How to Develop a Successful Android Application?

Mobile browsing has overtaken desktop browsing with 51.3% of internet usage. According to Statista Survey revenue from the top successful app is expected to reach $190 billion in 2020.

You will have a successful app if you abide by the systematic pattern.

Are you a business owner who has finally decided to develop an app but is in a dilemma whether to build an iOS or Android Application?

Out of iOS and Android, Android devices have the greatest global market share. Android application ecosystem is diverse as it powers hundreds of millions of mobile devices in 190 countries across the globe.

It is the largest install base of any mobile platform and is continuously growing. Beyond growing your customer base, Google Play helps to build visibility and engagement across your apps and brand.

Recommended Read: How to Find Android App Developer

Here's the Roadmap to Android App Development

1. Ideation

Every successful mobile app starts with a great idea. If you have an idea in your mind to develop Android app, then figure out the potential solution the app is solving.

Also, know what issues you will face during the development phase.

An idea is the core of everything. It is possible you have a lot of ideas which makes it very difficult for you to decide which is more promising. Begin with a clear specification.

Ask yourself simple questions like:

• How will the app enhance the user experience and solve your problem?
• What is the value proposition?
• Which key functionalities will you incorporate in the application?
• Who is your target audience, and how will you reach them?
• What will be your different revenue channels?

If you are able to answer these question constructively, half the battle is won. Make sure your target audience uses Android devices.

Practically, when the Android application developer embarks on the journey of creating an app, you should articulate what unique value the product or service is bringing to the marketplace.

Ready to develop Android app? Hire top offshore developers from India & get started.

Well, creative ideas and vision are extremely important as they ignite the passion for introducing something unique. As a matter of fact, grasp vision and contextualize it within the trends to develop high performing Android app.

If you already have a compelling rationale for the development of a mobile app then congratulations, you have overcome the initial hurdle.

The very next thing on the platter should be how your app can solve the problem and how you are able to solve it in comparison to your competitors.

2. Market Analysis

Behind every successful product, there is a well-scripted story of substantial market analysis. This is the most important step in the development of a mobile app. Moreover, it is done through the process of data which decides if the product/service will cater to customer needs?

Build the app in a small niche for limited customers and their specific requirements. Don’t expect too much traffic on the micro-niche but will have higher conversions.

Uncovering the pain points of customers ensures real value making the app successful. The users become loyal customers. You have to stay calm and composed while being open, listen, and ask people.

Study already online resources and social media platforms for more information.

Recommended Read: Conducting Market Research for Mobile App Development

Resources for Market Analysis:

• Forums like Quora have questions related to a specific platform.
• Google Trends
• Google Keyword Planner. Have an idea about what people are searching for and the volume of searches. The specific keywords can be used for App Store Optimization.
• Attend seminars, tech start-ups, local events, meetups, and hackathons.
• Conduct polls, surveys, and questionnaires among the users.
• Receive feedback from acquaintances.
• Speak to business owners about their upcoming plans and pain points.
• Explore the app list and the interesting categories.
• AppTweak will give you an idea about the competitive apps are in the top download chart.

Based on the market research, finalize an app idea. Understand the value proposition and clarify the USP. If possible, initiate the process by building an MVP. 

During the next steps, take consider the following:

• Catchy App Name: Naming an app is a bit challenging. It has to be catchy, easy to pronounce, and SEO friendly. Consider keywords and their search volumes.
• App keywords: Conduct a thorough keyword search analysis. It will help to proceed to optimized listing and pages.
• Impressive app kit: The kit is heavily used for listing the future app. The kit should include screenshots, demo videos, app information, etc.

3. Write Down a Competitive Market Edge!

Whether your app is similar to others in the market or not, it is important to draft to compete with others and convince the app is better than others.

Your edge is about your competitor’s weakness. Have a close look at competitors' reviews on Reddit, Yahoo Answers, Quora, etc., and make sure you don’t make the same mistake.

Competition is always a good thing. Moreover, if the niche has competition, it means there are money and the potential for development in it. Instead of thinking that you are starting the app development process too late, consider the benefits in case the app becomes a major hit.

Furthermore, you need a team of dedicated offshore developers on your side to turn the competitive edge to your advantage.

4. Create a Compelling Strategy

Competition is the name of the game. The plan is to create strategies in the form of a blueprint to give a structural idea. Find the challenges you will be facing and see how to overcome it.

The most important step to be taken is to team up with the best Android application developers. Undertake SWOT analysis. The usability of every product depends on its strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats.

Users actively getting engaged with the app will perform actions that will be valuable. Conducting a SWOT analysis of the trending products will offer knowledge about the industry demands and new opportunities.

With the help of this, you can make a prediction about the behavior of app users. 

5. Android Application Wireframing

A wireframe is basically the blueprint of the app. Wireframe helps in giving structure to the app from end to end. App features, tools options are required for integration.

This validates that the idea of the app development company is in sync with your business strategy.

When you know what you are building, what features you will be including, and what type of audience you are targeting, it is time to map the flow and build a prototype.

For this, you must hire developers that are best in coding.

Mapping the Navigation Flow (How)

• The user opens the app
• Browses the product catalog
• Add product to the shopping cart
• View shopping cart and content
• After adding products to the cart, he is initiating the checkout process
• The user gives billing information to the payment processor

Recommended Read: UI Patterns For Navigation That Makes Good UX Sense

After listing the steps, notice what screens are required. This shows the tasks you have to do when you create prototypes for the user screen throughout the app.

6. Select Supported System Version

Choosing the framework is one of the most important decisions, as it influences how you will build up your project, and it will be very hard to change later on.

The Android market is very broad, and it’s difficult to give individuals all the recent features and maintain a support system simultaneously.

More platforms give room to extended development time since certain features are coded explicitly for selected versions. Hire a dedicated Android app developer as they will make you understand the difference between the versions.

Android offers everything that is required to create a best-in-class app experience. With the single application model, you can deploy the apps broadly to millions of users across a wide range of devices.

The app development tools help in taking advantage of the hardware capabilities available on different devices. For efficient development, the Android tools have full Java IDE with advanced features for developing, debugging, and packaging the apps.

With the help of IDE, the development can be done on any device that is available.  

7. Set Up a Dedicated Team

You need an application developer, designer, and QA. The designer will decide how the app will look like, and the Android app developer is going to code the app. The quality analyst will test the app from time to time.

To save cost, we recommend you to set up your offshore delivery center, consisting of a full development team.

They should all be aware of android application components.

If there are any design ideas in mind, make sure you jot them down in your app requirement document. You can also give design samples.

• Be very clear about the must-have features and the style you don’t like.
• Define a project timeline so that your Android app developer works accordingly.
• Interview them in a manner that you evaluate their technical skills.
• Have a look at the samples or portfolio of their previous work.

8. Hire Android Application Developer Apt with the Following Skills

• Having a strong grip on technology (Java, Xamarian, XML, Android Studio, APIs, Material design & Git  )
• Domain specialization
• Ability to grab the vision
• All-round performance
• Relevant experience
• Operating system support
• Good communication level

They should utilize the best IDEs so that the software development cycle moves at a faster pace.

9. Android Application Design And Development

The front end of the development process is the first thing the user will judge you on your app. This is the stage where the interface design team works.

To ensure everything is thoroughly covered, the development company will check and recheck all the specifications based on the wireframing. 

10. Choose The Right APIs

The pivotal part currently is to choose where all the data will come from. Android devices, in spite of their continuous development, are still simply cell phones and clients anticipate that they should be responsive.

The information is handled by the backend application, and your versatile application will prepare information through API calls.

To accelerate the app development phase, it is important to choose external services while keeping mobile in mind. A few options give simple to-utilize libraries, which can instantly coordinate numerous features.

Must-Have Features Vs. Nice To Have Features

It is always nice to have all the bells and whistles so that the app has something for everyone. This is very difficult to achieve. Every additional feature adds to the development time, cost, complexity, and user experience.

Decide ahead of time whether something is important for your app, or it is just nice to have. For example, you are developing an e-commerce app, take care of the following:

• A product catalog to view information about the products
• A shopping cart to hold items
• Smooth payment gateway

Deciding what is important and what is not depends on the type of app you are building and the audience you are targeting. This is another major reason to know what your target audience is.

Thus it is advisable to prepare a list of must-have features ahead of time.

Regardless of whether you will develop an Android app yourself or contract Android application developers to do it, it is important to make a list of necessary features. Also, it is smarter to organize them in a written document.

Here are the Options:

• Integration with social media platforms
• Advanced user profile
• Cloud server information synchronization
• Mobile payment gateway integration
• Geolocation 
• Push notification
• Chatbot

In the event that you have a predefined list of necessary functionalities, it simplifies the complete process, workflow plan, and numerous other significant viewpoints.

Smooth Project Management

Data is analyzed, the platform is chosen, API is selected, now what? Now, think about how you will manage the project. Project management is equally important as the development process.

Break down the project into manageable tasks and then manage the work. Track the completed task and what is still pending. This helps in handling unexpected problems.

Make a project manager for the management part so that he can create and develop a plan and delegate tasks. Sort the tasks in one place for easy tracking. The best tool for task management in JIRA.

In case you are working with a team of remote Android app developers, here's your guide to managing them.

Testing And Finalization

The step is very critical as it ensures that all the software functions given in the technical task are executing properly or not. A Quality Analyst professional checks the performance of the app performance in different scenarios and on different screen size devices.

Besides fixing the errors that may have occurred, testing allows making a good decision about the finalized product, weak point elimination, and additional optimization before the final launch.

All of these help in increasing the chances that the target audience will positively respond to your product or service.

Pre-Launch Marketing

Initially, pre-launch marketing makes a successful release. This is significant, especially for applications that don't cost a lot. The new app requires attention. If you ignore app marketing, your application will blur into obscurity immediately.

Many applications are propelled each week, so it'll be hard to recoup from a slow start.

You should begin marketing your Android application before development is finished in the event that you need to take advantage of pre-launch and hit the ground running once your application is accessible.

Different Ways to Market your Application even Before the Launch:

• Build your network. Not to mention, online networking is an undeniable possibility for this, and interfacing, with persuasive individuals in the network you're focusing on, gets the word out about your application. You most likely know the best channels where marketing will be of a huge impact, so those future the best places to begin. By sharing your application with your connections, they can help you spread the word in a better way.
• Develop a powerful digital presence for the application. Create social media accounts for products and services with the goal that individuals can find required data about your application in a hassle-free way regardless of the devices they use. You can likewise utilize the account information to promote the features of the app and provide news or updates. 
• Implement a private beta testing program. Not only your beta testers will become champions of your product but also gives an add-on review. This helps in improving the app before it goes live.

Mobile App Launch and Beyond

Indeed, one of the most important steps is releasing the app in the digital marketplace. Congratulations if you have finally reached this step as you were able to put your idea into action.

When you finally wanted to bring the app to life, don’t choose multi-channels. This is because you still have to analyze how the audience responds to your app. Once that is determined, hit the next market.

Your remote developers will submit the app on Google Play Store for approval once it is done. If you don’t have an account, your Android app developer will help you create one as Google gives you complete rights to the app that includes the right to the app.

It usually takes less than two days. Make sure you are offering users the freemium version. With all the app development stages, it is very important to develop a marketing strategy way before the final launch.

Regardless of whether the app already has publicity virtue of the parent company or the product, it is recommended to publish a press release well in advance.

Doing this helps in grabbing promotional opportunities on the horizon while forming a media framing perspective providing lead time to ensure consistency in messages across different channels.

The Android application life doesn’t end once it is available in the marketplace. Now is the time to wait, watch, listen, and learn how the product starts fairing.

This is the place where the analytics package is useful and how you monitor or interpret user behavior.

To make the app completely functional, make sure the app development company is ready to address bugs and crash reports, push fixes, and version updates while reverting to the user concerns.

Functional doesn’t mean sustainability because this is a long term endeavor. It not only keeps the app running but also has additional benefits, improves the performance, engages users, and enhances the features that will make the audience coming back.

Additionally, incorporate user engagement strategy like point/reward system, incentivizing referrals, push notifications, and responding to feedback and make it as transparent as possible.

3 Additional Tips You Should Keep in Mind

• Test, Test, Test: The earlier to fix bugs, the better it is.
• Plan for Offline Experience: Internet-accessible app is great, but it should also work without connectivity. If you are able to build this kind of app, you will be able to grab a wider audience.
• Keep it Simple: Consider simple screens, intuitive user interface components, grid format that prioritizes scrolling over tapping.

Put it All Together

Keep in mind that the key to a successful android application development project includes:

• Explain the complete idea in a single sentence
• A power design and development team has years of experience
• Frequent updates and innovations

Mobile growth rates are exceeding desktop growth rates, so the competition has become intense. Focus on the core aspects of your business, and you will successfully develop an Android application.

Grab the opportunity to reach the Android audience by relying on the best android application development company and embrace your business with a successful solution.

Ready to hire Android app developers? Connect with our business head today and get started.