“Hearing and taking into account the needs of the customer, understanding the business opportunity they present, and creating a solution to fulfill that need is the goal of customer research.”
A fascinating aspect of research is its omnipresence. Gathering and analyzing data to generate insight can be applied in almost every setting, be it science or politics, or business. And so it is in the case of building a Mobile App.
Mobile application development has gained significant momentum over the past decade. Today there is an App for everything; Gaming, Photography, Social Media, Shopping, meditation. You name it. Google Play has it. And the rare few Apps that are not on Google Play are on the Apple AppStore.
As mobile usage grows, the number of Apps downloaded increases as well. It is projected that 258.2 billion Apps would be downloaded by 2022. That, along with the number of Smartphone users, which is 2.7 billion today, makes for a massive market opportunity for enterprises that want to build an App.
But how does your app manage to stay visible in the veritable ocean that the App market is? The answer is rooted in aligned customer Research.
Best data outcomes of customer research
Customer Profiling
Through customer research, an enterprise can use collected data to create a customer profile, which is basically a model of the customer. The enterprise can then use this data to develop products that would appeal to their customer profile.
Need-gap Analysis
The greatest products ever created are the ones that fulfilled an actual need, Umbrellas and boots in the rain, sunscreen in the summer, fast bikes. Through customer research, a brand can use data to locate a need-gap and then create a solution.
The Brand Persona
A collection of personality traits that your brand portrays can be termed as its brand persona. For e.g., Mountain Dew and Rayban both carry a brand persona of fearlessness while Ford is more about “a Family feeling.” Customer research helps brands in understanding what their customers desire or are missing and create a Persona that caters to the need of that experience.
These examples are not about mobile Apps, but the same holds true for mobile application development. With proper customer research, Apps can augment and tweak their services and the service delivery experience and achieve success. Here’s how-
- Who will download your business app?
- Who are your ideal customer personas?
- What do they expect?
Customer research answers the questions above, which help you determine your customer’s tastes, preferences, market size, and what features design, and innovation they would want in your mobile app.
Let’s break it down.
Ways customer research helps in creating a successful App
1. Customer research helps you provide the best user experience
People are immediately interested if the mobile app can provide them with the experience they desire while presenting the service in an attractive and aligned user interface.
What the app looks like and feels like, how the application interacts with its users, and whether common symbolism is to be used or if the designers have to create an all-new look for each icon and button in the app.
A great user experience not only captivates the user but also boosts trust and customer satisfaction. Enlisting an experienced mobile app development company could be the perfect start.
2. User tests in customer research help In designing apps according to customer profiles
Knowing Customer preferences is vital to creating successful mobile app development. If you wish for your mobile app investment to be of value, You must know the qualities, attributes, and behaviors of your user. You could out-source this part of the job to the mobile app development company you have chosen to make the process smoother.
Customer research provides answers to questions like- who your target audience is, which social class do they belong to, and what their work environment is.
Without the info mentioned above, no matter how many features and functions your Mobile App has, users, will not be able to feel a connection with the app, making it face the risk of being deleted.
Customer research before the designing process will help you to get an overall look at your users.
Customer research provides insight into the lives, requirements, and schedule of your users, and building an app around this data will mean success.
3. Customer research helps You to Choose the Right Mobile Platform
Choosing the right platform for your mobile application development is crucial. Even though there are only two significant players in the industry, selecting the right platform can be the make-or-break factor for your mobile app.
Users on Android differ greatly from users on the App Store. While Android dominates the market with a larger number of users, user spending is higher on iOS. An experienced mobile app development company could provide you with consultations helping you in making the decision between Android and iOS.
While making this choice, there are many other variables to be considered while choosing between the platforms such as-
Audience
Project timeline
Budget
App maintenance
Features
Android is open-source and allows flexibility to build features and functions customized to what your user wants. In iOS, Apple’s official programming language, Swift, involves writing less code than Java, which means that coding is a lot easier for iOS apps.
A user’s choice of the operating system also depends on his/her geographic and demographic characteristics. Customer research helps you to identify users who would like to engage with your app making your decision of choosing one between the two operating systems easy.
4. Customer research helps in generating ROI.
Whether your app aims to generate revenue through subscriptions or in-app purchases, or even ads, customer research helps in generating ROI.
A clear understanding of your customer base would allow you to align your monetization according to the type of user. A 16-year-old FPS gamer is less likely to purchase a weapon from the in-game store than a 30-year-old who is looking to buy swipes on Tinder. And an even larger contingent will ignore in-app purchases altogether, forcing you to depend entirely on ads for revenue.
The trick lies in understanding which contingent your app caters to, build more effective and targeted features and functions and then create monetization strategies around documented customer behaviors.
The Final Thoughts
Mobile App creators must understand that no matter how feature-heavy and futuristic their app might be, it will only witness success if it’s the user is able to relate to it. And that happens through customer research.
