Building a successful app demands more than just a stellar product. It requires a strategic approach to several non-technical facets, such as marketing, networking, and customer engagement. This guide lays out essential strategies that app developers should do in 2024 to foster growth, make users happy and ensure long-term success beyond development.
People often hire us for our technical expertise in building apps, but we also see people making a lot of mistakes that could be hurting their business. You should remember one important thing:
Some horrible apps become wildly successful, and some amazing apps never see the light of day
Creating a robust app that solves user problems and is enjoyable to use is absolutely the most important part of building app development. But, without marketing, you will never gain users to use it. If you’re building an app, you need to think broadly about other aspects that contribute to the success of your app. This guide lists the ten most important aspects and gives you actionable items you can implement.
1. Engage Authentically on Social Media
Social media is a powerful tool for growing your SaaS business. It allows you to engage with your users outside the app itself. Share behind-the-scenes content, product updates, and industry insights to build a community around your brand. Engagement should be genuine. Think about creating content that adds value to your audience’s day-to-day lives rather than just broadcasting advertisements.
Actionable Advice
Create Accounts on Relevant Platforms: Focus on platforms where your target audience is most active. For B2B SaaS, LinkedIn is a must. For consumer-focused apps, consider platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest.
Create a Content Calendar: Plan your posts in advance, including a mix of product updates, industry insights, and engaging content such as polls or user-generated content.
Leverage Analytics: Use tools like Google Analytics and native social media insights to track engagement and tweak your strategy based on what resonates with your audience.
2. Produce Valuable Content and Implement Smart SEO
Starting a blog is about more than just improving your site’s SEO. It’s about establishing your brand. Your content should offer original insights, practical advice, and comprehensive analysis that addresses the pain points and aspirations of your target audience.
But, most importantly, it should be entertaining and engaging. This is what the audience will remember and share, and it’s also what modern algorithms are looking for. Focus primarily on the quality and usefulness of your content to ensure alignment with Google’s emphasis on helpful, people-first content.
Actionable Advice:
Direct Users To Your App: put a call-to-action links on your website that link directly to your app in the app stores. This is the most critical point. Your website is the gateway to your app. Put large images of Android and iPhone here so the user picks up the signal that this is how they install your app.
Use Voice Search Optimisation: Voice search will become far more popular in the next few years, so you need to optimise for this.
Follow Google’s Guidelines: Pay attention to Google’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide and follow its advice. Google is the largest search engine, and its traffic can make or break your app’s success.
Keyword Research: Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to find relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for and incorporate them naturally into your content.
Content Depth: Ensure your articles cover topics thoroughly, using the “Skyscraper Technique” by Brian Dean, which involves creating the best possible content on a topic.
3. Network Effectively
Networking isn’t just about collecting contacts. It’s about creating meaningful partnerships that can lead to growth opportunities. Attend industry conferences, participate in webinars, and engage in community forums. Share your knowledge, learn from others, and keep an open mind about potential collaborations that can drive your business forward.
Actionable Advice
LinkedIn Networking: Regularly post updates and engage with other content in your field. Use LinkedIn’s search to find and connect with potential partners and influencers and read LinkedIn’s documentation.
Attend Industry Events: Whether virtual or in-person, these can be a great way to make connections. Prepare a short introduction and the goals you aim to achieve from each interaction.
Meet Face To Face: If you can, meet people in person. This can be a great way to build trust and rapport. The online world can become a faceless void, and meeting in person can help to humanize your interactions.
4. Fundraising
Fundraising is a critical component of scaling any SaaS business. Prepare clear, concise pitches that not only highlight the unique value proposition of your product but also demonstrate a deep understanding of your market and growth potential. Be transparent about your goals and use data-driven insights to back your assertions.
Actionable Advice
Develop a Clear Pitch Deck: Follow this simple guide to create a pitch deck. Highlight your value proposition, traction, and market opportunity. Tools like Pitch.com can help streamline this process.
Practice Your Pitch: Refine your delivery by practising with mentors or peers, and be prepared to answer tough questions investors might ask.
Connect With VCs and Angel Investors: Use platforms like AngelList and Crunchbase to find potential investors. Attend pitch events and network with investors to build relationships, particularly in your local area.
Understand Your Metrics: Be prepared to discuss key metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), and churn rate. Investors want to see that you understand your business and have a clear path to growth.
5. Work on Your App’s Store Ratings
Positive app store ratings can significantly influence potential users’ perceptions and decisions. Encourage satisfied customers to leave a review. Be proactive in addressing negative feedback by providing support and updates that resolve issues. Show potential customers that you are responsive and customer-focused.
Actionable Advice
Encourage Reviews: Prompt users to review your app after experiencing key features. Tools like AppFollow can automate this process and manage reviews efficiently. Use the Flutter package in_app_review in Flutter apps to prompt users to leave a review.
Address Negative Feedback: Quickly and professionally respond to negative reviews. This shows potential customers your commitment to customer satisfaction. Try to fix bugs in a timely manner and communicate updates to users.
Leverage Positive Reviews: Share positive reviews on your website and social media to build credibility and trust with potential users. Forbes offers an excellent guide to help you do this.
Monitor Ratings and Reviews: Regularly check app store ratings and reviews to identify trends and areas for improvement. Show that you are paying attention by responding to feedback and making necessary changes.
6. Respond to User Feedback
Engage with your users and solicit feedback through surveys, social media, and direct communications. This demonstrates that you value their input and are committed to evolving your product to meet their needs. Use this feedback to inform product updates and customer service improvements, but remember to quantify data where possible.
Qualitative data like social media posts and complaints can influence the decision-making process, but they are not objective metrics. Data-Driven Decision Making is about making decisions based on objective, quantifiable data. Try to transition your analytics collection to facilitate this.
Actionable Advice
Utilize Comprehensive Feedback Tools: Implement tools like Zonka Feedback and SurveySparrow and other customer feedback tools which offer multi-channel feedback collection and real-time analytics.
Automate Feedback Collection: Automate the sending of surveys after specific interactions or periods using tools like Qualaroo to trigger surveys based on user behavior.
Incorporate Advanced Survey Features: Use advanced features like skip logic, branching, and custom themes offered by tools like SoGoSurvey and Qualaroo to create personalized and targeted surveys.
Leverage AI for Feedback Analysis: Tools like Qualaroo offer AI-powered feedback analysis, which can help you understand user sentiments and behaviors at a granular level.
Integrate Feedback with CRM: A CRM system helps you keep track of interaction with your users. Ensure that your feedback tools integrate seamlessly with your CRM system to maintain all customer data in one place.
Optimize Feedback Forms for Mobile Users: Ensure your feedback forms are mobile-optimized. Tools like Google Forms and JotForm offer user-friendly interfaces that work well on mobile devices
7. Utilize Email Marketing Effectively
Email marketing remains a powerful tool for direct communication. Use it to inform subscribers about new features, tips, and company news. Personalize your emails to increase relevance and engagement, and always provide clear value in each communication to keep your audience interested and engaged.
Actionable Advice
Collect Email Addresses: User registrations are the primary means of collecting email addresses for marketing purposes. Once you have these, use tools like Mailchimp or Sendinblue to manage your email campaigns.
Understand Privacy and Ethical Use of Email: When collecting and using email addresses, ensure you comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
Avoid Spamming Your Users: Be mindful of how often you send emails. Too many emails can lead to unsubscribes and a negative perception of your brand. Focus on sending content that you believe your users will find valuable.
Warm up Your Email Domain: If you are sending a lot of emails, you need to warm up your email domain to avoid being marked as spam. This is critical because if your email gets marked as spam, it will be very difficult to get it unmarked.
Personalize Your Emails: Go beyond just inserting the recipient’s name. Tailor content based on the user’s past interactions with your brand, their preferences, and any data you have that can make the content feel more bespoke.
Regularly Test and Optimize: Conduct A/B tests on various elements of your emails, such as subject lines, email bodies, call-to-actions (CTAs), and sending times. This helps you understand what works best for your audience.
Provide Clear and Immediate Value: Each email should offer something valuable to the recipient, whether it’s informative content, a special offer, or an update they’ve requested. This keeps your audience engaged and less likely to perceive your emails as spam.
Use Engaging Subject Lines: Craft subject lines that are concise, clear, and enticing. Avoid clickbait, but ensure they are compelling enough to make recipients want to open the email.
8. Consider the Role of Influencers
You cannot ignore the power of influencers. Influencers are people who have a large following on social media and can influence their audience’s purchasing decisions. Sometimes, they accept money or gifts for favourable content on social media, but ethical influencers will always disclose this.
Partnering with influencers in your niche can help extend your reach and credibility. Choose influencers who align with your brand values and have a genuine interest in your product. This partnership should feel natural to their audience and beneficial to both parties.
Pay close attention to how influencers go about their business. If they are not ethical, it can reflect poorly on your brand. If your audience respects the influencer, they will respect your brand more. If they detect
Actionable Advice
Identify Relevant Influencers: Use tools like BuzzSumo or Traackr to find influencers in your industry who are not only prominent but also align with your brand’s values and audience.
Evaluate Influencer Engagement: Don’t just look at follower counts. Analyze their engagement rates, audience comments, and the quality of interactions influencers have with their followers.
Establish Clear Collaboration Goals: Define what you hope to achieve through the partnership with goals, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving sales, or something else. Make sure these goals are known and agreed upon by both parties.
Clear Messaging: Ensure that influencers understand your brand’s messaging and values. Provide them with guidelines and resources to help them create content and ensure that their values align with the messaging you want to convey.
Create Authentic Partnership Strategies: Perceived authenticity is key. Develop content ideas and promotional strategies that feel genuine and resonate with the influencer’s audience. Authenticity is key to the success of influencer campaigns.
Monitor and Measure Results: Monitoring results is critical to success. Set up tracking for metrics such as reach, clicks, conversions, and engagement that result from influencer collaborations. Use this data to assess performance and refine future campaigns.
9. Offer Exceptional Customer Support
Excellent customer support can be a game-changer for SaaS products. Ensure that your support people are knowledgeable, accessible, and ready to solve problems quickly and efficiently. Consider developing a comprehensive knowledge base and using AI-driven tools to provide timely and effective support.
Actionable Advice
Train Your Support Team: Ensure that every team member is thoroughly trained not just on your product and customer service best practices. Regular training sessions help to maintain high standards.
Implement a Multichannel Support System: Utilize various channels such as email, live chat, phone, and social media to make support accessible. Each channel should be integrated to provide a seamless experience for both customers and support staff.
Make it Easy To Contact You: Provide clear contact information on your website and app and ensure that users can easily reach out for help when needed. Nothing frustrates users more than not being able to find help when they need it.
Develop a Comprehensive Knowledge Base: Use a tool like Freshdesk to create detailed FAQs, how-to guides, and troubleshooting articles. This allows customers to find answers quickly on their own and reduces the workload on your support team.
Leverage AI Tools for Efficiency: Implement AI-driven tools, such as chatbots, to handle initial inquiries and common questions, freeing up human agents for more complex issues.
Regularly Gather Customer Feedback: Use surveys and direct feedback tools to learn from customer interactions. This can guide improvements in your support services.
10. Advertising
Advertising supplements all your other success initiatives. Without an app that users enjoy, advertising won’t work, and without social media and other platforms to help users find information about your app, advertising will be ineffective. But, if everything else is in place, advertising will boost your app’s visibility and lead to new installs and sign-ups
Advertising your app effectively on digital stores is critical for driving downloads and user engagement.
Actionable Advice
Optimize App Store Listings: Ensure that your app’s title, description, and metadata are optimized with relevant keywords to improve visibility for in-store searches. High-quality screenshots and engaging videos can also help attract potential users.
Leverage Search Ads: Utilize search advertising features available in app stores like Google Play Store and Apple App Store. These ads can significantly increase your app’s visibility when users search for related keywords.
Implement ASO (App Store Optimization): Focus on improving your app’s ranking and visibility in the app store through optimization strategies that enhance your app’s relevance and appeal to potential users.
Encourage Reviews and Ratings: Positive reviews and high ratings can improve your app’s credibility and attract more users. Encourage satisfied users to leave feedback.
Use Retargeting Ads: Implement retargeting strategies to re-engage users who have visited your app listing but haven’t downloaded your app.
Conclusion
Building a successful mobile app in 2024 is about much more than just development. You need to take a holistic approach to marketing, customer engagement, and community building. Create people-first content and engage genuinely with your audience. This will allow you to build a strong foundation for your app’s success. The goal is to create value that resonates well beyond the digital screens, fostering a community of loyal users and advocates for your brand.
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