How to Conduct Market Research for Your App Idea

It's amazing to have an idea. Ideas make the world run and make it a better and smarter place.

Predictions are that electric cars will be an everyday story by 2050. Can cars need applications too? Who knows? But does having an idea for a mobile application mean it will blow up and create a revolution?

If yes is your answer, you may want to hold your horses. The destiny of a product depends on the needs of the market. Therefore, the most fundamental step, even before the funding of your project, is to understand the market condition through comprehensive market research. Is there a demand in the market? Is there a possibility of creating a demand? There are many questions to answer; some might even be a sign to head back and introspect.

Let's proceed to understand the steps of the market research regime with some examples and how it'll help a mobile app development dynamic.

Primary Research

We know what a primary research process is. But how does it help? Let's say you are developing an application to unify the operations of real estate brokers and offer them a platform that will create better accessibility, authentication, cost reduction, and more. You know your application is a solution to many problems, but have you really lived the problems? Perhaps not.

Here, your primary research is the key. This data is your key to accessing first-hand information on the nature of the market, what it wants, what are its likes and dislikes, and what the loopholes are that you can fix. Primary research is also a great way to define your eventual target audience.

Secondary Research

A lot of air is cleared after the conclusion of the primary research. So now is the time for secondary research. The mobile application market is enormous. A few years ago, the number of applications afloat the market was approximately 9 million. It's safe to say that the internet has tons of information on the same niche as yours.

Secondary research will help in the planning, strategizing, observing, executing, and evaluating parts of the process. The available information is a definitive source to unearth the mistakes made already to learn from. And, of course, avoid the same. It also helps with marketing and sourcing strategies. How? The existing data in your field is an excellent source of free guidance to efficient solutions that would have been difficult to find otherwise.

Competitor Analysis

In 2011, more than a decade ago, Apple Inc. spent nearly £447 million as a cost for developers to spike their applications' sales. The message is direct and straightforward; there are participants in this race of technology. Keep your friends close and enemies closer.

Monitor the steps taken by your direct competitors, dig through the history and anticipate the mistakes they made and avoid them. Find inefficiency in their product, fix it, and offer the same to your market. Understand what works for your competition and what doesn't.

Discover the ways they developed the framework of their application and explore the scope of improvisation. Knowing your competition and observing them will reveal a lot about where you stand and where you can go.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT is a very crucial step in the research process of mobile application development. Considering the technology and app development advancements, SWOT would depict vital information on the real-time status of where your product stands.

Strengths: One of the biggest strengths of an application is a solid back-end team. Do you have that? SWOT is a great way of asking and answering questions.

• What operational area has been working the best for you so far?

• What are the best resources you have that the competitors don't?

• What is that unique skill set that your team exhibits?

Weaknesses: Everyone falls short in some of the other areas, and it is very necessary to identify yours and make efforts to fill in the gaps as soon as possible.

• What is that one element that you haven't been able to crack lately? Are there many more of them?

• Which areas are the ones that have a taxing process for you and your users?

• What are the three things that you lack in your organization that you can witness in successful competitors?

Opportunities: Opportunities are everywhere, but if everyone could see them, entrepreneurs wouldn't be standing out.

• What everyday situations can be made better with mobile applications?

• Is the existing technology available in geography, especially where you could reach?

• What is the one element that is lacking in the mobile application that you can fix?

Threats: A smooth functioning of a business has many prospect hindrances that are not always in the form of competition.

• Is the market opinion favorable for your product idea?

• Could the government roll out unfavorable policies for your business?

• How could you mark your territory to restrict competition?

Target Audience

Know your user. This is a sentence from the bible of business strategy. Create personas of the people who will be directly or indirectly associated with your application.

• Demographics: Age, gender, occupation, cultural background, and family status.

• Geographics: Country, state, district, town, suburb, locality, neighborhood, apartment.

• Psychographics: Values, desires, goals, interests, and lifestyle choices.

These are the most prominent characteristics of the person who will actively use your application. This is your target audience.

Social Media Listening

Where could you find out the opinions of strangers? Social media. This is where you could find market opportunities, problems to fix within your organization, and ideas for SWOT too. Apart from that, social media will talk to you about recent trends, reviews on peer products, opinions, ideas, thoughts, and, most importantly, the word about your product because the things that are never spoken in person are spoken on social media.

Wrapping Up

The concluding part would be the compilation of your market research into strategic points that become the trigger points for the decision-making process. Also, remember market research is a consistent process as the market is dynamic. Understand what their customers require and adjust your actions in accordance with the demand slope.

Author Bio

Piyush Jain is the founder and CEO of Simpalm, Startup app development company. Piyush founded Simpalm in 2009 and has grown it to be a leading mobile and web development company in the DMV area. With a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins and a strong background in technology and entrepreneurship, he understands how to solve problems using technology. Under his leadership, Simpalm has delivered 300+ mobile apps and web solutions to clients in startups, enterprises and the federal sector. He leads the business and engineering team to build the mobile and web product solution for clients