Pre-Launch Mobile App Mistakes

1. Skipping the app discovery phase

Poor market research. You need to perfectly know your target audience, competitors, your strengths, and weaknesses. Skipping research is the number one reason why mobile apps fail. You can check an example of discovery flow, duration, and outcomes here.

Copying successful ideas. Another common mistake of founders is not formulating a unique value proposition. Or making it not unique enough. In the mobile app market, this is a doomed strategy.

No prototyping. We develop a clickable prototype as a result of the discovery phase. This is a crucial step for visualizing and testing functionality. It is also important to develop an MVP (minimum viable product) first and then iterate it to perfection.

2. Mistakes when hiring app developers

Hiring random app development companies. Founders often focus on hourly rates and maybe some reviews. But there are so many things to take into consideration: blogs and social media, the tech stack they use, security policy, portfolio, and the similarity of projects to yours. If you hire remotely, consider having common values.

Thinking that app development means coding. Apart from discovery, we have planning, design, development, launch, QA, and support stages. Founders often underestimate their importance or allocate little time.

Not considering outsourcing. Doing everything in-house is not always the best idea. This guide on in-house vs. remote vs. dedicated teams can help you choose wisely. 

3. Mistakes to avoid when building a mobile app

Picking the right platform. Android holds over 85% of the market share, but iOS can still be a better idea if you target a particular group. Audience, devices, region, industry, or niche can influence the choice. For example, an app exclusively for the US will probably need both platforms due to their equal share. Either way, many founders make the choice without deep analysis, which then limits app growth.

Choosing the right stack. When using both platforms, you need to decide whether to make them Native or Cross-platform. Of course, there are also Hybrid, PWA, and even No-Code solutions, but these two remain the most popular. Here’s an ultimate comparison to choose what suits your goals best. 

Thinking that how to design mobile apps is secondary. Apps getting uninstalled right after the first use is a common thing. Mobile users don’t tolerate poor design and unintuitive interfaces. And yet, so many apps make a mistake of an overwhelming design or a poorly devised onboarding process!

Forgetting how to secure mobile apps. You should incorporate it from the start to avoid higher costs and complications later. A fortiori, complications can go as far as a serious security breach and a complete loss of customers’ trust.

Forgetting about data synchronization. If you process information about customers, goods, prices, have an in-built CRM, accounting or warehouse management, etc. – this is a crucial thing to plan beforehand. A competent, well-structured client-server interaction can save you up to a year of time on debugging.

Insufficient beta testing. More than 70% of mobile app uninstalls are caused by crashes. This is easily avoided due to beta testing. Quickly gathering feedback from a group of target users can work wonders.

Not leveraging soft launch. This means launching for a part of your audience, for example, in one country only. You can choose a less competitive region or the one with a law CPI (cost per install) to perform technical tests and gather initial data on key metrics.

Not marketing your app early. Reaping the full benefit will be very hard without a solid pre-launch promotion. Use all the channels: web ads, social media, news, content marketing, billboards, promo events, etc. Set a release date and generate as much excitement as possible.

Post-Launch App Mistakes

1. Thinking app development is over

Not collecting data from day one. User data should encompass targeting, which can dramatically reduce your cost of acquisition. Make sure to have a detailed app tracking tool; a deep-linking feature is desirable.

Quitting testing. Even after beta testing, it’s common to have crashes, slow response, UI and functional bags, etc. Testing should be continuous. It includes the benefit of learning the first reactions of customers and their favorite and disliked features.

Not releasing updates. These are crucial to resolve issues, improve functionality, and keep the app relevant over the long-term.

Too many features. This is the other side of the coin. Many founders want to keep adding new features without understanding that it can destroy the loyalty of their target audience.  

2. Common mistakes when marketing your app

Marketing doesn’t end after release. Even apps that went viral have long-term marketing plans.

Neglecting discovery platforms. It’s a convenient but often overlooked way t showcase your app and increase conversion.

Not integrating offline marketing efforts. Depending on the app’s goal and demographic, it can be very effective.

Not allocating resources for content marketing. Insights and stories about your app that highlight its UVP are another great way to earn loyalty.

Not focusing on your web presence. Smart redirect banners, SEO-optimization of your blog, and other proven web tactics can be leveraged successfully for mobile app promotion.   

Forgetting about ads… Or buying ads from day one. Relying solely on the organic audience is unrealistic. But so is spending all your budget on ads at once. You need to scale slowly as you test and study your funnel.

App store optimization (ASO). Memorable name, description, using keywords, enticing icon, screenshots, and other tricks can earn you a higher rank. Make sure not to miss any.

Forgetting to build virality in your app. The system should be self-supporting: social sharing, referral programs, user-generated content campaigns are just a few examples.

3. Not focusing on user engagement and retention

Metrics. It’s good to track some, but it’s better to track the ones that are most meaningful for your type of business. Here’s a guide on how to choose and measure KPI correctly.

Messaging. That’s a little trick, overlooked by many. In-app messaging can help users to further explore the app, which can increase retention rates.

Ignoring reviews. It’s very important to reply fast and correctly to all messages, whether positive or negative.  

Customer support. Support is especially important for apps for transport, shopping, banking, and other similar services. But any app should strive to provide the best service possible. In today’s competitive market, this more and more often becomes a deal-breaker.

We hope you checked out all the points from this list! If you are only at the beginning of the way to a successful app, we are always ready to help.