How to Conquer Mobile App Market Research before developing a mobile app in 6 Steps

Imagine this: you’ve dreamt up a mobile app that will revolutionize the way people do something. It’s brilliant! But before you rush into your app development, there’s a crucial step that separates game-changing apps from forgotten ones: mobile app market research.

While the app market is competitive, with only 8% of apps achieving long-term success, proper market research can be your secret weapon. By understanding user needs and the competitive landscape, you can dramatically increase your app’s chances of thriving.

This comprehensive mobile app market research guide will equip you with:

• 3 powerful advantages of Market Research • A 6-step framework to carry out app development market research

Based on our extensive experience in mobile app development services, including the validation and development of over 1,700 Android and iOS-based mobile applications, this guide offers comprehensive insights to help you refine your app idea, target the perfect audience, and ensure your creation achieves the success it deserves. Let’s dive in!

What Are The Advantages of Mobile App Market Research?

Understanding the Users

One of the primary benefits of conducting mobile app market research is gaining a deep understanding of the users. 

By thoroughly researching the market, you can know who your future customers are, what they like, etc. Furthermore, you can also identify the specific problems and pain points that your potential users face.

Understanding the Market Landscape

Understanding the market landscape is another benefit of conducting mobile app market research. It allows you to identify and capitalize on market trends. By analyzing current and emerging trends, you can ensure your app meets user expectations and market demands, positioning it for success. Additionally, this helps you recognize opportunities for innovation, enabling you to introduce features that resonate with users and set your app apart from competitors.

Understanding the market also helps you decide whether to enter the market or not. For example, you would never want to enter a market that is experiencing a sharp decline and has no future growth potential. So, remember to pay attention to the market’s development trend over a long period of time, don’t just look at one point in time.

Understanding the Competitors

By analyzing competitors’ apps, you can gain valuable insights into what features, designs, and functionalities resonate with users.

Additionally, understanding your competitors’ strengths enables you to benchmark your app against the top performers in the market. Mobile app market research also helps you recognize gaps in competitors’ offerings, presenting opportunities for your app to fill those voids and stand out in the crowded marketplace.

6 Steps to Carry Out App Development Market Research

1. Analyze the Market Overview

Analyzing the market overview is a critical step in mobile app market research, essential for understanding the landscape before diving into development. Pay attention to these factors:

Market Size	The total number of potential customers or users for a product or service within a specific market segment.	This metric provides insight into the scale of opportunity and helps in estimating potential revenue streams. A larger market size indicates a broader potential reach and opportunities for growth, while a smaller one may necessitate niche targeting strategies.
Market Growth	The percentage increase or decrease in market size over a specified period, indicating market expansion or contraction.	Evaluating market growth trends is vital. This entails examining historical data and projections to understand how the market has evolved and is expected to evolve in the future. Positive growth trends signify a healthy market with expanding opportunities, while stagnant or declining trends may indicate saturation or waning interest.
Market Penetration	The extent to which a product or service is already adopted by potential customers within a market, often expressed as a percentage of the total addressable market.	High penetration suggests a competitive and potentially saturated market, requiring differentiation strategies to stand out. Conversely, low penetration could signify untapped potential or barriers to adoption that need addressing.
Market Trend	The general direction in which a market is moving over time, including shifts in user preferences, technological advancements, and regulatory changes.	Knowing the trends allows you to innovate and introduce features that differentiate your app from competitors, positioning your product as a leader in the market.

These metrics are essential in app development market research as they provide insights into the scale of opportunity, potential for revenue growth, competitive landscape, and timing of market entry. 

2. Look Deeper Into Your Mobile App Idea

Once you have a solid understanding of the market landscape, the next step in app development market research is to delve deeper into your app idea. This involves identifying your unique selling points (USPs) — the features or aspects that set your app apart from competitors. USPs can range from innovative functionalities to exceptional user experiences or targeted niche markets.

Additionally, conducting a SWOT analysis of your app idea is essential. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis helps you critically evaluate internal and external factors that can impact your app’s success:

• Strengths: These are internal factors that give your app a competitive edge, such as unique features, technological advantages, or strong brand reputation.
• Weaknesses: Internal factors that could hinder your app’s success, such as limitations in resources, technical challenges, or gaps in expertise.
• Opportunities: External factors that present opportunities for your app, such as emerging market trends, growing demand for specific functionalities, or untapped user segments.
• Threats: External factors that could pose risks to your app’s success, such as intense competition, changing regulations, or shifts in user preferences.

By thoroughly examining your app idea through these lenses, you can refine its concept, strengthen its value proposition, and ensure alignment with market demands and user expectations.

3. Identify your Target Audience

After looking deeper into your mobile app idea, the next step in mobile app market research is identifying your target audience. This contains market segmentation and defining the best customer group.

Market segmentation allows you to categorize potential users based on specific criteria such as geography, need, user group, or price, ensuring your app meets diverse user needs effectively.

1. Geography: Segmenting by geography involves targeting users based on their location or region. This approach considers cultural differences, language preferences, and local market dynamics.
2. Need: Segmenting by need focuses on addressing specific problems or desires of users. Understanding distinct needs allows you to tailor features and functionalities that directly solve their pain points.
3. User Group: Segmenting by user group categorizes users based on demographic characteristics such as age, gender, occupation, or education level. This helps in creating personalized user experiences and targeted marketing campaigns.
4. Price: Segmenting by price considers users’ budget constraints and willingness to pay for premium features or services. This approach ensures your app’s pricing strategy aligns with user expectations and market competitiveness.

Using the 5W+1H model (What, Who, When, Where, Why, How) further refines your understanding of the best customer group for your app:

• What: What are the specific needs or problems your app addresses?
• Who: Who are your ideal users based on demographics and psychographics?
• When: When do users typically need or use your app?
• Where: Where are your users located geographically or digitally?
• Why: Why would users choose your app over competitors?
• How: How will users interact with and benefit from using your app?

By applying these insights from market segmentation and the 5W+1H model, you can accurately define and target your audience, ensuring your app development market research resonates with users and meets market demand effectively.

4. Analyze the Competitors

Analyzing your competitors is a crucial step in mobile app market research to gain insights into their strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning. This step involves defining key players, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, and choosing a competitive strategy using a matrix based on market focus and value proposition.

Start by identifying the major competitors in your app’s market. These are the companies or apps that hold significant market share and influence. Look at both direct competitors (those offering similar products) and indirect competitors (those offering alternatives that could fulfill the same customer needs).

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these competitors to understand where they excel and where they falter. Consider aspects like:

• Strengths: What features or aspects do users praise? Do they have strong brand loyalty, superior technology, extensive user bases, or robust marketing strategies?
• Weaknesses: What are the common complaints or issues users face? Are there gaps in their offerings, poor customer service, high prices, or outdated technology?

Once you understand your competitors, use the below matrix to decide your competitive strategy. This matrix considers whether your target market is broad or niche and whether you aim to compete on price or value.

Cost Leadership

Compete on price by offering a basic product at a lower cost, attracting price-sensitive customers through economies of scale and reduced production costs.

Differentiation

Stand out with unique, innovative products that justify a premium price, building brand loyalty with customers who prioritize quality and uniqueness.

Follow

Replicate successful products of market leaders at lower prices within a specific niche, targeting a distinct segment with tailored needs.

Focus

Offer high-value, customized products to a specific market segment, meeting unique needs and building a loyal customer base willing to pay for exclusivity and personalization.

By analyzing your competitors through this mobile app market research framework, you can refine your app’s development strategy, focusing on where you can compete most effectively. This comprehensive mobile app market research ensures that you align your app’s unique selling propositions with market demands and competitive dynamics.

5. Conduct interviews with the target audience

Conducting interviews with your target audience is an invaluable step in mobile app market research. These interviews provide direct insights into user needs, preferences, and pain points, helping to validate your app concept and refine its features. 

You can conduct these interviews both online and offline. 

• Online interviews can be done through video calls, surveys, or social media platforms, making it easy to reach a broad audience. 
• Offline interviews, such as face-to-face meetings or focus groups, allow for more in-depth discussions and the ability to observe non-verbal cues.

Example Questions:

• What specific problem do you need a mobile app to solve?
• Which features are most important to you in a mobile app?
• How often do you use similar apps, and what do you like or dislike about them?
• What would make you switch to a new app from one you currently use?
• How much would you be willing to pay for an app that meets your needs?

By asking these targeted questions, you can gather qualitative data that enriches your understanding of your target audience and guides the development process, ensuring your app resonates with users and meets their expectations.

6. Monitor Market Trends and Evolve

The final step in your app development market research is to continuously monitor market trends and evolve your strategy accordingly. Even after launching your app, it’s crucial to stay updated on the latest developments in the mobile app industry. This includes tracking user behavior, competitor activities, technological advancements, and shifts in consumer preferences. By staying vigilant with mobile app market research, you can quickly adapt to changes and maintain your app’s relevance in a dynamic market.

Regularly analyze data from app analytics, industry reports, and user feedback to identify new opportunities and potential threats. This ongoing mobile app market research allows you to refine your app, introduce new features, and optimize your marketing strategies to better meet user needs.

FAQs About App Development Market Research