Let’s explore some of the reasons why apps fail.
Steve Jobs said: “Stay hungry, stay foolish”.
South Africa is experiencing a mobile app gold rush. Many clever entrepreneurs are identifying the mobile app space as a potentially lucrative business venture. Over the years we have serviced hundreds of clients who had an idea and executed bravely on that idea. Here are some of the reasons we have identified for apps failing.
- The consumers of your product or service actually don’t need your product or service.
In mobile app terms, this means that the app will be uninstalled from the device as it is taking up precious real estate ( device storage size ) Before starting a new business that is based on a mobile app, make sure that people will use your solution. And continue to use it over time. To determine this is may be quite useful to do a number of surveys with respondents that match your target market. You should be looking for an overwhelming majority of respondents that are eager to use your solution. If the feedback is just so so, then perhaps time to rethink and refine.
2. Go to market strategy and money for marketing
It’s surprising how many founders of new businesses believe that their app will be an overnight success. Apps, just like any other new businesses require a strategy. This strategy will answer questions like why, who, how and when. The how part often relates to spending money on marketing. Finding the perfect place to spend money on advertising your app can be quite difficult. Like any new business, your marketing efforts should continue for a year at the very minimum.
3. Surrounded by the wrong people
Whether it is your staff, the freelancers you choose or anyone that has a potential impact on your new app’s success; having the wrong people around you will severely impact the pace at which you can achieve success.
4. Someone does it better than you
You may have entered into space where you have existing competitors, or you were first to market. There is always a chance that someone can come along and offer something better and cheaper. To prevent this from happening you need to keep a close eye on the competition, have adequate analytics, regular user feedback and make improvements to the app. Improvements do not always mean more features. The average app user in South Africa can get quite confused about an app user interface. You need to make it as easy as possible for people to understand how to use the main features of the app.
5. Not using the entire toolbox
Were you able to tick all 200 boxes of launching an app in South Africa? Or did you think that some social media and some adverts will lead to word of mouth and then all will be fine? The tools available to launch products like these are changing daily. Make sure you know what they are and that you can tick them all off. This will improve the chances of app success greatly. One of your best secret weapons will be using this popular service.
Contact us if you have other suggestions or experiences of Why apps fail.