Rakia Finley

May 19, 2021

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Need an app for your new business? Here’s what you should do.

Almost everyone has a smartphone, and as a new business, developing a mobile app should be your foremost priority. According to Statista, the number of smartphone users will increase from 3.6 billion in 2020 to 4.3 billion in 2023.

Image credit: Statista

With this in mind, businesses worldwide are migrating to digital to keep up with this evolving trend. The reasons for this are not farfetched. Apart from the fact that smartphones are gaining more popularity by the day, people spend hours on their devices performing several functions.

A research by TechJury showed that Americans spend an estimated 5.4 hours on their phone and can check their devices about 63 times daily. As a new business, this is an opportunity you should maximize to the fullest by creating a user-friendly mobile app for your customers.

What you should do when building a mobile app for your business

Know the difference between a mobile app and website

For starters, you need to know the a difference between building a mobile friendly website and a mobile app. A mobile app contains more unique features that are more engaging and better developed than a website. By creating an app, your business will evolve with its ever-increasing mobile-centric customer base.

Mobile apps come with push notifications, and they often load faster than regular websites. In addition, your customers can use your mobile app offline while you can’t do such on a website.

Consider building several app versions

When you make several versions of your app, you’ll have access to major platforms, giving you more reach and inclusivity for your business. At least, try making your mobile app compatible with Android and iOS. This way, you won’t miss out on offering your services to people on these platforms as they have the most extensive user base.

Choose between In-house or outsourced development

In-house development implies that you’re using your staff to create your app according to the specific requirements of your company. Outsourcing, on the other hand, is employing a third-party contractor to handle your software development projects.

Native or non-native

Native apps are created for specific platforms and programming language and are installed on specific devices. However, hybrid or non-native apps are web-enabled apps available on a mobile device or web browser.

Pricing models and mobile app features

The features your mobile app comes with can affect your customer retention rates and traffic. For instance, loyalty programs encourage customers to use your app more often.

Also, price structures like subscription, premium, and freemium models can affect your customer base depending on your service or product. Ideally, the pricing model you should go for is free downloads, but you should offer subscriptions and in-app purchases.

References

1. How Much Time Do Americans Spend On Their Phones in 2021?. TechJury. https://techjury.net/blog/how-much-time-does-the-average-american-spend-on-their-phone/#gref. Published 2021. Accessed May 16, 2021.

2. Smartphone users 2020 | Statista. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/. Published 2021. Accessed May 16, 2021.

3. Businessnewsdaily.com. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9049-small-business-app-benefits.html. Published 2021. Accessed May 16, 2021.

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Tags:

Business innovation

Concepting & prototyping

Connected device apps

Development

Digital products

Mobile apps

Software architecture

Technology

Rakia Finley

Rakia Finley is the Founding Partner at Copper & Vine Studio, an American software executive, Women in Tech Initiative Leader, full-stack developer, Salesforce MVP, mother, private investor, and philanthropist. She is best known for her work with the Obama Administration on their "Girls in STEM" initiative and continues to develop innovative technology solutions and community initiatives that promote diversity in STEM for girls of color. Named FemTech's 2016 & 2017 Powerful Woman Programmer, she is one of the highest-earning African-American females in the software industry and North America's first black female owner of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software and product development firm. Raised by a single mother in Portland, Oregon, Rakia would spend her evenings waiting for her mother to get off work. Her time in the office is where Rakia got her first chance to enter data into a custom database. At 15 years old, she had convinced the executive team of the Washington Hospital Center to hire her on a contract basis to provide data entry to their billing department. After one year of working in the Hospital's billing department, Rakia produced the efforts of a five-person database team on her own and converted a 78% paper process to 10%, moving their 2002 billing system to a fully digital data gathering solution enhancing their medical input to a 98% accuracy metric. By 19, Rakia was the founder of PinStripe Consulting, a database development firm. After delivering over 500 custom database solutions to nonprofits, she launched Surge Assembly, a full-service software development firm focused on enhancing company revenues. Her determination for better software-led her to build a custom AI solution for Starwood Hotels in 2006, making them one of the first leading hotels with virtual booking and room management. In 2015, Rakia Co-Founded FIN Digital, a full-service firm, building artificial intelligence and hardware applications for founders and organizations. She has also emerged as an entrepreneur's dream come true, designing products for founders that average over $27 million in an acquisition.

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