An expert web & mobile app development strategy
Build a solid foundation with an app strategy blueprint
Why an app strategy blueprint?
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An app strategy blueprint gets your team on the same page
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It helps to validate your concept before any hefty investments
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A strategy can help to save time and money during later phases
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It gives better insight into your target audience and competitors
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A strategy defines your objectives so that developers can cost accurately
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It determines your main selling points and guides your app marketing strategy
Benefits of an app strategy blueprint
You know what they say: he who fails to prepare, prepares to fail. We’ll set you up for success with a carefully planned web and mobile app development strategy.
It all starts with an idea; a concept for an app that you know will benefit your business, and delight your visitors. But how do you ensure that your app is a success? Well, behind every great app, lies a solid strategy. It’s the best way to make sure your app has a solid foundation, and a good chance of success. Although it can be difficult, it’s important to plan your app strategy before getting carried away with the excitement of design and development.
A strategy to set you apart
With so many apps flooding the market, it's important to have a solid strategy to increase your app's chances of standing out from the crowd. This is why we start off every project with a web or mobile app development strategy. By spending more time on research and planning, we can learn more about your ideal customers, and what features they need to reach their goals. It also allows us to prepare for any unexpected challenges that may come up in the future. Let’s lay the groundwork for your product with an app strategy blueprint so you can hit the road running!
App strategy blueprint phases
Discovery phase
Our goal during the discovery phase is to get to know your business inside out. We’ll ask you about your digital goals, and where you aim to be in the future. We’ll pick your brain about your target audience, your competitors, as well as how you think your app fits into the market as a whole.
A great idea can be hard to come by, and successfully turning it into an app can be even harder! No one wants to spend time and money on a great idea that flops. That's why we take the time to put together an app strategy blueprint that does your concept justice. If you’re still on the fence about your app idea, check out our app design for newbies blog post; it'll give you some tips on how to come up with an app idea, and how to critique it too.
Once we've validated your app idea, and understand what you'd like to achieve, we set out to discover what makes your audience tick. We investigate what they may want out of your app, and how they might incorporate it into their everyday lives. This information also helps to guide your app marketing strategy, allowing you to meet your audience where they’re at.
Next up, we research the current market. We investigate what your competitors are doing, and what they’re not. Our goal is to find a gap in the market where your app can shine! We also investigate which other apps your target market is using, how they use them, what they like about them, and what they don't like about them. All this juicy information helps us determine how your app can carve out its own path to app glory!
App sitemap
There's nothing worse than searching for something on an app and not being able to find it. Unless your app has an intuitive structure, your users may end up navigating to pages they don’t want to be on, and unable to find the information they need. By this stage, they might give up, uninstall your app, and start looking elsewhere. Don’t let this happen to your app!
A key part of the app strategy blueprint is giving your app an intuitive, clear, and easy-to-follow structure. This structure is called a “sitemap”, and lists all the pages of your app. It describes each page's hierarchy, and outlines how the pages fit together. Once we have nailed down the underlying structure of your app, we use the sitemap to guide the rest of the web and mobile app development strategy.
User flows
Armed with the sitemap, we start to develop the main user flows. These are the most common pathways your users will follow in order to complete certain tasks. A well-constructed user flow should leave your users feeling like they are in complete control of where they end up on your app, unaware that their journey is being gently guided.
During this phase, we consider all the key user flows of your app, and outline how users will move from one piece of content to the next. By laying out each step of a user flow, we can identify any obstructions to the user experience, and fix them before they are introduced into the app design.
User flows are not only an important part of the app strategy blueprint, but are also key to the app marketing strategy. They can be designed to encourage users to complete a desired action, such as sharing a post, or liking a product. This can tie in directly to your marketing strategy.
Scope document
Once we’ve completed the first three steps of the app strategy blueprint, we begin to flesh out your app’s scope of work document. This is a detailed report that outlines how we will implement the web or mobile app development strategy. It describes the app's goals, features, technical specifications, business rules, and testing plans. It delves into the technology stack we recommend, and provides the reasons behind our choices. It lists any third party integrations that may be required, and analyses any relevant API integrations. The devil is in the details, so we make sure to cover all bases when working on your scope document. This prevents unexpected issues arising during the project.
The scope acts as a “hands-on” reference for everyone involved in the project. It reflects a common understanding of the app, and gives the team a single source of truth to reference when in doubt. A thorough scope of work document also makes it easier for us to provide a fair and accurate costing for the design and development phases.
Cost and timeline estimate
Finally, with the scope document in the bag and a thorough understanding of the app requirements, we are able to put together an estimate of the cost and timeline of the project. If required, you can send the estimate on to your partners, executives, or stakeholders for their approval; otherwise, we can simply dive straight in and get to work on the project!
An important aspect to consider when investing in an app is the app marketing strategy. After all, there’s no use in having a great app if no one knows about it! Our digital marketing team knows how to spread the word far and wide! So make sure you spare some of your budget to market your app effectively.
Our app strategy blueprint sets your app up for success
Don’t rush the planning process and rob your app of its potential. Follow our tried-and-tested web and mobile app development strategy and get your app started on the right foot.