s all for the purposes of social media marketing. In fact, there’s little doubt that social media marketing will soon match the costs of other more costly forms of advertising.

Mobile Websites Are Powerful Business Tools

While mobile devices and Internet access through such devices is on the rise, that’s when a business owner would be wise to establish a mobile site for the consumer as a powerful business tool. If the business owner has a website online and a mobile-friendly site, then that’s like killing two birds with a single stone, and it will allow the business owner to capture the attention of consumers from two avenues instead of just one.

Credit Cards Through Mobile Devices

NFC technologies are changing the way consumers pay for goods and services, and businesses need to adapt in order to maintain consumer loyalty. Many smartphones are fitted with NFC chips, which allow for banking information and payment to be processed when scanned on a special reader.

This type of POS processing is different than credit card purchases, as it allows for the use of interactive payment processing as well as alternative services. As per David Marcus, the PayPal president calls the service Money 3.0. Is it possible that the latter service becomes pervasive this year? Or will rival options come to the forefront, like Apple’s iBeacon or Beacon by PayPal, both of which are dependent on Bluetooth® technologies?

New Innovations on the Horizon

The mobile app world is evolving at a rapid pace and as such there are new and promising applications on the horizon. Take for instance the usage of Biometrics where retina scans, fingerprint scans, and voice recognition are revolutionizing the way people identify themselves via mobile transactions.

The newest mobile app novelties are bound to shape the way businesses conduct business for years to come, both in e-commerce, m-commerce, and physical realms.

The modern addict is a very different image than the ones of the past decades. The addicts of our time are getting their fix from a range of online distractions. There is a great deal of literature and research that has gone into the narcotic effects of these sites such as Twitter, Pinterest, and, of course, Facebook.

In The Business Of Crafting Desire

In the modern age of selling distraction, it is the companies that can quickly form strong user habits that come out on top. These companies have a clever web of internal triggers that will cause users to visit their site without an external prompt.

READ ALSO: Getting Feedback for Your App

Marketing goes out of the window with habit-forming products. These companies simply become part of the daily routines of their customers. This is called the: ‘first-to-mind’ characteristic. When the customer is bored, sad, interested in a topic or has a spare moment they immediately think of the product and company.

The Basics

While it sounds very simple to create this kind of company as there are so many of these sites already active, it isn’t as straightforward. Manufacturing desire is a skill that takes time to develop. The successful companies are the ones that can create the right hook for their customers.

Habit-forming technology has some identifying characteristics that come up in everything from video games to advertising campaigns. These are the five steps to create an effective hook. Although the process can be applied to a varied selection of companies and products this guide is focused on consumer Internet companies.

1) Trigger

The start of the process is what powers whether it is successful or not. Most of the time the triggers work in a combination of both external and internal ones. The technology will provide the customer with an external trigger to start a cycle towards an internal trigger. Some example external triggers are links on a website, an email, or an app icon. The feelings that these external triggers create will eventually become internalized, and a habit is formed.

2) Action

Once the trigger creates a desire, then the action needs to be directed. This can be based on two aspects of behavior: motivation and ability. The key to encouraging the customer to take the action is to make it as obvious and to make it require the least amount of effort possible. This is the ability aspect of the process. At the same time, the design of the product must continue the motivation aspect by being immediately attractive.

3) Reward

The reward step of the process is one of the most intricate and needs to be carefully planned. It isn’t easy enough to give a predictable reward, it must be a variable reward. If you gave a person a box, and there is a minimal reward inside that was continually the same, they would quickly take the box for granted and lose interest. If the box occasionally threw out a larger more exciting reward, then that changes everything.

Creating intrigue puts customers into an intense hunting state of mind. This makes desire become the guiding force. As a variable reward system, it can form some of the strongest habits. With the examples of Facebook or Pinterest, it is the fact that rewarding content is different with each visit. It is not predictable, and, therefore, it creates a need to visit more often to get greater rewards and the user’s next big “hit”.

4) Investment

Most habit-forming processes finish with the reward and create a short loop. The key to manufacturing desire is the investing phase. This step has two main goals. Firstly the company wants the customer to have a high chance of passing through the process again and again. Secondly is to use the dopamine reward state to push customers into parting with some cash, time, data, effort, or social capital.

The difference between most sales pitches is that with manufacturing desire the investment will improve the service. In terms of online companies, it comes in virtual assets, learning about new features, and inviting other users. The company uses each investment to make the trigger even more attractive. This will eventually result in the reward being more exciting with every pass the customer takes through the hook process.

Using The Power Wisely

Habit design is a powerful tool and should be utilized carefully. It can create a whole range of entertaining parts of a person’s lift and healthy routines. It can, however, be used to create extremely damaging and wasteful addictions.

Whether it is right or not to use is certainly an important question but one that has to be answered while also remembering that the technique is already here and is here to stay. The benefits for companies are just too great, including greater access to the collection of customer data. The combination of access, speed, and data create a whole range of types of habit-forming triggers.

With such a powerful effect, it is clear how important it is for a company to understand the hook process and how to utilize it successfully. Equally, the average customer needs to know precisely how these processes work in order to prevent excessive and unwanted manipulation.

Being able to manufacture desire is what will differentiate between companies that succeed and those that fail in the future. This is especially true for those that can build a service around especially attractive internal triggers that don’t require any need for further marketing or external triggers.

By following the four-step process can help any company to create a successful hook based product. For the customer, being aware of the processes will help to keep this powerful technique from being put into the hands of companies that are profiting off of damaging habits.

With the right companies using positive triggers that generate healthy or life-affirming rewards will mean that manufacturing desire will place many customers on a hook cycle that will benefit them and their wellbeing in general.

If you spend months designing an app, creating a number of iterations, testing them, there’s no doubt you have a question: How to monetize an app?

After all that hard work you’ll want to get a bit of brand recognition, to heighten consumer awareness or to gain the loyalties of new customers. An app is only as successful as the number of users who download and use the application and just how much money the app generates in terms of overall revenue.

Read also: Crowdfunding apps

Sure, it happens once in a blue moon. Apps like Instagram, Vine, and WhatsApp come along and sell for huge sums of money. But, in the everyday world of app building and development, the average app won’t make billions. It’s just like the industry of publishing, there are thousands of authors, but only a few of them are bestsellers.

You need to be confident in the success of your app, but there is a small possibility that your app will land you in riches. Statistics reveal that around 2% of the app developers claim more than half of the app revenues. You need to be realistic about your vision of success, so let’s see what you can do with app monetization.

Read also: How do free apps make money

Business Model Decisions

There are several app monetization models and below you can see the most effective monetization methods as of March 2017:

[Source: Statista]

First, you need to define what you want to achieve with the app you’ve created. There are some questions to be considered:

• Can your app solve problems of the user, and if it is so, then how?
• What features make your app different from all the other apps on the market?
• Why will users pay for your product? What is its value?
• Research apps in the same category: What business model they are using to sell and market their apps?

Once you’ve answered the questions above, you can move forward to create your own mobile app monetization model.

Below are some of the major ways to monetize apps you can choose from.

6 App Monetization Strategies

Strategy 1: In-App Ads & Free Mobile Apps

This business model is most attractive for users because they can download your app for free, without paying any penny and you are able to make money by selling data-driven advertising space.

How do in-app ads work in free mobile apps?

1. you gather information about the users
2. when you have formed a strong user base, you can sell the collected data to in-app advertising networks
3. publishers select your application to place their ads

As a result, users see the small banners or popups with ads. Ads typically appear at the top or bottom of an app. If the user taps the ad, all sorts of possibilities open up from watching a video to the redirecting to advertiser’s website. For social media apps like Tik Tok or Instagram in-app ads usually are represented by video placements. 

Also, there is one more interesting type of ad – notification ads.

Some people are calling them “Trojan horse ads” because they can send you push notifications with the ad even when the app is dormant.

Notification ads can be used while thinking about how to monetize the Android app. Because they are only supported on this platform.

Read also: How much does it cost to make an app

However, there are some shortcomings when monetizing free apps. For instance, some users find the advertisements annoying and decide not to use or even not to download the app with ads.

Also, you need to take into account that advertisements may significantly limit the screen space of your app.

Strategy 2: In-App Purchases

You get the revenue in this strategy by selling virtual or physical goods or services within the app.

It doesn’t matter what you’re selling. It can be clothing, gadgets, accessories or something virtual such as extra lives or in-game currency.

The in-app purchases implemented in your app turn it into another sales channel. This way of app monetization applies particularly well for e-commerce apps or games (where you can buy a bonus or a special ability to skip a level that’s driving you up the wall.)

One of the side benefits of in-app purchases is that you can get deeper levels of engagement by providing users with the opportunity to buy virtual goods.

The only drawback in this model has some cons since app stores usually take a cut of the revenue for virtual goods purchased inside an app. For instance, for songs or a game.

Strategy 3: Apps with Gated Features (Freemium)

This model is a bit like the free apps model.

The app is available for free but some of its features are locked (gated). To unlock these features or get an access to premium features users should pay some money.

In other words, users have access to an app’s basic functionality for free, but the premium features have their price.

The Freemium model is most relevant for games.

Angry Birds game is a great example of how a brand managed to get significant revenue using this strategy. Users were able to upgrade the game to the full version for a small fee.

Such an approach allowed the company to get an extremely large number of fans of the game. After having conquered a few levels, users became engaged enough to pay for the full-fledged version for more hours of fun.

Strategy 4: Paid Apps

You can assign a fixed price to every single app download. The price of mobile app development can vary depending on your app and its functionality. You will want to be fair about the pricing of your app, however. You have to persuade users to download the app by stirring a need or desire for the potential user. This means more marketing efforts.

If you set a price for downloading your app, it means you use the paid app business model. The user has to purchase your app from the app store to install it on his device.

The price of paid apps may vary and it usually starts from $0.99. It is the most common price as brands make money upfront with every new user.

The success of a paid app depends on your ability to showcase the value that users get with your app.

It is not an easy task to sell an app because app stores are so overcrowded and users can find a free alternative to your app.

Thus, your paid app should possess undeniable benefits that differentiate it from similar free apps. Provide your app with unique features, be it design or functionality, or brand. 

Strategy 5: Subscriptions (Paywalls)

This model is similar to the freemium model. Instead of the locked features, it makes money on narrowing conThe user. The user is allowed to view a limited amount of content for free. To get more, the user needs to sign up for a paid subscription.

This model allows you to earn revenue on a recurring basis as it most suited for content-focused apps (news, lifestyle, and entertainment). And it is very similar to the “pay later” or “free trial” model.

Apps with updating content can also earn money with ads that other brands place inside of them. Use an app revenue calculator to estimate the approximate revenue of your application.

Strategy 6: Incentivized Advertising

Incentivized Advertising is a kind of sponsorship. It means you form a partnership with advertisers, who reward your users for completing certain in-app actions. Your app earns money by taking a share of the revenue from redeemed rewards. RunKeeper became one of the first apps that adopted this app business model.

RunKeeper uses incentivized advertising to motivate its users to track their running activity to unlock exclusive rewards and promotions.

Takeaway

As the competition between the apps becomes more complicated, you should use a creative approach while building your monetization strategy. You shouldn’t limit your strategy to one model. You can work with blended models. For instance, start with a “free, but with ads” model and then offer users a paid upgrade to an ad-free version.

The end lesson here is: be creative and courageous as much, as it possible and you will bound to succeed.