Did You Know? It’s possible to Blow-Off Your App Launch, Way Before Starting It

It’s scary, to think that you’re giving your all to create an app that will fail spectacularly. But how can you avoid the mistakes? More importantly, how can you know that you are heading in that direction?

The best answer is to learn from someone who has made the mistakes, understands it, and is willing to openly share the details. We often don’t see such detailed accounts of the mistakes made by appreneurs. However, recently in a group discussion Charlyn Keating shared her case with our members.

This post details a generalized account of three important things that every appreneur must NOT DO and hence walk the path where they can successfully launch their apps.

Mistake One — Not Creating a Minimally Viable Product (MVP)

Creativity and passion can run wild when ideas start growing on your core idea. It’s great to realize the possibilities and opportunities that your app can offer to the customers. However, this pushes your efforts to create that would be a jack-of-all. These are hallowed grounds, ones that will crumble the moment your app nears its launch.

Why?

Because you won’t be able to tell a compelling story for your app, to be able to communicate the central idea, the USP,  and that one thing that your app does best amidst all the competition out there. Then there is the developing time, effort, and cost needed to work on all features.

Will you be able to take in all the feedback from users (who, by the way, might find fault with not just one feature but many)?

Create an app for a highly targeted group of users, focusing on the one thing that it allows them to master or do easily and more efficiently, and in a way that they come back for more.

Mistake Two — Not Generating Enough Buzz, nor Promoting it

It is a remarkable feat how we have accustomed ourselves to the information overload of content on the internet. The downside to this is that we easily ignore and forget what we engage with thanks to extremely short attention spans and online memory (here’s a simple test: quote two phrases, each, from the last three web pages you have visited.)

So, when it comes to app, the Facebook page you have created with two thousand likes, or the tweet you sent to those 1k followers isn’t going to work.

Most of the “likers” and “followers” are not really engaging with your content. There are many other pages (and their content) that is competing for their attention, for their following, and for a higher place on their feeds.

The simplest way is to get more personal, with email. It lets you communicate directly with potential users, and also allows you to get a more direct feedback for improving the app.

This also means not taking the promotion (or word-of-mouth) for granted. Accept that people might not talk about it to get it noticed by the press. Work on building your outreach, writing to big publications to review it.

Mistake Three — Not Letting a Real User Use the App Before Launching

Appreneurs put in a lot of effort designing flow diagrams for how the app will be used, and how different tasks will be accomplished — in a predictable, at times non-linear manner. You may think you have created flow diagrams for every conceivable way that the user would want to use the app, or could use the app —the first user will surprise you still.

So why not let them surprise you before letting the app into the world, where your users will insist on using it the way they wanted, in ways they think it should work, making mistakes thinking it should work the way they think it should work, and getting frustrated when the app does not “deliver”.

All the while, you simply watch on, saying nothing and explaining nothing, just watching — from behind that analytics screen.

Remember, metrics alone won’t save you. So let in the real people to try your app and give you the needed feedback!

This blog post is based in the advice given by successful app entrepreneurs in the App Entrepreneurs and Marketers Group. Stay tuned for more informative and insightful posts from us!

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