Trying to develop a popular app is a tricky business: you have to consider what other apps are out there and what people will want to buy. Notice a common thread here? When trying to develop a good app, you have to put yourself in the mindset of the customer. In other words, you have to think of the strategies shoppers use to locate apps.
There is, unfortunately, no hard and fast rule when it comes to the types of shoppers looking at apps. Everyone is a little different when it comes to shopping, but there are 2 types of people who looking at apps:
1. Shoppers Who Browse
I definitely have experience with the first type of shopper: the ones who browse. Based on sales and figures from the week, my highest days of sales are definitely during the weekend. Other developers I’ve talked to echo this trend. This makes sense because people tend to have more free time on Saturday and Sunday, so they have more opportunity to browse app stores. So, from this observation, there are people who browse in their free time and download apps that catch their interest.
2. Shoppers Who Search
Of course, there is also a second type of shopper: the ones who are looking for something specific when they go on the market. These are the people who are looking for everything from an app that will help them take a screenshot to a better alarm clock. This type of shopper tends to type in some search term and downloads whatever’s on the top of that list. I can’t say what the percentage of people who browse versus look for something specific is, but there are definitely indicators for both types of people out there.
There are general strategies you can use, though, that will be sure to target both types of shoppers:
1. Good developers create. Great developers steal.
One way to develop an app with a popular idea is to actually look at other apps that are out there. It may help to see what other people like and borrow ideas from these apps to integrate into your own app, but this won’t guarantee that your app will become popular. There are lots of imitations from popular apps out there; one app I saw, which is a clone of the Angry Birds app, isn’t as popular because it just isn’t as well designed. When using a strategy of copying other apps, it’s good to take general concepts but copying the game completely is never a good strategy.
2. Have a great app which will reach both types of shoppers.
In terms of marketing strategy, it all stems from the app you make. If you develop a good app, you can start off with those shoppers who are looking for something specific. As this app gets more popular, it gets more ratings and downloads and starts swimming up in the charts, thus becoming more visible to those shoppers who are browsing for apps. If you have a great app, the marketing strategy is a virtuous cycle where you’re able to get both the shoppers who are browsing for something specific and shoppers who are just browsing.
Ultimately, what it comes down to is how well your app is made and what gains popularity quickly. Although there are different types of buyers, what will help to unite these different types of buyers is the quality of your app. Make a great app, and the shoppers will come.
