A mobile application development may become a great challenge. In order to pass it correctly and successfully, think carefully about creating a business plan. With a well-thought-out plan, it will be easier to enter the market, set the budget, and be in the interests of consumers. Read this article to the end to find out how to write a business plan for an app.
Table of Contents
What is a mobile app business plan, and why do you need it?
The mobile app business plan is a step-by-step guide that outlines your business concept and aims at bringing the application to the market in the most attractive way.
What are the benefits of creating a business plan for an app?
- Getting a clear vision of your app.
- Learning from the mistakes or successes of your competitors.
- Determination of the budget and possible app development cost reduction.
- Studying your target audience and presenting what they need and might like.
- Anticipation of possible risks and working on their elimination.
A well-designed business plan is the first step to success in mobile app development.
Top tips for creating a mobile app business plan in 2023
Executive summary
The executive summary is a short introduction of your mobile application to potential users and investors. How to create an effective and understandable summary that will make people interested in your project?
- Specify your goals. Give a clear explanation of what you are creating this app for. Answers to the following questions will help to write the plan more easily: What problems will my mobile app solve? What are the reasons for creating the application? What benefits will my app bring to the market?
- Create a unique value proposition. According to Statista, the total number of applications on the Apple Store and Google Play exceeds 5 million. In order to attract attention, it is essential to demonstrate and explain how exactly your offer differs from others. To do this, you need to analyze the market, research your competitors, find out what they lack, and make and highlight the benefits of using your app.
Financials
To start with, you need to understand the approximate cost of the mobile application. What should you include in the estimation?
- The total cost of developing the application.
- Costs for the promotion of the app.
- Funds to cover risks that may arise.
- Spending on further maintenance and support of the application.
Choosing a monetization strategy is one of the most important steps on the way to your success. The right strategy will help you calculate possible profits and build a plan to achieve them. Even if you are creating a free app, there are still options for generating revenue from a mobile app:
- Showcase advertising on your application and get paid for the clicks on it.
- Add premium features for an additional fee.
- Use crowdfunding to encourage visitors to invest in your project.
- Integrate a subscription form to charge for usage weekly, monthly, or annually.
After calculating the cost of app development and possible ways of monetization, prepare a report. Be clear and precise, including sales forecasts and income statements. Predict and give the answers to the investors’ questions: What is the total amount of money you need? When will the project start bringing in profits? What revenue should be expected?
Market analysis
Market research will immerse you more deeply in the industry you are entering and help to make your application business plan more structured. You need to find and analyze information about the target audience and the size of the market, make a SWOT analysis, and plan your next steps after launch. Here are the components that you should include in the market analysis:
- Create a portrait of the buyer persona. Define gender, age, job, education, hobbies, etc. Understand what needs your potential customers have and how your app may solve them.
- Research the size of the market. Find out the maximum demand for a product and the number of competitors.
- Make a SWOT analysis. This tool helps to analyze the internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and the external factors (opportunities and threats) that may affect the business. Running a SWOT analysis will improve your position in the market and predict possible risks.
- Work on potential app growth. Find opportunities to adjust your app’s features to current market needs. For example, make a list of functions that you will add in the next stages of development or strategies for finding additional sales channels.
Market strategy
Market strategy is the way you identify prospects and turn them into real customers.
First of all, you have to understand which channels to use to promote your mobile application. You can not limit your marketing strategy to a word-of-mouth approach. In order for people to learn about your mobile application, you can use Google Ads, create profiles on social networks, and start an email newsletter. Content marketing is a great solution to promote your app and attract your consumers’ attention.
Another way to enter the market is to follow in the footsteps of your competitors. Analyze how they communicate with customers, which promotion channels they use, how they increase the number of installations, and, accordingly, sales.
Idea validation
Understanding whether your idea is feasible will give you insight into how to move forward. Here are the main options on how to validate your idea:
- The PoC (proof-of-concept) may help you to define criteria for success, determine the chances for scalability, and define risks.
- MVP (Minimal Viable Product) creation can verify if your idea resonates with your target audience’s needs. You can find flutter developers to hire to build an MVP application to present to your investors.
- A prototype of a mobile app identifies flaws in design. By detecting errors in the first stages, prototyping will help you to save time and money for further development.
Final verdict
To sum up, a well-written and structured mobile app business plan may increase investors’ confidence in your project and save money on development. To build an effective plan, write a clear summary of your application, calculate project costs, make a market analysis, build a market strategy, and check how realistic your idea is.
FAQs
Why do I need to have a mobile app business plan?
You need an app business plan to attract more investors, reduce risks and time on development, choose the most effective market strategy, and determine the target audience.
How to create an excellent mobile app business plan?
To have an effective business plan, you need to start with a short introduction of your business, calculate possible costs and profits, analyze the market, and validate your idea.
How long does it take to create a mobile app business plan?
It takes up to one month to create a business plan for a mobile app.
