11 min read

Application development has now turned out to be the most trending business niche as it has completely penetrated every technical aspect of our lives. This trend is going to last for a quite long time until or unless more modernized technology replaces it. It seems very strange that a limited number of apps for specific niches have made their mark in the relevant marketplace. That means that a huge number of apps face failure. you must be busting your head with thoughts like “What makes these apps fail?” or “What are the app launch mistakes responsible for the failure of these apps?” Well, you should know that apart from a dull idea, app launch strategy, and design flaws, there are many other launch app mistakes entrepreneurs commit, failing. In this article, I shall highlight pre and post-pitfalls entrepreneurs need to avoid. Being attentive, and mitigating the risks associated with these launch mistakes will lead to an app that can effectively build and retain customers.

Here, we are going to explain some of the app launch mistakes that most entrepreneurs make.

Improper Market Research

There is a majority of people who spend a big portion of their time on mobile apps. Thus, they have developed a good sense of preferences, needs, expectations, and priorities for them. People’s expectations have made quality app development very crucial for developers and marketers. This is the main reason why every entrepreneur must conduct significant market research whenever getting started with a new project. No matter, whether your product is ready for launch you must construct an effective launch plan targeting the most suitable marketing channels to attain results against pre-determined objectives.

Not Having a Unique App Idea

In-Depth market research holds significant importance before devising an app, to make sure that your idea is unique and has not been discovered before. Furthermore, analyze the copyright and patent guidelines that are related to your product and jurisdiction. Many organizations fail to accurately evaluate their complete competitive set.  If you are unaware of your product’s weaknesses and strengths then you will not be able to market your product successfully. For a successful app launch make sure not to develop an idea that has already been deployed amazingly because having tough competition can increase the chances of failure.

Neglecting Beta Testing

If you think that beta testing is all about discovering bugs and dysfunctionalities within a system then it is a big misconception. To make it simple for you, beta testing is said to be the independent testing/trial of the software that is performed at the final stages of product/ software development. Its core purpose is to carry out results against set targets. Relatively in the case of conducting beta testing for an application that you are going to launch all that you have to do is find a precise group of end-users to test the relevant app in its final stages.

There is another option of public beta launch through which you can evaluate underdeveloped app performance. but the problem with this sort of testing is that the results might appear late. So, if you tend to have results in a short period then carrying out beta testing by a group of end-users can turn out to be much more advantageous.

Choosing the Wrong Platform

As we know both Android and iOS are the most popular application platforms. It is very common for you to give priority to one of these platforms based on your audience’s demands, priorities, and preferences. If you are planning for a new application launch and not developing a cross-platform application, then choosing the right platform for it is quite important. Have a keen focus on choosing a platform that can offer you a good audience and impact on the initial stages. Well, android is an amazing platform for supreme outreach allowing you to engage with a value-adding audience.

Not Having a WOW Factor

According to research, the number of mobile app users has increased to more than 80 million by the end of the year 2018. With the boosting number of mobile app users, both the Android and IOS app stores have set a benchmark with user experience and design.

Nowadays, even a kid knows how to download and use apps of their interest. This means that users now have entirely different criteria and expectations for applications as compared to WEB. Thus, make sure to develop an app that is easy to use because the user will immediately give up on it the second, he/she realizes the app is complicated. For any recently launched apps that are trending, you must have noticed that there must be a WOW or distinctive factor/feature that must be contributing to their success.

The scenario is completely different in the case of online users because they don’t give up so easily no matter how poor the user experience they might be having. Thus, developers need to know this difference and develop top-performing mobile apps with striking features and specifications. Now, as soon as you launch your app in the market there will be a WOW factor in your product which will be responsible for attracting new users.

Poor Onboarding Process

You can say the onboarding process of an app is its formal introduction. This is a process where the user gets his first impression of the application which is not much different than interacting with a person for the first time.

Usually, the app developers and entrepreneurs make to in developing an outstanding onboarding process for the app which later on leads to the app’s failure in the market. It is quite obvious when the first impression of an app is so poor or fails to engage the audience then the user will no longer use the app giving your business a big loss.

To make your onboarding process interesting you can incorporate a video tutorial within your app but make sure to have quality content and graphics within your video. If it is turning difficult for you then you can also go for devising a simple yet delicate layout. The key for this area is to hook app users early enough so they may keep using your app for a long time, turning it to be one of the most successful app launches.

Forgetting About Validating MVP

Always make sure to pre-determine the MVP (minimum viable product) before launching any product/software/app into the marketplace. It is true that all services, products, and apps, do need validation earlier!

Don’t think that An MVP will contain all of the features and specifications designed for the final version. It is very important to formulate MVP taking note of the challenges that come along with the launch. Well, the point of having MVP is not to awe or shock the market with the world’s best app.

But it is necessary to develop an MVP keeping in mind the challenges that come along with it. The goal here is not to shock and awe the market with the world’s greatest app. On the contrary, here test version of it hooks the interested end-users and generates proper feedback.  For the feedback, please note that it can be negative as well, which is not bad for it as MVP assists in detecting any sort of deficits in your product and let you improve it accordingly.

Eventually, with the help of proper updates and editions, the final version of your product will be ready to offer users what they require.

However, a right and a small unit of the end-users hold the power to speak clearly for everyone. You would not like to see everyone having a firm verdict on an underdeveloped application destroying your business. Moreover, an unsuccessful wide release can damage the image of your brand badly.

Not Making Enough Marketing Efforts

You might have noticed that all movie studios no matter famous or not tend to release trailers and teasers before the full film release. This is part of their marketing plan to target as well as develop curiosity and excitement among the audience. Keep it in mind, that introducing your product to the audience before the application launch, is never too early. Consider it to be the most important part of your mobile app launch plan.

Both the early marketing and minimal or scaled-down marketing are responsible for engaging the audience to anticipate, making the launch eventual. You waste valuable time waiting for complete product development and this is the biggest pitfall that may lead you to product failure in the market. It is better to start marketing your product even if it is under development as this will create a great deal of curiosity within the users and they will be delighted to click download your product the second it is released. It is a big disaster to launch your product and wait for a whole and effective marketing strategy to kick in months later, go for strong marketing in the early development stages.

Running For Perfection

As every single one of us is a bit perfectionist ourselves there is nothing wrong with you desiring to develop a pitch-perfect application for your users. Although, in reality, it is just impossible to have absolute perfection within your product as there is always room for change. Wasting too much time looking for perfection in the development phase may lead to a delay in launching an app on Google Play.

You can also make improvements and upgrades to your product after the initial launch. Well, updating your application iteratively and incrementally always yields positive results then stop trying to pack all specifications in the first launch and save some for later.

Not offering Incentives for Sharing

Do you remember what was Facebook like in 2009? When all of the news feeds in your FB were success stories of Farmville? That trend at the end of subsided. Users, later on, did not like to tweet each high score or offer their advancement in the application. just including a Tweet Share or Like feature within your product is not enough to target an active audience. Each of your Shares should be earned.

Offering users engaging incentives will surely urge them to share or play out an activity. Regardless of whether a user doesn’t share, the application opens a bonus for them no matter what. This not exclusively carries out the responsibility of getting you Tweets and Likes yet additionally builds up generosity among the users who would prefer not to share.

For being an entrepreneur, you ought to comprehend the way that you are creating a versatile application for other individuals. As we all know individuals have distinctive needs and inclinations, and it is hard to build up an application addressing everyone’s preferences. It is basic for a successful launch to identify the target audience before characterizing the highlights of any applications. Before building up an application know what the users need and what kind of solution they like.

Even when you are done devising an application that has good demand in business, there will be individuals who will be unsatisfied with performance and features. Along with deployment and marketing, an entrepreneur must take care of regular advancements to the user’s specifications. When bugs in your app are fixed, an update must be launched to make the crowd aware of the fixes.

Building up an incredible and versatile application isn’t a simple job. There are heaps of obstacles that you might run over while creating and promoting the application. By staying away from the above-recorded errors while creating and promoting the application you will build, the odds of making your application successful will increase.

Bad Content Marketing

Also, the best way to launch an app is to build an active audience talking about your product. To serve this purpose, identify websites and communities that are closely used by your targeted users. Moreover, Utilize the amazing opportunity to release attention-grabbing sneak peeks for the product you developed. Proper content marketing could turn the tables for you. So, unlike any other failed product never take content marketing lightly.

Also Read: Content Marketing Strategy: Principles & Steps

Avoiding App Store Optimization

If you want your application to get a high number of downloads, it needs to stand out among its competition. You’ve contributed a great deal of time and cash to your application, so you might be thinking about how to make it approachable for people.

This is where Application Store Optimization (ASO) kicks in, as it is an incredible method to help your product catch maximum attention within stores. Clients must have a simple time finding applications as it will be a brisk and simple procedure, otherwise, your application might get lost among its rivals. Utilizing ASO best practices you can effectively showcase your application. Here you can get amazing ASO services for your application.

You might consider the below-mentioned points when presenting your application to the store:

Have you given a unique name to your product? Your application ought to be named something that speaks to its potential clients and targeted audience. This makes the name simpler to remember and simpler to scan in the application store.

Do you have an optimized description for it? A decent description fills two basic purposes in effectively advertising an application. At first, it should be engaging enough to allure a user to download your application. Furthermore, use relative keywords in your description as customers can use these words to discover your application. Utilizing words that speak to your image and application usefulness will bring about more downloads and a higher client retention rate.

Ignoring Feedback

After the mobile application launch, you need to take reviews of users quite seriously as they can be both beneficial and disadvantageous for you depending on how you treat them. if you tend to overlook reviews and valuable analysis for your application, it will turn out to be not having enough help from the users as they will consider you a non-proficient organization not contemplating their users.

You need to respond to both positive and negative reviews to make sure you are open to criticism and appreciation at the same time

You have to take action on both negative and positive reviews to ensure your users that you value their verdict no matter if it’s positive or negative.

Not Focusing on Metrics

Who is operating your application? From where they are accessing it? At what exact time of evening or day are end-users using the application you developed?

These are the metrics you need to analyze frequently. There are many tools for tracking app metrics. As they give you a picture of what exactly is going on with products and apps you developed or marketed. Not keeping track of how your app is doing can end up in a great deal of ambiguity related to the simple question of whether it was successful or not. If you fail to evaluate these metrics then eventually you will not be able to make advancements within your product.

At last, without compiling and validating these metrics, all of the upcoming procedures with your product turn into a freaking guessing game. I know you would not like to keep guessing where your product might be lacking.

Deprived Customer Support

When your application tends to have hundreds or thousands of users and you have strong competition then you need to deal with every user with sufficient care, enhancing their user experience. Always know that quality customer service is the biggest power of any marketer. When you do not provide good customer support to your user it will directly affect your business badly.

The feature of customer support is available for every developer yet not all of them care enough to offer quality customer service. Here you can look for some amazing benefits of providing quality customer services.

Overestimating Success

It is a misconception that your product can become famous overnight. It doesn’t matter how perfect your product is it requires some time to be popular within the marketplace. A major problem here is with overestimating success. Whenever you are not focusing on your product’s success potential from a very realistic perspective, it is quite obvious that your plans to be undermined. You might end up hopeless considering not putting any more resources into your project. You must strategically plot the launch for your app to avoid these pitfalls.

Closing Remarks

Our application ecosystem is a gradually evolving environment and all of the marketers want to make their mark. By avoiding the above-mentioned simple yet frequently ignored pitfalls during both pre and post-launch, you can surely attain results against set targets. Again, understand your audience and what it craves for.  what does it want? what are its preferences?

Never forget to be responsive to their valuable feedback or review. Moreover, regular updates and modifications to the software can increase the chances of your software success. Whereas proper marketing strategy allows you not to lose any prospective client to any of your competition. At last, the most essential point in having a successful launch is to choose the right platform for your idea.