4 Horrible Mistakes To Avoid When Launching Your Mobile App

Some think that
there is no secret sauce when it comes to launching your newly completed
app to the world. It’s easy to believe the old phrase, “If you build
it, they will come.” Unfortunately, you’re not creating a “Field of Dreams”.
Instead, you’re producing a product that should solve your customers’
problems and delight them in the process. To do this, you’ll need to get
the word out. You’ll need to let people know that there is a new
product on the market. This app is the app of their dreams. When
launching your app to the Apple App Store or the Google Play store you
need a plan. This plan is more than, submit the app; hope to get
downloads. Planning your launch starts way before the final stages of
your development process. Poor planning leads to you stepping on the
landmines that blow up your product launch. This guide will help you get
through the minefield and provide your customers with an experience
they love.

Not Building The Right Product

Before you
start, you must know, are you building the right product? During the
development process, it is imperative that you test every idea with your
target user. One of the biggest mistakes that you can make is not to
validate your app idea with real customers. Can you find ten people that
want to use your app today? Are they willing to pay you for it? Ask
them to pay you for it. Right now. If they’re willing to part money
today, then at least your app idea is validated. When you go on the
notion of what you believe others want, you end up building a product
that nobody wants. You need to benchmark your product against the
competition. You can risk making a product that people like, but
eventually, use your competitor’s apps because they have a better
product. Test each feature in your product. If it’s mediocre, cut it.
It’s better to launch a product that does one thing well, than one that
does an average job at ten things.

No Marketing Before Your Product Launches

Once
you’re confident that you’ve built the right product, let the world
know that this fantastic product exists! Do not wait until it is two
weeks before you launch your app. Start building an audience to market
to the moment you have an idea of what you want to make. Doing so will
help you validate your app idea faster. You’ll also have the confidence
that you’re building the right product. You’ll have an audience that you
can ask questions, poll, and test product features on.

The moment
you have your great idea, build a website, tell people about it. This
website will be your product marketing website. It will talk about your
product as if it were already built. The purpose of this site is to
capture potential users in an email list and to build your audience.
You’ll grow your audience by talking about your problem. You can create
content (blog, podcasts, video, etc.) that talk about the problem that
you’re trying to solve. This site gives people the opportunity to sign
up as a potential tester or as a day one user. Your testers are your
early adopters. You’ll work with them to refine your app. They’re the
litmus test to assure that your app is performing well.

Your day
one users are the people who want to use your app today. Throughout the
development of this app, you will market to them. You can even give them
early access to your product. These tactics create excitement and a
long list of day one users. You’ll need them for a successful app
launch. If you listen to your audience, they will reward you by telling
their friends and family about this cool new app that they’ve downloaded
and how it help them solve their problem.

Not Optimizing For the App Store

Day
one users are excellent, but they’re also limited. Once you’re on any
app store, your app needs to be optimized so that you can reach more
users. The app store is a search engine. Similar to Google, people
either find items by name or in reference the problem that they’re
looking to solve. A user who wants an alarm clock for their Apple Watch
will undoubtedly type the words “Apple Watch Alarm” in the search box.
Your app needs to capitalize on this. You need to know the exact
language that your customers use to solve their problem. Now that you
have day one users, testers, and an audience, you can ask them. You can
then use these terms in the copy of your app’s title and description.
For instance, if your app was named Saucy, you can add a postfix that
gives a description to the title of your app. “Saucy: An Alarm Clock for
The Apple Watch.” Then, you can add the term Alarm clock and Apple
watch throughout your description.

The name, description, icon,
video and preview images are factors each new user considers before they
download your app. Each item entices the user to take the next step and
press that download button. The most important of all of these is your
app icon. Your app icon needs to stand out in the app store. If it
doesn’t, it is often overlooked by app store browsers. To do this, test
your app icon with your audience. Also, test it against similar apps in
your product’s space. Take time to differentiate against other apps. If
you’re building a checklist app, don’t use a check mark, instead focus
on how your checklist app is different. Allow your app icon to reflect
this difference.

Not Engaging Discover Services

Let’s say
you weren’t able to build a pre-launch audience. The next best thing is
the third party services that people use to find new apps. Services like
BetaList and Product Hunt give you the opportunity to add your product
to their catalog. Users who frequent these sites will try out your app
if it solves their problem. Press and bloggers also check these places
out to find products to write about. It’s also a good idea to contact
these bloggers directly and get them to try out or review your app. You
can use an app review services to test and write about your app. These
tactics bring more users to your product.

Now Launch

Now
that you have a map of the minefield use it to launch your app. Do not
just put your app on any app store and hope to gain tradition. Customer
acquisition, testing, and planning are keys to your success. You want to
be sure that when you launch, you have a list of people who want to use
your app. Remember always to build the right product. It’s important to
test with users so that you know you’re on the right track. Be sure to
optimize for the app store. Also, use BetaList and ProductHunt to gain
more users. If you need help launching or building your app, we can assist you with that.1