According to the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Online Masters in Management Information Systems, 91 percent of the adult population in the U.S. currently owns a cell phone, out of which 61 percent are smartphone users. By 2016, it is expected that more than 10 billion mobile Internet devices will be in use. And half of these U.S. adult cell phone users have mobile apps installed on their phones.
The opportunities for mobile app businesses are therefore huge. But being a successful mobile app entrepreneur is easier said than done, considering the cut-throat competition in the app market. And the line differentiating the existing apps from the successful ones is indeed fine. That said, there is no dearth of inspiring success stories when it comes to mobile apps entrepreneurs. Therefore, there must be something they are doing differently from other the average mobile apps entrepreneurs who are somehow surviving the competition.
The following are 6 habits of successful app entrepreneurs that will help you leave a better and strong impression in the mobile app space.
1. Study the App Store Daily
This is the most common habit of all successful app entrepreneurs; they make it a daily practice to study the app market, especially the App Store thoroughly. And there is a good reason behind it. Studying the App Store every day helps them track the performance on their apps on a regular basis and they can also keep tabs on changes in customer reviews, in any.
Monitoring customer feedback is, in fact, a crucial task, especially when you are launching a latest version. Besides, when you are studying the app market on a regular basis, you start developing a clear idea about the current trends. Analyze the successful apps – what are they doing that you are yet to explore? How are they different from your app? Is there a scope of improvement in your app? Keeping a close eye on the app market on a regular basis will help you find answers to these questions and more.
In addition, you can learn more about the search algorithm of the App Store in order to get better ranking for your app.
The best way to grow this habit is to start you day at work with studying the App Store for around 30 minutes. Study your own app first to analyze the performance and read the reviews to understand what customers feel about your app. If you have released a new version of your app, it is recommended to read customer reviews a few times in a day.
2. Study the Horrible Apps Too
It may sound weird initially, but believe me you need to know about the mobile app horror stories too just to ensure that you don’t repeat them. This is exactly what most successful app entrepreneurs do, apart from studying the apps in the top charts.
You probably have been ignoring the apps that bottom the chart until now, but after today make a point to download them and analyze what went wrong with them. Pen down the points on a regular basis. Analysing both the successful apps and the horrible ones will help you differentiate between good and bad themes and game mechanics as well as detect design trends.
Once you know what those apps were doing wrong that they never saw the light of day, you can easily avoid such blunders. This is one of the best ways to learn from mistakes, not just yours but also that of others.
3. Manage Remote Team Better
Most successful businesses today are increasingly working with distributed teams. This trend is even more profound in mobile app space, especially the startups. They largely depend on remote teams, with team members scattered in different parts of the world, working from the comfort of their homes. While this is a great option to save on costs, managing these remote team members is often challenging for a fledgling startup.
Almost all successful app entrepreneurs who started small and with remote team members use agile project management tools to keep their team members on the same page and also work hard to create a collaborative environment. If you too are working with remote resources, make sure you get weekly factual updates from your entire team. In addition, initiate conversations that go beyond your work. In other words, establish a personal rapport as human component can often affect your team’s performance adversely. You therefore need to understand them and ensure that they do not impede your progress.
Read also:5 Valid Reasons To Build Enterprise App Stores For Your Business
4. Communicate with Your App Users
If you study successful mobile app development companies, you will find one thing in common. All of them communicate with their app users. Let’s consider it the other way. You are perhaps using some app yourself. How would you feel if you receive app support emails and calls directly from the CEO of those mobile app companies? You, as a user, would obviously feel valued and would rather like to be loyal to them. The same thing happens with your users.
A number of successful mobile app entrepreneurs are using this strategy to remain connected and better engage with their users, gradually turning them into brand evangelists. You can do the same thing. Make your users feel delighted and help them grow confidence in your apps, in your company. This will also help you get a better insight to your users’ feedback, reviews and problems. In turn, you can leverage such insight to improve your app, keeping the focus on user experience.
This one habit can help you achieve two things – first, you can make your users happy and second, it will boost improved usage.
Daniel Abrams, the founder of Masslight and a former Apple Software Engineer has made it a point to answer support calls and/or emails from users personally on a regular basis. You can also follow the suit; all you need to do is devote a few hours on this and start interacting with your users. And you will be happy to see how pleasantly surprised your users will be when they receive an instant response from none other than the CEO of the company.
5. Write Things Down
Another great habit of successful entrepreneurs is that they write down everything and on a daily basis. In fact, you can call it their biggest daily habit. This also applies to mobile app entrepreneurs. Be it your company objectives, app roadmaps or product content, writing them down will help you and your team to get a clear idea of things you want to achieve.
Besides, it streamlines your app development and marketing processes, allowing you to keep a track of everything happening around your product. Most importantly, this practice will help you create a corporate wiki, which is especially helpful if you are working with remote team members, working from different parts of the world.
You can even keep a journal and use it every day, without fail. This should be aside your corporate journal. Here, you will document your progress as an entrepreneur privately. In fact, it is a great idea to0 make it your daily ritual. You can either do it in the morning before starting your work at the end of the day, penning down significant events of the day and what new thing you have learned as an entrepreneur.
This journal is just meant for you, unless of course you are planning to publish your autobiography someday. You can reread them at some point to see how much you have come and/or use it to wipe out your mind every morning and start afresh. Another advantage of keeping a journal is that even a non-writer can start developing the skills with a habit of daily writing.
6. Analyze Your Data
When it comes to analysing your app data, there is hardly anything that compares to Google Analytics. This is your secret weapon to become a successful mobile app entrepreneur. How? Tracking daily and weekly changes on Google Analytics will help you get detailed insight about your app usage. Using this data you can make correlations to see your user reviews and store rankings on the App Store.
This is one practice you must cultivate. It will help you take the right direction and decisions for your business. With Google Analytics, you can see the latest industry trends and analysing them on a regular basis will help you act swiftly if you need to incorporate any changes.
Conclusion
The life of an entrepreneur is never easy. It has many ups and downs. But again, as an entrepreneur you need to learn to keep things on track and keep yourself inspired at the same time. All these habits of a successful mobile app entrepreneur we have discussed so far have a hidden message and that is to become ‘inspired’. You can get inspiration from the trends and other apps you study on the App Store, from your own journal, your corporate wiki, your app data or while talking to your app users.
In addition, you can read motivational books, meditate and take a holistic approach to life or listen to inspirational music or TED Talks. These small things often play a great role in helping you keep a level head during troubled times. After all being inspired is key to remain happy and productive and are prime characteristics of a successful entrepreneur.
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