Mobile App Launch Checklist 2024 - Gain Maximum Penetration into Target Market

In 2023 with approximately 7.1 billion mobile users, the app market is both open and saturated. To truly sustain and flourish in the current market, a compelling mobile app launch checklist is required.

Are you in a rush to get your app out? 

Hold on! 

Just like everything has it's in and outs, app launch has its too. From researching the market to ensuring and mitigating the gaps in your app launch checklist, everything needs to be there!

In a survey by Statista, the annual number of app downloads worldwide is estimated to be 299 billion.

With tons of apps out there, the only way to stand out in the app market is to prepare a winning mobile app launch checklist beforehand. 

To avoid nagging at the last moment, we've listed out the critical steps to launching an app to consider for an app launch checklist, for a successful campaign.

Let’s get started.

7 Strategies Found in A Top App Launch Checklist

Launching a mobile app is a “big moment” for any publisher. In fact, there are plenty of mobile app investors willing to bid their money on a great idea Whatever you do, don’t launch without a mobile app pre-launch checklist. Poorly launched apps stood out as a sore thumb in app stores. To get you a better idea, we have listed out some pointers for pre-launch app marketing campaigns to markup your success. 

1. Identify the target audience 

You’ve got an idea, you designed an app for it. But, before creating, a mobile app launch plan, have you gone considered “who is going to use the app?”, nothing comes up. Every invention whether it is a product or service should be designed by keeping the customer sketch in mind. This is why identifying the target audience is often the first mix in the pre-launch app checklist.

“Advertising practitioners are interpreters. But unlike foreign language interpreters, adpeople must constantly learn new languages. They must understand the language of each new product, and speak the language of each new target audience.”

– Jef I Richards

No matter how good the app is, if you fail to determine your intended customers’ values, attitudes, pain points, and expectations, all efforts will go in vain. To monetize your app, targeting the right audience amongst the first step to launching an app for successful app development. 

Before launching a mobile app, you should consider these points. 

• Clear out goals, by articulating the USP (Unique Selling Points) of your app, by identifying which problem it would solve.
• Segment your audience based on demography, geography, spending habits, and social status.  
• Find people who are using products like yours via social platforms and in-app analytics.
• Run mobile app marketing plan campaigns to connect with the target audience and do behavioral analysis.  

2. Research your competition

The mobile app market is fully packed with over 5 million+ applications, the competition is bitterly tough. To differentiate your app in this cut-throat competition, you must conduct a competitive analysis and thorough market research to measure the strengths and weaknesses of your app. 

If you think, you’ve built an app, and people will come. You are clearly mistaken. To successfully launch a mobile app and capture the market, you need to build your competitive analysis matrix for a clear marketing mix and have eyes on your marketing rivals. Here’s how you can be a healthy stalker. 

Spy your competition with tools like Ubersuggest, Alexa, SEMrush, and SpyFu, where you can simply put your competitor’s URL and search. Get top keywords on which your rivals are ranking with tools like Sensor Tower.  

Compare the marketing positioning of your app, analyze site traffic and performance, and backlinks to know where your competitors stand.  

3. Strategize a Compelling UI/UX Design

A great app idea is insignificant without a great UI/UX experience. To create a truly enticing experience, one needs to strategize a UI/UX design on the drawing board i.e. both interactive and immersive.

To create a beautiful design, use a color palette that represents the brand. It should be backed with logos, glyph icons, and other design elements that make the experience a lot more memorable. 

To further add, the UI created should complement the UX i.e. the user experience. The easiest place to start would be to think from a usability perspective and the target demographic. Not everyone is tech-savvy enough to operate well on a complex UX. Another way to achieve a design that fits all brackets is by conducting A/B testing.

To further add, there are some attributes to keep in mind:

• Easy navigation with proper flow from the homepage to the end service.
• Consistency in the overall design language.
• Create an easy onboarding process.
• Design elements that clearly indicate the use.
• Provide a smooth payment process.
   

4. Check the cross-platform availability of an app

To build a good native-like app, expand your reach by not just sticking to one store. Thinking beyond Android or iOS, many SMEs and startups are upgrading their industry outreach towards a variety of platforms and iOS versions. 

Check what are the steps to making an app. whether you’re developing a native app, or hybrid app, or a web app, before getting started. 

Some of the best cross-platform mobile app development tools like React Native, Xamarin, Flutter, and ionic are proven to be best in domain examples for building high-performing native-feel-like mobile apps, by utilizing some of the best technologies. In fact, the top app development companies are working in this direction to build successful and scalable apps that users love.

If you look around, you will find almost all the apps are taking this into practice, whether you consider gaming apps like Pokemon GO Fortnite, or messaging apps like Whatsapp, Viber, and Telegram. Almost all the top-performing apps are cross-platform and available on Android/iOS/Windows.

5. Count Social Media Outreach  

Do you know, although you have hundreds of apps on your smartphone, research says, most people only use 9 apps in their day-to-day life? Since social media is a free online marketing channel to promote your app before launch. So you should make it wisely.

Here’s what you can do to connect with your consumers through social media before the app launch.

• Increase your app’s success by defining a well-planned social marketing strategy for the app launch. 
• Research target audience base with tools by stealing your rival’s followers by peeping into their social accounts. 
• Create buzz across social media channels through running paid ads (brand awareness, app launch) campaigns.
• Creating unique content across social networks, and joining niche-specific communities, and forums for app promotions.
• Engage your social audience mobile app audience with coming soon “Coming Soon” posts, and share success stories, and customer feedback to generate authenticity among the target audience.

6. Test Applications Multiple Times

As the next step in your mobile app launch strategy, test out the integrated features multiple times. Almost every app in its initial stages has bugs. It is because applications are tested in a controlled environment. Once an app is released there are multiple other bugs that resurface because the user base increases. However, the bugs shouldn’t disrupt the user experience. To make sure that everything stays in flow, testing out every feature in different scenarios is recommended. 

7. Ensure Invite-only Beta release

Before actually publishing your app to the public, choose an invite-only beta release. This is one of the most effective marketing tactics that gets great good reviews in return. 

This marketing strategy for app launch is widely used by apps like Spotify, and Pinterest, which offer exclusive excess to their valued users to have access to the app before launch. 

In return, you can ask your users to leave their feedback and reviews as a part of the customer experience, before launching a mobile app.

Other questions to ask yourself before launch…

• Is my app easily accessible?
• Is my app easily navigable?
• Have I set up the analytics metrics?
• What is my strategy to measure the success of my app?
• Do I need to further upgrade my marketing mix?
• Does my app stand out amongst its competitors?
• Do I need to think through more features?
• Am I satisfied with the testing results?
• What is the USP of my application?
• What can be the possible upgrades for my application in the future?
• Is my strategy for driving traffic worthwhile?
• Do I require the help of paid marketing before launch?
• Should I have an influencer to introduce my app before launch?

Top App Release Checklist - Things to Lookout for!

Before releasing an app, it is important to ensure that everything related to marketing tactics and app features are in place. Adding to it, the perspective of looking at things completely shifts post-release. It is because people who respond to earlier marketing strategies are either early adopters or desperately looking for a similar solution. 

On the other hand, to increase the bracket audience and spread awareness, an app release checklist is necessary. This app release checklist ensures that the app created gains maximum traction. It helps in establishing a market and gauging the responses received to make further improvements.

1. Create mobile app demo videos

Mobile app demos videos are a highly crucial part of an app's marketing success. It helps your audience understand your app. These visual guides help new users to get clear, concise, and intuitive information about mobile app launch plans. Videos are easy to understand and can be an interactive medium to engage your audience. A clear visual guide on “How the app works?” is good enough to catapult the interest of the audience before launch. It is an essential element of your app release checklist because videos if created skillfully & creatively created have the power to retain the attention of the plausible target audience.

Here’s how you can create interactive app demos -

• Use tools like Camtasia for screen recording and voice-overs to create short videos featuring your app.
• You can add an animated GIF demo to give quick information to the users by conveying the most important information first. 
• Try out an over-the-shoulder demo by showcasing your mobile app with a referral marketing strategy for an app launch. (Techcrunch, MobileAppDaily, etc.) are such examples. 

2. Build a dedicated landing page

To promote your app over the web, you need a perfect landing page for mobile devices and desktops. To leverage your social media efforts, create a simple landing page with a clear mission statement, powerful language, brand names, including success stories, top features of your app, its version and supporting information, etc.; and of course, a clear call-to-action to funnel down your leads into active app installers.

3. Pick an app store

To begin with the app launch checklist, initially, you have to pick any one app store. Primarily, there are two major app stores available, Apple and Android market/ play store. 

After mockups, designing, and development, your app is ready to be launched on the desired app store. Once your app is published in one app store, you can expand it further. Make sure your app fulfills all the App Store Review Guidelines and is bug-free. Create your AppID and follow further steps, you can also check the list of best app stores.

If you are not sure, which app store will be good for your mobile app launch, you can perform some market analysis to find out the target niche market.

4. Inspect ASO

Launching an app checklist must include ASO optimization. Discover usage trends, analyze user behavior, and uncover app issues with ASO (App Store Optimization). Make your apps discoverable among millions by optimizing your apps to rank higher in the app store’s search. 
 

That’s noticeable, most people discover new apps through app store searches, making ASO a crucial part of mobile app launch success.

ASO (in short) not only brings traffic to your app; but also makes your app visible to your potential consumers and encourages them to take action on your app page (Download app).

4 major factors influencing ASO - 

• Keyword usage in the app title.
• Keywords used in the body of your app should be highly targeted, and SERP-friendly.
• User reviews and ratings.
• Total active downloads of your app.

In the example below, the Waze Navigation app is an app store optimized on highly relevant keywords like navigation, traffic, etc. 

5. Connect with influencers and bloggers

The app market is getting more versatile with each passing hour. To get in-app engagement at first glance, utilize the power of influencer marketing to promote your app. In your app launch checklist, including sharing your app story with top bloggers and industry thought leaders and making yourself available to answer all the queries and welcoming their suggestions can boost the effectiveness of your mobile app launch strategy. 

Reach out to them a few weeks before the actual mobile app launch date. Utilize Youtube and Instagram, two of the most popular influencer marketing channels. 

You can also prepare an editorial calendar to schedule and publish blogs on your website. Add social sharing buttons to your blog and ask your friends to share it as much as possible.

6. Check out paid advertising

.In a report by eMarketer, digital ad spending in the year 2023 will consolidate to $626.86 billion worldwide. Another article by Forbes states that the digital ad spending has slowed down yet is continuously growing year-on-year at a slower rate. It clearly shows the interest of organizations to pull organic traffic but also the unequivocal strength of digital paid advertising.

Attract potential customers and funnel them down. Use the app landing page by running targeted Facebook ads. To acquire users for your app, you can leverage paid advertising campaigns to launch mobile apps.

To win Facebook and Google UAC’s new algorithm, the first step is to establish a proper campaign goal. Achieve greater ROI by tapping your ideal app users, by choosing the right ad type, testing multiple bidding structures, and more. 

7. Spread the download link wherever possible

Now, it's time to spread the word, you can distribute the app download link, wherever possible. Draft a press release, add a link to your newly published blogs, your home page, social media pages, and more! 

You can also add a custom mobile tab to your Facebook page, wink!

8. Install Analytics for Measuring Success

To carefully understand user interactions, installing analytics onto the mobile app is essential. Using analytics, it is possible to measure different metrics such as number of downloads, pre-orders, sales initiated, and much more. There are several tools for app analytics available in the market such as Localytics, Google Analytics, Apple Analytics, Mix Panel, Firebase, etc. 

9. Heads up for future updates! 

Last but probably not least, keep your wishlist open for your customers. Let your users add on-demand custom feature requests, and collect reviews, feedback, and suggestions for future app improvement. 

Also, intimate your audience about the app coming soon features “Coming Soon” app features, and assess feedback, check the latest trends, and user reviews to figure out new features. what’s more, can be added. Good luck!

Closing thoughts!

Launching a mobile app on the play store is a glorious moment. To get the most out of your app returns, it is crucial to stay prepared and flexible with your current mobile app launch checklist in 2023.

Learn the basic steps to launch an app successfully. Ultimately, the more homework you do, the more prepared you’re. Just go through all the tips and tactics shared in this mobile app launch checklist 2023 and make your app launch attains a win-win situation. 

To save yourself from pitfalls, you can carry out above mentioned steps in this app launch checklist on your own, or approach the top app marketing companies in your region, who can help you in launching your app, and market it over the globe. They are well-versed in conceptualizing the user experience with innovative solutions and a world-in-class team. It all depends on the marketing objective, project size, custom requirements, and end-user goals. 

Additionally, roll your retinas over app launch mistakes to avoid using this app launch checklist. Keep sharing your feedback and let us know your views in the comments. Please add your suggestions, and we will add them to our list.