Developing your own app is a milestone for any business. If, however, you get to this stage, only to find that the digital platform isn’t doing as well as you would have hoped, you might start to wonder what exactly has gone wrong.
There could be any number of reasons for this – and you have to account for the possibility that your app simply hasn’t had enough time to gain the kind of traffic that you were hoping for. Turning your attention to everything from your marketing to the execution of the app itself can illuminate some possible answers.
Aesthetic Considerations
It might be that your app fails to impress in the way that others on the market do. If your audiences are already used to the standards set by your competitors, only to come to your offering and see that the pages are lifeless, without animations and no interactivity from the page, it’s inevitably going to affect their impression. The opposite is also true – too much focus on flashy animations might distract from the actual efficacy of the app, and that might make people want to use it less, especially if these visual elements lead to a slowdown or anything similar.
You’re looking to strike a balance, an offering that is impressive without looking as though it’s trying too hard, and aesthetics that merge effortlessly with your branding.
A Lack of Financial Opportunity
When you’re designing your app, it’s worth asking yourself – and your team – what you’re hoping to get out of it? Is this merely an extension of the services that you’re currently offering? Or, as in the case of many hospitality outlets, will the presence of an app allow your audiences to engage with your brand in a way that wasn’t possible before? This opens up the question of opportunity, and how your app will allow you to make more money.
Some of these routes will be much more direct, as in the case of API monetization – making money off of the way that you implement your API gateways. If this is pay-per-use or pay-per-transaction, the approach is self-explanatory. However, if you’re thinking of utilizing a paid partner instead, you might be able to make similar amounts of money through a more subtle approach.
No Grand Debut?
How you market your app is also very important. A lot of resources go into the developmental process, and that means that you don’t want to end up in a situation where it’s failing to make an impact. You might look to drum up anticipation ahead of time – building up excitement through your social media pages and even offering a release date that can lead to a campaign focused on the release of your app. While this can certainly help to draw attention to your newly released platform, it could potentially backfire if your app fails to impress. Therefore, you want to make sure that the first impression lands – especially when it comes to functionality and the security of your customer data
