A lot of people come up with what they think is a great app idea, but only too often it’s not enough to create a successful app. Here are some app market research tips that will help you turn your idea into a popular app.
Niche vs. general audience
The first question you should answer is whether you are going to target a wide audience or a specific niche market. Is your app going to be for pretty much anyone, or will you build it for a specific group of smartphone users? Contrary to what newbie app developers think, targeting a specific niche, or even a micro-niche, can be more profitable than creating a general-purpose app.
The main advantage of targeting a niche is that your app will have the potential to dominate this niche. Do your research carefully and find a niche that has a lot of potential.
Identify App Store trends
But how do you find a profitable niche? Your first stop on this road is the App Charts. Study them for a certain period of time to see what’s going on, what are the trends, and which niches are popular but have relatively low competition at the same time. Make sure to browse your local charts on a regular basis, so that you can target your local market. Remember that it’s a lot easier to get to the top in countries like Australia and the UK rather than try to tackle the massive U.S. app market.
Validate user demand
When you know which niche you want to focus on, you’ll need to make sure your app will actually be wanted by your target audience. Again, you’ll need to study your competition. Some great tools to get App Store insights are AppAnnie, which is useful for checking out how existing apps rank on the App Store, and Xyologic, a tool that can estimate the number of downloads an app is getting.
And last but not least, you should be able to predict the future just a bit so that you can stay ahead your competition.
