What are good questions to ask about an app?

For many brands and companies, a mobile app is a glamorous tool among their other business tools, although entering the app design project management discussion without a clear plan is doomed to failure. To avoid failure, you need to collect the correct information on how to do it, and for this, you need to ask the right questions that will lead you to the desired answer and result. Whether when talking with colleagues, shareholders, or customers, it is necessary to ask critical questions so that you can have a precise plan for designing and building the application. Here are five key questions that you should ask yourself before designing an app.

1. What is the purpose of application design?

It's a simple question, but the answer depends on the person you're talking to. Does having an app improve your branding to get new customers, or does it improve customer loyalty? Understanding which goal or goals are important can help design an app that can be optimized for specific KPIs. The most successful market applications do not do all the tasks such as downloading, chatting, selling, etc. Instead, they focus on one or two services as the primary goal.

2. How is the user experience in the application?

Often we see applications from competitors or other successful brands and think to ourselves: "This is the example I was searching for my application." Competitor analysis is a fundamental task for research and planning. But the lessons we learn from this work should be used to create a new and unique experience for your brand, not a copied and dictated marketing method. How can your app make things easier for users to do? How can a mobile application be effective in improving and turning a unique user experience into a pleasant feeling? Once you have a good vision of the goals, you can start working on drawing the app architecture, i.e., the pages and the type of content that will turn the app into a useful tool.

3. How will the content be provided?

Knowing where your content is coming from before you start designing your app will protect your app from getting into some trouble. Whether you want to get the content from the news reader, you want to synchronize your website or social networks with the application, or even create a new method, in any case, you have to decide on how to provide content. Doing this will give you a realistic view of the amount of time and resources required to maintain and keep your application alive. After these cases, you should keep the content of your application up-to-date and provide timely and targeted advertisements. Otherwise, it is better to abandon the application.

"Website" is a suitable medium for providing diverse content and information. But the mobile application is more suitable for giving brief and useful content and knowledge in a "simple and immediate" format. Therefore, you should not provide much content and information on the mobile application. Your application should be a simple and quick way to access essential and helpful information and reach the desired goal with a simple touch. Make your content available. Your goods and services should be easily accessible. You can put its important parts on the home page so that users don't need to search a lot to find information.

4. How will you treat the users?

Apps that are about a brand should create consistency. Do you want users to know that they are using your application correctly? Familiarize yourself with branding guidelines, emulate existing digital properties, and create a software environment that fulfills your brand goals. Subtle design changes, from header images to menus, icons, and background images, can make all the difference in how your app looks. Branding should also include the app icon, as it will be used to sell and market your app in different markets.

5. What features and functions do you want your application to include?

In addition to content, you may want your app to perform certain activities, such as searching or connecting to social networks. If so, you need to decide what you need before you start, for example, a call or send email button, regional maps, forms, or other widgets. Depending on your goals, you may want to restrict access to certain categories of users. Everyone should be well, carefully planned, and measured before designing and building the application. Use everything you have to prepare a detailed and specific plan. Ask and answer the above questions to take a step closer to designing an attractive and successful application.

Some essential recommendations before starting to design an application or website

- Just an idea

Many people who refer to dynamic solutions for consulting their business idea have an excellent and exciting idea, but it is only one idea, and they think that this is enough to start; note that this idea is in the minds of many like you. So the method of studying the market as well as the method of implementation and hundreds of other small and large points can turn this idea of yours into a successful business.

- The answer to the question of what problem does your idea solve?

You should always clearly answer the question of what problem your idea can solve, how many problems it can solve, and at what price.

- Your idea is useful or not

Many people have an idea in their mind that is copied from a domestic or foreign start-up with small changes, and then they look for a rich investor to implement their ideas which is not going to happen. But, all small and large investors are looking for a smart and capable person who can implement creative ideas, so if you think you have a creative idea, start your work immediately and show your growth process. And showing the conversion rate of visitors to customers, you can easily attract investors and capable people and grow your business quickly.

- If a similar business exists, why should the customer choose you?

Always remember that your business needs very convincing reasons for the customer to choose your services. For example, for craft website design, don't think that just because you provide cheaper or better quality services is enough for the customer, and they will always be loyal to you and your services. Technical affairs, digital marketing, website design, and your application UI/UX are also important.

- What platforms do you need?

To answer this question, you must first know where your target customers are and how they will find you. Or how are they related to you? And what tools do they have for these accesses? Or how much can this tool improve your customer's work?

- You always need a technical team

You always need development in the programming and design of your website and applications, and changing the technical team for a business creates a very heavy doubt in your work. Don't forget to hire a technical team if you don't have a very high level of technical expertise. This work is acceptable when you have a perfect budget because it will increase your costs, and also, if a programmer leaves the company, you will not be able to solve your problems, and all the knowledge of your work will be removed.

- Choose your content management system (CMS) based on your current needs and plans

There are many different CMS for your business, but only one or two of them are suitable for your business. Since this is a very specialized topic, we will try to give a brief explanation. The design and implementation of these CMSs can be about 80% of the project process for an average business (of course, if dedicated CMSs are to be used for the project). Keep in mind that you may currently use a ready-source content management system such as WordPress and reduce your spent time and cost.