3 Key Considerations When Building An App For Your Customers

More and more businesses are looking to build an app for their customers. There are many reasons for this, with the primary reason being that a business is able to build consumer loyalty and reward customers for this loyalty. Apps can also be a great indicator to find out what is popular about your business, and what’s not popular.

For the most part, the sort of app you design will depend entirely on your type of business and the industry in which you are operating. For example, B2B businesses and B2C businesses will likely have different expectations from their apps.

No matter what sort of industry you are operating in, however, there will be some key considerations that will be relevant to all businesses looking to develop their own apps. If you are looking to build an app for your customers, then continue reading this article so you can be aware of some points that you may not have considered.

Know Your Target Audience:

Before you are able to develop any sort of app, you should have a clear idea of who will be using it. We touched briefly on this in the introduction, but it cannot be understated. You need to be aware of who will be using the app. If you are indeed designing the app for your customers, what will be the primary purpose of the app?

For example, will you be using the app as a means to sell products directly? If this is the case, then you will need to incorporate e-commerce elements into your app. If your app is just being used as an informational tool, then this won’t be needed.

The most common reason that a business will design an app is so that they can create a loyalty system. You are more than likely familiar with the concept of reward cards at coffee shops. An X amount of visits earns you a free coffee etc. This is the same case for an app, except it may track digital purchases, as well as offer a QR code to track purchases at physical outlets. Understand your target audience and know what they want, as well as what you want to offer.

Be On Top Of Cybersecurity:

An app that hasn’t been built with security in mind is an app that will fail. Not only can you lose out on business with an insecure app, you may also be breaking laws and regulations. You will be responsible for ensuring that customers are protected on your app and that their details are safe. Your customers may have valuable information on the app, including their personal information as well as bank details if saved.

For that reason, you will need to ensure your app has been built to adhere to cybersecurity and digital security needs. This is why your app-building team should be aware of DevSecOps. DevSecOps is the method attributed to folding security throughout the software development lifecycle. This allows you to test the software before release. You can learn more about a DevSecOps program from ForAllSecure, which has a number of resources related to this. It will be best to read up on this from relevant experts.

Once your app is fully launched, you will need a support team on hand ready to get on top of any issues if and when they arise. The last thing you want is to have your app go down and not be able to come back up for weeks! You could have a dedicated support team to manage your app in-house, or you could outsource this to a relevant IT support expert. There are pros and cons to either choice, but it will mostly come down to personal preference.

Decide If You Outsource Or Hire A Dedicated Team:

That takes us neatly to our next section. While you should think about the support in terms of outsourcing vs in-house, you should also think about the app development itself. You could choose to develop the app entirely in-house, or you could outsource it to an app development expert. It will likely be more cost-effective to outsource this task, but you will have less control over it, which you may prefer!

Either way, it will be key to think about this beforehand. Work out your budget and have an idea of much you are willing to spend. The budget could be the primary indicator of which direction you go with this, but you should still ensure you are getting the most out of this money.

Consider meeting up with a few different app developers before you commit to choosing one. You never know, one may majorly sway you over another for various reasons. It could be that they are offering more for less money, or the quality of the service could be higher for an additional cost. It’s all about finding out a solution that works for you.