Creating a minimum viable product (MVP) is a commonly used approach for app development. This method involves developing a simple version of the product, launching it to the market, and collecting feedback from users to confirm the idea’s validity. Unfortunately, many startups fail within the first few years of operation. By starting with an MVP, companies can iterate and improve their product, increasing the chances of success in the market.
The MVP approach focuses on developing the key features that are absolutely essential for a product to work well and deliver value to its users. By including only the necessary features, you can ensure that users can easily benefit from the application without feeling overwhelmed or confused by too many unnecessary extras. This approach helps to reduce risk and increase your return on investment.
Sometimes less is more, and creating an MVP will:
Reduce iterations and rework.
Solidify the product’s core value proposition.
Allow for customer feedback.
Address the product’s most important features and functionalities.
The goal of an MVP is to provide immediate value while minimizing development costs. Creating an MVP is highly beneficial in ensuring that your product lands well while addressing the core needs of your user base. Taking in customer feedback allows for a future powerful launch into the market.
Benefits of an MVP Approach
Building a full-fledged product without validating its market potential can be risky and costly. When business founders were questioned about what they wished they’d done differently when starting their businesses, 58% said they would have conducted more market research before launching.
An MVP approach allows you to test your business concept and gather early feedback from your user base. Incorporating feedback into the iterative development process results in higher effectiveness and cost savings. With an MVP development process, you can test your product’s viability and spot potential issues.
Simpler products are easier and less expensive to design, build, and maintain. An MVP reduces the risk of failure and helps developers get it right early on without learning things the “hard way.”
Many enterprise companies and well-known apps have used an MVP process. Take Airbnb, for example. It all started with two roommates looking to earn some cash. They started out offering their bedroom as a bed and breakfast. They soon realized that their idea could be something big. They turned to Craigslist to test their MVP and find potential customers to offer their homes. The rest is history. Airbnb reported Q4 revenue of an estimated $859 million in 2020, regardless of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
An MVP framework allows developers to target shortcomings and hone their products. By increasing their chances of achieving a product-market fit, businesses can save themselves from costly investments in a product that might not succeed in the market.
Cost Savings
Developing an MVP allows businesses to focus on the essential features while reducing developmental costs in the process. Instead of high investment costs in building a fully-fledged product, agile development allows for significant savings and building efficiency. Sometimes, an entire app must be revamped, or core issues need to be addressed. An MVP framework saves developers valuable time and money.
Faster Time to Market
Launching an MVP early allows businesses to enter the market quickly and generate revenue. This offers a competitive advantage by being first to market while allowing businesses to iterate and perfect their product.
Customer Validation
It’s a simple equation: satisfied customers equal a thriving business. It really does come down to the customer’s satisfaction with the product and meeting their needs and preferences. By releasing an MVP to real-time users, businesses can validate their product ideas and ensure that their product is useful, valuable, and smooth. You can then use this feedback to refine your product, delight, and wow your target audience.
Identify Market Fit
It’s important to determine if there is a market fit for your product. By considering user feedback and analyzing usage data, businesses can assess whether their product meets the target market’s needs and adjust their strategy accordingly.
Reduced Risk
Developing an MVP reduces the risk of investing significant time and resources into a product that may not resonate with users or meet market demands. By testing the concept’s viability early on, businesses can decide whether to proceed with full-scale development or pivot their strategy.
Example
Let’s consider a social media app. Launching an MVP with essential features may be an effective strategy instead of investing months or even years in developing a complete product. The app developer can refine and add features based on user preferences by collecting initial feedback. This iterative process ensures that the app meets the needs of its target audience while minimizing development costs and time to market.
MVP vs. Clickable Prototype
A clickable prototype is a visual representation of a software application or website, typically in the form of a wireframe that displays a design. A product prototype is designed to test a product’s user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) concept and functionality without yet being released. To the user, it functions similarly to an app, and they can click on different areas and advance to the next page.
MVP
Benefits: It is a powerful tool to test different user cases, create specific features, and test them with real clients.
Drawbacks: MVPs take longer to build, are more pricey than clickable prototypes, and tend to be more complex.
Clickable Prototype
Benefits: Highly cost-effective and low-risk.
Drawbacks: It’s not fully functional, lacks full-fledged features, and doesn’t have the same effect as a usable app. The user‘s level of engagement and feedback is more limited than with an MVP.
Limitations of a Clickable Prototype
Lean Startup, Agile, & MVP
Enterprises and consumer-facing web companies have recently adopted a new framework for developing technology. This new development framework has countless names—lean startup, agile development, rapid release, MVP, iterative deployment, data-driven design, and more. Fundamentally, they all involve gathering data from users and using innovative development techniques to inform product decisions.
The common thread is that lean startup, agile, and MVP do not rely solely on the developer’s intuition. Instead, they involve user input to create a more specific application.
Lean Startup
A lean startup is most commonly used to introduce a new product for an already existing company. The demand already exists, and there is already market interest once the app is released. The concept of a lean startup is building off a current demand rather than hoping to create demand. Lean startups build their product based on the desires of the market. This is beneficial because, as CB Insights reports:
Over 30% of startups fail because there are no market requirements or interest for their products.
Agile Development
Agile development is a broad term that encompasses project methodologies that use a flexible and iterative approach. It is a smart and innovative way to scale a product. Often, it is the slow and steady approach, building upon what works, that wins the race and enables sustainable growth.
Companies that encourage an agile approach tend to see their teams achieve breakthroughs and innovate at a faster pace.
MVP
MVP incorporates both agile and lean startup methodologies into its method. An MVP approach is focused on gathering user feedback and addressing the core functionalities of the product instead of building a full-fledged product.
Amazon is an incredibly popular service. But did you know that Amazon started with an MVP idea? In 1990 Jeff Bezos saw predictions of the internet to experience 2,300% online business growth. He had an idea of building “a bookstore online” along with a few other select products. When he founded Amazon, he started off with a straightforward process of selling books and sending them directly from the distributor to the customer. Today Amazon is the world’s 2nd largest retailer.
Think Big, Start Small
Building an MVP
“Occasionally, I’ve seen people who come in feeling like experts in the problem space. They’re domain experts. When they come to us, they often feel like they know exactly what users are going to want in that space. What I’ve seen over and over again is that once an app is released and it’s in the hands of real users in their industry, they’re often surprised by the things that users find important or valuable that may be different from what their original vision is.”
—BRAD WEBER, CEO | INSPIRINGAPPS, BOULDER CO
Best Way To Create an MVP
MVP allows you to tackle smaller portions and iteratively develop an improved product that hits the mark for your target audience.
We’ve consolidated the MVP creation process into three simple steps:
Determine your core business needs.
What’s your long-term goal for your MVP?
Why are you undertaking this project? What needs to be solved here?
Determine how your MVP can best provide value and solve customer pain points.
Determine the pros/gains and cons/losses of each action.
Choose which features to create.
Finalize which features are most important to create.
Analyze previous data to determine your product priorities.
Make a final decision on what must be included in your MVP.
When developing an MVP, certain decisions made during the early stages can have long-lasting consequences and prove challenging to reverse once the product is launched. Choices regarding the technology stack, UX/UI and design, data model, core features, monetization strategy, and branding can become deeply embedded and difficult to alter post-launch.
To avoid being stuck with irreversible decisions, be sure to plan carefully, conduct market research, and incorporate a flexible approach during development to set a solid foundation for future iterations.
Understanding Your Target Audience
An MVP builds a relationship with your customers sooner, enabling you to help you create a better and smarter product. Identifying the target audience is a foundational step in the product development process. Understanding who your product is intended for ensures that resources are allocated effectively and that the product addresses the specific needs of the intended users.
By knowing your target audience, you can tailor features, design, and functionality to resonate with their expectations, leading to higher conversion rates. Identifying the target audience empowers product development teams to create solutions that truly make a difference and forge meaningful connections with the people who matter most—your customers.
Spotify is an example of that. As a leader in the industry, Spotify recognized an opportunity to allow music lovers to stream music. They included influential music bloggers as beta testers. They launched an MVP perfectly aligned with their target audience—music enthusiasts who we’re looking forward to having the entire world’s music in one app. Bingo! A match made in heaven.
Developing Your Core Features & Functionalities
Crafting your core features and functionalities requires strategic thought leadership driven by insights and foresight. Through market research and customer feedback, you can asses which features to prioritize. Simplicity and efficiency are key while building a lean version of the product.
Iterating, testing, and validating each feature ensures it aligns with the target audience’s requirements. Keeping the development agile allows room for flexibility and improvements based on user insights. By crafting a minimal but impactful MVP, you can efficiently launch the product and gather valuable data for future iterations and enhancements.
With a strong focus on resource efficiency, you can handpick the essential elements that will form the backbone of your product, ensuring a lean and agile foundation.
Testing With Real Users To Validate Your Product Idea
Building an MVP also enables you to get honest user feedback on your product before you’ve invested a lot of money building something that wasn’t quite right. Even the best market research isn’t as good as a trial with your user base.
Testing with real users to validate your product idea for an MVP is an indispensable step on the road to success. By putting your creation in the hands of actual users, you gain invaluable insights into its usability, functionality, and market fit.
Taking into account customer feedback allows you to identify pain points, spot any mishaps, and make data-driven decisions for future iterations. Adapting, refining, and reshaping your MVP based on real-world experiences will ultimately determine its effectiveness. Through this impactful testing process, you can fortify your product’s foundations and ready it to take on the world.
Iterative Process After First Release
Cost Considerations for an MVP Project
“A common pitfall might be to lose sight of what you really want to build and focus more on the tertiary things that may not be the biggest bang for the buck or what you want to get out first. I think defining a realistic budget is important. I think that‘s something that we work through with our clients. We offer some really good options for clients as far as ways that they can get their budget and maybe satisfy things without cutting the cost to the point where they get an app that‘s just not usable for them or doesn‘t meet any of their needs.”
—STACY GRIFFIN, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS | INSPIRINGAPPS, BOULDER CO
When working on an MVP project, it’s important to budget for the product. As discussed earlier in the article, there are many cost-effective benefits to doing so. By being mindful of costs, you can make your project sustainable and save valuable time and resources. This will ultimately increase your product’s chances of success in a competitive market.
Development Costs vs. Development Time
To streamline the development of your product, it’s important to prioritize the key features of your idea. This can save you time and resources while allowing you to test the concept without investing too heavily in features that may not be popular in the market.
Keeping Costs Low Without Compromising Quality
By focusing on what truly matters, you can avoid unnecessary work on peripheral features that may not add significant value to the MVP. This enables your team to optimize their time and resources toward perfecting core functionality and UX. As a result, you can build a high-quality MVP.
Balancing Short-Term Costs Against Long-Term Benefits
Through collaboration and working together, you truly can achieve anything. By inviting your customers into the development process early on, you can target potential problems, tweaks, and successes from the get-go. With data insights and feedback, you can refine and create innovative solutions to knock your product out of the park. By partnering with your user base, you can reduce costs and effort in the long term.
Like many startups, monkii.co had a fixed budget for app creation. To meet their budget, InspiringApps recommended creating an MVP to get an app into monkii hands quickly. InspiringApps also recommended building the app on only one platform initially to get feedback from monkiis to guide future enhancements of the Android app. After only a few weeks of availability in both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store, the monkii app has been downloaded over 5,000 times in over 50 countries. It has earned 5-star ratings and excellent reviews.
MVP App Development: Concluding Thoughts
Our customers are the domain experts. When they come to us, they often feel like they know exactly what users will want. But we’ve seen repeatedly that once an app is released and it’s in the hands of real users in a client-specific industry, clients are often surprised by what users find important or valuable. That may be different from what their original vision was.
Just because users love your clickable prototype doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll love the app. Sometimes there’s functionality that is hard to introduce in prototypes; it’s hard to represent varying workflows. And that’s what that MVP really can help you do.
What you need at the end is always a little bit more. By keeping the scope small, you also keep the cost of adjustments down. Developing apps isn’t a one-and-done scenario. You’ll want to make updates based on user feedback. And so, again, the MVP approach is the best way to keep costs down.
InspiringApps has decades of experience building mobile products and MVPs for startups and enterprise clients. We can build your next dream product—starting with a successful MVP. An experienced agile app developer will give you the wings needed for your idea to soar high.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is MVP development?
An MVP is a product development strategy where a basic product version is created and released to the market to gather user feedback and validate the concept. This approach focuses on building the core features necessary for the product to be functional and deliver value to its users. An MVP acts as a starting point for iteration and improvement, ensuring that the final product meets customer needs and achieves success in the market. The goal of an MVP is to provide immediate value, minimize development costs, and gather data and feedback that can be applied to improve future iterations.
What are the benefits of MVP minimum viable product to startups and other businesses?
Overall, an MVP approach offers numerous benefits, including cost-effective development, faster time to market, validation of product ideas, continuous improvement, and risk mitigation. By starting with an MVP, businesses can gather valuable feedback, enhance their understanding of the target audience, and build a successful, user-centric product.
What are the advantages of an MVP over a prototype?
Unlike prototypes, MVPs can be tested in real environments, fostering meaningful interactions and helping to refine the product iteratively based on actual user needs and behaviors. By incorporating user feedback from an early stage, MVPs reduce the risk of building a product that doesn’t meet customer expectations and increase the likelihood of creating a successful and viable solution.
What is the importance of MVP testing?
By releasing an MVP to a select group of users, businesses can gather invaluable insights into its functionality, usability, and overall value proposition. This early testing phase allows for rapid iteration and improvements based on real user feedback, reducing the risk of building a product that doesn’t meet market demands. It helps identify potential issues or shortcomings, validate assumptions, and understand user behaviors. By embracing an iterative approach through MVP testing, businesses can refine their offerings and align them closely with user needs, ultimately increasing the likelihood of long-term success.
What are the three features of MVP?
Minimalism: MVPs are designed with the bare minimum features required to address the core problem or deliver the main value proposition. By focusing only on essential functionalities, development time and resources are optimized, allowing quicker iteration and feedback collection.
Viability: An MVP must be viable and functional despite being minimalistic. It should be capable of providing real value to its users and fulfilling its intended purpose. This ensures the product is usable and useful enough to attract early adopters and gather meaningful feedback.
Testing & Learning: The primary purpose of an MVP is to learn from user interactions and feedback. It serves as a testing ground to validate assumptions, gather insights, and understand user behavior and preferences. The feedback collected during this phase informs further product development, enabling iterative improvements and enhancements based on actual user needs.
What are the success factors of the MVP?
The success factors of an MVP can be summarized as follows:
Clear Purpose: A well-defined purpose and problem statement that the MVP aims to solve, ensuring a focused and targeted approach.
Minimal Features: Inclusion of only essential features necessary to demonstrate the product’s value proposition, reducing development time and costs.
User-Centricity: A strong focus on understanding and addressing user needs, ensuring the product resonates with the target audience.
Rapid Iteration: The ability to gather user feedback quickly and iterate on the product based on insights gained.
Measurable Metrics: Identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) to track and measure the MVP’s success.
Real-World Testing: Testing the MVP in a real environment to observe real user behavior and validate assumptions.
Adaptability: Being open to pivot or change direction based on user feedback and market demands.
Time & Resource Management: Efficiently allocating time and resources to develop and launch the MVP.
Stakeholder Alignment: Ensuring all stakeholders understand the MVP’s purpose and are aligned with the goals.
Market Validation: Validating the product’s market fit and potential demand through user feedback and adoption.
By adhering to these success factors, businesses can increase the likelihood of creating an impactful MVP that serves as a solid foundation for future product development and success.
What are the types of MVP launches?
Businesses can consider several types of MVP launches, depending on their goals and resources. Some common types of MVP launches include:
Concierge MVP: In this approach, the product is manually operated behind the scenes by the development team, simulating the experience of a fully automated product. It allows businesses to understand user needs and behaviors while avoiding extensive development costs initially.
Wizard of Oz MVP: Similar to the concierge MVP, the Wizard of Oz MVP gives the illusion of a fully functional product, but the team manually operates certain parts. This approach helps validate the product concept before investing in full development.
Landing Page MVP: A landing page is created to showcase the product’s value proposition and collect user interest through sign-ups or pre-orders. This approach tests market demand and helps gauge potential interest in the product.
Explainer Video MVP: Businesses create a video demonstrating how the product will work and its benefits. This allows for feedback and gauging user interest without fully building the product.
Prototype MVP: While not a fully functional product, a prototype gives users a tangible representation of the product’s appearance and key features. This can be valuable for early feedback and testing assumptions.
Piecemeal MVP: In this approach, only specific components or modules of the product are developed as an MVP, providing partial functionality. This helps test critical features and gather feedback without a full product release.
Single-Feature MVP: The MVP focuses on one core feature of the product, showcasing its value to users. This approach helps validate the most crucial aspect of the product before further development.
Pre-Order MVP: Businesses offer pre-orders for the product, allowing them to assess market demand and gather funds for development before fully launching.
Crowdfunding MVP: Crowdfunding platforms are used to showcase the product idea and gain financial support from backers. This validates the product’s appeal and generates funding for development.
Limited Beta Release: One strategy for releasing a product is to first launch it to a small group of early adopters or beta testers. This allows for feedback to be gathered and areas for improvement to be identified before a full-scale release.
Each MVP launch type has advantages and suits different situations, but the common goal is to validate the product idea, gather user feedback, and inform future development decisions.
What are the key principles of an MVP?
The key principles of an MVP are:
Minimalism: An MVP should have the minimum set of features required to address the core problem or deliver the main value proposition. Avoid unnecessary complexities and focus on the essentials to expedite development and gather feedback efficiently.
Fast Iteration: The MVP development process should prioritize speed and agility. Rapidly build, test, and iterate based on user feedback to improve the product continuously.
User-Centricity: Place the user at the center of the MVP’s design and development. Understand user needs, pain points, and behaviors to create a product that resonates with the target audience.
Validating Assumptions: An MVP serves as a tool to validate assumptions and hypotheses about the product’s viability and market fit. Gather real-world data and user feedback to make informed decisions.
Fail Fast, Learn Fast: Embrace failures and treat them as valuable learning opportunities. If an idea doesn’t work, pivot quickly to explore alternative solutions.
Focus on Learning: The primary objective of an MVP is to learn from real user interactions and feedback. Use data-driven insights to guide subsequent product development.
Prioritize Key Metrics: Identify and track KPIs that align with the MVP’s objectives. Measure the product’s success based on these metrics.
Early User Engagement: Involve users from the outset to gain insights and create a sense of ownership in the product. Engaging users early can lead to a more successful product launch.
Resource Optimization: Use available resources effectively. Avoid investing excessive time and money in non-essential features until they are validated by user feedback.
Stakeholder Collaboration: Ensure alignment and collaboration among all stakeholders, including developers, designers, marketers, and business leaders, to achieve a common goal.
By adhering to these key principles, businesses can develop and launch an MVP that effectively validates their product idea, reduces risks, and maximizes the chances of creating a successful and valuable solution for users.
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at fastcompany.com.
About Fidelity National Financial
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF) is a leading provider of title insurance and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries. FNF is the nation’s largest title insurance company through its title insurance underwriters—Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Commonwealth Land Title, Alamo Title, and National Title of New York— that collectively issue more title insurance policies than any other title company in the United States. More information about FNF can be found at fnf.com.
About InspiringApps
App development that makes an impact. InspiringApps builds digital products that help companies impact their employees, customers, and communities. Yes, we build web, mobile, and custom apps, but what we offer is something above and beyond that. What we offer is inspiration. Our award-winning work has included 200+ apps since the dawn of the iPhone. Our core values: integrity, respect, commitment, inclusivity, and empathy. Our guarantee: finish line, every time, for every project. Get in touch at hello@InspiringApps.com.
We’ve written about market considerations for app development, noting the importance of defining your product vision and objectives before launching into any technical work. One of the most critical items to pinpoint is your target user—the person for whom your app solves a problem or meets a need.
In this post, we are exploring top considerations when developing apps for Gen Alpha. We’ll also highlight key background and behavioral factors that inform those considerations.
Who are Gen Alpha kids?
Gen Alphas are currently teenagers or younger. Addressing Gen Alpha’s need for digital technology means creating tailored experiences for a young demographic. Already seen as a generation of brilliant innovators, Gen Alphas are meant for great accomplishments and entrepreneurial endeavors.
The Largest Future Generation
Generation Alpha is a term coined by demographer Mark McCrindle in 2013. Born in the 21st century from 2010-2025, Gen Alphas are the “children of Millennials.” However, according to McCrindle’s research, Generation Alpha will surpass Millennials in size—numbering more than two billion by 2025—making them the largest generation in history.
Educated & Entrepreneurial
Gen Alphas like to think out of the box and are technologically savvy. Furthermore, Generation Alpha values social justice and social responsibility. They’re more informed and globally connected. This will result in Gen Alphas starting a business earlier than the generations before them.
Device & AI Connected
Experiencing a global pandemic has only exacerbated feelings of isolation and numbness surrounding tech. Gen Alphas were thrust into a world of digital technology from their birth—and once COVID hit, Gen Alpha kids turned to their mobile devices for solace and authentic connections.
Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly popular with Gen Alphas. Technologies like Siri and Alexa are common household names.
How is the digital world shaping Generation Alpha kids?
Digital Skills
Gen Alphas grew up in an app-first world where technological advancements were integrated into every aspect of their lives. Unlike previous generations, Gen Alpha was immersed in technology from the start. Screentime is at an all-time high. Gen Alphas are creating a massive shift in how they view and interact with the world. Beyond digital natives, Gen Alpha has all the world’s knowledge at their fingertips, in real time.
Generation of Consumers
According to experts, Gen Alpha will become consumers at a young age. As future consumers across a digital divide, Generation Alphas will expect a flawless, tailored, and straightforward user experience.
The Role of Millennial Parents
Millennial parents’ preferences and values heavily influence app development for the Alpha Generation. App developers that understand the importance of creating apps that align with Millennial parents’ desires will be more successful in reaching their Gen Alpha (kid) customers.
Millennial parents have safety concerns for their children, and enabling parental control and age restrictions is paramount. Millennials have grown up exploring technology like search engines and social networking apps—they tend to be more hands-on, technologically apt, and overall less trusting compared to Generation Alpha and Generation Z.
While Millennial parents are the decision-makers in terms of purchasing decisions, Gen Alphas also strongly influence their parents’ buying decisions. Finding ways of engaging kids and caregivers alike allows for better success of your app. Creating ethical and empowering experiences can help your app gain loyalty from Gen Alphas and their parents.
Technical Considerations for Gen Alpha Apps
Personalized Experiences
Gen Alpha is acclimated to personalized experiences—from targeted ads to personalized content. Developers should consider incorporating personalized features into their app designs. Gen Alphas need to be able to express their individuality and creativity within an app. Developers can use existing tools like Youtube or TikTok to optimize app engagement and reach a specific target audience.
Interactive Social Media Campaigns
What better way to introduce a new marketing concept than with an experiential and interactive campaign? Experiential marketing provides a memorable experience and helps to reach Generation Alpha kids. Interactive social media campaigns can help developers hit the mark and pique the interest of this user group.
Source: Adobe
A great example of a creative social media campaign: Apple’s #ShotOniPhone. Apple wanted to show off its new iPhone 13 Pro camera capabilities. Users were encouraged to share their photos on Instagram and Twitter using the hashtags #ShotOniPhone and #iPhoneMacroChallenge. Judges chose 10 winners, later used in digital campaigns and other marketing efforts. The campaign garnered more than 26 million posts on Instagram from the two hashtags alone.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed how we interact with technology and is an essential tool in app building for Gen Alpha. Using AI in app development empowers developers to create smarter, more intuitive, personalized applications that enhance user satisfaction.
AI can enhance various aspects of an app, such as user experience, personalization, and automation.
AI enables apps to learn from user behavior through machine learning algorithms, resulting in intelligent recommendations and tailored content.
AI-powered automation can streamline processes, improve efficiency, and optimize app performance by automating repetitive tasks and decision-making.
High-Quality Design
Following these design principles, developers can create high-quality apps that engage, delight, and captivate Gen Alpha users:
Apps for Gen Alpha should be intuitive—simple navigation, a minimalistic design, and gamification features.
Incorporate vibrant and captivating visuals, including appealing graphics, illustrations, and animations, to grab and hold their attention.
Maintain consistency and simplicity in the design language throughout the app, ensuring a cohesive experience that is easy for young users to understand.
Ensure the app is regularly updated and maintained for optimal performance and to address user feedback.
Accessibility & Inclusivity
Much like Gen Z, Generation Alpha will care deeply about social justice. Billions of Gen Alphas are exploring the technical landscape. Apps have the potential to empower, delight, and transform Gen Alpha kids’ lives.
Prioritize accessibility by making the app inclusive for children with diverse abilities, supporting adjustable font sizes, voiceover capabilities, and alternative input methods.
Strive for inclusive content representation by featuring diverse characters, stories, and perspectives.
By embracing accessibility and inclusivity, app developers can ensure that all Gen Alpha users can fully participate and benefit from the app’s offerings.
Screen Time Limits
Gen Alpha is a generation flooded with stimuli in daily life. Find ways to bring more harmony and value to Gen Alpha’s lives. Developers should consider ways to limit and monitor screen time in their apps.
Implement features encouraging mindfulness, such as reminders to take breaks, guided meditation sessions, or suggestions for offline activities.
Develop apps with low screen time usage to avoid overstimulation for this age range.
By designing apps with Generation Alpha’s prolific access to technology in mind, developers can help users strike a healthier balance between digital experiences and other aspects of their lives.
App Development Empowers Generations
Creating apps for the Alpha generation can be rewarding and impactful. As an app development company, we understand that developers who take the time to understand this unique generation can scale their apps to higher heights.
Ultimately, it all comes down to the demographic you’re trying to reach with your app. Considering their unique perspectives, you can build technology that invites and inspires an entire generation.
In a previous article, Designing Apps for Every Generation, we explored the profound influence of collective generational experiences and values on shared motivations, preferences, and expectations regarding technology usage. In this article, we will uncover key insights into the opportunities and challenges that product owners face when developing apps for Baby Boomers. Additionally, we provide our specific recommendations to consider implementing within products.
Despite preconceived notions of “Boomers being Boomers,” Boomers are not as old-fashioned as they are made to be. They are avid tech users, have a great pulse on current events, and are highly pragmatic and efficient. They are currently the nation’s largest living generation, with high buying power. This demographic poses a great opportunity for app developers to explore, with considerable untapped potential.
Who are Baby Boomers?
Undermarketed Digital Adopters
Baby Boomers, born between 1946-1964, have experienced a remarkable evolution of technology in their lifetime. Baby Boomers are currently the largest generation. They’re working longer hours and delaying retirement. They have the most considerable spending power and disposable income of any generation.
Despite the app market honing in on users in younger generations, Boomers are avid tech users with a significant online presence. Their digital integration only continues to expand as time passes, and businesses have plenty of opportunity to leverage it.
“The Boomers have always embraced science and technology and are using today’s internet-linked products to enrich their lives by staying connected, socializing, shopping and entertaining themselves.” —The Nielsen Company & BoomAgers LLC
There is certainly untapped potential to be explored with this ambitious generation.
Boomers as Consumers
COVID advanced the digital transformation of Boomers, so much so that Boomers engage with shopping apps as much as younger generations—but at a higher price point. Boomers adopted technology in their lives, first out of, then means for connection. They now prefer digital services such as curbside pickup, telehealth, online purchases, and loyalty programs.
According to the New York Post, Boomers are the fastest adopters of smart tech:
Sixty-six percent immediately acclimated to their smart devices.
Eighty-five percent considered themselves experts with their devices within a week of getting them all set up.
Two-thirds started using their devices “right away.”
Recommendations: Developing Apps for Baby Boomers
We’re breaking down some development considerations to remember when building apps that will be marketed toward Baby Boomers:
Embrace tech friendliness.
Support device and operating system (OS) preferences.
Tailor content and experience.
Anticipate shorter sessions.
Support your Boomer users.
Embrace Tech Friendliness
Boomers expect apps to be approachable, reputable, and easy to use. Older generations are often less likely to be as app savvy as their younger counterparts; they formerly preferred TV and radios over mobile phones.
Ever since COVID, technology has become increasingly prevalent in their lives. Boomers are becoming more acclimated with tech options in their lives. The majority of Boomers report using more digital technology to accomplish daily tasks than if the pandemic hadn’t happened. They look to tech for solutions to their ailments and needs.
Design Considerations
Because Boomers are less mobile-friendly, make the app easy on their senses:
Keep the user interface and layout simple and include only viable and informative features.
Incorporate features and user interface (UI) elements like larger buttons, bigger fonts, and more hand-holding with customer service assistance.
Consider incorporating design principles into your app driven by data-based insights on this generation’s user preferences and needs.
Consider working with app developers who have extensive experience developing apps for Baby Boomers.
Example: Fitbit
Take Fitbit—the company became a household name and top in the industry while gearing its product primarily toward Baby Boomers. Their top-selling fitness trackers hone in on a high area of interest (health and fitness), are easy to configure, and are an easy company to interact with. Fitbit continues to have a competitive advantage in the fitness tracker space.
Support Device & OS Preferences
Boomers may be less likely to iterate on previous device purchases and are less apt to adopt sweeping feature changes. As such, make your app practical and reliable across new releases.
Baby Boomers may be less inclined to upgrade or switch their devices than younger generations. They might be more cautious about adopting new technologies or prefer to stick with what they already know.
By keeping your app practical, reliable, and compatible across new releases and actively involving Baby Boomers in the testing and feedback process—you can create an app that aligns with their preferences and fosters a beneficial user experience.
Tailor Content & Experience
Tailor enterprise apps and overall user experience to meet Boomers’ specific needs and preferences. Identify patterns and preferences unique to this generation. Above all, keep apps informative, safe, and practical.
Relevant & Meaningful Content
When using technology as a means to an end, Baby Boomers will adopt digital products that help them achieve their goal or provide a needed feature. Provide content that resonates with Baby Boomers’ interests and life stages. Focus on health and wellness, retirement planning, financial management, caregiving, hobbies, travel, and social connections.
Practical Language
The best products deliver pragmatic solutions that users seek, accompanied by a straightforward experience. Use straightforward and jargon-free language to ensure your content is easily understood. Avoid complex technical terms or acronyms that may be unfamiliar to Baby Boomers.
Security & Privacy
Baby Boomers may have concerns about privacy and data security. Build trust by clearly communicating the measures you have in place to protect their information. Use secure authentication methods, encrypt data, and outline your privacy policy in a transparent and easily accessible manner.
Speaking To Their Needs
Baby Boomers are looking for apps that fill a need in their lives and provide them with means for connection. They are less likely to download an app out of curiosity and more likely to use apps or smart devices that serve a purpose in their life. What that means for app developers is identifying this generation’s underlying needs and finding innovative ways to address those needs.
Anticipate Shorter Sessions
Because this audience will choose digital products that work for them, you can anticipate shorter user cycles and less time spent in-app or on a device than their younger cohorts. However, Baby Boomers may allot more time regarding long-form content.
The trade-off? Customer loyalty. Anticipate shorter user cycles and less in-app time but high app loyalty. They tend to be loyal customers of apps that enhance their lives and foster connection. Conducting user research, gathering feedback, and continuously improving the app based on their needs and preferences is key to maintaining loyalty among Baby Boomer users.
Support Your Boomer Users
Providing reliable customer support channels, such as responsive email support or phone assistance, can go a long way in building loyalty. Being “old fashioned” in communication styles, Baby Boomers appreciate having access to human assistance when they encounter issues or have questions about the app.
Customer support is key. Like most app users, Boomers want the ability to get needed resources efficiently, but those expectations may vary depending on the individual. By providing a variety of clear pathways for support, you can ensure all users have the tools to adopt innovations.
Conclusion: The Future Is Digital for Every Generation
Understanding all the nuances when developing apps for Baby Boomers is important because this generation will continue integrating technology into their daily lives. As the second to largest generation with considerable spending power, they expect seamless digital interactions and will reward the businesses and apps that meet their expectations with strong brand loyalty.
The future is digital for Boomers and for every generation. Each generation’s unique preferences, motivations, and needs will set up your app for ultimate success.
If you have questions or concerns about developing apps for Baby Boomers, Millennials, Gen Xers—or any other generation—we would be happy to provide a free consultation at InspiringApps.
InspiringApps is a company with over 15 years of experience in mobile app development. The company has developed over 200 apps, collaborated with over 100 clients, and written over 6 million lines of code. With its expertise in mobile app development, InspiringApps is well-positioned to provide strategic insight and industry knowledge to business leaders looking to capitalize on the dynamic mobile app development market.
InspiringApps is a company with over 15 years of experience in mobile app development. The company has developed over 200 apps, collaborated with over 100 clients, and written over 6 million lines of code. With its expertise in mobile app development, InspiringApps is well-positioned to provide strategic insight and industry knowledge to business leaders looking to capitalize on the dynamic mobile app development market.
Google I/O and Apple WWDC enable the InspiringApps team to envision what’s next in store for app development. We gain valuable insights and apply that knowledge to support our clients with the latest technology innovations.
I’ve developed apps for Apple’s platforms for decades, so WWDC is my focus in this blog. I look forward to the conference each year because it brings me excitement and creativity as I (and the rest of our team) consider how we might enhance your apps and create new ones to take advantage of newly announced capabilities.
The Power of Apple’s WWDC: Embracing New Capabilities
Interactive Widgets
If you see the weather or your calendar on the home screen of your iPhone, you know what a widget is. They are small, glanceable windows into some core functionality of an app. They have historically not been interactive except for supporting a tap to open the corresponding app. But in iOS 17, developers can add support for button taps and other interactions. And widgets will run on iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs (with an iPhone nearby).
Vision Pro: Immersive Gaming & Productivity
Vision Pro is Apple’s new “spatial computing” headset. Although they resemble AR/VR (i.e., mixed reality) goggles from Meta and others, Apple has a different long-term vision for the product line. Where other products focus on gaming and entertainment, Apple is making a clear push toward productivity. Powered by the same M2 chip that drives Apple’s latest MacBooks, it can run iOS and iPad OS apps in addition to gaming and streaming immersive movies. Understandably, many balk at the $3,499 price tag. But if you consider Apple’s plan to replace your laptop and multiple external displays, the price feels more appropriate.
For the benefit of all of their platforms, including Vision Pro, Apple is pushing to attract top-quality games to their ecosystem—both for brand new games and popular titles available only on Windows and consoles. With the addition of a migration toolkit, we will likely see exciting titles ported from Windows.
SwiftData Gets More Robust
The primary audience for the keynote address on Monday was the press and the general public. But throughout the week, there were almost 200 shorter sessions that dove into the details of the many new tools and features that help us create even higher quality, immersive, delightful experiences for users.
One of those new tools is SwiftData. In 2019, Apple introduced SwiftUI, a new framework for developers to create user interfaces quickly and consistently across platforms. I’m very excited about this year’s introduction of SwiftData—a data persistence framework for on-device and iCloud data storage that works seamlessly with SwiftUI. It builds on the long legacy of CoreData but makes it much quicker and easier for developers to add very robust data-handling features to our apps.
Generative AI & Data Privacy
Apple’s recent announcements have generated a lot of interest, but it’s worth noting what they didn’t reveal. Some have criticized them for not jumping on the AI bandwagon like their competitors.
However, Apple has a different approach. They’ve integrated machine learning and artificial intelligence into their operating systems and apps, but they haven’t made any major announcements about generative AI yet. This is likely because they prioritize protecting user privacy, and they’re waiting until their language models can run locally without relying on servers.
For more information about AI and data privacy, you can watch the webinar I hosted with Tim Hayden of Brain+Trust Partners:
About Brad Weber
Brad Weber has more than 25 years of software development experience. Brad received his MBA from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado and spent several years with Accenture before striking off on his own adventures, including the successful founding of four different technology companies. With a passion for software artisanship, Brad founded InspiringApps to build a team that could tackle larger app development challenges than he was able to handle on his own. His leadership creates an environment where the most innovative digital products continue to come to life.
Elevate Your Digital Product With InspiringApps
We’re excited to design, build, and enhance apps to take advantage of the great new additions to Apple’s platforms. To ensure you stay ahead of the curve and maximize the potential of these advancements, we invite you to schedule a consultation with our expert team at InspiringApps. Together, we’ll explore how these technologies can elevate your app experience.
The App Store hosts over 2 million apps, and users have short attention spans. Employing custom product pages can ensure a uniform and uninterrupted journey for users throughout their acquisition experience—from Apple Search Ads to the App Store. With the right approach, custom product pages can be a game-changer for your app’s success.
How can you get the most out of custom product pages with a new or existing app? If you aren‘t currently using custom product pages, now is a great time to implement them to gain an edge over your competition. Beyond user targeting, you can promote a seasonal event, showcase culturally relevant content, and more.
What are Apple custom product pages (CPPs)?
Every app on the App Store has a product page, also known as an app store listing. Beyond this main page, Apple‘s custom product pages enable you to customize the look and feel of your Apple product for specific audience segments, keywords, or promotions.
With Apple’s custom product pages, you can design up to 35 different versions of your app’s store listing. You can use these variations to optimize search ad campaigns and promote unique listings through shareable URLs.
Key Features
Customization: You can change three assets on the variations of your product page: screenshots, app previews, and promotional text.
Discoverability: You can optimize each page using specific keywords for search and messaging that expands your reach.
Localizability: You can use different languages, so custom pages reach audiences in multiple countries.
Control: You can use the App Store Connect API to make changes across multiple custom pages simultaneously.
Android vs. iOS
Apple has always been known for its strict control over the user experience of iOS apps. Apple custom product pages enable greater control and creativity to market your app. While Google’s Play Store provides more flexibility through its custom store listings, Apple is catching up with custom product pages.
Here, we’re focusing on Apple‘s feature set, but the benefits and best practices apply across platforms.
Benefits of Custom Product Pages
Improved App Marketing Metrics
Custom product pages are crucial in conversion rate optimization (CRO) and app store optimization (ASO). Custom pages can help you to:
Increase CRO: By tailoring your messaging and visual design to your target audience, you’ll increase the likelihood that users will download your app.
Improve ASO: Multiple versions of your store listing can capture more promotional traffic and improve keyword and engagement metrics.
With the right strategy, customer product pages can significantly boost user acquisition and marketing ROI.
Targeted Search Ads
Custom product pages in Apple’s App Store and Search Ads allow for different ad variations and strategic campaigns targeting different types of users. These features help potential customers better understand the app before downloading it.
For instance, the app Mountain Climber can run separate ads targeting cyclists, hikers, and rock climbing enthusiasts. Based on the URL clicked, those ads drive potential users to three tailored custom product pages for the same app. You’re increasing the chances of app conversions by corresponding the custom App Store page with the ad creative that attracted the customer in the first place.
Tailored Testing
It’s important to note that custom product pages won’t appear in organic search results on the App Store. Of course, the organic experience is still important, and you can improve it using Apple features for testing tailored to your marketing goals.
Split Testing Through Product Optimization
Using Apple’s product page optimization feature, you can perform split tests on up to three distinct “treatments” of your default page. However, the elements you can adjust are limited to visuals—app icon, preview video, and screenshots. After determining the most successful treatment, you can apply it to your app’s default page, ensuring all users receive the most impactful organic search result.
Variable Testing With Custom Pages
While Apple‘s split testing tool for product page optimization has benefits, custom product pages may offer a more reliable approach to testing theories about your app page. By designing multiple custom pages with unique designs or copy, you can evaluate which version performs better in engagement metrics, conversion rates, and return on investment. You can then apply those learnings to improve your organic default page.
Creating a Custom Apple Product Page
Apple provides a detailed technical guide when you are ready to configure your product pages. Before taking that leap, consider the following insights to guide your efforts to success.
Identify Your Target Audiences
Designing effective pages that resonate with multiple target audiences requires a deep understanding of each audience’s specific needs and preferences.
For example, a TikTok user’s preferences will vary based on specific demographics like age. You’ll want to learn those preferences in depth to get the most out of any customized versions of these landing pages.
Before embarking on a custom product page project, researching your target audiences is an obvious first step. You can effectively focus your efforts where they’ll have the most impact through user surveys, testing, and analysis.
Surveys
User surveys can help you gather feedback and insights from your target audience on their needs, preferences, and pain points. You can use online survey tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms to create and distribute surveys to your target audience.
Testing
User testing involves observing users as they interact with your app to identify areas of improvement and gather feedback. You can use remote user testing tools like UserTesting or Userlytics to conduct user testing sessions with your target audience.
Analysis
App Store analytics can provide valuable insights into your target audience’s behavior and preferences. By analyzing App Store data such as user reviews, ratings, and search queries, you can better understand your audience‘s needs and preferences.
Impact
Creating multiple versions of your app page can be time-consuming and may require additional resources. Consider focusing your efforts on your most valuable audience segments, where you can maximize the impact of your custom product pages while minimizing the resources required to create them.
Choose Strategic App Previews & Screenshots
The key benefit of custom product pages is the ability to segment what each user sees when they preview your app. Here are some tips to choose assets that will attract and convert your target user.
Emphasize features: Use your media to highlight your app’s key features and benefits. Targeted images and videos can catch the attention of different user segments.
Keep it concise: Use short video clips and images. Quickly and effectively communicate your app’s target value proposition to each of your audiences.
For instance, let’s consider a “Fitness Tracker” app targeting two user types: gym enthusiasts and busy professionals.
For the gym enthusiast audience, you can use app previews to show users how to set up and customize their workout plans, track their progress, and view their stats and achievements.
For the busy professional audience, you can use screenshots to showcase the app’s meal planning and nutrition features.
For either audience, users can see firsthand how the app can help them achieve their fitness goals at first glance.
Provide Relevant Content & Keywords in Promotional Text
Content about your app and relevant keywords in the promotional text help you attract the right users and increase conversions.
For example, if you’re developing three custom product pages for a healthcare app—one for patients, one for doctors and clinicians, and one for health organizations—here is how the promotional text and keywords might vary per page.
Custom Page for Patients
Promotional Text: Take control of your health with our intuitive healthcare app
Access personalized health information and track your progress
Connect with healthcare professionals and schedule appointments easily
Keywords: Healthcare app, personalized health information, track health progress, connect with healthcare professionals, schedule appointments
Custom Page for Doctors & Clinicians
Promotional Text: Streamline your practice with our advanced healthcare app
Efficiently manage patient records and appointments
Access medical resources and collaborate with colleagues
Keywords: Advanced healthcare app, practice management, patient records, appointments management, medical resources, collaboration tools for doctors
Custom Page for Health Organizations
Promotional Text: Transform your healthcare organization with our comprehensive app
Improve patient outcomes and streamline operations
Gain insights through data analytics and reporting tools
Keywords: Comprehensive healthcare app, patient outcomes, streamline operations, data analytics, reporting tools, health organization management
Measure & Optimize
After your customized product pages go live, you can gauge their effectiveness using App Analytics in App Store Connect. You can track product page impressions, downloads, re-downloads, and conversion rates to assess how well each page motivates app downloads. You can also measure retention and the average proceeds per paying user for each custom product page.
Another way to gain insights is to compare your custom product pages to your default. Doing so lets you determine whether users who downloaded your app through a custom product page tend to stay engaged longer or spend more on in-app purchases. This information can help you make informed decisions on how to optimize your app‘s marketing strategy.
Promoting Your Custom Product Page
Reach Broader Audiences With Distributed Campaigns
After developing a custom product page, you can share it through your promotional communications and marketing efforts with its distinct URL. Your app‘s marketing channels might include email marketing, social media, digital advertising, influencer programs, and promotions—the possibilities are endless.
For instance, an app that caters to sports enthusiasts might showcase the latest Superbowl champions in an email promotion and connect to the tailor-made product page that spotlights that team. The exclusive URL incorporates a new product page ID parameter into the standard product page URL.
Increase Impressions With Apple Search Ads
Apple Search Ads enable you to produce ad variations for App Store Today tabs and search results for eligible custom product pages. When you establish your ads campaign, you can customize your ad message and visuals for different audiences, product launches, or seasonal promotions.
Tailored product pages can greatly enhance the effectiveness of Apple Search Ads and thereby increase the ROI of your paid campaigns.
Giving users a more relevant and individualized experience boosts the conversion rate of keywords and reduces the cost per install. Ultimately, you‘ll obtain more downloads—while paying less for each.
Promote Events for Maximum Exposure
Certain seasons, holidays, and events present great opportunities for increasing downloads. To capitalize on these moments, you can create custom product pages that showcase them. These pages can be tailored to highlight relevant features, promotions, or content related to the specific occasion, making your app more appealing to visitors.
There has been a lot of excitement around in-app events, as well. Adding to the iOS marketing arsenal are these timely in-app experiences, such as challenges, competitions, or special content launches, featured on your product page. In-app events have unique promotional capabilities and App Store discoverability.
Notably, all visitors to the custom or default product page will see the same in-app events. Understanding the diverse needs and motivations of your target audience can help in tailoring your marketing approach accordingly.
These are just a few examples of how in-app events and custom product pages can be used together strategically:
Engage existing users: You can re-engage existing customers through a pairing that piques their interest and encourages further engagement. For example, a user-targeted custom product page alongside an in-app event challenge.
Attract new users:You can target an untapped demographic by marketing specific promotions that expand reach. For example, a seasonal custom product page alongside a special in-app event featuring new holiday releases.
Whether for seasonal promotions alone or combined with in-app events, the specific implementation of custom product pages is in your hands. It’s important to adapt to your unique business context, promotional timelines, creative assets, and advertising approach to ensure success.
Final Thoughts
Improving Conversion Rates With Custom Product Pages
Custom product pages offer powerful freedom and flexibility, allowing you to segment your digital products in ways that boost conversions and increase revenue. You can use custom product pages to engage with users at any level and tailor your approach to your specific marketing goals.
With the fast-paced and competitive app landscape, innovating and adapting are crucial. By embracing the power of custom product pages, you can stand out from the crowd, captivate your target audience, and achieve significant growth for your app.