Going live with a new mobile app usually starts out sluggish, BUT, knowing how to get ahead of the curve will help your organization maximize your investment.
Projecting how you foresee a maximum ROI (return on investment) in the early stages of development will help you build and guide your mobile app into the valuable investment you envision.
Here are some things to nail down with your team during the app’s conception stage to help you achieve your ROI goals:
- Have a launch date/time in mind. Planning today will pay off tomorrow. Setting a launch date and sticking to it will really pay off. Plan to launch in conjunction with a milestone such as your organization’s anniversary, an annual event, incoming of a new set of board members, or in combination with other innovative deliverables.
- Always have your users in mind. Think about your audience and how they will find value in your new mobile app. Consider how the app will save your members time, provide them with easier access to more pertinent information, allow them the ability to make the app theirs by having customizable/configurable features.
- Market, market, market! Get the word out. By building early excitement with your members, and nonmembers, your launch day will be much more successful. Creating personalized messages about upcoming events or membership renewals will help your members become engaged. Allow your members early access to the app. Send a round of emails for opting in early. Make announcements and provide reminders about the app during your ongoing events. Keep your members updated on the app development progress. Get speaker, board member and staff buy-in to help with marketing.
- Know your end goal and make it measurable. Identifying 2-3 actions you want your users to be able to achieve by using your app will allow you to gauge your ROI and see the real success of your app. This is the most important part. Nailing down where there is a need gives you a baseline for comparison. Once the app launches you will be able to see how users are better able to accomplish these critical actions and then you can compare the results to the original baseline process.
After months of hard work, development, customizations and eventually a launch of your mobile app, it is now time to reap the rewards!
