How to Make a Mobile Application Business Plan: Tips and Template

If a couple of centuries ago in different parts of the world people were in the grip of the Gold Rush, now we can say with confidence that the modern world is completely immersed in mobile fever. Is there at least one person in your environment who does not use a smartphone? We don’t think so. Smartphone sales are growing at lightning speed, and manufacturing companies are investing fabulous sums in mobile technologies, their development and popularization in the market. Mobile development is a very rapidly growing area of ​​programming, as the number of mobile devices significantly exceeds the number of personal computers, and this trend will only grow.

While Elon Musk continues to work on colonizing Mars and chipping the human brain, we continue to use mobile phones everywhere - at work, at school, at home, on vacation …

Games, services, payment systems, aggregators - all this is available on a smartphone. If you are thinking about creating a mobile application that will make a profit, we will share with you a sample business plan for mobile application.

In 2020, companies around the world were forced to adjust to work under lockdown conditions. Using Google you can find the research of Sensor Tower company, based on which it is possible to draw certain conclusions about how the trends and user demand in the world of mobile development have changed.

• Based on eMarketer research nearly 90% of mobile internet time is spent in apps.
• Consumers downloaded 204 billion apps in 2019 and that number continued to grow in 2020 - App Annie.
• According to Statista, most users have more than 10 apps installed on their phones.
• Mobile apps were hit $581.9 billion in revenue in 2020 - Statista.

More interesting mobile statistics you can get in the article Smartphone Addiction Facts & Phone Usage Statistics.

E-commerce Niche

Companies in this industry often use mobile applications in stand-out-from-competitors strategy and grab the user's attention.

Without a mobile app. Johny wants to buy a desk. He grabs his smartphone, writes a search query in a mobile browser, and sees many links with suggestions. He goes through them, looks through the products, compares the offers of different sellers. This month, you did not give contextual advertising, so you did not make it to the first lines of search results. Johny didn't remember about you, and bought a table from your competitors.

With a mobile app. Last year Johny bought a wardrobe and installed your mobile application back then. When he needed a table, he remembered about you, clicked on the icon and found one that suits him. In ten minutes, he placed an order without even thinking that he could look for other options in a mobile browser.

Education Niche

Those who work with students constantly have to use different sources of information, devices and gadgets. The app offers a seamless user experience and saves time on repetitive tasks.

Without a mobile app. A school teacher records the attendance in a journal, after class transfers this data to an Excel spreadsheet on a computer, prepares reports for each student at the end of each month and manually sends them by email to parents.

With a mobile app. The teacher notes attendance in the mobile application. This data is automatically transferred to the school's accounting system and added to the reporting, which is sent to the parents of each student at the appointed time. Instead of many actions, the teacher only needs to note the attendance - everything else happens without the teacher’s participation.

Healthcare Niche

Mobile makes clinics more modern and customer-oriented. A healthcare facility that has a mobile app offers patients a more convenient appointment.

Without a mobile app. Julia had a fever and decided to see a doctor. Having found the clinic's phone number, Julia could not get through there the first time. Closer to the evening she finally succeeded, but the administrator said that the appointment windows with that doctor for tomorrow had already been closed. The lady had to sign up for the next day and in the meantime to self-treat.

With a mobile app. Taking her smartphone, Julia opened the clinic's application and made an appointment online. The application displays the current schedule of doctors, you can see their profiles and competencies, choose a suitable specialist and a convenient appointment time. No need to waste your time first trying to get through to the hospital’s reception and then talking on the phone to the receptionist.

Construction Niche

For construction companies and developers, a mobile app is a way to retain customers and drive them to purchase.

Without a mobile app. A developer has begun to build a new residential complex - they need to sell apartments, and preferably as soon as possible. They make a landing page, spend a couple of millions on context, get some very expensive leads and work with them over the phone. People are usually not ready to buy apartments right away, they need to take some thinking time and be reminded periodically about the purchase opportunity. That will definitely require from the developer more and more effective ways of communication than just a call center.

With a mobile app. Together with the landing page, you can create an application. When the user installs it, the developer will constantly be in touch with them. The company will be able to send push notifications about discounts, invite visitors to view the apartment and show videos from webcams at the construction site. It will also be able to analyze how the user reacts to messages - and make them more unobtrusive and useful. This approach will appeal to potential buyers more than talking to a manager.

Industry Niche

Enterprises use mobile applications for dispatching and operational control so that employees can remotely manage the engineering systems of one or more facilities.

Without a mobile app. The chief electrician at the plant needs to understand when to carry out scheduled repairs of electrical panels in different shops. To do this, he needs to communicate with his subordinates, collect data about the devices from them and enter them into a program on a computer so that it calculates the optimal start date for work.

With a mobile app. The employees in the workshops use the app to regularly update the information on the electrical panels. Through the application, they scan the shield code, noting the date of work and recording what exactly has been fixed. This data is stored on an enterprise server or in the cloud and can be seen in a single report. It is enough for the chief electrician to open it in the accounting program or on a smartphone in order to find out about the condition of all panels at the plant.

Despite the fact that mobile traffic is increasing every year, this does not mean that any company/startup should create its own mobile application. It is important to understand when and why it is needed. To assess the need to develop a mobile application, you should define goals and understand how it can improve your business. Typically, a mobile application is aimed at improving service levels and increasing sales.

Below we are going to sum up the global goals that companies pursue while developing their mobile applications.

Difference from competitors

Using a mobile application, your company/startup can make a unique selling proposition to customers.

Example. The first of the taxi services to abandon the traditional service system was Uber. The company, known all over the world, has developed and implemented a mobile application in its work, where people could order a taxi without long conversations with the operator. Also, other features were introduced into the functionality of the application. Thus, Uber distanced itself from competitors, which largely ensured the company's success in the market.

With regard to any business, you can make a high-quality detachment from competitors by developing a mobile application. However, this should be done very carefully, focusing on the needs of your target audience and the features of the service in your field of activity. If you can make the app a breakthrough one, it will give you a huge advantage in the competition for customers.

Ordering a product/service

Also, a mobile application can simplify the process of selecting and ordering products. This concept is very popular for stores with a large assortment. A person does not need to download a site and search for directories manually. It will be much more convenient to open the application and find everything you need in one place with minimal requirements for the speed of Internet traffic. You can also add the checkout function to this application. If you have a product that has a wide assortment, then it would be more expedient to create a mobile application. This will facilitate the work of your managers, lead to the automation of ordering processes, and also make the customer's interaction with your brand simple and convenient.

Additional service

This kind of application is of great strategic importance. The mobile service is kind of additional, it does not directly stimulate sales growth and neither does it improve service. Yet it can solve minor problems for clients or entertain them. For example, a clothing store might make an app where you generate trends or act as an online stylist. The application can analyze this data and then make you personalized offers, and on the basis of this, you can increase or decrease the range. The service can provide great strategic advantages in the long term.

Proper tasks management

The mobile application can be used as a system for organizing the work of employees. This is especially true in large companies with a large number of employees, when a company/startup has a partner network, franchisees in other regions, etc. In this application, you can maintain organizational issues and other functionality suitable for your business. Employees in the application have their own personal accounts, where they see the necessary information, communicate with other participants in the application, and also leave data on orders, acceptance or sales of goods. This is not just convenient, this is also a good way to standardize intra-organizational processes of employee interaction.

Before you start to choose a platform for a mobile app, you need to decide what is going to be the subject of the future mobile App. For convenience, we highlight three relevant areas:

• gaming applications;
• information and reference (news aggregators, directories, translators, etc.);
• fin-tech application.

Brief description of each of the areas.

Games are very popular, but the competition in this area is very high. Also, not every developer will be able to competently implement a game application and promote it on the Internet. All this makes developing a game for mobile devices a risky idea. You need to have a fresh and thoughtful concept that captivates users, you also need to find a studio with experience in developing mobile games, and be prepared to seriously invest in advertising.

Reference applications also have an extensive user base. Compared to mobile games, the competition in this area is slightly lower and the new idea is easier to break through to popularity. There is less room for extra monetization. Such applications are often quite simple to develop and easy to use with other programs and systems.

Mostly, these are applications that use the API of banks, which allow you to integrate information on services and offers of different banks in one App. The competition is the lowest, but it is quite difficult to create a product that is in demand, as not all banks provide their APIs in the public domain, and the technical and legal subtleties of creating such applications have not been developed. The Fintech sphere is undoubtedly a promising area of ​​mobile development.

After you have decided on the scope of development, you should think about the platform for future application. The main platforms are iOS and Android. The development for each of them has its own characteristics.

Choosing a platform is a key stage in a business plan for developing a mobile application, because the development budget, audience coverage, and also features of developing and promoting your future application depend on this.

After you have decided on the idea, functionality, and platforms on which the future application will work, you need to draw up a competent technical task.

If you do not have programming and web design skills, then to create an application you will need to find a reliable development team.

A mobile app business plan differs from a business plan of conventional projects. Next, we will take a closer look at a detailed mobile app business plan example and its parts that make up a competent business plan for a mobile application. It should include:

The author of the business plan for an app will most likely be yourself. However, in order to avoid mistakes, it is recommended that experts should be involved in the development and promotion of mobile applications in the preparation of a business plan for a mobile application. Employees of our company have significant experience in developing applications for Android and iOS, as well as promoting them, so they can act as reviewers of your document.

We can also help you in formulating the goal of your project, which means that when you order the development of a mobile application at Geniusee, our employees already clearly understand the guidelines that we put in the basis of the project. As a result, you will receive a high-quality and successful business plan sample for mobile application and a product that fully satisfies the needs of your users and brings you profit.

The cost of creating an application depends on many factors, for example, on the number of screens, the complexity of the design, integration with third-party services and systems, and differentiation of access rights.

You can use the service for estimating the cost of developing an application - here.

The promotion of a mobile application is a separate issue that requires a budget and time. Often the promotion is the studio that developed the application. The cost and terms of promotion, in this case, depend on the terms of the contract.

Creating an application is undoubtedly worth it if you want it, and if you try, you can secure yourself a good income.

Stick to certain criteria. You do not need to chase the most advanced graphics, but it is better to put more effort into the idea because the more interesting and exciting your application will be, the more income, the number of downloads, app visits and returns you will have. This directly affects the place in rating in IOS and Android app stores.