Understanding your app’s target audience goes beyond knowing who your audience is. It is also important to understand their needs and expectations as it intersects with the function of your app. Understand this audience down to their behavior patterns since more often than not, you’ll get to encounter different user segments in app reskinning. But as a rule of thumb, some level of market research is necessary before undertaking any marketing endeavor. So here are some things to consider when creating apps for a target audience:
- An app should begin with the audience, not the idea. There are times when we see apps in app stores and say, “That’s a great idea!” and wish we could’ve been the first to think it up. But then after a few weeks, the app fizzles out since no one seems to share the same enthusiasm for the idea. In app reskinning you market the app’s general concept to another audience, so instead of thinking “LookFor seems like a good app to reskin to locate people you don’t like in the crowd”, think “I will create a reskin targeting the 12% of adult smartphone users that regularly use geosocial services. LookFor seems like a good app to emulate.”Users that perform certain tasks or download apps that have similar features to your app are easier to persuade into downloading your app.
- “I am my own target audience” works if you’re an island. Always perform market research. Users that perform certain tasks or download apps that have similar features to your app are easier to persuade into downloading your app. App ideas that appeal to you may not appeal to a bigger market.
- Your target audience may be the wrong audience. This is especially true with apps targeted for children. There are times that adults actually like these apps more than kids. More often than not, the parents and not the kids decide which apps to download and IAP items to purchase. There’s also the issue of engagement. Check your target audience’s level of engagement. Casual smartphone users on average, use no more than 3 or 4 apps regularly.
- Your target audience may not need or want for your app. App users download an app for two reasons: interest and need. The app has to either offer unique features, improved user experience or a new concept. The app has to stand out amidst the crowd of apps.
- Make sure that your target audience uses the device of the platform you are developing in. The difference in the user demographics between iPhone and Android contributes greatly to the performance of niche apps. Android users are more interested in action or horror films. iOS users, on the other hand, are mostly interested in comedy and drama.
Bonus Tip:
More than demographics, peek into user psychographics. Psychographic profiling can give you details that demographic profiling cannot provide or just broadly define. Psychographics digs deep into the user’s emotions and mentality as a consumer. This is possible through tools that use algorithms to gather social profile data, behavioral data, and customer lifecycle data. Examples are polls, surveys, third-party services or specific A/B tests.
