So you’ve decided to create a wedding app? Great!
This is a worthwhile decision considering the number of weddings that takes place in the United States, Europe, and round the world. For instance, 88% of Americans marry at least once in their lifetime.
There’s an average of 2.1 million weddings every year in the U.S. In fact, about $72 billion is spent on weddings annually in the U.S.
But what does an app have to do with all these?
Many couples are now planning their wedding using technology. According to statistics, 83% of wedding planning is done online. Of this, 42% of the planning is done on a mobile devices while 41% is done via desktop computers.
52% of couples use a wedding planning app while preparing for their wedding. Many couples need apps to solve various problems while planning for the day to walk down the aisle.
But how do you create a great wedding app? Of course, creating a wedding app is not an end in itself. But your app must be able to solve problems that a couple might have during their wedding.
This would include their pre-wedding plans, the wedding day, and the honeymoon.
What are some steps you need to take to build a successful wedding app?
1. Define the app’s function
It’s rare to find an all-in-one wedding app that takes care of every function related to a wedding. Most wedding apps are targeted at a particular function that’s important to the wedding.
Common functions that wedding apps perform are:
- Finding a wedding dress: One of the biggest parts of a wedding event is the dress worn by the couple. It’s a special day and part of the glamor of a wedding day is the dress of the couple.
It’s an attire that will be remembered for a long time. Couples want to make it a joyful memory. Therefore, most couples spend a lot of time and fortune to get their attires right for their big day.
- Wedding ring: One of the most important symbols of a wedding is the wedding ring. In fact, it’s one symbol that continues to be with the couple after the wedding.
The wedding ring is an accessory that will be in constant use for the duration of the marriage. This usually starts with an engagement ring. A wedding app could help the couple make a great choice for their wedding.
- Keep track of wedding guests: Not everybody invited to a wedding ceremony will be able to make it. The most important detail, however, is to know the number of people coming. This helps to plan for catering and souvenirs. It also helps with the sitting arrangements.
- Sitting arrangement: It can be a headache to select where your guests will sit and who will sit beside who. With an app for organizing your sitting arrangement, it’s easy to visualize the number of guests coming to your wedding. You’ll be able to determine the number of tables needed and to prevent sitting problems.
- Wedding Pictures: A wedding is a joyful event. And the joy doesn’t have to end on the wedding day. One way to relive happy memories is through your wedding pictures. With this, couples can feel the happiness all over again even years after the wedding.
You can create a wedding app that enables couples to have all their pictures in one place. This includes pictures taken by their photographer and other guests at the event.
This helps couples to see things they’ve missed during their wedding. Couples can also print these images to have hard copies.
- To-do list: For couples who are getting married for the first time, it’s easy to forget some necessary activities for their wedding. Of course, you’ll remember the wedding event, the wedding dress, and the ring.
But what of the smaller works that need to be done but are easily forgettable? The human brain is great but not perfect. An app that helps couples with a wedding to-do list can serve as a checklist that ensures you miss nothing.
2. State your monetization strategy
This is the age of freemium apps. But that doesn’t mean apps are not making money.
And yours should make it too. After all, your app is making people happy and preserving a joyful memory.
To create your app, you’ll spend money on development costs like hiring a professional app developer, paying for servers, and running and maintaining your app after launching.
This requires a lot of money. And the cost can be heavy if you get thousands or even millions of users on your app.
There are 3 major ways that app creators make money through their apps:
i). Advertising: For most apps that are completely free for the user, they run ads as a monetization strategy.
The money realized from advertisements is used to maintain the app. It’s also used to update its features and employ developers to remove bugs. A report by IHS Markit revealed that in-app native advertisements will generate up to $53.4 billion annually by 2020.
ii). Subscription: For some apps, users have to pay a monthly or annual fee to be able to use premium features of an app. In many of these apps, there’s usually a free version that has basic features.
In some other cases, users may pay a subscription fee to remove ads from their app. This is because ads can interrupt app usage in some cases.
iii). In-app purchases: If you provide wedding services through your app, then the amount realized from users who pay for your service is the profit made from your app.
Likewise, your app may help to connect couples to other service providers they may need for their wedding or honeymoon. You can have an agreement with those service providers to pay you a commission when they get a customer through your app.
No matter what monetization strategy you want to employ, it’s vital to note that your app should be free to download. There should also be a basic version of your app that’s free. Most paying customers will only pay after using and enjoying the free version.
Even the apps making the most money today are free to download. Because that’s what most app users expect today.
3. Hire a professional app developer
To create your wedding app, you need a professional app developer who can bring your beautiful ideas to reality.
After deciding what your app will do and how you’ll monetize it, you need to explain these to a capable developer.
Of course, there are millions of mobile app developers today. Asia alone has 760,000 mobile app developers according to Vision Mobile.
But the professionals are few. Even though a professional developer might charge you more for building your app, they’ll create a great app and deliver your work without delays.
But what are the traits to look out for to know if a developer is a professional or a time waster? What steps do you need to follow to hire the right developer for your mobile wedding app?
i). Check for experience: Just like you would feel nervous to have a fresh doctor out of school perform a liver transplant on you, an inexperienced developer should make you just as nervous.
Because they could kill your app before it even starts growing. To give an app developer serious consideration in developing your app, you need to see their previous jobs.
Which apps have they built in the past?
You should check out these apps. How good is the user interface? Is the app beautiful? Sometimes, having a beautiful app that users can navigate easily is as important as the function of your app. When you see the previous apps a developer has worked on, then you can decide to hire them if you like their previous work.
ii). They must understand your ideas: Before thinking of a developer, you already have an idea of what your app is going to do and the goals you want it to achieve. Is your developer on the same page? Can they repeat these ideas and goals to you without having to read it in a list?
When they have a deep understanding of what your app needs to do, it’ll be easier to implement the right interface and add the necessary features. Likewise, the app can be built for the ideal user.
iii). You should be able to develop a good relationship with your developer: Creating an app will take a lot of time and stress, especially at the development stage. There are also bound to be misunderstandings.
Having a good relationship allow your app development to go on without unnecessary delays. One part of having a good relationship is speaking the same language.
Without good communication, it’s difficult to pass information across effectively and almost impossible to build a good relationship.
Furthermore, the development of an app usually goes beyond the launch date. If your developer bolts after your launch, it becomes difficult to remove bugs. Or you have to hire someone else with no experience of building the app.
A good relationship allows you to continue working with the developer even after launching your app.
iv). Check for the developer’s interest in your app: Does your developer see your work as an opportunity for another payday or to build a spectacular and well-designed app for users? I don’t need to tell you that those two mindsets will produce different outputs.
During your conversation with a developer, you’ll be able to gauge their level of interest. Likewise, the questions they ask will show their level of interest and how committed they’ll be to the project.
v). Agree on a deadline: A project without a deadline can get drawn out for longer than necessary. You must be clear about the deadline for the developer to turn in the finished work. A professional developer will agree to this if it suits their schedule and work towards your deadline.
4. Test your app
After the initial development of your app, you need to test your app to find the possible issues that users might encounter. This is before you launch your app and users complain about your awful app.
Some important aspects of your app to test are:
i). Usability: This test checks the user experience of your app. Are users able to reach the parts of the app necessary for usage? Is the app easy to navigate?
One other thing to check is if the user experience is uniform on all devices and operating systems.
When users find it difficult to use the app, they close it. And probably write a negative review. These are issues that can lead to a low number of downloads.
ii). Functional: This test is performed to ensure that your application is working according to the requirements for the user interface.
iii). Compatibility: For a particular platform, there are many devices with different resolutions and hardware. Your app must be able to adjust to these resolutions without crashing.
iv). Load test: This is to test how your app performs when users load it on their smartphone. Does it have a slow load time? Does it crash during usage? It should also be checked if it crashes due to an interruption like a call. Crashes can make users abandon your app.
v). Consistency: Your app should be consistent with the platform you’re uploading your app to. For instance, users on the Android platform expect some designs common to Android apps while iOS users have the same expectations. While trying to maintain your brand across all platforms, it’s necessary to have the best app for each platform.
Your test could either be manual or automated depending on what you’re testing.
5. Perform beta testing
After your app has passed the initial tests, the alpha test, the next step is to perform beta tests. Your app is now close to the final app as much as possible. You can use Apple TestFlight tool for this exercise if your app is for the iOS platform.
Your beta test could be in either of two forms:
i). Closed beta tests: This includes a small number of people who’ll use your app and give you a feedback on various issues with the app. This could be between 20 to 200 testers.
ii). Open beta tests: This involves a large group of people which could run into thousands. They can give feedback on the user interface and their experience using the app. You can source for testers from the public or people already interested in your brand.
The key with beta testing is to select testers that are similar to your ideal app users when you release your app. In this case, these are future grooms or brides. Or people in their late twenties and early thirties.
6. Launch your wedding app
Now, you have completed most of the work on your wedding app. Even though it’s not perfect, you have to launch it to your intended users. To give your app the widest reach possible, you have to engage in marketing.
According to an InMobi survey, 43% of developers believe marketing is the most challenging part of app creation. Marketing should have started before your app launches.
This involves identifying your ideal users. What is the benefit of your app to them? What is the unique selling proposition of your app? Which websites do they visit online?
The right answers to these questions will help you to reach your ideal users before you launch your app.
After these pre-launch activities, you can submit your wedding app to different app stores and begin a new exciting journey with your app.
Conclusion
To make your app creation successful, there are many steps you need to take. Overlooking any of these steps could pose a big problem when you launch your app.
When you follow the steps outlined in this guide, you’ll have taken the necessary actions to ensure the success of your wedding app.
Do You Wish to Turn Your Wedding Idea into An App? Contact AppDigitally.com Today. We’ll help you!
