5 Mistakes to Avoid Before and After the Launch of Your Mobile App

The pitfalls of mobile app development are many because the complexities that you need to handle go well beyond creating the app.

A project can fail because of poor planning, marketing, and maintenance after the launch.

Mistakes made before the launch can doom a mobile app project regardless of how good the app is, and mistakes made after the launch can limit its impact and acceptance by your audience.

In this article, we’ll cover the most common mistakes before and after the app launch that make good apps flop.

Pre-Launch Mistakes

Prelaunch activities are vital to make sure your intended audience knows your app exists.

Your app will flop if you:

1. Have Inadequate Market Research

A successful mobile app will fill an under-served niche or offer a better alternative to the apps that are available.

That means it’s important to assess the state of the mobile app market that you will be entering.

A single feature or cluster of features that beat the competition can determine success and failure.

It can also happen that a similar app unexpectedly enters the market before you launch yours.

You must assess whether your own app release needs to be adjusted in response, otherwise, you risk your app being overlooked.

2. Overlook App Store Discovery Features

Marketing a new mobile app has become as sophisticated as website marketing.

Both Apple Store and Google Play offer developer tools that help make your app discoverable among the thousands of other apps that are released every year.

You can create a profile page that includes the most relevant keywords to ensure it’s included in search results.

You can also arrange for reviews ahead of the launch to help drive organic discovery on day one.

3. Miss Out on App Discovery Platforms

App store search and review features aren’t the only way to drive traffic to your app’s profile.

To drive additional traffic to your app’s store page, you must enlist the help of platforms that specifically market mobile apps to your audience.

They can help you reach the segment of a wider audience that’s most likely to find your app useful or entertaining.

Many discovery platforms offer discounts and review aggregation services to enhance your app’s visibility.

4. Do Not Conduct Enough Beta Testing

There’s nothing worse than arranging an expensive and elaborate pre-launch marketing campaign only to have a bug or poorly designed interface cause a negative impression at launch.

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The initial negative reviews will turn away future customers even after you’ve released a fix.

Beta testing is an essential final step in the testing cycle of mobile app development. It helps developers discover bugs they’ve missed during internal testing.

Beta testers will also give you a head-up about features that are poorly designed, giving you the opportunity to fix them before launch day.

5. Do Not Have a Pre-Launch Marketing Campaign

The last word of advice for the pre-launch strategy is to launch your marketing campaign well before your release date.

Some developers neglect marketing campaigns until they release their app, which results in a slow pace of discovery and adoption.

The sooner your app gets attention and downloads from your initial audience, the sooner it’ll look attractive to people who visit your profile in the months after release.

Building pre-launch buzz is one way of ensuring an initial wave of downloads and reviews from the start.

Depending on the size of your project, consider which channels beyond web advertisements will work for you. Billboards, radio shows, podcasts, and promotional events at major conventions are also opportunities to promote a new app.

Post-Launch Mistakes

After the launch, you have much more work than looking at the number of downloads and usage statistics.

Your app will not be well received if you:

1. Do Not Engage with Users

After you launch your app, it’s important to provide communication channels for users to provide feedback and reviews, whether it’s through the app store profile page or social media.

Responding to good and bad feedback in an appreciative and open way will create a positive impression even if you’re struggling with internal challenges.

Your user base will stick around when developers engage and show they are committed to the project.

2. Provide Poor Technical Support

By the same token, if your app requires some level of technical support, you must provide it if you want to avoid alienating your customers.

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For example, an app that allows in-app financial transactions will need to provide ways to resolve problems when they come up.

Responsive technical support that resolves issues quickly will often result in positive reviews even when users had difficult experiences with the app itself.

3. Do Not Fix Bugs After Release

Most software projects still have known bugs when they are released.

Developers assess whether these bugs are significant, but it’s important not to leave noticeable bugs in place for too long after release.

Patches will build trust with your users you intend to continue supporting the app.

Leaving obvious bugs unresolved that impact the user’s experience will cause negative reviews to pop up and damage your brand.

4. Do Not Continue to Develop the App

This point depends on your app.

Mobile apps sometimes aren’t intended to be developed further after release, but if your app is a game or productivity tool, users are more likely to expect new features.

If your budget allows it, releasing expanded or improved versions of an app periodically can keep it relevant when competitors arrive with similar apps.

5. Do Not Adjust Marketing Strategies

Marketing doesn’t end after release.

Unless your mobile app achieves viral status, you must continue marketing long after release to maintain visibility in the marketplace.

After release, you should reassess marketing campaigns given past results, competing apps, and any new features that are introduced.

Continuing to advertise with the same messages will cause a campaign to lose its effectiveness.

That includes monitoring how well your initial app store optimization is performing and adjusting your keywords and page design to improve discoverability.

Conclusion

The success of a mobile app after release is as much a matter of user engagement and support as it is the execution of a development plan.

A coherent marketing strategy can create a pre-release buzz that ensures customers will download your app on day 1, but it will need to be polished and ready to impress them for this to succeed.

Fixing bugs and adding new features found by beta tests and initial reviews will go a long way towards building a positive relationship with your users in the long term.

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Ashley Wilson is a digital nomad writing about business and tech. She has been known to reference Harry Potter quotes in casual conversation and enjoys baking homemade treats for her husband and their two felines, Lady and Gaga. You can get in touch with Ashley via Twitter.