How To Do Market Research For Your App Idea?

You have a unique mobile app idea, there are two ways you can go about this.

  • Hire mobile app developers and start development right away.

Here’s a fact for you. There are more than 1.96 million apps in the App Store and there are 2.46 million apps available on Google Play Store.

No matter how unique you think your app idea is, there is a similar app in some corners of these app stores.

As such, starting mobile app development right away is not a viable option. This will only cause problems in the future.

Did you know that 72% of mobile apps fail because of poor market research?

The gist of market research for an app idea is to just cross the T’s and dot all the I’s.

Market research for your app idea is all about finding loopholes in your app idea and strategizing its development to get a market-ready end product that your users will absolutely love!

In this article, I am going to talk about how to do market research for your app idea. Before we get into that, here is a FREE guide on 9 Stages of Mobile App Development that you will definitely need.

So, let’s begin!

Create A Buyer’s Persona

The first step of market research for your app idea is creating a buyer’s persona. Here’s why.

No matter what your app idea is, it’s the customer base you build that will decide its destiny. You must know who your target users are and what your users like. The idea is to create a profile of your ideal customer. This is where market research for an app idea becomes important.

This will help you in making important decisions such as monetization, personalization, scaling, defining UI/UX, etc. Your buyer’s persona will look something like this.
buyer's persona

So how to create a user’s persona for your app? Here are a few things to define in the buyer’s persona for your app when doing market research for your app idea.

  • Location
  • Language
  • Job title
  • Average income
  • Buying behavior
  • Interests & activities

Besides these points, define the following points in the buyer’s persona for your mobile app.

  • Customer’s Pain Points
  • Customer Goal
  • How can your app help him/her?

Now that you created a detailed buyer’s persona for your app, you are ready for the next step in the market research for your app idea – Competitor Analysis.

Competitor Analysis

Remember how I said earlier that no matter what your app idea is, there is a possibility that a similar app already exists. Take Facebook for example.

There were other social media platforms before Facebook. Sites like MySpace, Friendster, and Hi5 were launched before Facebook. Facebook is still here with 2.50 billion monthly active users!

Your app idea doesn’t have to be 100% unique to make it big.

But to reach there, you’ll have to make sure of an on-point execution of your app. This involves learning from mistakes your competitors made and swear never to repeat it. As such, Competitive Analysis becomes an important part of market research for your app idea.

Here is a Competitive Analysis format you can use.

competitive analysis

Identify your direct competitors and “direct” is a key phrase here! You don’t have to study every app or business that has even a tiny resemblance of your mobile app. Your direct competitors are the ones that have the same target audience and the same product/service offerings.

Competitor Analysis includes studying the product and marketing efforts of your competitors. The idea is to avoid making any mistakes your competitors are making in their apps and designing strategies to outperform them!

How will competitive analysis for your app idea help?

  • Defining the Unique Selling Point (USP) of your app.
  • Better understanding your market and target audience.
  • To define pricing.
  • Predicting market potential.
  • Better consumer acquisition and marketing strategies.

Now that you have a buyer’s persona and competitor analysis with you, what next in the market research for your app idea?
An in-depth SWOT Analysis.

SWOT Analysis

You, as an entrepreneur, already understand what SWOT Analysis is – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Here are a few questions that you need to ask about your app.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis will help you define a thorough understanding of your app, industry, and the direction which you should be heading towards.

SWOT Analysis helps you in strategic planning of your app idea. It gives a chance to fix the loopholes in your app idea. It also allows you to capitalize on your strengths & your competitors’ weaknesses.

Monetization Strategy for Your App

Here’s a fact for you. Just developing an app and putting it out in the market won’t make your money!

According to Gartner,

Less than 0.01% of consumer mobile apps can be considered a financial success!

You need to come with a foolproof monetization strategy. As such, monetization is an important part of the market research for your app idea.

The most common monetization models apps use are:

  • Selling ad space 
  • Selling a paid version – subscription-based or one-time purchase to offer additional features.

So, how do you plan to make money from your mobile app?

Here are a few things you can find answers to when doing market research for your app idea.

  • What are the monetization strategies of your competitors?
  • Which monetization plans can you use to make the most money through your app idea?
  • What is the most suitable category for your app idea?

Asking these questions during market research for your app idea will help you design a solid monetization strategy for your app.

Market Research for Your App Idea: Final Words

You have in-depth market research on your app idea with you now. Do you think your app is ready to move to a development phase?

Every app needs to be backed by a solid mobile development team. This will make sure that you grow a huge consumer base and record an impressive time spent per app user.

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