It takes a while for an app to reach the market. Enhancing an app’s appearance, functionality, and marketability entails numerous detours and obstacles. One method to get around these problems is to create a prototype for a mobile app, which serves as a testing ground for conceptual presumptions. 

Good prototype design uses prototyping tools to participate in the process. It draws on Design Thinking and UX principles to address structural issues and make improvements before developing the MVP app. A good mobile app prototype can also assist in reducing the risks associated with low investment, subpar design, misaligned user needs, and unavoidable market failure. Let’s learn how to create one.

What Is a Mobile App Prototype?

A prototype is a functioning version of the upcoming mobile application. Making it clear what the app’s functionality, appearance, and other features will be like, a prototype helps us generate app design and assists in expressing a product’s overall feel and look while also providing a preview of how it can operate.

Types of Mobile App Prototypes

Depending on the needs of stakeholders and the goals of the prototyping, UI/UX designers employ a variety of prototyping techniques. App prototype often progresses from the basic to the most complex stages, perfecting the final appearance of the product:

Low-Fidelity Prototypes

Goal – Visually represent an app idea

The simplest mobile app prototypes are those made using means accessible for everyone. How to create a prototype for a mobile app with low fidelity? Usually, these are hand-drawn sketches presented on paper or in a digital setting. Each doodle will represent a different screen of the mobile application. By looking through such sketches, you may get a sense of how the app is intended to operate. 

Medium-Fidelity Prototypes

Goal – Confirm the app’s concept and basic structure

You could think of these prototypes as the stage between low-fidelity and high-fidelity. They are made using specialized prototyping tools, such as those listed in the following sections. However, a whiteboard or piece of paper can also be appropriate. Prototypes with a medium level of realism frequently include storyboards, use cases, interactive design solutions, and more. 

High-Fidelity Prototypes

Goal – Negotiate the final design

Using high-fidelity prototypes is the easiest approach to obtaining practical design experience without touching code. These are created only with specialized software because this is the time when buttons and features should be implemented. A high-fidelity prototype is a test version of the final software you plan to develop. 

Why Do You Need to Create a High-Fidelity Prototype for a Mobile App?

Consider application prototypes as your idea’s first draft. It is designed to gather early feedback prior to moving on to the next development stage, as it only displays the app’s most fundamental functions. Here are a few reasons why creating a mobile app prototype before hopping into developing a finished product is a good idea:

Functional Validation

With a high-fidelity prototype, you can simulate the core functionalities of your mobile app, including navigation, interactive elements, data input, and output. By testing these functionalities, you can identify technical feasibility, usability challenges, and potential performance issues early in the design process. This allows you to make informed decisions and necessary adjustments before moving to development. 

Reducing the Designer Cost

How to create a prototype for a mobile app to save time and effort spent on design? Validating assumptions and exploring new solutions are key, especially when you’re working with multiple designers or design solutions. Although not everyone incorporates prototyping into their design process, it can be incredibly helpful in a variety of circumstances. 

Even if the prototype requires multiple iterations, the final product’s cost will be substantially lower than that of just one unanticipated change round in development. This gives you space to make mistakes, implement additional change rounds, or totally reset the project while still delivering it on schedule and within budget.

Easy Design Concept Sharing

Not only is prototyping a fantastic testing tool, but it’s also a useful project roadmap. It provides a tool for visually expressing your app’s design, flow, and functionality. Less ambiguity exists in features and components, which considerably eliminates bugs and misunderstandings. People are also involved with a prototype. Everyone on the development team is welcome to offer suggestions, including vendors and clients. Diverse points of view help your app become considerably more well-rounded.

Handling a “Ready-To-Code” Design for the Development Team

By showcasing a mobile app prototype to the development team, you can effectively communicate your vision and specific requirements, allowing them to grasp the desired functionality and user experience better. This hands-on demonstration will enable the team to assess the complexity of the project, identify potential challenges, and provide a more precise estimation of the time and resources required for development. Additionally, the prototype serves as a valuable tool for gathering valuable feedback from the team, fostering collaboration, and aligning everyone toward a common goal.

Gathering Feedback From Test Users

It’s beneficial to prototype your ideas and share them with your target market because it’s crucial to gain early user feedback while building new app products. A prototype can speed up the design process and help you work through new or amended concepts. 

How to create a prototype for a mobile app that will speak to the target audience? You should first determine your app’s target market and audience, study their demographics, and create user personas. We have discussed these steps and more in our previous articles. 

How to Create a Prototype for a Mobile App in 7 Steps

Making a prototype is very similar to making the actual app. It begins with a clear objective and the elements you want to incorporate:

Step 1: Understand the Problem, User Needs, and Market Challenges

Making sure you have a problem worth tackling is one of the first steps in developing a high-quality app. This step may sound very simple. It is. However, you’d be astonished at how many individuals approach the idea of developing something simply because it looks “cool.” 

Building an app just because it’s cool is not a successful path. Create an app because you want to be able to contact your friends more quickly. Create an app because you believe that the dating industry is flawed. Create an app because you want to address an issue you see around you that also speaks to other people. Then, study the market to find your direct competitors or ensure the niche is free.

Step 2: Identify Key Functionality Requirements

Your prototype for a mobile app should concentrate on the features that are crucial, ground-breaking, and extremely important to your users. You’ll devote the most time to the prototype’s simulation or development of these elements. Remember that a prototype’s goal is to create a testable mockup of your app quickly and ergonomically. Thus, identifying must-have features is vital. It will take longer to implement features if you have a large number of them. You also risk spending time on features that won’t be included in the final product at all. 

Step 3: Create Sketches of the Primary Screens

It’s now time to draw out your app idea on paper or in a digital environment. The primary screens of your app should be included in the sketch, also known as a low-fidelity wireframe, with the first layout showcasing the user interface components you want to implement. Then, add arrows to show how users will move across screens.

For instance, if you’re developing an e-commerce app, doodle out a basic layout for the product screen. The product picture and buttons, including the “Checkout” button, can be represented with drawn placeholders. Then create an arrow to the checkout screen from that button to demonstrate what occurs when a user taps it.

Step 4: Turn Your Sketches Into Wireframes

A prototype for a mobile app helps you test the designs without writing any code, present your ideas to other project participants, demonstrate various components of your app, get feedback on each screen or its overall flow, and simulate how users will interact with what you’re designing.

Figma and InVision Studio are the two main mobile app wireframing tools that most designers utilize so as to make things straightforward. They both provide a variety of features and are simple to use, including the ability to build interactive wireframes, mockups, and high-fidelity prototypes:

• Figma’s flow function is great for designing interactive prototypes based on your existing designs. Even if you have no experience with coding, creating interactive prototypes gets easy and intuitive with Figma.
• The InVision Studio tool removes obstacles from the creative process. Before spending time developing or coding, it enables designers to quickly and easily present their designs to stakeholders, including developers, to gather their reactions and iterate changes. Implement wireframes with basic app design features via InVision.

Wireframes act as a transitional stage between your first prototype and pen-and-paper sketches. By eliminating unnecessary aspects like colors or copy, they assist you in planning the layout and user interaction patterns. The suggested user path should be obvious without the use of color, shading, or elaborate menus.

Step 5: Turn Wireframes Into a Prototype

You’ll use a variety of tools in this stage to convert the paper wireframe you created into something digital and functional. How to create a prototype for a mobile app? Set the app screens first using your wireframe sketch as a guide. The user interface can be improved further by including UI components like buttons and text inputs. You can also experiment with colors as an option. 

Fortunately, the majority of prototype tools contain a comprehensive library of standard iOS and Android UI elements for you to create an app prototype that looks professional straightaway. When you’re satisfied with your app’s appearance, you can add animations and pre-planned interactions to bring it to life. 

Step 6: Test and Iterate, Share and Gather Feedback

It’s time to start using the prototype now that it’s ready. To ensure you receive the most varied input, encourage as many individuals as you can to try it out.  Your coworkers will be the quickest and most straightforward users to take part in the testing process.

Include everyone — don’t limit it to the development team members. Inform the HR, accounting, and marketing personnel about your prototype for a mobile app. Additionally, you can find testers among your friends and relatives. However, your app’s end users are by far the most important group to test it with. Your aim at this point is to gather as much feedback as you can from whoever tests your prototype.

Step 7: Translate Prototype Into Final Designs

Once you have finalized the wireframes and received feedback on the app’s structure and functionality, it’s time to transform the wireframes into polished, high-fidelity designs. Start by translating the wireframes into visual designs that reflect the branding and aesthetics of your app. Consider the color scheme, typography, icons, and overall visual style. Ensure that the designs align with your app’s objectives and target audience.

Once your final designs are complete, document design specifications that outline details such as colors, typography, spacing, and interactions. These specifications will serve as a reference for developers during the implementation phase.

By translating wireframes into final designs, you can bring your app’s user interface to life, ensuring that it aligns with your vision and provides an intuitive and visually appealing experience for your users.

Tools for Creating a Mobile App Prototype

Tools we use to create a prototype for a mobile app accelerate and facilitate the design process overall. Inexpensive or even free, they serve as powerful means for creating wireframes and mockups. After you decide you want to use something more than paper or a whiteboard, consider the next mobile app prototyping tools:

MockPlus

This all-in-one prototype tool enables non-professionals and designers to work with interactive prototyping to transform a concept into a mockup of a product swiftly. Simplify your design and test ideas on any platform without coding. Mpckplus makes your design life considerably longer and the development process more comfortable. Work together in real time with your colleagues, go over designs together, hold online brainstorming sessions, and build a seamless design-development handoff. 

Balsamiq 

Balsamiq claims to provide a useful wireframing platform that will banish ugly user interfaces from the globe. If you want to carry out a modern wireframing stage for your mobile app, web app, or website, use Balsamiq. Additionally, quickly follow your ideas to iterate designs without disrupting, thanks to the pre-installation of various components with a handwriting style. 

Moqups

This tool helps you illustrate your concept in one location and generate diagrams, wireframes, mockups, and prototypes inside a simple-to-maintain interface. Keeping all the stakeholders in one location may progress the project from using the prototype for a mobile app with low fidelity to high fidelity and receive final certification in a few simple steps. 

InVision Studio

InVision is a digital design-to-development platform used to create excellent mobile prototypes and high-quality apps. The durable and simple nature of the digital whiteboard makes InVision Studio ideal for teamwork and idea validation. 

The InVision toolkit also includes InVision DSM, a design system manager, a library where you can store and manage all of your brand and UX components, and InVision Cloud, where you can connect, save, and share your whole product design workflow. 

Sketch

Your idea will be transformed into a pleasant design and prototype via Sketch. It is an all-in-one tool for making animated timelines, UI elements from wireframes, and mockups from screenshots. Users may add animations, switch between design screens, and work on working prototypes in Sketch with just a few clicks. It also supports all screen sizes (artboards). The usage of Sketch’s Vector shapes helps you avoid tedious hand-editing by simply adapting to changing styles, sizes, and layouts.

Figma

Figma allows the team working on a project can easily access and collaborate using the cloud-based prototyping environment. Although it shares many capabilities with Sketch, Figma has an advantage due to the way it streamlines the creation process and offers tools for keeping track of everything.

It allows in-app commenting in both the design and prototyping modes, while teams can follow remarks in Slack or Email. 

Useful Tips for Mobile App Prototyping

Running prototypes is essential for app development because it enables you to test your app’s functionality and flow with actual users. You can use this information to improve your app. However, there are countless ways to do it incorrectly and just a handful of ways to do it correctly, just like with anything else. These are a few of the best practices:

Start With Low-Fidelity Prototypes

Low-fidelity prototyping is a quick, easy technique to transform a basic concept or idea into a somewhat more realistic depiction of your finished product. A low-fidelity prototype’s sole purpose is to sketch out the workflow and assess the value and usability of the suggested functionality. Lo-fi prototypes can be created on paper or digitally. Examples comprise:

• Prototypes on paper;
• Interactive prototypes.

Low-fidelity prototypes have several advantages, but their main characteristics are speed, simplicity, and affordability. Since the prototypes are obviously not finished products, making adjustments and testing new iterations is simple. Additionally, they promote design thinking.

Focus on Core Functionalities

You shouldn’t include every feature in your prototype, similar to the level of detail. The features to include in the prototype should be prioritized. 

Depending on whatever exact components of your app you want to test, these may look like whatever you decide. How to create a prototype for a mobile app and test core functionality? Focus on your value proposition, which is the main or standout benefit customers can obtain from your app if you’re having trouble deciding which features to include. Determine the elements enabling that.

Keep It Simple

Keep in mind that prototypes test the functionality of your app. They are available to rapidly test your app with users, gather feedback, and make improvements. Because of the need for quick iterations, your prototype needs to be as light as feasible. Instead of creating a flawless version, the objective should be to create one that can be tested quickly. 

You need to maintain only the information that is necessary to accomplish this. Avoid using fonts, patterns, colors, and other visual elements that don’t improve the operation of your program.

Use Real Content Whenever Possible

How to create a prototype for a mobile app that will feel intuitive? You should avoid using placeholders in your prototype in particular. Real information here is crucial since it helps users understand the function and goal of your app’s interface. A user shouldn’t face trouble navigating the prototype. Adding real-life materials should help, not puzzle, so choose simple examples and straightforward info. 

Don’t mistake using real data for actual one, though. Here, the idea of using things that are “good enough” also holds true. To put it another way, attempt to write the copy as it will appear in the finished application, but don’t worry about making it perfect or unique, this is the job of an editor involved at the final stages. 

Pay Attention to Navigation and Flow

User flows are essential processes, even during the wireframing phase. It enables you to identify trouble spots and cut out potential friction-causing stages before you start designing your prototype. Additionally, you’ll have a good idea of how many displays you require, assisting you in avoiding needless prototype effort. You may save a ton of time and money by identifying and resolving design issues early by using user flow diagrams.

Add Interactive Elements

Reusable UI elements from a design system known as interactive components (or interactive elements) are game-changers for designers who often deal with UI kits and must develop interactions for each project. Most design tools don’t have the capability or fidelity engineers achieve with a few lines of code to handle basic interactions. Reproducing code functionality with interactive components is simpler, creating immersive, lifelike prototypes for usability testing and stakeholders.

Gather Feedback Early and Often 

The design thinking method and all other human-centered design processes depend heavily on gathering feedback. However, you must be deliberate while seeking feedback if you want to get the most out of it. Here are some recommendations to keep in mind while you collect customer feedback:

• Use many feedback-gathering channels;
• Use the correct target audience to test your prototypes;
• Ask the right questions;
• When presenting your opinions, be objective;
• While you test, adjust;
• Allow your audience to offer suggestions.

Iterate Based on Feedback

In the end, prototyping is all about allowing your users to voice their ideas about your solution. And if you’re not introducing these into your app, your prototype’s potential is not being fully realized. Keep the whole procedure as simple as possible. The goal is to swiftly make changes in response to the feedback so you may test your prototype for a mobile app again. This feedback cycle continues until the final prototype is acceptable to you and your end users.

High-Fidelity Prototype for a Mobile App: Example

At Delight, we love making the digital world better. A client approached us with the desire to create an app that taps into the psychology of human behavior to provide people with the ultimate motivation to shed those extra pounds.

FitBet leverages the concept of financial motivation to encourage reaching weight loss goals. With FitBet, you’ll not only experience significant improvements in your health and well-being but also have the opportunity to earn money as you shed those unwanted pounds.

Here’s how it works: Once you download the FitBet app and set your weight loss goals, you’ll be able to join challenges with like-minded individuals who share similar aspirations. Each challenge will have a specific duration and target weight loss goal. To participate, you’ll place a predetermined amount of money into a virtual “pot” that serves as your financial commitment.

Throughout the challenge, FitBet will track your progress using cutting-edge health monitoring technology integrated into your smartphone or wearable device. Whether monitoring your steps, counting calories, or tracking your workouts, FitBet keeps a close eye on your efforts, ensuring accuracy and fairness.

At the end of the challenge, those who successfully achieve their weight loss goals will receive a share of the pot, while individuals who don’t meet their targets will forfeit their financial commitment. Here is our prototype for a mobile app example created with best practices in mind.

Bottom Line

A commonly used app testing technique called prototyping enables you to adjust the essential features of your app and evaluate its performance in a real-life setting before investing in actual development. The many approaches, resources, and advantages of prototyping focus on a single goal — saving time and effort. Because even if the prototype requires multiple iterations, the final product’s cost will be substantially lower than that of just one unanticipated change round in development. 

The post How to Create a Prototype for a Mobile App appeared first on Devlight.

BPMN can be applied to mobile app development by representing the different stages, activities, decisions, and interactions involved in the app’s workflow. It helps stakeholders understand the flow of information, tasks, and events within the app and can be used to identify potential bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or areas for improvement.

By utilizing BPMN for mobile app development, teams can visualize and communicate complex processes, ensuring a clear understanding of the app’s functionality and aiding collaboration among developers, designers, and business analysts. It facilitates the documentation and analysis of the mobile app’s business logic, user interactions, data flows, and integrations with other systems.

What Is a Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) For a Mobile App?

BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) is a business process modeling language that is an intermediate link between the formalization/visualization and the implementation of a business process. With the help of modeling, we can describe any business processes which can be executed in various systems management.

BPMN is a fantastic tool for modeling business processes. In comparison to flowcharts, it provides greater insight and is easier to understand. It is also more appropriate in terms of process design and analysis. BPMN enables a company to clearly and consistently record and document business processes, ensuring all stakeholders participate. 

We can say that BPMN is part of two main components:

• BPM (Business Process Modeling) is the environment where you directly participate in the modeling. Alone or in a team. 
• BPMS (Business Process Modeling System) is a tool for executing the models you create. 

Why Is It Important to Design Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) For a Mobile App?

Imagine you are driving along the road, and each city has branded road signs in its unique style. It will be difficult to navigate in such a situation, so all road signs are uniform and the same in every city throughout the country. It is the same with the BPMN for a mobile app scheme: it allows the team to understand each other and prevent disputes and conflicts because everyone is guided by clear and uniform road signs.

Everyone, including business analysts who design and enhance business processes, technical developers who implement process changes, business managers who keep track of changes, and even non-technical people like stakeholders who want to know what the future process will look like, can understand BPMN symbols because they are so straightforward. BPMN is a useful tool for communication because it offers a standard, straightforward visual language for describing business processes, preventing misunderstandings between the various stakeholders.

Levels of Modeling of BPMN for a Mobile App

How to design Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) in different approaches? Depending on the purpose of building BPMN diagrams, there are 3 levels of modeling:

Descriptive Modeling

Descriptive modeling is applied to show the successful path of a business process, for example, to agree on it with a business user. The simplest elements of notation are used here, and the diagram itself is deliberately simplified as much as possible.

Analytical Modeling

Analytical modeling fully shows all options for executing a business process, including logical branches and alternatives. How to design Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) in an analytical approach? Such a diagram is usually created for advanced users and business analysts using an extended notation alphabet, including its basic simplest and more complex elements.

Executable Modeling

An executable BPMN simulation is intended to be run in a BPMS engine to create a web application. The whole variety of the alphabet of this notation can be used here, including the addition of special parameters and scripts created by developers.

Basic Elements of BPMN

BPMN uses diagrams with a variety of graphic components to explain the processes. When presented with such a clear visual representation, users can easily comprehend a process’ logic. BPMN was primarily created to produce and read simple and complicated business process diagrams.

For this reason, the BPMN standard organizes the graphic elements into categories; as a result, users who deal with business process diagrams may quickly identify the elements. BPMN elements can be categorized into several different groups. They each stand for a different element of the business process:

Pool 

Defines process boundaries and describes one process on a diagram. A pool also refers to a system or a role. All objects are placed in the lanes of one or more pools, which are frequently found in BPMN diagrams.

Lanes

These are the doers. Lanes are contained in a pool, and several tracks can be within one pool. The lanes indicate the members of the processes in the pool.

Event

Events are symbols that act as triggers, starting a process at a certain starting, intermediate, or endpoint.  An event is an important state in a business process; it affects the further development of business processes.

Here are some common event symbols: 

• Message: A message is sent or received like an email or SMS. 
• Link: A process branches off into different duties as part of a wider ecosystem.
• Error: A problem has arisen and is interfering with workflow. 
• Timer: Timer symbols can indicate the start of a timer (customers have 30 days to cancel a free trial, or they will be charged a monthly price) or a certain day of the week (the system creates a list of recent free trial receivers on Mondays). 

Activity

Another symbol you need to understand to learn how to design Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is activity. Activities represent a specific task a person or system carries out as rounded rectangles. Process designers can build a variety of activities, such as those that happen only once, repeatedly, or if a certain set of circumstances are met. For example:

• Task: The specific action that needs to be taken. Because they are so specialized, they cannot be broken down into other tasks. 
• User action: if a user clicks the Submit button, this is a user action.
• Transaction: Involves the making of a payment. 
• Sub-process: A group of supplementary tasks that are categorized together. 
• Call: A typical procedure applied to different processing areas. 

Gateway

Decision points are represented by diamond-shaped symbols called gateways in a BPMN for a mobile app. They may act as obstacles, deciding which way a process will go next. Gateway symbols include, for instance: 

• If a stranger knocks on your clubhouse door and you don’t hear the proper secret code, do you let them in or turn them away? That is an exclusive gateway.
• Event-based: A specific choice needs to be made at this fork in the path. For instance, the system would not generate a list of new users if no new users had joined on the day the list was generated. 
• Parallel gateways do not wait for a specific circumstance. They could occur simultaneously.

Flow

The individual elements that make up the entire workflow are called flow objects. The events, activities, and gateways are the three basic flow objects in a Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) for a mobile app.

Data

Data symbols only indicate that specific information or data is needed for the current job. They do not always affect how the operation proceeds.

There are much more elements of notation, but the basic ones will suffice for a start.

How to Design Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) For a User Story

Regardless of the type of diagram you are creating, it is critical to know who it is for and how it will be used. This will enable you to provide enough information to be thorough and useful without exhausting your audience with unnecessary information. 

Squeezing multiple processes into a single BPMN diagram is a common error. For instance, you might be required to record the steps involved in adding a post to a brand’s Instagram account. The process for sharing the same content on Facebook is pretty identical. Should you combine the two or keep to demonstrating how an Instagram post is shared?

You should decide now (to avoid having to redo the work later) based on your audience and how this diagram will be used. Finally, we use BPMN to illustrate User Stories when developing mobile applications. Read how to write User Stories in the previous article.

Step 1. Identify the User Story

So, how to design Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN)? Determine the User Story you want to model first. User Stories are frequently brief, straightforward explanations of a feature or functionality that a user wants to obtain.

Step 2. Break Down the User Story Into Tasks

After you have determined the US, deconstruct it into a sequence of actions that must be carried out in order to accomplish its objective. A logical order should be used to arrange these tasks.

Step 3. Define the Start and End Events

Identify the process’s start event, which signifies the start of the process, and its end event, which signifies the process’ conclusion. Describe the “happy” path that results in the production of an effective result (product). Add missteps, they will make your Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) for a mobile app more detailed and logical.

You will need a start and end icon in each pool if the diagram you’re producing contains more than one to indicate more precisely when the process is started. The title of these event icons can be as general as “start” or as particular as “request received.”

Step 4. Add the Tasks to the Process Diagram

Then add the tasks you chose in Step 2 to the process diagram. For each activity, use the proper BPMN symbols. The actions that are carried out during a process are also called activities. Ask yourself what people do to get from start to finish and put each of those actions to their appropriate lane, in order from left to right. It might be useful to begin drawing arrows between these steps using an online diagramming or BPMN tool.

Step 5. Sequence the Tasks

Put the tasks in the right order so they can be done to accomplish the User Story’s objective. The tasks are connected via BPMN sequence flows.

If the process contains any decision points, include them in the diagram using BPMN’s exclusive or inclusive gateways.

Step 6. Add Decision Points

You must include a gateway anywhere the process splits or has the potential to take several pathways. There should never be more than one arrow originating from a single activity when adding gates.

Events like a message being sent or a specific amount of time passing are also part of the process. Look for areas of your BPMN for a mobile app where these events should be put to define the process better when you examine the activities you’ve added. For instance, there is an event when the invoice is sent between phases like an employee submitting an invoice and management approving that invoice. 

Step 7. Review and Optimize the Process

When you have finished drawing the BPMN diagram for the User Story, check it to make sure it appropriately depicts the workflow. Find strategies to streamline the procedure by getting rid of processes that aren’t necessary and increasing effectiveness.

You may have started adding arrows when you added activities, gateways, and events. Make sure the entire process is finished by adding any last connectors and concluding with an end event icon.

Step 8. Review the BPMN Diagram With the Team

To make sure that everyone understands the process and that it satisfies their needs, share the BPMN diagram with stakeholders. As a last step, review your Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) for a mobile app by making sure that everything is well-aligned, the swimlanes are the proper size, and the information flow is simple to understand. By accessing the object properties, you can add colors and particular forms.

Maintaining consistent simplicity and detailed language is reached by making your BPMN for a mobile app as concise and straightforward as possible. Put the user first, think about the exclusions and other options. Think about applying subprocesses, use evocative headings, and check the whole procedure a few times.

You might need to adjust your plan based on your team’s suggestions. To make things clearer, provide artifacts like groups or annotations. You may ensure that your diagram has enough clarity to be useful by having someone else review your work.

Pro Tips and Best Practices for Designing BPMN

Devlight has some tips on how to design Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN):

• Understand the user story. Before designing a BPMN diagram for a user story, ensure you clearly understand the user story itself. Discuss the requirements with stakeholders and ensure you have a complete picture of the process flow.
• Document any assumptions or dependencies related to the user story in the BPMN diagram. This helps in capturing the context and clarifies the scope of the process being modeled.
• Always start the procedure by defining its beginning and conclusion to understand its scope clearly.
• Before using BPMN to create a more effective solution, you can first map the existing business process to identify any inefficiencies.
• Take into account potential exceptions or alternative paths in the BPMN diagram. This includes modeling error handling, exceptional conditions, and escalations. Anticipating and addressing exceptions in the design phase can lead to more robust processes.
• Use subprocesses for complex activities. If a particular activity within the process is complex and involves multiple steps, consider using subprocesses to break it down into more manageable components. This improves readability and makes the diagram easier to understand.
• The order of the layout should be horizontal. Show associations and data flows vertically.
• Depending on the level of detail required for each stakeholder’s function, you can design separate versions of the diagram for them.

Business Process Management Platforms

Modern BPMN tools have many advantages, including higher accuracy, increased agility, increased productivity, reduced development times, high reliability, and cost savings. 

Any tool you choose to create a BPMN for a mobile app quickly turns into a crucial, foundational part of a business’s digital architecture. Here are some of the most popular platforms we recommend using to create your BPMN diagram:

Appian

Appian, one of the first suppliers of business modeling services in this market, is widely regarded as a pioneer. Its products are constantly evolving and provide a wide range of features thanks to its low-code, cloud-based application generation platform. 

Appian provides extensive, user-friendly, integrated hyper-automation instruments. You may design, construct, test, and deploy your Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) for a mobile app using the flexible functionality and intuitive design features of Appian Designer. Using low-code capabilities, Appian Portals connects your external end users without the requirement for authentication, enabling you to create safe websites linked to your apps easily.

Bizagi

Bizagi offers low-code automated application systems generation and advanced process redesign through its three products, Bizagi Modeler, Bizagi Studio, and Bizagi Automation. These items come together to make up the Bizagi iBPMS platform. Additionally flexible, Bizagi provides a cloud alternative that enables project teams to tailor user interfaces for various consumer segments and geographical regions.

Blueworks Live by IBM

The Blueworks Live iBPMS platform is a cloud-based set of products for workflow automation and ongoing development. These tools feature performance tracking and low-code creation for business process mapping. How to design Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) via Blueworks Live? The platform uses simulation, RPA, AI, and machine learning across several IBM technologies to expand support for all BPM operations, from process modeling through application production and beyond. 

One of our analysts has also shared his experience: “I am currently using a BPMN drawing tool called Cawemo. What I like about it:

1. Accessible online
2. The ease of sharing experiences
3. Ability to add comments
4. Easy Drawing
5. Convenient settings and editing of elements
6. Nothing extra, just BPMN

Disadvantages, in my opinion:

1. The commenting feature. It is present but not convenient to work with because there is no interface for this.

I have also been using the Bizagi stationary software. It comes in handy quite well since it helps to automate business processes. However, there is no online version, so it gets hard to share the results of your work with the team.”

BPMN for User Stories: Example

Now that you know how to design Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), we would like to share our example. Consider this example from Devlight’s team so you don’t start with a blank document.

Login to the application

The user has the ability to enter the application without authorization and access the functions of an unauthorized user. To log in without authorization, the user must confirm that he is at least 18 years old.

The user can log in to the application by entering a Ukrainian phone number and confirming it with OTP. If an active loyalty program card is attached to the user’s phone number, the user will log in to the existing account. If a card is not assigned to the user’s phone number, then an account will be created for the user, and a new loyalty program participant’s card will be assigned to it. If a blocked card is assigned to the user’s phone number, a new loyalty card will be assigned to the user’s phone number and the user will receive a message that his previous card has been blocked.

If the user is authorized to the application for the first time, the user will be credited with bonuses. The number of bonuses depends on how the user logged into the application: by direct or referral link.

Referral program

An authorized user has the opportunity to take advantage of the referral program: invite new users to the application and receive bonuses.

The user sends a link to the application in the App Store or Google Play to contacts.

If the recipient of the referral link logs into the application for the first time after clicking on the referral link, he will be credited with referral program bonuses. Bonuses for authorization in the mobile application and bonuses for the referral program do not add up.

The sender of the referral link will receive bonuses on the condition that the recipient of the link installed the application based on the referral link, logged into the system for the first time and made a purchase online by scanning the loyalty card within 30 days from the moment of the first authorization in the application.

There is no limit on the maximum number of bonuses that can be received under the referral program.

Bottom Line

Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) for a mobile app is a standardized set of diagramming conventions used to describe business processes. It uses symbols and standardized elements to visualize workflow objects and their interconnections. There are several ways you may choose to explain a business process. A graphical diagram, which uses images to convey the various steps in a process, is typically the most helpful. There are other possibilities for pictorial diagrams. However, the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard is the one that is most advised.  

The gap between business intention and implementation is closed by BPMN’s provision of sufficient accuracy and clarity in the sequence of business processes. In comparison to words, diagrams are frequently easier to understand. Working collaboratively to create an efficient process that produces high-quality outputs is made simpler by BPMN.

The post How to Design Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) For a Mobile App appeared first on Devlight.

Making an app that accurately reflects the original vision is one of the most difficult aspects of the process. Creating user stories for a mobile app is one way to deal with this issue, particularly when dealing with complex project needs where you have to transform concepts into actual functionality. 

User stories make this process simpler. Our comprehensive guide covers every aspect of user stories, including their function, significance, usage examples, and specific templates of USs for mobile apps. 

What Is a User Story for a Mobile App?

A user story reflects the desire of your app users to achieve their goals via using your product. User stories are succinct, straightforward statements of a goal from the end user’s viewpoint. They do not outline a particular product feature or corporate goal. Any user stories for a mobile app example should express the user’s identity, motivations, and objectives in straightforward terms. 

Using too many details while writing user stories will be a mistake. One sentence written using informal language will be fine. Just incorporate the subsequent pattern:

• Function: “As a [user persona]”
• “I want to [complete an action]” is a feature.
• Benefit: “So that I can [get something of value]”

This is what you might get if you put this user story template together:

“As a project manager, I want to maintain my organization so I can keep my complete team on schedule.”

What Are the Elements of a User Story?

Creating user stories for a mobile app requires combining the necessary components, just like writing any other kind of story does. The most fundamental components that you can include in your user story are as follows:

• A brief description of the demand that satisfies the user’s business goal;
• Acceptance standards, or the activities or engagements required within the app to achieve the intended outcome from the user;
• Prototype and design references.

You can add whatever components seem rational to you, but keep in mind that the team will be able to grasp and execute the story better if it is kept simple.

Attributes of a Good User Story (INVEST)

Do you wonder already how to create user stories for a mobile app? The term INVEST is the greatest way to sum up the essential elements of a successful user story. Bill Wake, a specialist in agile project development and extreme programming, is credited with creating this abbreviation. Since then, INVEST has evolved into the de facto method for defining user story success. Let’s examine each component in more detail below:

Independent

Every US must be considered a separate element of the overall project.  This means that teams should be able to work on each story independently of one another, without any kind of co-dependency. There shouldn’t be any repetition or confusion among the stories. Thus, there should be no overlap. Any interdependent user stories can typically be eliminated if they are less important.

Negotiable

How to create user stories for a mobile app? Collaboration between customers, designers, programmers, and stakeholders will be necessary. Initially, there is a discussion. In an ideal scenario, everyone would understand the plot, but that is rarely the case. The priority, project needs, and scope should all be easily modifiable in stories. 

Valuable

Possibly the most significant component of a user story is its value. Eliminate the story if it doesn’t benefit the user. Every story must be crafted with the idea of adding value in mind.  

Estimable

Another critical component of user stories is the estimation of priority.  Each US needs to be sized properly so as to indicate the priority level. The highest level of priority in the development schedule might not necessarily be given to high-value features with a protracted development process. In some circumstances, achieving early victories and finishing other stories is preferable. 

Small

Every user story needs to be viewed as a discrete unit of work inside the overall project. The project management technique you’re employing will determine the precise size of the story. A story may occasionally be finished in a single sprint. They might take longer at other times. Stories shouldn’t require more than three to four days of work in accordance with agile approaches.

Testable

All user stories for a mobile app should be tested for the product after they are finished. This approach guarantees the satisfaction of acceptance criteria, which change depending on the project. 

Why Is It Important to Create User Stories for a Mobile App?

For agile software development, user stories have become essential. Teams would spend weeks crafting extremely thorough requirements and specifications for a software project before introducing agile user stories. However, there is a difference between the language used by programmers and developers and that of the general public. As a result, there would frequently be miscommunication among project stakeholders.

Without an agile user narrative, we would have the next user stories for a mobile app example in terms of requirements:

• The app has to [do this];
• Here’s what this software will accomplish: … ;
• The feature will finish [another task].

But this kind of guidance is useless. Long paragraphs of style information are the result, which many project participants won’t read or comprehend. Even the coders would pass past these since they preferred to get right to developing code. User stories altered everything. They have been long recognized as the smallest building block of an agile framework, simple to incorporate into various phases of one sprint after another.

A great user story for a mobile app example offers a number of key advantages, including:

• Putting the user first – A project team will stay task-oriented if they employ a checklist or to-do list. However, adhering to user stories keeps everyone focused on finding solutions for app users’ problems.
• Boosting cooperation — User stories assist in defining your ultimate objectives. This makes it much simpler for groups to decide together on the best course of action, guaranteeing that the end user’s demands will be met in the best way possible.
• Fostering creativity — User stories empower everyone to use their creativity instead of defining the project with dull tasks or objectives. This encourages analytical thinking and user-centered problem-solving.
• Gaining momentum – The team experiences a sense of pride each time a new user story is completed. As a result of these incremental successes, the entire project gains momentum, and the finished product doesn’t seem like an impossible task.

User stories are an incredible tool for application development, but they can be utilized for any kind of product or project management activity. How to create user stories for a mobile app with all requirements in mind? Let’s find out.

How to Create User Stories for a Mobile App

It’s time to start writing user stories for your app now that you know what makes a good one. To begin, simply adhere to the guidelines listed below:

Step 1. Identify User Personas

Identifying the different user types that will stick to your mobile application is the first step in writing user stories. When a person is connected to an app, a user persona represents what they do. 

How to create user stories for a mobile app? For illustration, let’s take a look at the well-known Instagram app. Someone may use Instagram to further their trend knowledge or as a form of self-expression. However, that same individual might also use the app for entertainment. Each of these circumstances would have a separate set of personas in the user journey. 

Step 2. Establish Goals for User Types

Create a list of various user personas. You must specify the end-user goals in your user stories for each persona. Consider the rationale behind their use of the mobile app. What benefit will they receive from using the app? 

Let’s continue using the Instagram user story as our example. The search for posts on a given topic could be the objective of the educational user. After scrolling through some hashtags, an entertainment user could want to find another piece of closely linked information. Combine these goals — they will set the foundation for your software features. 

Step 3. Define the “What” and “Why”

The “what” and “why” should be addressed via mapping user stories for a mobile app. This is often done by adhering to the following rules:

• What benefit will a feature offer the end user?
• Why would a user of this particular type wish to have the feature?

You should probably reconsider the user story and its function within your mobile app if you cannot respond to the what and why. 

Step 4. Define the Acceptance Criteria & Edge Cases

The acceptance criteria were briefly discussed before in relation to the “testable” component of the INVEST acronym for user narrative key elements.  What exactly are the requirements for acceptance? Each user story for a mobile app example should be rational in order to make sense, just like any other story. Consider the what and why before responding with “how.”

The acceptance criteria outline the precise method through which you will provide value. You shouldn’t go into the specifics of application development in your response because that will come later. Instead, use your imagination to act out the story’s events.

You may state, for instance, that a user can click a button to share a location with their friends instantly. Or perhaps they must make a particular gesture to verify their order before completing the checkout process. 

Step 5. Collect All Requirements for Each User Story

Each user story should have a clear definition of what needs to be done, how it will be done, and what the expected outcome is. 

Be sure to write down all the requirements for the implementation of the user story. These can be prototypes, design references, and necessary APIs. This can help reduce misunderstandings between developers, designers, and stakeholders and ensures that everyone is working towards a common goal.

Step 6. Run Through Your Story With the Team

Once it has been completed, there are numerous ways to validate your user story. However, two methods are the most efficient and helpful for checking your approach. Here is how to create user stories for a mobile app that will be effective when applied:

• Apply the INVEST criteria to it. Verify again to ensure you’ve covered all the fundamental requirements and if the user story satisfies them.
• Talk about it with your team. The Project Lead may give the team the specifics during a planning or brainstorming session, much like just storytelling. The staff should then address any issues or provide clarification if necessary. This makes it easier for everyone to comprehend the plot and align their viewpoints with those of the app’s creators.

The credibility of your user story will be increased by listening to other viewpoints and getting team feedback. This will also promote effective communication and collaboration with all parties involved.

Pro Tips and Best Practices for Writing User Stories

User stories are the foundation of a great mobile app. They assist you in putting your end users in the spotlight, clearly define the team’s goals, and decompose work into manageable pieces. Here are some key points to keep in mind before you begin:

Focus On User Needs

You can never go wrong if you keep your users in mind. But to truly comprehend their needs, put yourself in their position and adopt their perspective as a user.

Keep It Simple and Concise

A user stories for a mobile app example isn’t only an extra requirement but also a useful agile tool. By putting USs into practice, your team will be able to work quickly and efficiently when developing apps without adding any extra burden.

Prioritize User Stories

No matter how good an idea the team comes up with, you should reconsider your approach if it doesn’t help your users. Always consider how it will impact your user experience. 

Refine User Stories Over Time

Now that you know how to create user stories for a mobile app, keep in mind that being in contact with stakeholders and having a solid grasp of business requirements doesn’t mean having technical competence. In order to effectively manage the backlog, it is crucial to consider the viewpoints and suggestions of the development team members as they interact with the project manager. Always strive for simplicity, and ask questions if you don’t grasp something. Revise and refine, and make your USs work!

User Stories for a Mobile App: Template

Creating user stories helps ensure that the app meets the needs and expectations of its users. They provide a clear understanding of what the app will do, why it is valuable, and how it will provide a positive user experience. User stories also help prioritize development efforts, identify potential issues and edge cases, and ensure that the app provides real value to its users. Here is the template we usually apply.

User Stories for a Mobile App Example

Here we offer a few real-life examples of USs that work. Choose any user stories for a mobile app example to apply it as your model or source of inspiration.

Name: Splash screen
User Story: As a User, I want to see a screen saver with the store’s logo while waiting for the application to download so that I understand that the system is functioning correctly and the application will be loaded later.
Аcceptance criteria:
1. When loading the application, a screen saver with the store logo is displayed to the user.

2. Animation:

a) Enlargement of the logo until it occupies the entire screen.

b) Transition to the next screen according to the flow.

3. On the splash screen, dictionaries with cities, shops, hotlines, and social networks are uploaded to the local database.

a) List of cities – once a day.

b) List of stores – once a day.

c) Hotline number – once a week.

d) List of social networks – once a week.

e) Links to the website – once a week.

Name: Static onboarding
User Story: As a User, I want to be able to familiarize myself with the features of the application in order to understand what benefits are available by using the application.
Аcceptance criteria:
1. Static onboarding is displayed to the user 1 time – when the application is first opened after downloading it from the market. If the user viewed all or part of the onboarding or missed the onboarding, such onboarding should not be displayed to the user again.

2. Static onboarding is displayed after the splash screen.

3. Static onboarding consists of 3 screens. Each screen displays the following information:

a) Image.

b) Name.

c) Text.

4. Information from static onboarding pages is stored locally.

5. A progress bar is displayed to the user to understand which of the onboarding screens is currently displayed to the user.

6. By tapping on the “X” on the first and second onboarding screens, the user can skip viewing the static onboarding and proceed to the authorization process (phone number entry screen).

7. By tapping on “Next” on the first and second onboarding screens, the user goes to the next onboarding screen.

8. After tapping on “Continue” on the third onboarding screen, the user goes to the application authorization process (phone number entry screen).

Name: Authorization (Registration and Login)
User Story: As a User, I want to be able to log in as an authorized or unauthorized user in order to use the features of the application available to me.
Аcceptance criteria: 

1. The user can enter the system as an unauthorized user.

a) After tapping on the “x” element, a pop-up appears with the text: “You must be 18 years old to access the application” and the “Continue” button.

b) If the user taps on the “Continue” button, the transition to step 11 occurs.

c) If the user taps outside the pop-up or on “X”, the user remains on the phone number entry screen.

d) If the user missed the authorization, the next time he enters the application, he must go to the main screen.

2. The user can log in to the system by phone number.

a) The system pre-fills the phone number input field with the characters +380. The user cannot delete prefilled characters.

b) The user can log into the system only with a Ukrainian phone number. The system considers phone numbers starting with: 039 | 050 | 063 | 066 | 067 | 068 | 073 | 091 | 092 | 093 | 094 | 095 | 096 | 097 | 098 | 099.

c) If the user entered an incorrect phone number, the field changes to an error state, and an error message is displayed under the field.

d) When you go to the phone number entry screen, the numeric keypad automatically appears.

– The user can enter up to 9 digits in the field.

– The user cannot enter letters or other symbols in the field.

3. The user can go to study the rules of the loyalty program (pdf) and the privacy policy (pdf) without leaving the application.

4. The “Continue” button is displayed on the number entry screen.

a) The “Continue” button is disabled by default.

b) The “Continue” button becomes active if the user enters 9 digits of the phone number.

c) After tapping on the “Continue” button to the mobile number from the input field (SMS), the system will send a 4-digit OTP, and the transition to the OTP input screen will take place.

5. The system displays the phone number to which the OTP was sent.

a) By tapping on the phone number, the user goes to step 2 and can change the previously entered phone number. The phone number input field displays the phone number previously entered by the user.

– If you go to the OTP page without changing the phone number, the OTP is not redirected.

– When you next go to the OTP page with a change of phone number, the system sends the OTP to the new phone number and displays it on the OTP input screen.

6. User can confirm the phone number through OTP.

a) When you go to the OTP input screen, a numeric keypad appears.

– The user can enter up to 4 digits in the field.

– The user cannot enter letters or other symbols in the field.

b) On Android, the system prefills the OTP input field with the code received in the SMS message.

c) On iOS, the system displays a bottom sheet with the OTP code received in the SMS message, and when you tap on this message, the OTP input field is pre-filled.

7. On the OTP input screen, a countdown timer and a button “Send the code again” are displayed.

a) During the countdown, the “Send the code again” button is disabled.

b) When the counter time expires, the “Send the code again” button is enabled.

c) After tapping the “Send code again” button, a 4-digit OTP will be re-sent to the user’s mobile number (SMS).

8. The “Continue” button is displayed on the OTP input screen.

a) The “Continue” button is disabled by default.

b) The “Continue” button becomes active if 4 digits are entered in the OTP input field.

c) After tapping the “Continue” button, the system checks the entered code:

– If the code is entered incorrectly, the field with OTP is cleared, changes to error state and an error message is displayed under the field. The user can correct the code and press the “Continue” button again.

– If the code is entered correctly, then proceed to step 9.

9. The system checks whether there is an account in the database with the following phone number and user card status:

a) If there is an account in the database with the entered phone number, the status of the card is active, then the system receives its data, authorizes the user, and proceeds to step 10.

b) If there is an account in the database with the entered phone number, but the status of the card is blocked, then the system attaches a new card to the user, authorizes him in the application, and moves to step 10. After authorization, a message is displayed to the user that the old card has been blocked, and a new card and hotline phone number were created for him to get details.

c) If there is no account with the entered phone number, the system registers the user, attaches a new card to him, and authorizes the user in the application. Moving on to step 10.

10. The user sees a loader with a message that authorization to the application was successful. Go to step 11.

11. The user gets to the Main screen or to the previous screen from which the user went to authorization.

a) Authorized users who first logged in to the application via a direct link are shown a bottom sheet with a personalized (if there is a username in the system) greeting and bonuses for authorization are accrued.

b) Authorized users who first logged into the application using a referral link are shown a bottom sheet with a personalized (if there is a user name in the system) greeting and referral bonuses are accrued for authorization.

c) The bottom sheet is not displayed to users who have previously authorized the application.

d) The bottom sheet is not displayed to unauthorized users.

e) All users who have logged into the application for the first time will be prompted for geolocation permission.

12. If the user entered the phone number, went to the OTP step, and returned to the phone number entry screen, the screen should display the previously entered phone number.

a) When you go to the OTP page without changing the phone number, the code is not redirected.

b) When you next go to the OTP page with a change of phone number, the system sends the code to the new phone number and displays it on the OTP input screen.

13. If the user taps outside the keyboard, it collapses. When you tap on the input field, the keyboard appears.

14. The system allows logging in under one account from several electronic devices. There is no limit on the number of devices.

15. If the endpoints do not respond or respond with an error (500 or unknown to us), then we display a message to the user about problems in operation and a request to try the action again.

General error states:
1. If the user does not have Internet when clicking “Continue” on the phone input screen or on the OTP input screen:

a) The user is shown a snack bar with the message: “An error has occurred. Check your internet connection.”.

b) The user’s Internet connection is checked. When the connection is restored, the screen is automatically updated.

2. If a server error occurs when pressing “Continue” on the phone input screen or on the OTP input screen: a snack bar is displayed to the user with the message: “An error occurred. Please try again.”.

A great user story for a mobile app example user story makes it easier for everyone to comprehend the objective of a certain app endeavor by providing a plain language description, like the ones above. 

Summary: How to Create User Stories for a Mobile App

User stories explain the benefits offered to a user who wants to use your software to carry out an action. How to create one? Identify the user personas first. Then assign objectives to each persona. Written user stories should address the “what” and “why” of each persona. The acceptance criteria can then be defined using those queries.
The INVEST acronym should be kept in mind while you write any user stories for a mobile app example. You may get started by following the instructions in this guide and using our examples as inspiration.

The post How to Create User Stories for a Mobile App appeared first on Devlight.

A work breakdown structure (WBS) for a mobile app is a visual, hierarchical, and deliverable-oriented deconstruction of a project. A WBS can combine scope, cost, and deliverables into one tool by segmenting the project into smaller parts. Continue reading to discover more benefits a WBS might offer your company. You’ll learn how to create a work breakdown structure, what to include, and examples of how to use it in real projects.

What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) For a Mobile App?

Work can be made more manageable and approachable by using a common productivity strategy called task breaking. The work breakdown structure (WBS) for a mobile app, one of the most significant project management documents, is the tool that applies this technique to projects. It helps to integrate scope, cost, and schedule baselines to guarantee project plans are in sync.

WBS project management terminology that is frequently used includes:

• Budget: The costs involved with the project, which can be divided into phases or deliverables.
• Deliverables: The goods, services, or outcomes produced throughout the course of the project. 
• Milestones: The project’s critical phases are listed in the WBS.
• Phases: A project’s numerous stages. For example, a phase-based WBS for a mobile app project would be organized around concepts like discovery, design, and launch.

Two Types of WBS

The Work Breakdown Structure is a “deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team,” according to the PMI Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK). WBS can be divided into two categories: deliverable-based and phase-based. The Elements listed in the first level of the WBS are the primary distinction between the two methodologies. 

• A deliverable-based work breakdown structure makes it apparent how the project’s deliverables — products, services, or results — relate to its scope —the actual work that needs to be done.
  
  Each deliverable represents a tangible outcome that is expected to be produced by the project, and the WBS is structured around these deliverables.
  
  
• A phase-based WBS contains the elements that represent common project phases. In a phase-based WBS, the project is divided into distinct phases or stages, such as discovery, design, development, testing, and launch. Each phase is then further broken down into smaller components or tasks, such as developing a project plan, creating design documents, conducting user acceptance testing, and so on.

The purpose of a phase-based WBS is to provide a structured framework for managing the project, with each phase representing a major milestone that must be completed before the project can move on to the next stage. By breaking the project down into phases and tasks, the project team can more easily manage the work, allocate resources, and track progress.

A good WBS simply makes the project easier to manage. Every project is unique, just as every project manager and WBS are unique. What is the best work breakdown structure (WBS)? The one is making your particular project more manageable.

Why Is It Important to Create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) For a Mobile App?

The work breakdown structure is a useful project management tool for several reasons. Firstly, it divides the endeavor into digestible, bite-sized pieces, making it less intimidating.

Secondly, it offers a road map for the many people and teams engaged in the project. Many projects require multiple teams to work simultaneously, and for the project to be completed, they must all communicate and work together. The many individuals and teams can concentrate on their unique duties and deliverables while also understanding how their part fits into the project as a whole by adopting a WBS.

Finally, any work breakdown structure (WBS) for a mobile app is a great tool for budget resource allocation, milestone identification, and project completion measurement. Project managers can be sure that their projects are correctly funded and that they won’t encounter any delays because of “surprise” deliverables by applying the 100% rule.

How to Create a Work Breakdown Structure for a Mobile App in 6 Steps

Remembering the above-mentioned “100% rule” is crucial to integrate all project components in a task breakdown structure while avoiding excessive complexity. 

Step 1. Identify the Project Deliverables

How to create a work breakdown structure (WBS)? Start by identifying the high-level deliverables for the mobile app project. This could include features, functionality, user interface, user experience, testing, and deployment. Make a note of the broad goal you want to achieve. Include a note about these specifics in your project charter. This will serve as your authoritative guide.

Step 2. Break Down Deliverables Into Smaller Components

Once you have identified the deliverables, break them down into smaller components or work packages. Start by breaking your work into project stages, distinct big deliverables, or smaller tasks, depending on the nature of your project.

Break the large project into increasingly smaller components, but stop before you have a complete list of all the steps that need to be taken. Keep in mind to concentrate more on results than on actions. For example, under the feature deliverable, you could have work packages such as login, registration, user profile, etc. 

Step 3. Define the Work Packages

For each work package, define the tasks that need to be completed to achieve the deliverable. For example, tasks for the login work package could include creating a login screen, integrating with the backend, validating user credentials, etc. Identify all the tasks and subtasks that must be completed for each deliverable. 

How to create a work breakdown structure (WBS) based on deliverables? Create work packages from the tasks. The lowest level of the breakdown, known as work packages, should specify the scope, cost, and owners of each task. Assignments that can be performed within a reporting period should be included in each work package.  

Step 4. Identify Dependencies

Identify the dependencies between the tasks and work packages. This will help you understand the order in which the tasks must be completed and avoid delays or roadblocks. Give each task a time estimate. This can be carried out during the earlier phase. Here, your group can make use of its expertise and knowledge. 

Step 5. Assign Resources

Assign resources to each task and work package. This could include developers, designers, testers, etc. Make sure you have the right resources available at the right time to complete the tasks. 

Step 6. Review and Revise

Review and revise the WBS as needed to ensure it accurately reflects the project scope and requirements. Request a final review of the WBS from your team, and where necessary, fill in the blanks. How to create a work breakdown structure (WBS) that will boost your staff productivity? You should set aside time to create and evaluate the WBS with your team. 

Tips When Creating a WBS

To achieve the best outcomes while creating a work breakdown structure (WBS) for a mobile app, you may follow these guidelines:

• 100 percent rule. Your WBS must only include the work required to accomplish the overarching goal fully and not any more irrelevant activity. Additionally, all labor required to fulfill the major job must be taken into account in any level’s minor tasks.
• Fully unique. Do not account for any amount of work twice or include a subtask twice. This would be against the 100% rule and would lead to inaccurate calculations when figuring out how much money is needed to finish a project.
• Results, not activities. Keep in mind to concentrate more on outcomes and deliveries than on actions. For instance, if you were designing a bicycle, the deliverable might be “the braking system,” and the action may be “calibrate the brake pads.”
• Three levels. A WBS should typically have three different degrees of detail. The scope of your project and the amount of complexity in your WBS are approximately right if the majority of the branches have three levels or less of subdivided detail.
• Create tasks. Each work package needs to be assigned to a certain group or person. If your WBS is well-made, there won’t be any job overlap, making it easy to understand who is responsible for what.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) For a Mobile App: Template

There are many examples, templates, and software tools available to assist you in creating a work breakdown structure for your project if you need some direction. Check out the WBS template we use to manage different-sized projects equally efficiently.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) For a Mobile App: Example

Using templates and getting inspired by real-life examples is always a great idea. If you need more assistance creating your WBS or require a more thorough and complete WBS, Devlight has prepared a live work breakdown structure (WBS): еxample for you.

How to Create a WBS for a Mobile App: Summary

The visual organization of project deliverables into levels according to dependencies is called a work breakdown structure (WBS) for a mobile app. With your project objective at the top and dependents and sub-dependencies underneath, WBS is your project plan in a visual form. 

The various project management components were discussed in this article, along with instructions on how to design one for your next project and a thorough work breakdown structure (WBS): еxample to get you started. In the end, creating a job breakdown structure isn’t that difficult. In fact, once you get the hang of it, adding a visual hierarchy or project tasks will only help your team and you. 

The post How to Create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) For a Mobile App appeared first on Devlight.

Build an effective backlog for a mobile app with Devlight. We discuss how to create a backlog by prioritizing its key features and share our own backlog template.

Why Is It Important to Create a Backlog for a Mobile App?

A prioritized list of tasks or features that will help you accomplish your product’s objectives and establish team expectations is known as a product backlog. In general, each development product needs to have its own backlog. Similarly to this, a specific project team should be assigned to each product backlog. Developers use the tasks in the product backlog to move as swiftly as possible toward their intended results.

Generally speaking, a backlog for a mobile app is an artifact that collects and organizes all the requirements for a future application. This document describes everything that needs to be implemented in the development process. With the help of the backlog, you will understand the complexity and size of the project and how much needs to be done to estimate the cost and development time roughly. This is the starting point for the development of your app.

How to Create a Backlog for a Mobile App in 5 Steps

Each backlog for a mobile app example is more than just a simple to-do list; it is a place where difficult activities are broken down into manageable chunks and assigned to team members. To create a successful product backlog, follow these five stages:

Step 1. Define the Goals and Objectives of the App

Before starting to create a backlog, it is important to understand the goals and objectives of your product. What is your app for, and what problems should it solve? Do some preparatory work: validate your idea, fill trend canvas for better understanding of the environment, find your market and target audience, do a competitor analysis, validate hypotheses about your product, define a unique value proposition, and create a user journey map.

Step 2. Identify the App’s Key Features

Based on the goals and objectives of the program, determine the features that are important for the app’s success. To find features, you can brainstorm with the team. Market research and competitor analysis will also help in finding important features.

It is important to look at the system as a whole and think about combining and integrating features. You should look at your future application from different angles and try on all the user roles. For example, you have an app with ads for renting apartments. It is important to look at the roles and features for a user who wants to rent an apartment and for a landlord or realtor who wants to rent it out. They have different roles and purposes for using the application, and their necessary features will differ.

You can scatter “epics” at the top level. An epic is a large volume of work that can be broken down into several smaller tasks. It helps organize work and build a hierarchy. You break down your work into components without stopping to move toward a large-scale goal.

For example, we are developing a neobank application. You can record the “Registration and onboarding” epic, which will consist of the following:

• Onboarding;
• Registration;
• KYC;
• Opening the card;
• Product tips & instructions;
• Log In categories. 

In turn, the categories will be divided into features. The “Onboarding” category will be divided into:

• Splash screen;
• Slides with information on available banking products and services;
• Additional onboarding slides. 

“Registration” will be divided into the next features:

• Quick registration (phone + one-time password (OTP));
• Resend OTP or change number;
• Set password/login pin;
• Allowing entry by biometrics; 
• Phone verification.

Step 3. Prioritize the Features

Sort and prioritize your most essential tasks after your team has listed every item in the product backlog. Put the customer first and think about what features will be most valuable to them to determine what should be given top priority. You also need to allocate features to releases — what will go to MVP or Beta version, and what will go to the next versions.

At Devlight, we use the Kano method of prioritizing when creating the backlog for a mobile app. The Kano model is a coordinate system where the client’s needs are displayed on the horizontal axis, which can be divided into three points:

• Mandatory or basic features: the user won’t consider your product if you don’t have this feature;
• Performance features: the more you invest in their development, the higher the level of user satisfaction will be;
• Exciting features: the users do not expect them, but they excite them.

The idea behind Kano’s core model is that the more time, money, and effort you spend creating, implementing, and improving features from each category, the higher your user satisfaction will be.

The Kano model is useful when you need to prioritize product features based on user-perceived value. Perception is the key word. If the user lives in the desert, they will not be inspired by the raincoat. You need to know your customer well if you want to use the Kano model.

How to create a backlog based on the Kano model? Prepare a Kano questionnaire that users will have to fill in, answering how they feel about each feature. Read more in our article on competitor analysis.

Step 4. Organize the Backlog

Creating a list of product backlog items requires keeping in mind your product plan. These items should include both urgent matters and more abstract concepts. You’ll also need to interact with stakeholders during this stage of product backlog creation to hear their suggestions for product enhancements. You can schedule this discussion as a part of your sprint planning meeting if you’re following the Agile methodology.

How to create a backlog with a properly arranged structure? Organize it the in a way that makes sense for your development team. Usually, the initial organization can be in Google Sheets or Excel. Next, you could use a project management tool like Jira, Trello, or Asana for detailing and presenting.

Step 5. Continuously Review and Update the Backlog

Any backlog for a mobile app example is a living document that should be reviewed and updated regularly. As you develop the app, you may discover new features or tasks that need to be added to the backlog, or you may need to reprioritize the existing backlog based on changing requirements or feedback from users.

Product owners must divide the backlog features into near-term and long-term items as it grows. It also means that estimates from development have been established and that collaboration with design and development has been arranged. 

Though acquiring an approximate estimate from the development team to help prioritize them is a good idea, longer-term items can continue to be a little hazy. The crucial word here is “rough” because estimations will change once the team fully comprehends and starts working on those longer-term things.

The product owner and the development team communicate with each other through the backlog for a mobile app. Due to user feedback, improving estimates, and new needs, the product owner is able to re-prioritize work in the backlog at any moment. However, keep changes to a minimum after work has begun, as too many will disrupt the development team and interfere with productivity and flow.

Backlog for Mobile App: Template

A product backlog offers a high-level overview of potential future additions to the product, but its true value lies in its capacity to group, hone, and specify action items. In the end, you’ll be able to concentrate on methodically enhancing the value of your product rather than attempting to sort through the confusion. 

Backlog for a Mobile App Example

Discover our backlog example to access the database of your extensive experience gained by developing 6 Neobank Apps. Also, you receive examples for the following Epics: User profile settings, Notification center, Accounts, Cards, Transactions, Budgeting, Payments, Credit, and Cashback & Loyalty. See how simple it is to communicate, edit, and modify this crucial part of your development process by starting to build your product backlog with Devlight.

Tool for Creating a Backlog for Mobile App

Let’s go through each of these amazing applications in more detail and see how to create a backlog by using convenient tools:

Excel

While not a dedicated project management tool, Excel can be a simple and effective way to create a backlog for your mobile app. You can create a spreadsheet with columns for task description, priority, status, and deadline, and use filters and sorting to manage your backlog.

Google Sheets

Google Sheets is another great option for creating a backlog for a mobile app. You can create a spreadsheet with columns for task name, description, priority, status, deadline, and assignee. You can also use conditional formatting and filters to highlight important tasks or sort tasks by priority or deadline. Google Sheets also allows you to collaborate with others in real-time, making it easy to manage your mobile app backlog with your team.

Jira

Jira Service Management offers a robust framework for grouping, ranking, and tracking work items, which aids in managing backlog for a mobile app. Backlog items can be assigned to specific team members or groups for execution after being sorted and prioritized according to criteria like urgency, complexity, or business value. 

Agile boards and burndown charts, two effective visualization tools offered by Jira Service Management, allow teams to monitor progress and spot potential obstacles in real-time. Many automation capabilities provided by Jira Service Management, like rule-based workflows and automated notifications, can help teams work more efficiently and with less administrative effort.

The most important functions include incident management, problem management, change management, and service request management, all of which can be fully customized to meet the particular requirements of each firm. Further features include a self-service portal, SLA tracking and reporting, automated ticket routing and escalation rules, and a status-tracking system for requests. 

Trello

Trello is a popular project management tool that allows you to create lists of tasks, organize them into boards, and collaborate with others. You can create cards for each task in your mobile app backlog and move them through different stages as they are completed.

Trello’s no-code automation allows you to set up rules that assign members automatically or generate checklists whenever a card is moved into a list. This makes it simple to alter a task’s owner when its status changes or to generate lists of subtasks for the project’s next phase.

Asana

Asana is a versatile project management tool that offers features such as task lists, timelines, and calendars. You can create a backlog for your mobile app and organize tasks into sections such as design, development, testing, and release.

You can maintain a current, ongoing list of all the items of your backlog for a mobile app by maintaining sections or projects in Asana. You may filter tasks in your backlog using custom fields to help you choose what to prioritize next. Moving items to and from the backlog is simple in Asana. Epics, user stories, and features can all be added.

Backlog for Mobile App: Common Mistakes

The product backlog should be a straightforward yet effective method for documenting and revising specific product decisions and managing the activity of the development team. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to use this tool effectively. Here we discuss which mistakes you should avoid in the beginning to not cause more problems during your future backlog management:

Excluding Functions Mandatory for Management

How to create a backlog that would be easily manageable? It’s crucial that you can integrate all of your data when you establish an app and across some of the other platforms you use for your business. 

Features of connectivity aid in the synchronization of data required for greater consumer insights. Teams, from sales and service to marketing, may work more successfully and dismantle information silos when data is matched. This facilitates decision-making more quickly, increases organizational transparency, and enhances team productivity. Include developing analytics, crash analytics, splash screen, and deep linking into backlog, as these unobvious features are necessary for proper app management.

Creating a Backlog Based on a Single User’s Story

If we take our previous backlog for a mobile app example, you risk losing the target audience by disabling any role in the application. If you create an apartment renting app, it would be a huge mistake to focus just on apartment owners who want to share advertisements and not develop any tenant-oriented features like messaging, saving ads, and filtering the search results.

It will be impossible to prioritize the backlog if the product owner doesn’t have a clear vision of all app’s users. To avoid this, the product owner needs to have a clear vision of the app’s functionality and communicate it to all stakeholders. The team can jointly create and carry out a sprint planning to concentrate on needs and actual commercial value if the product owner requires help.

Forgetting About Different Access Levels

One common mistake that developers often make when creating a mobile app backlog is forgetting to consider the different access levels that users may have. In other words, not all users will have the same level of access to the app’s features and functionality.

For example, a mobile app for a healthcare provider may have different access levels for patients, doctors, and administrative staff. Patients may only have access to certain features such as viewing their medical records and scheduling appointments, while doctors may have access to additional features such as prescribing medication and reviewing lab results. Administrative staff may have access to all features, including the ability to manage patient records and billing.

If these different access levels are not taken into account when creating the mobile app backlog, it can lead to confusion and delays in the development process. Features may be developed that are not necessary or relevant for certain user groups, while critical features may be overlooked for others.

To avoid this mistake, it is important to conduct a thorough analysis of the various user groups that will be using the mobile app and determine their specific access needs. This can be achieved through user interviews, surveys, and other research methods.

Once the different access levels have been identified, they should be clearly defined and incorporated into the mobile app backlog. This will ensure that the development team is aware of the various user needs and can prioritize features accordingly.

Omitting Non-functional Requirements

When creating a mobile app, it is not only essential to consider the functional requirements but also the non-functional requirements. Non-functional requirements are those that define the quality attributes of the mobile app, such as performance, security, usability, and scalability.

However, one common mistake that developers make when creating a mobile app backlog is omitting non-functional requirements. This can result in a mobile app that is technically sound but lacks in quality, performance, or user experience.

For example, if you plan to build a product with the ability to support multiple languages, you should include this in your initial backlog for a mobile app example. Depending on the specific technical specifications of the existing app, some features can be retrofitted or changed to incorporate this option with varied degrees of complexity. Serious technical work will be required if multiple language capabilities were not considered from the beginning.

To avoid this mistake, it is crucial to identify and include non-functional requirements in the mobile app backlog. This can be achieved through discussions with stakeholders, conducting user surveys, and analyzing industry best practices.

Not Taking Into Account Future App Updates

Generally speaking, the backlog serves as a catalog of all efforts and projects connected to a certain product. A feature will not be completed if it is not added to the backlog. This indicates that a wide range of diverse things lives there, including but not limited to:

• New capabilities;
• Updated infrastructure;
• Modifications to current functionality;
• Corrections for bugs;
• Debt reduction and refactoring.

App updates are that backlog for a mobile app segment where many developers stumble upon the same mistake. For example, add a notification feature for the users to be reminded of when they need to update an app. If you don’t include update management in the backlog, it is practically impossible to add it later.

Wanting to Do Everything in the First Version

It is natural to want to include all the features and functionality in the first version to create a comprehensive product. However, wanting to do everything in the first version of a mobile app is a common mistake that can have significant risks and consequences.

One of the biggest risks of trying to do everything in the first version of a mobile app is that it can lead to an overly complex and bloated product. This can result in a mobile app that is difficult to use, navigate, and understand, which can ultimately lead to poor user adoption and negative reviews.

Additionally, attempting to do everything in the first version of a mobile app can lead to long development cycles and delayed launches. This can put the mobile app at a disadvantage in the market, as it may miss important opportunities or fail to meet user needs.

To avoid these risks, it is crucial to focus on the essential features and functionality that are critical to the success of the mobile app. This can be achieved by conducting user research, analyzing industry trends, and prioritizing features based on their impact on the user experience and business goals.

It is also important to continuously review and evaluate the features and functionality of the mobile app to ensure that they are still relevant and aligned with user needs and business goals.

How to Create a Backlog for a Mobile App: Summary

A backlog for a mobile app is an effective tool for the product manager because it signals a shift from long-term planning to short-term actions. The abilities you get as a product leader to manage, prioritize, update, and maintain the backlog will help you create excellent products and boost the performance of your business as a whole.

Creating a backlog is quite a creative process. There can be different backlogs, but the form is not important — the content is. So, whatever approach you choose, ensure to include the maximum necessary features. Besides, leave the backlog manageable so that you can adjust it when new perspectives appear.

The post How to Create a Backlog for a Mobile App: Devlight’s Guide appeared first on Devlight.

Users pay no more than half-second of attention to your app while scrolling through the app list and moving further. How to create an app name that will sell, catch the eye, and stand out among competitors? 

The optimal app title choice is a crucial part of app store optimization (ASO). A well-chosen app name, icon, and description can stop your user’s scrolling and direct their finger to the download button.

Our guide will explain how to develop an app name that will be searchable, meet the app naming standards in stores, and increase conversion and downloads.

Why Does Your App Name Matter?

Semantics must be considered while choosing an app title. The greatest app names promote branding, direct users to relevant apps, and encourage app downloads. Here’s what a strong app name can do: 

Get Your Google Play and Apple App Store Approval

If you can’t get your app approved first, success for it will be next to impossible. Every year, the Apple App Store alone rejects around one million apps. To prevent rejection and have your app listed promptly, stick to character restrictions and recommended practices for app metadata.

Boost App Downloads

The title of your app is crucial for searchability. Users can conduct keyword searches on the app store just like they would on a web browser. Your ability to appear in searches and spark users’ interest depends on having a catchy, search-optimized title.

Seal the Brand Name

Your app title is your brand, not just a descriptive title. How to name an app that would speak for the brand? Choose the name that reflects the brand’s personality, features, and user experience you’re attempting to create, regardless of whether it’s a stand-alone product or integrated into a bigger organization.

Step-By-Step Guide: How to Name an App in 2023

App naming can be harder than it seems, and knowing how to do it well will set your app apart from competitors. Although “Google” may sound cool today, who would have thought 20 years ago that it would become a term we would hear daily?

But where did you get the idea for the name of your innovative app? How can you create a name as memorable as Google, Facebook, Twitter, or Evernote? Devlight compelled a short list of steps you should follow during your app naming journey to increase your product’s chances of success:

Step 1. Brainstorm App Name Ideas

Remember, you don’t have to put much effort into creating a brilliant name. There is a chance that your target audience won’t get your message if you try to be too clever. It’s best to keep things straightforward at times. For instance, “Mini Games” is probably an excellent option for an app that offers fun games and quizzes on the go. However, brainstorming is not just an intuitive process. It consists of certain practices we are about to describe.

– Reflect Your App’s Core Features

Write a list of words that describe your app as a starting point. These terms can contain emotive language to demonstrate how you wish to affect your audience and descriptive language to showcase your app’s accomplishments.

It’s best to incorporate as many terms as possible when naming an app because then you’ll have more possibilities to work with. Choose a few of the phrases you believe will resonate the most with your product and your target audience from the list you’ve created. Then, start looking up probable synonyms using a thesaurus.

– Keyword Research

You must know your target market’s search volume and behavior to select the appropriate app title. Use ASO research tools like TheTool, AppTweak, or AppRadar to determine the relevance, difficulty, and search volume for the search phrases you anticipate your audience using. Consider including them in your app’s name, subtitle, and descriptions once you have your intended list.

– Competitor Research

Another tip on how to create an app name is to research the competitors. A business leader can serve two purposes from competitor research. The first benefit is the opportunity to examine what other names already impact your sector.

How to name an app keeping the competitors in mind? By observing your competitors, you may identify the brands buyers are already drawn to and find inspiration for yourself. You’ll also gain insight into the types of names you want to set yourself apart from in order to be as distinctive as possible at the same time. 

Secondly, to avoid a knockoff app, be sure to go beyond a quick app store search. Consult a lawyer to ensure that your app title doesn’t infringe on any already-registered copyrights or trademarks, and submit your own trademark application before making your app available for download. Even while you want the name to stand out, you also want it to be simple to spell and pronounce.

– App Name Generators

These are some reasons why app name generators are an excellent source of inspiration:

• Relevance. They can sift through meaningless names and present you with the finest options. You can rely on our mobile app’s name generator to consistently offer relevant and meaningful name suggestions.
• Exclusivity. Naming tools know how to come up with an app name that would follow the standard store requirements but still stand out. They will only make suggestions for names that are highly valuable to your company and that are special and distinctive.
• Availability. It takes time to locate, verify, and register a domain name. Name generators make sure to include a list of potential domain extensions alongside each name recommendation.

Step 2. Check for Availability

A unique and compelling name that captures consumers’ attention is the most important need for anyone looking to create and launch an app. Once you’ve discovered it, you’ll feel immense joy and be able to start everything else. Or not? After the initial app naming stage is over, there is one crucial consideration you should never overlook: what if another app already uses the name? It would be inconvenient. Here are some steps you can take to check if a name is available:

• Search the App Store. Start by searching for the name in the App Store and Google Play Store to see if any apps already exist with the same or similar name. If there are, it’s best to choose a different name to avoid confusion.
• Check domain names: Ensure the name you want is available as a domain name by searching on websites like GoDaddy, Bluehost, or Namecheap. If the domain name is taken, it may indicate that the name is already in use by another company or individual.
• Check social media platforms: Check if the name you want is already taken on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If it’s taken, it may suggest that someone is already using the name for their brand or product.
• Perform a trademark search: Conduct a trademark search using the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database or international trademark databases to ensure that the name you want to use is not already trademarked or registered by another entity.

Step 3. Test the Name

The process of naming an app doesn’t end after choosing and checking the name either. Now is the time for testing! Create a landing page, conduct surveys, and apply user interviews. Also, when testing company names on real people, don’t forget to include a brief description of the company in your survey. It’s typically a good idea to briefly express your business’s objective unless it’s evident what it does (for example, John’s Insurance Company). Respondents will be more likely to comprehend what your company name aims to achieve with a short, straightforward explanation.

To receive proper feedback on users’ general associations with your brand name, check how they perceive the spelling and pronunciation as well. Names whose pronunciations aren’t obvious aren’t necessarily bad. For instance, the ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs invented its name entirely to be “Danish-sounding,” even though true Danish never uses an umlaut (the accent over the a) and would never put the letters z and s next to each other.

Nevertheless, not knowing how to pronounce something can also be a turn-off to customers. Tests help you research how to create an app name that will suit your target audience. Keep these three simple ideas in mind at all times when testing:

• Your app’s name must be appropriate. Don’t pick a name for your app that is so original that it has nothing to do with its features or goal.
• Use only standard characters. Hyphens, dashes, etc., are unnecessary—unless you’re using them to divide your app name from its description that isn’t part of the brand name anyway.
• Watch out for obscene language. Curse words, sexual allusions, and derogatory language typically perform poorly in app stores.

Step 4. Finalize the Name

Spend some time analyzing the data throughout the testing process, not just when you believe you’re almost done. To learn why people voted the way they did and what appealed to or turned them off of your brand name, look at the main demographics of respondents that make sense for your business or product. Test again and again, if necessary.

If you wonder how to come up with an app name that will make you stand out, the final tip here is through the testing. Every decision in modern product development should be based on testing and iterative changes. This is especially true with naming an app. The better name you choose for your company, the earlier you acquire and implement the practices that will raise your conversion and make people stick to your brand.

Tools for App Naming

Choosing a name for a mobile application can be a daunting task. Fortunately, there are several tools available to help you make the right decision. Here are a few:

Name generators

Online tools such as NameMesh, Namify, and Namelix can help generate ideas for app names based on keywords or other criteria. These tools use algorithms to create unique and memorable names that are relevant to your app’s niche.

Thesaurus and dictionary

Thesaurus.com and dictionary websites like Merriam-Webster can provide synonyms, antonyms, and related words for your app’s primary keywords. This can help you brainstorm new ideas and explore different naming options.

Trademark search tools

Before settling on a name, it is essential to ensure that it is not already taken or infringing on any existing trademarks. Trademark search tools such as Trademarkia or TMview can help you check the availability of your desired name and avoid legal issues down the line.

Tips on How to Name an App in 2023

A poorly chosen app name or one that was never tested on your target audience will at least get your app lost in the sea of other apps. In the worst scenario, it can cause you reputational or legal problems. This is why it’s crucial to conduct in-depth research and assess the influence of your name on various individuals.

The following advice could point you in the correct direction if you still wonder how to name an app in a safe, catchy, and entertaining way:

Follow the Google Play and App Store Rules and Terms

App Store lets you provide your app’s name, subtitle, and description on the product listing. A 30-character limit applies to the app subtitle, which is displayed immediately beneath the title. So yeah, choosing an appropriate subtitle and description affect your store ranking and should be taken no less seriously than app naming.

Your app’s subtitle aims to provide a succinct summary of your app. To elaborate on your app’s worth, think about using this rather than the name of your app. Showcase your app’s strengths or popular uses that will appeal to your audience. In order to better match apps to relevant searches, Apple now provides a keyword field for developers to input a list of keywords and keyword phrases separated by commas.

The Google Play Store limits app titles to 30 characters, just like Apple does. Google offers the option for an 80-character short description in place of a subtitle to provide more details about your app.

Check the list of rules and terms for Google Play and the App Store to make sure that your app name does not violate the rules.

Keep It Short and Memorable

Shorter app names are typically preferable. This is one of the explanations for why app leaders frequently create new terms by fusing several words together. How to create an app name with this trend in mind? The shorter the name, the better because your users need to be able to quickly find, detect, and recognize your product on a small screen. A shorter name will also make it much simpler to stand out online. Consider how simple it will be for your customer to share and recall your name.

Make Your App Name an Action Word

Some of the most effective app names function well because they can be quickly turned into verbs. Consider how we say “Google it” or “Skype me” as examples. An actionable term is easier to share than a regular word and is excellent for putting the name of your app into the language of your target market. Consider this hack when naming an app.

Choose a Searchable Name

Next, ensure it will be as simple as possible for your clients to find your app. Customers find 63% of apps through the app store, where they may type in terms or keywords to find what they want. With this in mind, coming up with names for your app that represent it well is highly worthwhile.

How to name an app to make it searchable? Optimizing your listings and using keywords throughout the description increases your app’s visibility in each store. Consider how simple your app’s name is to spell and whether users can pronounce it when using Siri, Alexa, or another voice assistant. 

Pick the Name Obvious for Your Brand

Try to avoid app naming in a vacuum. You must consider the overall brand image you want to establish and the personality you want to project to your target market. Consider the potential appearance of your name on a logo. Avoid selecting a name that is too long because it should match the logo and fit under the app icon in the phone menu.

Don’t get carried away researching catchy app names and wind up with a name that has the impact your company needs. Cooperate with your team if you wonder how to create an app name reflecting your brand. Ask your colleagues for their opinion if you’re not sure the name makes sense.

Connect With Your Consumer’s Emotions

Every element of your brand, including your logo, colors, and company name, should be selected with an eye on the target market. How to name an app that would serve the TA? Firstly, identify your potential audience and study their demographics and preferences. If your product isn’t new and you already have some users, analyze their behaviors and think about how you can apply them to app naming.

Who do you believe will download your app the most frequently? Consider the language your clients are most likely to use and the terms that are most likely to speak to them. If your TA young or middle-aged? Do they seek cool neologisms or stick to comprehensive brand names that speak for themselves? How to create an app name that will encourage positive emotions? Learn your TA’s pain points to offer a great solution to their problems.

Differentiate Your Name With a Wordplay

If considering your app’s functioning doesn’t help you develop the ideal name, move on to puns. A wordplay may help you come up with the ideal title. As an illustration, “Free Map Israel” became “Waze” in 2008. The pun refers to the term “Ways,” which is perfect for an app showing you different routes to take to a particular area.

How to come up with an app name with a fun twist? If you can, try explaining what your app does out loud and see if you can think of anything special. For instance, changing the phrase “Go for leads” to “Gopher Leads” is a cute way to make it more amusing.

Attempting to misspell is another hack for fun naming. It would be a serious error to misspell your title in the typical brand naming process. Yet, you’ll have a little more freedom to be imaginative when app naming. Many examples of misspellings and strangely positioned letters may be found in some of the most well-liked apps in the world. For instance, the words “Tumblr” and “Reddit” are misspellings of the words tumbler and read it, respectively.

Look Global

Applications can be downloaded anywhere in the globe, and they may appeal to a large audience on a worldwide scale. In light of this, it is worthwhile to consider your name from a broad standpoint. Remember that various words and phrases may have different meanings depending on where you are in the world.

How to come up with an app name without offending anyone? It might be a good idea to seek the assistance of a translator if you are afraid that your name may have a different meaning in another country.

Additionally, localizing your app’s metadata is essential if it is sold in marketplaces outside of your native nation. Posting localized versions of your app’s title and subtitle will assist people in discovering and wanting to download your product because most users conduct keyword searches in their native tongues. How to name an app locally? Remember that localization encompasses more than just language. Across the US, UK, and Australia, dialect, cultural references, and search behavior vary greatly.

App Name Examples

These three app names are brief, distinctive, and keyword-focused. They present great examples of catchy app naming that never gets old and allows the brands to become widely famous worldwide.

Duolingo

The official name of this well-known software in the app stores is “Duolingo — Language Lessons,” and it teaches users how to speak a number of languages through entertaining games.

Why is the name of this app so successful, and how to come up with an app name nearly as great? The Duolingo name stands out from the other accessible language learning apps because it is simple to remember, targets popular keywords like lingo, language, and lessons, and is distinctive.

Snapchat

The social networking app that your kids can’t stop using is Snapchat, which brings us to a close. Snapchat doesn’t add additional keywords, in contrast to Duolingo (though it does have a subtitle that gives users more context.) Due to the popularity of the app, this is acceptable. We appreciate this app name since it accurately conveys the features of the program.

Snapchat allows you to transmit self-portrait photos and videos to pals. SnapChat is another word for a discussion, and everyone knows that photographs are frequently referred to as “snaps” thus, it’s a great naming an app example that has resulted in setting new slang and terms associated with using the app.

Shazam

Shazam is one of the most well-known music identification apps. No matter if it’s the intro, verse, or chorus, if you record 20 seconds of a song, it will produce a fingerprint for the sample, check the database, and use its music recognition algorithm to identify the song you are currently listening to.

Shazam is actually a word in the dictionary. Chris Barton, the app founder, once informed the crowd at the Pioneer’s Festival in 2013 that the app’s name derived from an exclamation phrase. Shazam means conjuring magical things and wanting something like a spell or a magic ritual to work out.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Naming Your App

A fantastic name creates a crucial initial impression. Here are some frequent blunders to stay away from when picking a name for your app.

Choosing a Name That Is Too Generic

It’s crucial to make sure your app name is distinctive. Most of the catchy phrases you would think of have been probably already taken. In light of this, be sure the title you desire isn’t being used by anyone else by doing some research. It’s worth checking twice when naming an app and avoiding names that are too similar to other titles stylistically. Ask yourself if your customer may easily lose track of your solution if they misspell something, even if your name differs from another app.

Using a Name That Is Too Long or Difficult to Spell

When it comes to choosing a name for an app, length and complexity matter. Using an app name that is too long or difficult to spell can result in several problems. 

Users may struggle to remember the name, making it harder for them to recommend the app to others or find it again themselves. Also, app stores rely on search algorithms, and a long or complicated name can make it harder for users to find your app. This can limit your app’s visibility in search results. 

Long app names can get truncated on mobile devices, making it harder for users to read and understand the name. Finally, a too-long or complicated name can make building brand recognition and attracting new users harder. To avoid these issues, it is essential to choose a name that is short, simple, and easy to spell and remember.

Not Considering SEO and ASO

It’s time to optimize your app now that you have a name for it. Happily, the majority of the difficult work gets simple if you follow our recommendations:

• research keywords and include them in the title of your app;
• investigate your competitors for any patterns you wish to seize;
• reduce the number of characters to make room for more keywords;
• discuss ideas for how to make your app name distinctive so that it sticks out;
• the only thing left to do is monitor your progress and, if necessary, change the name of your app according to the ASO requirements.

Not Testing the Name

Your company name may allude to the types of clients you service, your corporate goals, or what makes your organization special. Yet, one thing is certain: your name is your business card, your ace in the hole. 

Unsurprisingly, Fortune 500 firms spend millions of dollars on brand name testing techniques, research, and consultants when naming an app. The good news is that you don’t need millions of dollars or hundreds of company name suggestions to conduct a successful test. You’ll be well on your way to selecting the ideal name for your business if you abide by our suggestions and use the tools available out there.

How to Name an App: Summary

Your app’s title is crucial and shouldn’t be overlooked in the first place. Each company makes a distinct decision as to whether or not to incorporate keywords in their optimized app titles, how to conduct their values when naming an app, and whether or not to use funny wordplay techniques or stay serious.

Spend time and effort choosing a distinctive, pertinent, and appropriate name in various contexts for your specific app. Avoid manipulating the system using a deceptive app title. You will get more downloads if you strike the correct balance between distinctive and descriptive.

After you learn how to create an app name, don’t forget that everything in development is based on research and requires iterative changes. Always test your app name and present the names you like to your potential app’s audience!

The post How to Name an App in 2023 [Trends, Cases, and Mistakes] appeared first on Devlight.

We are all brand users who are aware of our preferences when making a purchase, but from a business perspective, it can be difficult to predict what consumers would think. Every app marketer needs to be aware of the needs of customers, their decision-making processes, and the trends they are most likely to follow. How to reach that expertise? One solution is to design a customer journey for a mobile app. A business strategy must also take into account every client experience at every stage of the customer journey map.

Why do users download mobile apps but never use them? Why are some apps adored and others deleted after 5 minutes of use? You’ve come to the correct spot if you’re looking for answers to these questions. Our article will teach you how to design a customer journey for a mobile app and comprehend user behavior via it.

What Is a Customer Journey Map for Mobile App?

A customer journey map provides a visual representation of customers’ interaction with an app. It provides insight into the needs and problems of potential customers, which could either stimulate or restrict their activity. With the use of that information, one can enhance the customer experience while also boosting conversion rates and customer retention.

Marketers may monitor how customers interact with a brand until they purchase by using a customer journey map. There are several phases and processes every smartphone owner passes between learning about the mobile app and using it regularly. Marketing professionals cannot make guesses about the UX experience that clients will have based on their presumptions. The process is very data-driven and it requires that you design a customer journey for a mobile app.

The Basics

A customer journey map (CJM) aims to generate a visual representation of the customer’s interaction with your app. However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. CJM demonstrates how customers interact with the brand as well as presents marketers’ viewpoints on users’ predicted behaviors.

Understanding this relationship can help you develop specific strategies (push notifications, in-app messages, etc.) to provide your users with the best possible experience. A customer journey map depicts the consumer’s journey from the first encounter to the last. It aids in figuring out whether users are on course to make a purchase and, if not, how to make them change their minds.

Why Do You Need to Tailor a Customer Journey Map for a Mobile App?

Business teams can better understand user behavior by applying user journeys. After you design a customer journey for a mobile app, this step-by-step scheme helps you optimize your app’s overall design, strategy, and retention. Below are a few reasons why businesses need to investigate the user journey:

Enhance User Experience

You can enhance users’ experiences with your app by learning how they use it. Follow the user’s journey to learn how your app is resolving issues or assisting users in reaching their objectives. Do they find specific features of your software useful? Do your consumers consider the app intuitive and simple to use? These elements are important to consider when you build an app more involving for your users.

Choose the Proper Audience

Businesses occasionally fail to comprehend their target audience. This could be a serious setback for the success of your app. It is a waste of time to reach a diverse audience without thoroughly comprehending your core audience. Learning more about your customer’s goals, difficulties, and user journeys is an excellent way to get to know them better. After you design a customer journey for a mobile app, it helps you understand who your target audience is and how your app may meet their needs.

Boost Customer Retention

The user journey reveals areas in which you need to make changes. If users abandon an app more frequently after downloading it, the reason may be in onboarding or failed expectations (the app turned out to be less useful than predicted). Having studied these aspects, you can enhance user experience.

Step-By-Step Guide to Design Customer Journey for Mobile App

Before you design a customer journey for a mobile app from scratch, establish your objectives. Determine what you need to track specifically and how you want to enhance your app. This can help you better focus your study on specific goals.

Define the User Personas

A fictionalized version of your target users is called a user persona. The traits and qualities of your target clients are reflected in these personas. Before creating user personas, you must conduct extensive market research on your target demographic. Learn current or potential users’ opinions of your app by sending them a survey. Ask them where did they learn about the app and inquire about their current touchpoints, objectives, difficulties, and factors that affect their choices concerning the app.

Learn what the user requires to achieve their objectives. You must feel your target audience if you want to develop useful software. Create a user persona once all the insights have been gathered. For further clarity, give it a name and a face. 

Mark the Points and Channels of Interaction

Touch points are all the points at which clients come into contact with your company. Depending on the channel, the points of contact fall into online and offline ones. The buyer accesses the site from a computer or mobile device, orders a product by phone or at a representative’s office, talks to a courier, or fills out a form on the site. Include all these options as you design a customer journey for a mobile app.

Informal interaction — a person turned out to be an acquaintance of the manager or solved their problem in social networks — should also be stated in the map. There may be more touch points or fewer touch points. Websites, social networking platforms, paid advertisements, email marketing, and more are examples of touch points. You can also conduct a Google search about all the places your company or app has been mentioned online.

As you design a customer journey for a mobile app, devote the most time to this step because it may be extremely different from your standard marketing funnel. Create a comprehensive list of all the marketing and sales strategies your team uses to interact with mobile clients as a starting point. Next, associate each activity with the customer behavior it is intended to promote. Depending on your mobile product, your touchpoints may have multiple targeted client behaviors or just one. Allow your lists to grow as long as necessary!

Identify Critical Points and Barriers

Barriers prevent the client from moving from one point to another. It can be either an error on the site or spam letters, or doubt or loss of interest.

It is necessary to find barriers and ways to overcome them. Difficult points are the most critical. The more effort it requires to reach the point, the more negative emotions a user feels associated with the product or brand. For example, they are annoyed or disappointed with the quality of service. As a result, their loyalty is reduced, and they will choose a competitor over you next time.

As you design a customer journey for a mobile app, ensure that several barriers do not meet at one point on the map. In such a situation, the customer is very likely to change their mind and leave.

Define User Emotions

Consider your persona’s sensations, thoughts, and impressions as they move through each step. Which course do they follow? Your stages should progressively become more specific at this time. These develop into an interaction record that is turned into a narrative. Consider people’s queries, the drivers of their motivation, and how they overcome previously mentioned barriers. Explain the feelings and thoughts users have at each stage. Your attention should be on the emotions.

Finding out what drives the preferred activities of users is important because every action they take is influenced by their emotions (purchases, subscriptions, etc). See how their feelings evolve as the customer journey progresses. Remember that the pain points are what is driving all of this. After you design a customer journey for a mobile app, you can solve consumer difficulties by learning about their issues. Positive feelings will undoubtedly result from this, and the user will select your product!

Define Solutions

The ultimate goal of any CJM is to create a positive consumer experience and a continuous and successful interaction with the product. There should be as few barriers as possible, and the consumer’s movement throughout the map should be comfortable and seamless. Determine the ways to optimize the product and the work of the team at critical points. From brainstorming to attracting external consultants — use all methods to come up with more solutions.

Removing barriers usually requires improving the quality of service or upgrading the product. It also makes sense to simplify the map and remove some points of contact or completely rebuild the path if you cannot provide a solution to them. Don’t forget to evaluate the cost of lowering barriers.

Identify specific actions to improve performance and calculate the additional investment required. For example, while doing CJM, you found that customers often don’t make a purchase because they can’t find the “buy” button on the app. To eliminate this barrier, you can redesign the app. What resources do you have for this? How much will a redesign cost with external specialists? Are there other ways to remove such a barrier?

Validate the Journey Map and Design the Final User Journey Map

CJM will not be effective without multiple user personas. If you have multiple user personas, each one will have a unique user journey. Make sure that each persona’s user journey is unique and not generic. Each persona means an audience with various wants and difficulties. They, therefore, require a unique approach that is meaningful to them.

To validate a journey map, it’s essential to gather feedback from actual users. This feedback can come from a variety of sources, such as user interviews, surveys, usability testing, or analytics data. The goal is to identify any gaps or pain points in the current user journey and to validate assumptions about user behavior and needs.

Customer Journey Map for Mobile App: Example

A customer journey map aims to demonstrate how the customer experience evolves over time in a format that is understandable to everyone in the company. It enables you to identify potential issues and enhance the design, increasing the likelihood that it will surpass customers’ expectations at all touchpoints.

Our client asked us to create a product concept for a neobank. We think of a customer’s relationship with a company as a story. Like all other stories, it has its beginning, plot twists, and challenges and should have a happy end. For a better understanding of the user experience, we mapped user journeys, measured touch points, and examined all of the most challenging areas.

In an enlarged form:

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Mapping Customer Journey

Customer journey mapping is similar to medication that must be taken cautiously and follow the doctor’s instructions. Nevertheless, adhering to the best mapping methods is insufficient for a project to be successful. It’s important to take into account all the pitfalls. Let’s discover the most typical of them:

No objectives established

Inexperienced journey mappers are frequently tempted to design a customer journey for a mobile app only to create one or to attempt to pinpoint every problem with every customer’s journey using a single journey map.

Why is it wrong? No pain, no gain, they say. A failed initiative will occur due to no clear objectives or outcomes defined. Also, you must persuade the stakeholders and teammates to approve of the CJM. You won’t be able to do it if you don’t have a clear objective. What CX/UX improvement tactics can you create if you don’t know why you’re creating a map?

Solution: Research is the first step in creating a customer journey map, but even before that, make sure to respond to the questions below.

1. What do you wish to analyze, and why?
2. What procedures are you hoping to improve?
3. Who owns the initiative?
4. What team members should be involved?
5. Are there any particular customer groups to consider?

Insufficient or no research

No CJM can be constructed in a single step. Yet occasionally, marketers make wild guesses instead of detailed research. They neglect to speak with colleagues who work directly with customers, cut the study short or completely out, just contact a small number of consumers to learn about their experiences, or rely solely on assumptions.

Why is it wrong? Nearly nonexistent research yields unreliable data, obscuring your customers’ journey and giving you the wrong impressions about how to improve it. Ultimately, you work hard on the path-mapping project, spend money on making enhancements to your product or service, and wear yourself and your coworkers out for nothing.

At the same time, your clients struggle since you missed the critical points of the customer experience and accidentally made things worse at the ones that were already okay. And because you take action rather than just tilting at windmills, it’s the largest crime you could commit against your audience.

Solution: Take the CJM initiative’s current phase extremely seriously. Unreliable information is useless. Customer journey mapping isn’t fiction writing, after all. You must be ravenous for data and the most thorough audience feedback.

Incorrect viewpoint

Marketing experts sometimes think designing a CJM means quietly constructing a map. Literally. Additionally, the stages of their CJM mirror what they believe their client’s experience is. Why even worry about customers, you ask?

Why is it wrong? Simply put, by approaching customer journey mapping from a perspective other than that of the consumer, you lose the attempt to enhance your experience and promote your brand of goods or services.

Solution: Consider yourself your customer. Think as they do. A CJM should be developed around a person’s journey, ideas, expectations, and goals, as well as the channels they utilize and the actions they take. You must assess how well your service satisfies the demands of your clients and assists them in completing their responsibilities.

Customer Journey Map (CJM) For Mobile App: Summary

User journeys assist you in comprehending the actions, requirements, feelings, and difficulties that your consumers experience with your app. You must design a customer journey for a mobile app if you want to develop user-centric software. Concentrate on your target audience to gather insightful information that will enable you to enhance their flow throughout the app. 

User interaction with the app should be smooth from registration to service orders. You can reach that by tackling the barriers clients meet when reaching their touchpoints. Provide the right solutions for the barriers and encourage positive emotions in users.

You now have the necessary resources to design a customer journey for a mobile app. This exercise will assist you, regardless of where you are in the sales process, in gaining a better understanding of how your consumers behave, enabling you to enhance your product, target your marketing, and, most importantly, win more customers.

The post How to Design a Customer Journey for Mobile App appeared first on Devlight.

Every entrepreneur seeking guidance on launching a mobile app business and achieving success will encounter the concept of an app’s unique value proposition (UVP). A strong value proposition for your potential clients is what makes you stand out from the competition, so it is vital for the product you want to sell.

Yes, your target market will require a compelling reason to pick your app above the competition, and you shouldn’t make them go looking for it. Give them one or more convincing value propositions that will persuade them. What exactly motivates people? Let’s delve into the topic together.

What Is a Unique Value Proposition (UVP) For Mobile App?

A unique value proposition (UVP) is something that distinguishes you from competitors. It might be a benefit, an offer, a distinguishing feature, or a statement. You can guarantee that you will offer it to your target audience, benefiting them and addressing their issue.

What distinguishes your goods from those of competitors? What advantages does that bring? These questions are the main ones when it comes to identifying your app’s unique value proposition. Further details on developing the UVP for your business are provided in the following sections.

Value Proposition’s Difference from Other Terms

Your company’s distinctive identification is your value proposition. Without it, customers won’t be motivated to buy your products. Consumers might even decide to choose a competitor merely because of how well that company’s marketing and sales efforts convey its value offer.

In light of this, you might question whether your app’s unique value proposition is synonymous with your slogan. Nope. Your value proposition can be mistaken for other brand components like your mission statement, tagline, or slogan. The differences are described below.

Mission Statement vs. Value Proposition

Your value proposition explains what you have to offer and why clients should choose you, whereas your mission statement explains what you want to accomplish as a company. While the two can have certain similarities, a value proposition is more goal- and product-oriented than a mission statement is.

Here are two imaginary illustrations:

• “Our CRM is easy-to-navigate and well-designed” is the value proposition.
• Our mission is to “assist businesses in better growth.”

Slogan vs. Value Proposition

A slogan is a succinct, memorable phrase that businesses use in advertising campaigns to promote a particular commodity. While the elements of your app’s unique value proposition (at least typically) wouldn’t be used in an advertisement, a slogan and tagline would. The most crucial thing to remember is that a business can use various slogans for various campaigns or goods:

• “Dazzling gems, top-notch designs, and breathtaking jewelry” are the value proposition.
• The slogan may sound like “A diamond lasts forever.”

Tagline vs. Value Proposition

A tagline is a succinct phrase that encapsulates a certain element of your brand or company. Although a value proposition is more specific, a tagline can convey a principle or ideal that your company upholds. Most companies have a single, distinctive catchphrase that serves as the foundation of their brand:

This is an illustration from Apple:

• According to the value proposition: “Best experiences. On Apple only.”
• “Think Different is the tagline.”

The difficulties you want to help customers with and what makes your product or service the ideal answer are both covered in detail in your value proposition. Establishing an app’s unique value proposition is crucial before you compose the statement itself. After creating a value proposition canvas, you can go on with determining the next brand components.

What Makes a Value Proposition?

Most frequently, your app’s main page or your company’s landing page will contain your value proposition. Although you can put it on marketing campaigns and brochures, your home page, and, if you’d like, your product pages are where it will be seen the most. The headline, the subheadline, and the graphic component are the three key components of an app’s unique value proposition.

1. Headline

Your value proposition’s headline outlines the advantage the customer will experience from making a purchase from your company. The headline can be original and alluring, but it should, first and foremost, be succinct and precise.

2. Paragraph or Subheading

It should be clear from the subheadline or paragraph what your business provides, who it serves, and why. You can expand on the details in the headline in this area.

3. Visual Elements

In some instances, a video, infographic, or image may be able to communicate your value proposition more effectively than just words. Use graphic components to strengthen your message and draw the audience in.

Why Is It Important to Have a Unique Value Proposition for Mobile App?

Why would you need to create an app’s unique value proposition? First and foremost, this statement explains why users and potential consumers should choose your product and offer above those of your competitors. These days, there are so many apps on the market serving the same purpose that it could be very challenging to stand out. 

Every week, customers are exposed to tens of thousands of offers. They don’t want to conduct extensive studies on each purchase they intend to buy. Formulating an app’s unique value proposition obvious to the users is crucial for this reason. It helps them to quickly understand what you offer and whether it matches their needs.

This assurance of value has the power to alter the target market’s perception of your company completely. It explains to them why you are the best option for their issues and pain points.

Step-By-Step Guide to Defining Your App’s UVP

Value propositions can have a variety of formats as long as they are particular to the business and the clients it serves. An app’s unique value proposition should distinguish a good or service from the competition, not contain any specific hard-to-understand marketing terms, and quickly convey the product’s value.

Researching the target market and examining the competitors is the first stage in identifying the Unique Value Proposition for your company. To outperform your competitors, you must thoroughly research their business operations, objectives, marketing plans, and value propositions. Let’s examine this process in more detail.

Step 1: Identify Your Target Audience

Every company has a target audience, and reaching out to people outside of this group can bring about disappointing results. A product for everyone is a product for no one. Thus, don’t try to benefit everyone. Seek the audience that matches your general app’s purpose and then narrow it down to a more specific category. There is too much competition in all businesses to neglect this step.

What can you do to reach this category? Where are your app’s target consumers located? What are their pain points? What benefits do they seek in a product like yours? Make up a user profile and try to cater to real people with real problems and expectations. 

Step 2: Identify Your Competitors

Identifying your app’s unique value proposition requires researching other market players because it helps you determine how to make your product stand out. Even if you may have discovered a fantastic client need and a fantastic solution to address their issue, don’t forget there are other apps on the market. Your product will fail inevitably if it doesn’t offer more benefits than the one already existing. 

When conducting your research, focus on at least three reputable competitors that your customer considers when choosing an app like yours. List each one’s features and the means they use to transfer their market offer. After doing that, search for gaps: What advantage does your product or service have over those of your rivals? Your starting point for the following action is here.

Consider changing how you define “benefits” if you have trouble coming up with original ones. For instance, your product’s functional advantages could be identical to those of your rivals, but what about intangible advantages like brand perception? A strong app’s unique value proposition exists when a customer can feel a certain way about your product, the way they don’t feel about other apps.

Step 3: Identify Your App’s Unique Features and Benefits

You’ll know what advantages to emphasize once you identify the problems that your solution solves for your target market. When developing your app’s unique value proposition, make a list of the advantages and principles of your app. Describe your competitive edge. What sets you apart from your rivals? What makes your product special? While developing a new marketing strategy, value propositions frequently incorporate the answers to these questions.

Step 4: Narrow Down Your UVP to One Sentence Using UVP Formulas

Marketing specialists have been using special formulas to identify the app’s unique value proposition for years. They can serve as a foundation for your statements:

GEOFF MOORE’S VALUE POSITIONING STATEMENT

1. For ______ (target user)
2. who _______ (need)
3. our app is _____ (product category)
4. that ______ (primary benefit)

For instance, “Our app is a tracker that discovers budget-friendly restaurants for hungry college students based on the recommendations of other students.”

STEVE BLANK’S XYZ

1. We help ___ (X – target user)
2. Do ___ (Y – need)
3. Doing ___ (Z – primary benefit)

“We help busy parents choose responsible babysitters by conducting rigorous background checks,” for instance.

COOPER & VLASKOVITS’ PROPOSITION TEMPLATE

Patrick Vlaskovits and Brant Cooper, co-authors of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development, created the following template to help startups position themselves:

Customer: Who your customer is.

Problem: The problem you’re solving for the customer.

Solution: Your solution for the customer’s problem.

Customer: Athletes who need to follow a healthy diet. 

Problem: They suffer from a monotonous diet. 

Solution: Revolutionize your meal routine with our AI-powered mobile app that suggests personalized meal options based on your dietary preferences and available products.

DAVE MCCLURE’S VALUE PROPOSITION TEMPLATE

Dave McClure, investor, and entrepreneur developed a template based on the classic elevator pitch. The following are the rules for crafting this message:

Be short, simple, and memorable; what, how, why.

Contain a maximum of three keywords or phrases and two sentences.

Contain no jargon.

“Our customization app is the quickest and easiest way for you to create personalized t-shirts that are shipped to you in two days or less.”

DAVID COWAN’S VALUE PROPOSITION TEMPLATE

Venture capitalist and entrepreneur David Cowan wrote a post called “Practicing the Art of Pitchcraft” in which he outlines his tips for creating a value prop. His template is structured like this:

Show Something Interesting Right Away: Intrigue the person hearing or reading the VP.

Don’t Make Them Think Too Hard: Keep it short and easy to understand.

Science Not Allowed In The Elevator: Say what your product or service does, not how it does it.

Establish Credibility. Name Dropping Allowed: Explain why you or your company is qualified to provide the service or build the product.

“Four out of five doctors have lousy handwriting, leading to patients taking incorrect medication. Using the new PrescriptionPad app, doctors can are create legible prescriptions in a flash. Jointly developed by handwriting experts and Doctors Without Penmanship.”

ERIK SINK’S VALUE PROPOSITION TEMPLATE

Software developer and entrepreneur Eric Sink developed a basic value proposition template that includes the following:

Superlative: Why this product

Label: What is this product

Qualifiers: Who should choose this product

Example: The most effective flock protection system with an app for tech-savvy chicken farmers.

Step 5: Test Your UVP With Your Target Audience

Your app’s unique value proposition should be put to the test and improved. Do clients begin associating your company with your UVP, and does this result in a recognizable brand? Do the clients you work with don’t exactly understand what market benefits to expect from your app? How do you plan to measure your marketing strategy effectiveness?

Building unnecessary products is one of the most expensive development mistakes. This is why it’s crucial to validate your work before you start creating it through user interviews, demos, etc. The easiest way to verify your app’s unique value proposition is to perform user interviews with your competitor’s customers before you’ve even considered hiring someone to develop your app. For example, what would you like to see improved in your present software solution?

You will either get more confident in your idea after conducting enough interviews, or you may have new information to iterate on. The only way to engage with your potential users is to get closer to the ideal product earlier in the process, saving you time and money.

Examples of Strong UVPs for Apps

The app’s unique value proposition explains to the users why your app is the best choice for them. It assists customers in making decisions and, occasionally, in defending those decisions to others when it is incorporated into marketing materials and the customer experience. A persuasive justification might make them feel confident about their purchase and become brand followers. Here are examples of such UVPs:

Grammarly “Great writing, simplified”

The headline for Grammarly makes it clear what the company is delivering. The extremely clear UVP statement summarizes the services offered in terms that are relatable to the target audience. The advertising materials Grammarly uses (videos, campaigns) visually illustrate what makes Grammarly so excellent and distinguishes this app’s unique value proposition from other marketing techniques.

Anyone looking to improve their writing qualifies as a customer.

• Problem: Users make errors in writing (grammar, spelling, formatting, clarity, etc.)
• Solution: A capable AI that detects all writing faults and offers suggestions for enhancements or correcting.

Slack “Make work life simpler, more pleasant and more productive.”

There are two groups of individuals worldwide: those who adore Slack and those who haven’t used it yet. Slack is a chat and workplace productivity software. What makes Slack different from the tens of thousands of other messaging and productivity apps is that it is deceptively simple to use but robust enough for large teams working on complex projects (as demonstrated by Slack’s very clever inclusion of the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab example on the homepage).

Slack summarizes its value proposition by stating that it “simplifies cooperation, makes work more enjoyable, and increases productivity.” The NASA JPL example is also quite brilliant because it implies discreetly that if it is good enough for vast teams of NASA scientists, the kind of people that send robots to other planets, then it is good enough for everybody.

Digit “Save Money Without Thinking About It”

Another fiercely competitive industry is personal finance, where tens of thousands of apps are available to support better money management. The value proposition of a few services is as strong as that of Digit, a relatively new service that enables users to “save money, without thinking about it.”

Users can safely link their bank accounts to the Digit service so that it can analyze their spending patterns and regular expenses using an algorithm. Afterward, it starts to “optimize” users’ accounts to put a little cash aside here and there into an FDIC-guaranteed savings account, from which users can take their funds whenever they like.

Digit is completely automated, which sets it apart from other savings applications. Users don’t have to set the Digit to begin contributing money to a savings account; a few dollars here, a few dollars there, and before you know it, you’ve got a respectable sum saved for a rainy day while still having enough money set aside to cover monthly outgoing costs. It’s fantastic.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Defining Your App’s UVP

A clearly defined app’s unique value proposition improves brand perception and market positioning. Stating why your product is different from others sounds easy. However, in practice, product owners often make the following mistakes:

Mistake 1: Being Too Broad or Vague

A too-general or vague UVP will not be memorable or effective. It must be specific and unique. Using false statements or exaggerations in your UVP can also lead to mistrust among your target audience and a bad reputation. Don’t try to sell to everyone. Define your target audience and give them exactly what they want.

Mistake 2: Focusing Too Much on Features Rather Than Benefits

An app’s unique value proposition that focuses on the features of a product rather than the benefits it provides will not be as effective. Features can be common to several products. The way every app performs them is different. Your design, personalized approach, or strong brand perception are all keys to distinguishing the app from competitors. 

Mistake 3: Not Testing Your UVP With Your Target Audience

Creating an app’s unique value proposition based on personal experience is a bad trick. Your goal is to sell to people other than yourself. Arrange a survey among potential customers or old customers, find out their opinion from friends — use all available ways of obtaining valuable information.

A fine line exists between “we know better what you need” and the buyer’s decision to choose a competitor who takes better care of their desires. As a product owner, you may feel tempted to convince the users that they need your app. Instead, listen to the users and create hypotheses of what they might like. Then, test them.

Unique Value Proposition (UVP) For Mobile App: Summary

Developing a successful app’s unique value proposition can save money and draw in ideal clients whose problems you can solve. Compete with others in your market effectively by offering the users a unified solution between what they want and what you have. 

What is more, creating a UVP is now easier with so many famous examples from market giants. Don’t copy their statements; study their approach and use their experience to make your app stand out. Formulate a simple and brief UVP using formulas from professional marketers, then test your statements on real users. 

The post How to Define Your App’s Unique Value Proposition [The Definitive Guide] appeared first on Devlight.

Both start-ups and long-established organizations face the problem of finding their place in the market. To find it, they need to have a good understanding of what problems the customer is trying to solve with their product or service, what difficulties it presents, and what will bring the buyer the most joy from the purchase.

Value Proposition is a short and simple list of benefits that a consumer receives when buying your product. The Value Proposition Canvas template is great for developing Value Proposition for your mobile app. This is an algorithm that allows without additional expenses:

• objectively evaluate the features and parameters of the product;
• visualize the value you create;
• study the motivation of customers;
• consistently consider all options for achieving compliance with the needs of customers and your product;
• create a unique value proposition;
• to determine priorities and emphasis when promoting the product;
• achieve Product-Market fit.

Let’s find out what a value proposition canvas for a mobile app is and how to formulate one.

What Is a Value Proposition Canvas for a Mobile App?

A value proposition of a mobile app succinctly explains why customers should select your app. It significantly facilitates the search for the most suitable proposition for the market. The purpose of the VPC is to help you find a match between your product’s value proposition and the needs, wants, and challenges of your customers. This is what startups call product-market fit or problem-solution fit.

Writing it from scratch is challenging, though. Luckily, we’ll share  value proposition canvas template below that you can follow along with the rest of the article.

Why Is It Important to Fill Out a Value Proposition Canvas?

Value Proposition Canvas is a simple but powerful framework that helps businesses understand their customers better, develop products that meet their needs, and communicate their value proposition effectively. Let’s look at the key benefits of the value proposition canvas for a mobile app:

• Customer Understanding

Being customer-oriented is the secret to getting people interested in your brand and product. This method prioritizes customer happiness as the most crucial aspect of product creation. An overview of a value proposition canvas for a mobile app shows how needs are recognized and met. The advantage of this framework is that it enables you to concentrate on the qualities that clients find most valuable. Resulting in significant customer interaction.

• Better Product Development

With a better understanding of your customers, you can develop products and services that are tailored to meet their needs. This leads to the creation of more valuable products that are more likely to succeed in the market.

• Highlighting Competitive Advantage

By filling out the Canvas, you can identify gaps in the market and develop unique value propositions that set you apart from your competitors. This can help you gain a competitive advantage and attract more customers.

• Effective Communication

VPC helps communicate your value proposition more effectively. You can craft messaging that resonates with the target audience and convinces them to purchase your product.

How to Fill Out a Value Proposition Canvas for Your Mobile App?

The Value Proposition Canvas is formed around two building blocks: сustomer segments (profiles) you are targeting and value propositions that your product. Here are the steps to complete the canvas:

Step 1. Define the Customer Jobs

First, you need to understand what the buyers are aiming for and what they are trying to achieve. These may be jobs that they must complete, problems that require solutions, or needs that must be satisfied. To better understand these questions, try to put yourself in your customer’s shoes.

There are three types of Customer Jobs:

Functional-specific: they can be both personal and professional, for example, playing sports or writing a monthly work report.

Social: related to the formation of the desired image in society.

Emotional: receiving certain emotions, for example, feeling safe in the home.

Questions that will help you identify Customer Jobs:
· What is the one thing that your customer couldn’t live without accomplishing? What are the stepping stones that could help your customer achieve this key job?

· What are the different contexts that your customers might be in? How do their activities and goals change depending on these different contexts?

· What does your customer need to accomplish that involves interaction with others?

· What tasks are your customers trying to perform in their work or personal life? What functional problems are your customers trying to solve?

· Are there problems that you think customers have that they may not even be aware of?

· What emotional needs are your customers trying to satisfy? What jobs, if completed, would give the user a sense of self-satisfaction?

· How does your customer want to be perceived by others? What can your customer do to help themselves be perceived this way?

· How does your customer want to feel? What does your customer need to do to feel this way?

· Track your customer’s interaction with a product throughout its lifespan. What supporting jobs surface throughout this life cycle? Does the user switch roles throughout this process?

Step 2. Lay out the Customer Pains

Describe the negative emotions, unwanted costs, or risks that your customer experiences while performing their tasks. Identify obstacles that prevent the client from completing them. Buyer problems can be divided into serious and moderate. When you understand the seriousness of the consumer’s pain, you can choose the best ways to help him. To include the most beneficial products and services on the value map side of the value proposition canvas for a mobile app, you should consider these pain areas.

Questions that will help you identify Customer Pains:

· How do your customers define too costly? Takes a lot of time, costs too much money, or require substantial effort?

· What makes your customers feel bad? What are their frustrations, annoyances, or things that give them a headache?

· How are current value propositions underperforming for your customers? Which features are they missing? Are there performance issues that annoy them or malfunctions they cite?

· What are the main difficulties and challenges your customers encounter? Do they understand how things work, have difficulties getting certain things done, or resist particular jobs for specific reasons?

· What risks do your customers fear? Are they afraid of financial, social, or technical risks, or are they asking themselves what could go wrong?

· What’s keeping your customers awake at night? What are their big issues, concerns, and worries?

· What common mistakes do your customers make? Are they using a solution the wrong way?

· What barriers are keeping your customers from adopting a value proposition? · Are there upfront investment costs, a steep learning curve, or other obstacles preventing adoption?

Step 3. Uncover Customer Gains

Think about the gains that the consumer can receive. These include product features, social success, and cost savings. What are the gains:

• necessary – without them, solving problems and problems does not work;
• expected – your buyer expects to receive something else, but in principle, he can do without it;
• desirable – often, the consumer himself talks about such gains;
• unexpected – you can pleasantly surprise the consumer by giving him something that he could not even think of.

Questions that will help you identify Customer Gains:

·  Which savings would make your customers happy? Which savings in terms of time, money, and effort would they value?

·  What quality levels do they expect, and what would they wish for more or less of?

·  How do current value propositions delight your customers? Which specific features do they enjoy? What performance and quality do they expect?

·  What would make your customers’ jobs or lives easier? Could there be a flatter learning curve, more services, or lower costs of ownership?

·  What are customers looking for the most? Are they searching for good design, guarantees, specific or more features?

·  What do customers dream about? What do they aspire to achieve, or what would be a big relief to them?

·  How do your customers measure success and failure? How do they gauge performance or cost?

·  What would increase your customers’ likelihood of adopting a value proposition? Do they desire lower cost, less investment, lower risk, or better quality?

Step 4. Outline the products and services

To understand the value proposition, look again at the 3 components above. Now list all the products and services that your value proposition is built around. This is the place to list all the features, products and services you’ll provide. You can also list the version of the product you are producing, like freemium, trial. Focus on how the features and products will help customers get their job done.

Step 5. List your Pain Relievers

How do you know that your products and services are creating value? Describe how they alleviate customer pain:

·  remove or reduce negative emotions, unwanted expenses and situations;

·  reduce the risks your customers face or might face while performing jobs.

These relievers should be relevant to the pains mentioned in the customer profile. Here are some questions to help you define customer pain relievers. Can your product or service:

·  produce savings? In terms of time, money, or efforts.

·  make your customers feel better? By killing frustrations, annoyances,

and other things that give customers a headache.

·  fix under-performing solutions? By introducing new features, better performance, or enhanced quality.

·  put an end to difficulties and challenges your customers encounter? By making things easier or eliminating obstacles.

·  eliminate risks your customers fear? In terms of financial, social, technical risks, or things that could potentially go wrong.

·  help your customers better sleep at night? By addressing significant issues, diminishing concerns, or eliminating worries.

·   limit or eradicate common mistakes customers make? By helping them use a solution the right way.

·  eliminate barriers that are keeping your customer from adopting value propositions? Introducing lower or no upfront investment costs, a flatter learning curve, or eliminating other obstacles preventing adoption.

Step 6. List the Gain Creators

Describe how your products and services bring gains to the customer. What benefit do they provide, and what does he expect to receive? How to achieve this: through the benefits of the product, positive emotions, and financial benefits?

Your value proposition needs to solve customer pains and be unique. Each potential consumer determines for himself two key points:

1. Which of his problems does your product/service solve?

2. What is the unique value of your offer, how do you stand out from the competition? You can stand out with price, service, usability, new products, etc.

A correctly formulated value proposition retains customers and attracts a new target audience. Here are some questions to help you define customer gains creators. Can your product or service:

·  produce outcomes your customers expect or that exceed their expectations? By offering quality levels, more of something, or less of something.

·  outperform current value propositions and delight your customers? Regarding specific features, performance, or quality.

·  make your customers’ work or life easier? Via better usability, accessibility, more services, or lower cost of ownership.

·  do something specific that customers are looking for? In terms of good design, guarantees, or more features.

·   fulfill a desire customers dream about? By helping them achieve their aspirations or getting relief from hardship?

·  produce positive outcomes matching your customers’ success and failure criteria? In terms of better performance or lower cost.

·  help make adoption easier? Through lower cost, fewer investments, lower risk, better quality, improved performance, or better design.

Step 7. Test Your Value Proposition With Your Customers

Each of these strategies will have been developed in-house by your team. Therefore, it’s important to gather feedback from your intended audience. Your website, social media accounts, video, audio, and in-person interactions are just a few of the marketing channels used to spread the word about your value proposition for a mobile app. 

You may use each of these channels to test your proposition with members of your audience (both current customers and non-customers). You can speed up this feedback process with the aid of tools like UserTesting, making adjustments rapidly, and completing your value offer. Here are our final three pieces of advice:

• Investigate your competitors’ value propositions by conducting research.

Investigating the value propositions of your closest rivals is critical because they serve as the differentiator between your company and the competition. If you focus on your competitors’ strengths, you’ll better understand where your product or service belongs within the market, so be honest here. 

• Focus on what customers need the most

Before developing the Value Proposition Map you must keep in mind the following. Not all customer pains and gains can be addressed. The best approach is to target key factors that customers consider as the topmost priority. This will help your team concrete goals to focus on while developing the product.

• Continuously update your canvas

Your value proposition canvas should not be a one-time exercise. Continuously update it as your app evolves and your target customers’ needs change. This will help you stay ahead of the competition and continue delivering value to your customers.

Value Proposition Canvas for a Mobile App: Template

To assess your consumer segment right and build products and services that meet the requirements of that typical customer, you may use this value proposition canvas for a mobile app template.

Value Proposition Canvas for a Mobile App: Example 

ABC (name changed) is the largest provider of microcredits in Ukraine. They have no physical branches — their services are fully digital and offered online. They turned to us to help them with diversification and new ways of development. 

Five hours were spent in the workshop with the client’s team. We were able to come up with enough concepts for services, painkillers, and gain-makers during this period to declare that the value proposition for a mobile app was complete.

Value Proposition Canvas: Summary

Fill out your value proposition canvas for a mobile app before you start turning your conceptual business model into a real company to ensure that the problem and solution are a good fit. You may then be certain that customers genuinely need the product you’re launching. Also, we advise that you first release an MVP or beta version to gain additional market validation.

To conclude, let’s review some important conclusions we reached in this article:

• The value proposition canvas definition is a graphical representation of what customers need and experience and what a product may provide to address their needs and problems.
• A value proposition canvas for a mobile app works well together to provide a comprehensive analysis and enhancement solution for businesses.
• The canvas is divided into a value map and client segments.
• There are more opportunities to produce a product that is in high demand if there are more matches between the value offered and the client needs components listed.
• Both aspiring entrepreneurs and established business owners looking to grow their enterprises will find our value proposition canvas for a mobile app template valuable.

We advise you to try it and see how the canvas works. You’ll likely like its impact and find it beneficial for upcoming endeavors.

The post How to Fill Out a Value Proposition Canvas for Your Mobile App [The Definitive Guide] appeared first on Devlight.