Most Common Mistakes People Make When Building Their First App

While creating your initial application, you may experience excitement, determination, or the assumption that having an excellent concept alone will ensure your success. Many first-time business owners think that once their application is available on either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, users will just start downloading it, and therefore, success will come without effort once the application has launched. In truth, developing an application is complicated. If you make small errors in early phases of the app-building process, those mistakes can develop into significant challenges as time passes.

Thousands of applications are created and launched monthly; however, fewer than 2% of the total applications launched will establish long-term success. In general, most app failures are not due to the app’s concept, but usually due to a lack of planning or communication, setting unrealistic expectations, and failing to learn about the needs of potential users in advance of launching the application. If you plan on developing your first application, gaining insights into these common mistakes, especially before launching your app, will save you time, money, and the stress of dealing with problems later.

This article discusses the 5 most common mistakes made by new app developers and ways to avoid those mistakes.

1. Starting With an Idea Instead of a Problem

One of the first mistakes new developers make is creating their application based solely on their concept, rather than on the specific problem that their application solves for users. Often, you’ll hear an entrepreneur say something like “I want to create an application similar to (competitive application).”

An application must have a specific purpose (to solve a problem, make a task easier, faster, or better). If there is not a defined problem, the application will appear impressive but provide no real value. Users quickly uninstall applications that do not provide immediate value to them.

Successful applications begin by engaging in an in-depth understanding of the problems users face in creating their applications. Before constructing the application, it is critical to determine whom your target audience is, what problem they are experiencing, and how your solution fits into their lives.

2. Ignoring Market Research and Validation

Another major mistake is to assume that you have a great idea or a great product without verifying it through market research and validation. Many first-time entrepreneurs commence building an idea without, first, conducting market research and without understanding if the market is either too competitive or uninterested at that time in purchasing it.

Market research assists in verifying whether or not customers will be interested in adopting the solutions you are proposing. Market research will expose you to the existing competitors in your space, their pricing models, their product feature deficiencies, as well as what the users’ expectations are about their product. Without conducting the appropriate research, there is a significant chance that you will be developing an application that no one wants or needs.

Even rudimentary validation (i.e. conducting initial phone calls with experts in your space, searching for and analysing online reviews of existing applications that are similar to your application, and perhaps launching a very rudimentary web page) provides a lot of predictive value to potential application developers.

3. Trying to Build a “Perfect” App From Day One

The belief that an app must launch with all of its possible features is a common misperception among first time app builders. This misconception tends to create a complicated product that takes too long and costs too much to develop.

In general, app users do not want complexity; they prefer an app that does one thing exceptionally well versus an app that tries to do all things. Putting too many features into an app developed at launch can cause user confusion and greatly dilute the core value of the app.

Developers who can successfully identify a minimum viable product will have a much greater chance to validate their idea in real-world settings, receive user feedback and improve gradually based on actual user behaviour as opposed to making assumptions about potential user behaviour.

4. Poor Communication With Developers

Miscommunication between app founders and developers is the second biggest reason projects fail. First-time app builders may not know how to articulate what they desire, how their app should function or how they want the final product to appear.

When a developer has no clear specification of an app’s requirements, they (the developer) will make decisions based on their own assumptions and beliefs, which can cause rework, delays and frustration for both the founder and the developer. Also, changing requirements in the middle of a project will make it even more difficult and expensive for both parties to continue development.

Regularly discussing project specifications, simple user-flow charts and clearly outlining specifications will reduce misunderstandings between founders and developers. You do not need to have technical knowledge to articulate your idea.

5. Choosing the Wrong Development Partner

The lowest price is frequently a primary concern for first-time founders, but this can lead to costly mistakes. When the only criteria for selecting a developer or an agency is price, it often results in unsatisfactory quality of work, missed deadlines, or products that are incomplete.

A development partner should provide more than just coding; they should help you with your technical choices, point out risks, advise you on ways to enhance, and align your software with your business objectives. A poor-quality developer will provide a solution that technically works, but will not perform from a user perspective or in terms of business logic.

In assessing a potential developer or agency, consider their communication style, the quality of their portfolio, ability to deliver on time and on budget, rather than simply their cost.

Underestimating the Importance of User Experience

A lot of first-time app builders spend a lot of time and energy on creating the vast number of features that their app will have and the way it will function, without considering the UX and UI of the app. They assume that users will “get it”; however, the reality is that users want a seamless experience with the UX and UI.

If the user finds the app difficult to understand, the app is too slow or too cluttered, the user will abandom the app quickly no matter how great its features are. Good design goes beyond just the visual aspect; it’s about creating an intuitive path for the user from one step to the next.

Investing in effective UX and UI design up front will help ensure that users are engaged, retained, and are more likely to be successful.

Not Planning for Future Growth

A lot of apps are built without consideration of what happens when there is a large increase in users. Although at the beginning stages this may not seem like an important consideration, if the app is not properly scalable it will cause performance problems (slow processing), crashes, and unexpected costs.

When your app’s architecture is not built with future growth in mind, you will spend a lot of money and time fixing it in the future. You should always consider scalability in the beginning of the project, even if you expect a small user base at the very beginning.

You are laying the foundation for the application to have the ability to continuously expand in the future (in a smooth and effortless manner, without requiring massive technical overhauls)

Misjudging Development Time and Costs

New founders frequently underestimate the amount of time it takes to develop an application, as well as the costs involved. Development includes much more than just writing code – there is planning, designing, testing, revising, deploying, and maintaining your application.

If you set unrealistic timelines during your development, you will end up making decisions that are rushed, of poor quality, or missing features. The same is true with budgeting. If you only budget for the development of your application, you will hit a wall after your application is launched, because all the time and money you invested in it has been exhausted.

To properly plan the development of your application, you must be realistic and build in buffer time and money for unexpected problems. You will minimize your risk of disappointment and becoming burned out by the amount of work that needs to be completed.

Launching Without Proper Testing

Meeting tight deadlines to launch an app may result in you skipping the vital step of testing it. Launching your app with unknown bugs, crashes, and/or performance issues will immediately destroy your users’ trust in your app. A user’s first impression of your app is critical. If they have any issues with it, they most likely won’t try your app again and they will likely leave negative reviews that can affect the long-term growth of your app.

Comprehensive testing on multiple devices, operating systems, and on actual users will allow you to ensure that your app is stabilized and reliable.

Assuming Users Will Find the App Automatically

First-time founders often think that simply launching their app means that they will have users. However, even the best apps will not become popular until they have been promoted. You need to have a marketing strategy that is centered around the launch of your app. Optimizing your app for the app stores, creating a social media presence, utilizing content marketing, and creating targeted advertisements that drive your initial downloads will help ensure that you have a successful launch.

Marketing is not optional, but rather a fundamental part of being successful with your app.

Ignoring User Feedback After Launch

After launching, some founders do not continue to listen to users. Their immediate goal is primarily downloads rather than improving the user experience, leading to a lack of valuable feedback that could guide ongoing improvements.

User feedback identifies real-life issues and provides insight into problems that exist with the application as well as suggestions about what features people would like to see in future releases. In addition, user feedback often reveals the usability issues of the application that weren’t evident during the development phase. As a result, ignoring user feedback often leads to a decline in engagement and lower retention rates.

Forgetting About Maintenance and Updates

Many inexperienced developers think that the only time an application needs to be updated is when it launches. In reality, maintaining an application requires regular updates as new operating system versions are release, new bug fixes are developed, and additional security updates occur. Consequently, applications that are not maintained become outdated and less reliable very quickly. Therefore, planning for the long-term support of an application is critical to ensure that the application continues to function and remain usable.

How Device Doctor India Helps You Build Your First App the Right Way

For many new founders, navigating the app development process without any prior technical background can be extremely daunting. Device Doctor India helps ease the burden of app development for entrepreneurs and startups by guiding them through the entire process, from validating their idea and creating an initial requirements document to designing and developing their application and ultimately providing ongoing technical support after launch. The Device Doctor India team will help you take your idea and create a complete technical document that outlines how you envision the application functioning, which technology to use, and what common mistakes to avoid as a first-time developer so that your project does not fall behind schedule or go over budget.

Conclusion

With all of these components considered, you should now have a pretty solid idea of the basic principles associated with creating a successful mobile application.

Building your first mobile application can be one of the most thrilling yet challenging experiences in life. Even though there are many mistakes we make when developing our first app, most of the common ones can be avoid through proper research, planning, and reasonable expectations.

When you put your energy, attention, and focus on addressing a real problem that needs solving and validating your idea, you will greatly increase your chances for creating a successful product. When developing a new mobile application, be sure to use a clear and concise communication style; prioritize the user’s experience; and develop a post-launch plan.

Your first application does not need to be flawless; it needs to be a meaningful application that serves the needs of the users and will adapt over time. If you take these common mistakes and learn from them, you will develop not only an application, but also another product that the user values.

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