How To Come Up With A Mobile App Idea: The Ultimate Guide

Article by: Top app developers

There could be as many as 6.3 billion mobile app users in the world in 2021!

And the app marketplaces are following this trend as well with over 2.57 million apps reported in Google Play app store alone in 2019’s fourth quarter.

These numbers reveal both the huge potential and the fierce competitiveness of the mobile app market.

And, the only way your app idea stands a chance of success in such an environment is if it’s developed methodically and with plenty of forethought.

In this article, we will take a deep look into five steps to take in order to come up with an original and profitable application idea.

We will also discuss, in depth:

What the most common and most popular types of apps are
How to validate the viability of your app idea
How to analyze idea’s market fit and determine app revenue channels
How to protect your application idea from abuse
That’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s begin!

How To Come Up With A Great App Idea In 5 Steps

There may be numerous schools of thought on how to come up with an idea for your app – but there are only several rock-solid advice that work. We will analyze them here.

1. Identify Market Gaps And Consumer Pain Points

Your ideas for a mobile app should develop around the mission of solving users’ specific problems and making their lives simpler.

Plenty of applications that are designed around this idea already exist on the market, so your idea should also focus on how you can do it better than them, with your app.

These user pain points and problems can stem from any area and walk of life, from communication to healthcare.

Identifying what user pain points to base your app idea on will help with defining your target audience later. That’s why it is important to understand that you need to find very specific pain points and focus on them, instead of trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all solution.

So – how can you identify which user pain points to base your app on?

• Look at the apps you use and like with a critical eye: It’s advisable to study the existing mobile apps that are about something you understand well. Are there some weak points they don’t help with? Are some of them underperforming? What would you change to make them better?
• Conduct research: Survey your friends, colleagues and random people online to identify these gaps between what the app market offers and consumers need. Conducting research on your users’ attitudes before the app development will make sure that you build a product that is different from what your competition offers, addressing real pain points that exist in the market.
• Ask the experts: Going directly to app industry veterans and market trends analysts for advice is always an option. These individuals or teams of research specialists have a good overview of what was done in the past and what hasn’t, what has worked and what hasn’t. Their insight will help you understand users’ needs much better.

Resolving each of these steps and understanding what consumer pain points to address with your app will point to a market gap that a well-executed app could fill.

2. Shape Your Business Plan To Establish Your Business’s Purpose

For any enterprise, a business plan is the roadmap of its development and eventual success.

It is a basis on which every facet of your business relies upon and within this business plan, you should outline parameters and stages such as:

• Initial short term goals
• Long term goals
• Growth strategies
• Business vision and mission
• Brand values

Working on these in conjunction with the above-listed user pain points can help identify the business purpose and business goals.

Finding new solutions for achieving your short-term and long-term goals, and looking to implement these solutions into the mobile app development is the key here.

Some of the questions you should ask yourself when defining your business plan – and that will aid your idea brainstorming – are:

• What should my short term and long term business goals be?
• Are these the goals that I can accomplish with an app?
• Which facet of my business and people’s lives will benefit from my app?
• Will the app’s ability to solve the users’ pain points
• What types of features and functionalities should my app have to help me achieve my goals?

3. Follow The Industry Trends To Anticipate Future Needs

The app industry that was yesterday may have already changed today to fit the wants of its demographics and needs of the market.

Having well-defined strategies now is great, but they will not be as effective in the future. And their expiry date is growing shorter as the industry and technology develops.

When you generate your mobile application ideas, they should, ideally, be a reflection of your target market’s current expectations. But as the pursuit of staying up to date with trends is continuous, so should your generating ideas be.

It’s all too easy to find road signs to the latest app trends on the internet.

There is a bounty of information, but – how to avoid being overwhelmed by this overload of insights into industry trends?

Also, not every trend is going to come true or apply to you – so how to make a well-informed decision on which to follow?

Here are a few helpful tips:

• For staying on top of global trends, follow media outlets such as Entrepreneur, Forbes, Trendwatching, TechCrunch and Wired and their expert contributors’ musings on the app market of tomorrow.
• Set up Google Alert for trends that could be more applicable to you and that could have an impact on your own business so you can see how often a trend is mentioned.
• Brainstorm yourself on what kind of apps will be needed in 5 or 10 years’ time. Try to comprehend the future needs of customers and anticipate the change in technology based on current hot topics such as the Internet of Things, augmented reality, wearable tech and blockchain.
• Follow the professional stats and indicators that can help you choose the app category that will be big in the future – such as Statista’s findings on the most popular apps in the App Store.

4. Observe What Your Competition Is Doing To Outperform Them And Be Different

Closing the gaps others have made is often the way to generate ideas and solutions. It’s not always about coming up with completely new concepts from scratch.

There is a certain business strategy that ensures you are always able to catch up with your competitors and outperform them – by replicating what they are doing good. And it’s not about copying someone else.

This tactic is known as a “reactive approach to growth”: as your competition stays on top of the latest trends, upgrades their methods and products and implements all their strategies – you should add your own twist to these by refining them.

Simply put, it’s using competitors’ tactics and methods as a platform upon which to conceive and develop your app idea.

Taking an idea and then morphing it into your own is much harder than it sounds. You need to:

• Examine your competition’s app business strategy to the “T”
• Break it down into smaller components
• Reverse engineer your own app solution

To put yourself in a position to apply this technique, think in terms of these questions:

• What strategies are my competitors using and which are the most successful?
• Which strategies could have worked for them, but haven’t?
• Can I identify gaps and mistakes in their strategies? What are they?
• Can I develop a virtual strategy according to competitors’ experiences, make it better and apply it to my app business idea?

5. Browse Through App Stores For Inspiration

Finally, going directly to the source is never going to be a let-down when looking for new ideas. Study the app categories in App Store and Google Play to find the one where you think you could make a stride with an app solution.

By observing existing app solutions in their “natural habitat” you will get to know them – your competitors better – and find out what solutions they are trying to provide. And whether they are good at it.

Another good source is checking out the lists and charts such as “Top Grossing Apps” or “Apps To Look Out For”. Have successful apps as a criterion for your own when brainstorming mobile application ideas.

Looking at niche categories will also provide valuable insight into the preferences of their target audience in users’ feedback, comments and ratings. Analyze these preferences and expectations carefully – perhaps they’re something you could deliver on?

Likewise, checking out apps’ lists of features, layout and design in screenshots and videos can provide good ground for the development of an app idea.