Follow the Four-Phased Mobile App Launch Process Better Acquisition, Retention, and Revenue

Statista reports that until February 2021, 883,000 Android applications were launched every month. The same for iOS applications is 343,000. How many applications do you think will see success?

To everyone’s surprise, the number is almost negligible. Yes, only 0.01% of the applications will become successful after launching. Do you think that your application has the ability to become successful and generate revenue?

Not if you will cut your application from the same cloth as others. This means that if you are following the same mobile app launch process as others, you won’t see results. To become successful, you need an exclusive mobile app launch strategy.

Your application is different, your customers are unique, and your purpose of launching the application is also different, so why does the launch process have to be the same?

The amount of competition in the industry is incredible but also scary, but that is good. Because of the fear of losing out, entrepreneurs are forced to think outside the box and build something innovative.

With this in mind, we have curated an application launch process that you need to follow. Carefully read through the process and follow it holistically to ensure that you have a chance to win the race.

Must Read: The 2021 Oriented Guide to Mobile Application Development Costs

Mobile App Launch Process

We have divided the process into four phases and highlighted the steps to follow in each phase. Ideally, you should not move to the next phase without completing the preceding ones. There is a chronology to follow here, and every step has a contributing role to play for the next ones.

Phase One – Laying the Groundwork for the Launch

• Understand your Audience

  These are the end-users of your application. You need to understand them and know how they think while engaging with a digital platform. To identify your audience, find answers to the following questions.

  • Who will use my application?
  • Who are the intended users of the application?
  • What are the benefits the target audience will derive from using the application?
  • Why will your application be better than the competition?

  The answers from here will become the food for thought and helping in completing the rest of the process smoothly.

• Start Getting Audience’s Review

  Before you build the application, you need to pitch the idea to the end-users. For this, create a landing page, register a domain, and claim your social media handles.

  • Landing Page: The landing should include information about your application, its benefits to the users, and a CTA asking the users to share their email addresses. Connect it with Google Analytics and other tools to measure progress. Higher number of leads and email signups means that people are interested in the product you are offering.
  • Social Media: Use the power of social media to reach out to your target audience and engage with them on a personal level. This will help you filter out the features that are liked and not liked by your audience. More importantly, you must use social media to create a general overview of your audience. You must have an idea about your audience in terms of sex, age, location, income, education, etc. These things help in creating a buyer persona, which is required in targeted marketing.

• Find and Interact with a Community

  Explore platforms like Reddit, Facebook, etc., to find communities consisting of your target audience. You will most probably find success with Subreddits and forums that relate to your industry or the solution you are building.

  Use Google to conduct some research and locate groups of people on the web dealing with issues for which you have the solution. The purpose is to find out;

  • What are people in these groups talking about?
  • What are their needs, issues, and expectations?
  • Are they using a similar product right now?
  • What are the issues with the solutions they have at present?

  Become a part of that community as a user and not as a provider. While doing this, make sure not to advertise your solution, at least not yet. Plus, these online communities, especially the Subreddits, have rules about posting and sharing. Follow them and blend in without being too salesy.

  Are you wondering how this is a part of the mobile app launch process? Well, the pre-launch phase is all about understanding your market and audience. And if you need to conduct personal interviews to ensure that you build the right product, it must be done.

• Interact with the Influencers

  TikTok and Instagram have taken the game of influencers to a new level. Even global brands like Adidas, Pepsi, etc., are taking the help of influencers to advertise their products; why shouldn’t you?

  Within these online communities and platforms, you will come across people who have a substantial following. Reddit has Karma points, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok has followers, YouTube has subscribers.

  Identify the people whose voices will be heard by their fans, but they must be specific to your industry.

  Pro Tip: Find and include people from the App Store and Google Play Store editorial teams to your list and connect with them. They can help you feature in the Staff Picks or Editor’s Choice lists, which will propel your application to the next level. 

  When you find the influencers, start talking to them, but do not directly ask them to review your application. Understand them by initiating small talk. Use an old post or tweet of theirs to break the ice. Nurture them and then pitch your app.

• Understand the App Store Guidelines

  Apple and Google have separate application launch guidelines. Take this seriously because if your application is rejected, there is no use gathering the audience’s feedback and building one of the best applications in the world.

• Define Your Success Mantra

  How will you measure your app’s success? Is it money, number of downloads, reviews, star ratings, return on ad spend, etc.? This is important because without knowing how you are doing, you won’t understand what you need to make it better or improve.

Phase Two – Let the World Know

In this phase, you will have a chance to show the world your product and work on influencing them to use it.

• Create a Kit for the Press

  You need to get in touch with Press Release platforms and ask them to post about your application prior to the launch. From here, other bloggers and tech enthusiasts will catch wind about your application and share the same with their audiences.

  This part is about throwing a stone in the river and let the ripples go as far as they can. To ensure high chances of success, create a press kit that includes everything you need people to know and everything a journalist or blogger would want to know about your app.

  Include these details in the press kit;

  • Images, logos, and videos (if available)
  • A short and catchy description about the application can also insert the app store page description here.
  • Clickable links to your social media handles, websites, and other platforms that are available for public view.
  • Contact information of the relevant person.
  • Links to any other PR or coverage reports about your application.

  The purpose of creating a press kit is to help you achieve a successful mobile app launch. This will allow the journalists posting about your application to easily scan the information and create a compelling excerpt out of it.

• Pitch your Application

  In phase one, we asked you to interact with the influencers and stay in touch with them. With those you have been in contact with, pitch them your idea for the application.

  Take time to identify the people who can contribute to your success and take their help to promote your application. Pitching them means you need to tell them a few things as precisely as possible.

  • Start with an introduction about yourself.
  • Talk about your application (in 2-3 lines).
  • Weblink to press kit, website, and product landing pages.
  • Ask them if they want beta access or any other information.

  This is the standard process that you will want to follow for various influencers. Another way is to hire influencers and pay them to read a script on video, which you will write. This form of advertising, at times, may look doctored.

  That is why your focus should be on finding people who are genuinely interested in your product and have a likelihood to help you support its launch.

• Understand the Audience Feedback

  Your interaction with the audience via the landing page or social media posting is vital to your application’s successful launch. The motive of interacting with the audience from all ends is to figure out the functions and features favored by the users.

  You need to implement the user’s preferences while building the application to get the best results. A successful mobile app launch process depends on how much you understand your audience.

  The benefit of adding the features your customers want is once a user likes your application, they will recommend it when asked. Plus, good-rated applications also get ranked higher on the application stores, which increases conversion.

  Google finds that friends and family comprise 51% share in discovering a new application. This is followed by a 48% share of browsing the application stores for new ones.

  Based on these facts, you need to make sure that your users like the application so much that they recommend it to others, and it gets better rankings for higher visibility.

Phase 3 – Launch the Application

Between the second and third phase, your application is built, at least the MVP version is fully developed and ready for launch. While building the application, ensure to add the features and functions suggested by the user’s and the initial feedback. Moving on with the mobile app launch process, you need to take care of the following aspects.

• Launch your Application

  Release or launch your application one week before the date you have set; at least, try to do this. Do not change the date on the official channels. The one-week time is to make changes, if they are asked for, by the application stores.

  Earlier in the mobile app launch process, you were supposed to read the guidelines put forth by app stores. Ensure that you publish your application on either of the stores according to those guidelines.

  The one-week buffer is to ensure that you can make any last-minute revisions to the application. Even though you have followed the guidelines, there can be some unprecedented and unpredicted changes asked by the app store moderators.

  The formal time of the review process is seven days, but it usually takes two days for the people responsible for approving your application.

• Share the News

  After the application is up and running on the app store, send an email to your subscribers. Share the same on all the social media handles, and you can also ask the influencers to post it on their handles.

  From here, you will benefit from the word of mouth marketing. A lot depends on your existing list of subscribers and followers. In the previous steps, work on gathering more followers on various channels so that you can send them alerts at a time like this.

  When you send an email to the subscribers and share the same on social media, encourage the readers and recipients to use the application. Ask them to share their review and thank them for using the application.

  The motive is to create a loyal customer base who will eventually become your ambassadors of success.

• Record your KPIs and Analytics

  Are you wondering how this is a part of the mobile app launch process? At times, we lose focus on the big picture and get absolved in dealing with the current issues. Similarly, while preparing for the launch and after-launch party, you may ignore the metrics that will help measure success.

  Focus on integrating all the KPIs and metrics in one place so that you are always informed about the performance.

Phase 4 – Measure, Analyze, Understand, and Implement

The fourth phase comes after you have launched your application. But we are here to talk about a successful app launch process and not just a launch process. So, stick till the end of this phase to thoroughly understand the mobile app launch strategy.

• Pay Attention to the User Reviews and Responses

  Right after the launch, start looking at the responses you get from the customers. Work on the feedback system you have put in place to identify how your users are taking the application.

  The app store communication channels like comments and ratings will help you receive suggestions and improvements from the users. They can report bugs and send crash reports if any so that you can rectify the issues.

  If you are vouching for a bug-free release, then don’t because there isn’t one. That is why we need to monitor feedback from every channel. Stay connected to your users on social media and other channels.

  Listen to their feedback, identify what are issues they are facing, and then improve your application to integrate them. The earlier you receive the feedback, the better it will be for you. Early feedback is a sign of early adoption.

• Start Engaging Early On

  During the first few weeks, you need to be hyperactive when it comes to listening to your customers as it is the key to acquiring them and making them loyal customers.

  The people who were waiting for your application to launch and those who have downloaded it initially will be high in the first few weeks. You need to take this opportunity and engage with them.

  Share content that will lead to personalized interaction. Not only acquisition but this early on in the app launch process, you also need to focus on retaining the existing ones.

  Retention is achieved when you make your customers feel that they are valued. Give your users a positive experience by communicating, reaching out, and engaging with them.

• Work On App Store Optimization

  Your mobile app launch process also includes optimizing your application’s presence on the app store. App Store Optimization (ASO) strategies include the tactics to help you rank higher on Google Play and iOS App Store.

  Better-ranked applications are discoverable, and they will get higher downloads. These strategies help you stand out from the competition and will prove beneficial in the long run.

  Some aspects of ASO include naming the application, adding photos on the app store, previews, videos, choosing the keywords, etc. Also, you can focus on the search intent of your target audience and maneuver your marketing campaign accordingly.

• Work on the Updates

  Another important part of the mobile app launch process is improvements and updates. Your application will receive a wide range of bugs and fixes; sometimes, they will be genuine concerns.

  Nevertheless, make a list of all the bug fixes, customer opinions, and experiences. You can take between one to two months to work and publish the updates.

  Ensure that you are resolving the bugs and share the same with the users who have reported them in the first place. This will make them believe that you are a patron of providing quality service.

These were the steps you need to follow for a successful mobile app launch process. There are a lot of other aspects that you must cover for achieving the results you want. But as far as the launching of the application is concerned, you need to understand the process till the updates part.

Within this, do not forget to engage with your audience and track their changing preferences continuously. Track your metrics and infer the changes in them as they come along. One negative review or a certain drop in one of the metrics is alarming for a new application.

Regularly check in with your customers and implement the changes they prefer via different update stages. Before you add new features to the application, run a validation campaign and conduct surveys to identify its potential and likeliness.

To Sum it Up

You must understand that launching an application is not a one-time event on your business timescale. It is an ongoing process; that’s why we call it, mobile app launch process.

The long series of steps come together to build up an effective mobile app launch strategy that helps you achieve success. Before the launch, your focus should be on understanding the audience and creating hype in the market.

After the launch, listen to your customers and understand their opinions towards your product. Monitor, assess, and track your performance to plan the application updates further while improving the same.