Are you looking to develop your own app but have no idea where to begin? If you have the idea and just need a mobile app developer to bring it to life, then they will be able to manage the whole process, taking control and guiding you in the right direction from start to finish.

Even if your app design is a potentially simple one, building it might not be. But don’t let the thought of complexity put you off; we have broken down the process into simple steps, showing you how we will design, launch and monitor your very own bespoke app. Follow these steps to see how the development of your mobile app will take place, noting that at the beginning we will be asking you plenty of questions to ensure that we gain a clear understanding of exactly the type of app you want.

As a leading mobile app development company in Birmingham, we have mapped out below the app development process and the stages that we go through from start to finish to develop your mobile phone app.

• Ascertaining why you want this app – You need to be clear on this before proceeding; do you want to enhance your existing client offering or make your app a separate standalone item? Given that 1 out of 4 apps are only used once during the first six month period, you need to be sure that you are investing wisely, understanding the USPs of your product and what it will bring to the marketplace. Do you need an app or would a mobile-enabled website do the job? How will your users benefit and why is your app better than others already out there? If your answers are compelling, then proceed; if not, take a step back and think again.

• Understanding who will use your app – you need to be clear as to who your target users will be. Maybe create your ideal customer avatar, carry out market research and dig deep. You need to know how and why they will use your app and then convey this to us. Your app will also need to include an analytics system in order to track user behaviour, revealing strengths and weaknesses of the app and any action that you need to take – this is something that we can take care of.

• What features do you want your app to include? Think about what users will need to enable them to interact with your app. Look back at your research and be guided by user activity and your type of audience. Commonly used are facilities for secure login and maybe a feedback screen but what you include is up to you; if you are not sure, discuss with us as your mobile app developer as we will be switched on to what works best. Navigations also needs to be included in the discussion to ensure that users can find what they need. Going forward, your analytics will provide feedback with regard to future releases and revised versions of the app.

• Marketing your app – This involves your user onboarding process and must be linked to your apps key features and USPs. Your product needs to grab them as soon as they open it up and must make them want to stay with it. We can help with this, ensuring that your users obtain the necessary skills, knowledge and behaviour to use your app effectively, tailoring the process to highlight key features of the app.

• Ensuring that your app generates revenue – naturally your app needs to make money and there are various ways in which this can be done, such as:
a. Charging for the download
b. Offering a free trial for a set period which will convert to a paid service
c. Make the app free of charge but setting a fee for upgrades or associated purchases
d. Making the app free and focusing on paid ad placement for income
Whilst discussing this with you, we will look at your budget for development, launch and ongoing maintenance, your target revenue amount and period of time involved.

• Timeline of the app development process – this will be planned with you in advance and during the whole process we will communicate with you, keeping you informed of each stage of progress. Taking care of the programming language and principles of design, you do not need to understand these areas fully but sufficiently to know which skills we are bringing into play. When we provide you with a proposal this will show the timeline and the full cost.

• Programming front and back end – this is all included within the mobile app development process. Front end will include everything that the user will see such as design and appearance. Back end is everything that works in the background to enable your app to function. As full stack developers, we deal with both front and back. If it is decided that your app should be built as a hybrid, the development process will be faster and the app will work across several different platforms.

• Establishing the user interface – this will be included to guide the user from opening the app to completing their task. This User Experience (UX) and the way in which they interact with the various app features – User Interface (UI) are all taken care of by us. We will create wireframes for each screen, showing each page and how the relate to each other. We will also use sitemaps and sketches to illustrate the app design principles before the product is ready for release.

• Installing the mobile app analytics product – this will be put in place in order to monitor use of the new app. It will track how many downloads are being made and who is using it. Data accrued will include such things as session activity, geographic location, user actions (such as purchases), which parts they use the most and whether or not the app crashes or bugs are revealed. The results will enable you to fully monitor your app and be ready to take it to the next level.

• Ready for launch – now your app can be released to the digital marketplace, (once it has been thoroughly user tested). A marketing strategy will be developed and once it goes live, we will attend to any fixes required or version updates that are necessary due to user concerns/reports if you need us to.

By staying true to the original intent of your app, your sincerity will shine through. An app created with passion and genuine intent will always appear unique and it is this that will drive your mobile app forward. By making use of professional mobile web design services and mobile app development services from start to finish, provided by an expert company such as ALT Agency, you can be sure of receiving a mobile app finished product which will do all that you need it to do.