Trying to stay on the cutting-edge of any industry can be complicated. App development is transforming how businesses handle everything from customer retention to streamlining the sales process. If your business is pursuing an app development project, keeping an eye on the anticipated Return on Investment (ROI) can help keep things on course.
Keep reading to learn more about the app development process and how to calculate your mobile app ROI.
ROI for Mobile App Development
When you start planning your app development project, keep in mind that mobile app development is a process. From describing your plan to app developers to strategizing for ongoing support, there are a multitude of elements that will affect your ROI.
Five Pack Works With You to Develop an ROI-Focused Mobile App
At Five Pack, we understand how stressful the mobile app development process can be. We work with you to develop an app that meets your business’s needs while keeping ROI at the forefront. Our streamlined four-step process sets your app up for success.
Step 1: Discuss & Understand
Step one involves a free consultation and a chance for us to get to know each other. During this meeting, we will learn about your business needs, app goals (like your mobile app ROI), and your idea. This step will help us prepare to help you.
If we can deliver you the app you want, you can expect to get a ballpark quote for your mobile app development project. Otherwise, we will take the time to offer you the advice, direction, and referrals to industry professionals you need to succeed.
Step 2: Explore & Ideate
In this step, we take the time to explore and understand your business’s unique pain points and how we can best solve them. With previous clients, concerns have included developing a mobile-first mentality, streamlining clunky and time-consuming features, and creating in-house mobile development teams.
Throughout this process, we are also considering what will bring your business the best mobile app ROI, both after launch and for years to come. Depending on how this step goes, you could expect everything from detailed estimates and a product roadmap to high-fidelity prototypes and end-to-end wireframes.
Step 3: Develop & Deliver
If the app development process were a movie, this would be the part where they put in a cool coding montage. Five Pack works on the cutting edge of mobile app development, creating innovative solutions while meeting industry standards and following best practices.
Our professional app development team has years of experience in app development, and we’re here to help. Because of that, we will not deliver you an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink app. We take the time to focus development on features that will make your app shine, even in a saturated market.
Step 4: Hand off & Maintenance
We understand that your mobile app development project is never complete. To ensure that you maximize your ROI, you will need to keep your app maintained. Nearly 77% of apps fail because they are not properly maintained and improved after launching.
Once your app is launched, you can expect us to ensure you have the support you need to thrive because that’s how we work. Depending on your app goals, we will help you create a strategy. This could involve assisting in staff augmentation or making maintenance agreements like monthly retainers.
6 Important Steps to Take When Measuring ROI of Mobile Apps
Instead of getting wrapped up in every potential step, here are six key steps to help you measure your mobile app ROI.
Define Objectives
Defining your objectives is easily the most critical step to measuring your mobile app ROI and ensuring you meet revenue goals. This step is foundational and will give you and your app development team a litmus test throughout the process.
Your objectives will fall into one of two categories: improving customer experience or business processes. The first category would involve apps that support customer retention and improve user acquisition. In the other category, the app is for your employees and could streamline sales and improve communication.
Mobile App Development Costs
Once you have a clear understanding of your objectives, you’ll be able to get accurate quotes for development costs. Throughout your project, keeping track of your development costs will help you stay within budget and keep the project on course. You can expect development costs to include hardware and implementation, support during integration, and long-term maintenance plans.
Measurable KPIs
Like all business endeavors, your key performance indicators (KPIs) are straightforward measures that help you interpret and gauge success in your mobile app development project. In measuring your mobile app ROI, your KPIs will give you a sense of whether or not your app is having the effect you intended.
If your app is meant to draw in and retain customers, the KPIs will involve things like retention rate, active users, and other essential metrics. An app that is more focused on supporting employees might consider how much faster or slower activities are and how many employees make use of it.
Calculate Lifetime Value (LTV)
To get the whole picture of your business’s mobile app ROI, you should calculate the LTV. Other metrics can be very short-term in their focus. With the LTV, you can see the potential for creating financial value over the app’s entire lifecycle. To calculate it, you will need an understanding of your user retention and monetization, as well as its potential virality.
A higher LTV can be caused by high user retention as well as users and marketing bringing in new users while considering the average revenue per user.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
The Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) is a metric identifying how much it costs to bring in a new user. This could include discounts, free trials, and providing free bonuses to users who recruit friends. Typically, you will want to calculate your app’s CPA separately from the Cost Per Install, which is an ad spend-focused metric. The CPA can tell a business if it is on the right track with its mobile app development project and if it is time to invest more heavily or start from scratch.
KPIs vs. Development Costs
Once you have your KPIs and projected development costs, your next step is to calculate your Net Present Value (NPV) advantages against NPV costs. This will give you a clearer sense of your business’s mobile app ROI.
Consider the lifespan of the app. Is it meant to work for years, getting continuously updated? Will your company replace it with something new? An endpoint, whether it is put into practice or not, will give you the best results.
Criteria for What Makes a Great Mobile App
It may seem like there are endless aspects to mobile app development, but there are a few criteria that make or break an app. Consider your app’s purpose and audience, performance, and ongoing support as you plan your business’s project.
Purpose
The best thing you can do to set your app up for success is to focus in on its purpose. It can be easy to try to implement every feature that could make it valuable and exciting, but you could end up developing an unusable mess.
When we worked with Syngenta Digital, a primary concern was offline access because their app was meant to help growers track growth and other data in the field. Outline what is crucial to your business’s app, and build from there.
Audience
Another critical element of your mobile app development project is considering your audience. When developing your app features and goals, your audience is a central concern. If your business’s app fails to serve their pain points, your mobile app ROI will not meet your business’s goals.
Engage2Learn wanted an app that would encourage young people to learn app development independently. We worked with them and Apple to implement the company’s proprietary teaching strategies while making their app accessible to schools nationwide.
Performance
Performance may be the single most crucial element of your mobile app development project. Everyone uses apps, and no one is interested in wasting their time and energy on an app that is slow or constantly crashing.
Focusing on the features that provide the most value is one way to keep your app performance up.
Support
Finally, ongoing support will ensure that your business gets the most of its mobile app ROI. Once it is launched, support will involve bug patching, expanding features, and making improvements based on customer feedback. The best thing you can do for long-term success is work with a mobile app developer who will handle ongoing support or help you develop the in-house team your app needs to succeed.
At Five Pack, we take the time to understand your business and app needs, develop a winning strategy, and set you up for success. Contact us today to tell us more about your exciting app idea and learn more about what we have to offer businesses like yours.
