How many apps are ‘successful’?

Not many. In fact, barely any at all. According to this Gartner Research study, 0.01%.

Yeah, you read it right, 0.01% success rate. So, basically none. Most apps fail.
Now, if success is learning or growing or losing years of life to stress – maybe you could consider a lot more of these projects successful. But, if the goal of these entrepreneurs was financial gain, they are each considered a loss.

Were these guys underfunded? Did they not have the talent to do the work? Was their message wrong?

What happened and how can you avoid their mistakes?

Low Barrier-to-Entry

ita18fxiblApp development has a low barrier-to-entry, meaning that often times, it doesn’t take a large pocketbook or a well-funded organization with stakeholders with a lot to lose looking in on the project. If it took a minimum of $100,000 to start a new app, I think the number of failures would be significantly lower. Underfunded projects end up being a waste of time and money.
Along with being underfunded, lot of the people starting these businesses have zero business experience. None. They have no idea what it takes to start a business, much less maintain one once it’s built. I’m not sure how many of these apps are being built by people with little or no business expertise, but I have a feeling that definitely plays a huge part in this statistic.

Market Saturation

qm8slocj8mAround 200 apps dominate the market. So, essentially, 20% of the apps out there are taking up 80% of the business. Chances are, your app won’t be the first of its kind on the market and you may end up copying someone else’s idea just to gain entry to the market.

That’s not really an encouraging statistic if you’re looking to add your own app to the mix. In reality, not that many consumers download new apps on a regular basis – in fact, 65.5% of users DON’T download a new app each month.

So what does that mean for you as a developer?

It means you have to know your users and solve a problem!

Consider this:

  • Who is your user?
  • What problem are you trying to solve?
  • Will your app fix the problem?
  • Will users be willing to pay for it?

 

While you may feel that the app is a great idea, take a step back and honestly evaluate it.

Are you creating an app that will solve an actual issue or are you creating an app that you personally would use?

If you’re developing an app solely for your own use, you will probably be surprised at the number of people who don’t want to use it. And if they don’t want to use it, they aren’t willing to pay for it. And if they aren’t willing to pay for it, you’re not going to be bringing in any revenue.

See how that works?

So before you start working on that world-shifting, amazing solution, make sure there is actually a problem that it will solve. Flesh out the problem first, understand it, study it, analyze it. From there, create a solution that doesn’t yet exist. If you start with the solution first and backtrack, you may find that you’re trying to sell a solution to a non-existent problem.

Technical Issues

6uhhe19yg7One of the worst mistakes you can make is to create an app and expect it to work flawlessly from here on out.

NEWS FLASH: THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

Technical issues and bugs are inevitable, so you have to be prepared, financially and temporally, to fix the issues as they arise. Building an app with little to no technical experience is like digging your own grave.
Slow loading times, non-intuitive design and navigation, and general lagging are just a few of the several technical issues that can cost you time, money, and users.

No one will keep an app that doesn’t work or doesn’t work efficiently. It will be deleted as fast as it was downloaded, maybe faster.

Applications don’t build themselves and they don’t fix themselves either. But take note: money fixes everything in development.

So where does that leave you?

All of these issues can be avoided by careful planning and consideration on the front end of your project. So take the time to really think through your business idea model. You may just find that you’re creating something you have no business trying to create.