“I have an idea for an APP” is a sentence we often say or hear. But by now we have learned that the idea alone isn’t always enough. A new market is being established, thanks to the circulation of smartphones and tablets: the applications market, in fact, represents a constantly growing field that, year after year, has kept rising and spreading. In fact, Apple can boast 1 million apps available on the App Store – surpassing the Android market (Google Play) which has on its active “only” 700.000 apps. According to a study by the MIP (Politecnico di Milano School of Management), this business is growing at a rate of 87% every year, and such an impressive phenomenon is possible thanks to an extraordinary spreading of the internet and new generation devices; so proves the fact that almost 30 million Italians make regular use of a smartphone and most of them has an active internet connection. Thanks to these factors, the apps market is constantly growing, and mobile economy was able to progress over 50% more than the previous year, for a gross amount of more than 600 million euros. To face such competitive levels, new marketing and strategic solutions are necessary: new methods are needed, rules to repeal the established standards to make the app’s image strong and visible. Instruments to guarantee the success of your app are required. We will start from here to discover what these instruments are, and how to obtain them.
To Whom Is The App Addressed?
Surely the first step is having a project in mind, an app that is unique in its market and rich of positive features. But that’s not enough. As much as one’s project could be brilliant, not everyone succeeds, no matter how much money, time or energy is spent and 2 out of 3 developers see their project vanish after a couple of years, or little more. The main risk is that of ignoring the customers’ needs and not define a clear business model. Optimism is essential to start a venture, but that shouldn’t result in overlooking specific risks and requirements. The app that you wish to develop always has a recipient: apps are made for specific clients
The Formula for Success
If thanks to the app we created, the customer manages to satisfy his request, or solve a problem, not only does the worth of the app increase, but the probability of success will increase with it. From this we can deduce that the probability of success is directly proportional to the value the client detects, and therefore the operation that leads to success will be:
perceived value = benefits received – incurred costs.
It is necessary to skip from the model centered on product/service to the customer-oriented model, that is inclined to offer solutions that give the highest value to possible future clients. Our first step consists in defining and deciding if our brilliant idea actually offers value. Of course we will have to conduct an analyzed study to address the app toward a specific client, the more suitable for our product, so that we can maximize the value and increase its possibility of success. To find out if the app is customer-oriented and verify its value, a few general questions are necessary:
- Is there a task that our app that our app solves?
- Is there a problem that our app removes?
- Is there a wish that our app grants?
- Is there a substantial improvement that our app brings?
After the right intuition, the above mentioned information and the formula of perceived worth, only one last step is left to take: answer to the question “what encourages to buy my product?”
