Today, apps are everywhere. The app economy is growing by the day. Taking an app to an international market is extremely difficult, but the number of now hugely popular apps that all began as no more than one person’s bright idea have shown that it can be done.
Many start-ups will create a perfectly smart app that naturally has a fairly universal appeal – but you shouldn’t assume the same reaction everywhere. Of course, develop the app in a language suitable for your initial target market, but if you really want to make an international splash, you need to go much further than that.
With this in mind, how do you successfully launch an app in an international market. Here are five tips.
1. Consider the real advantages
Does your service really need to be global? Make sure you really need it and that your users really benefit from it. When we launched internationally, WINGiT went from being a local discovery app to a global travel app. Our users can now enjoy our service with them in over 20 cities worldwide.
>See also: The new era of app development – mobile vs. legacy
Ensure the time is right in your development plan – that you have the right resources (human, financial and technical) to make it happen properly, with no shortcuts.
2. Is your business scalable?
The cost of your international deployment must grow slower than the incremental revenue of new locations. Design your offering (product and business model) in such a way that its core remains applicable worldwide, with some smaller mechanisms that can be easily tweaked according to local demand in different places. If you are too UK-centric too early, an international rollout will cost you a lot of time and money to execute.
3. The end-user is key
At the end of the day, everything you are doing is to create a great user experience. Their experience is at the heart of everything you do so keep your ultimate goal in mind by asking the question, ‘How will this benefit the user?’ While the language and content will differ between countries and audiences, ultimately you want to provide the same game changing experience to people all over the world.
4. There are cultural differences to be aware of
Localisation is all about adapting your service to meet the various language and cultural requirements of a specific target market – this requires flexibility and local understanding. And localisation can only happen when the correct internationalisation processes (regional marketing and communication support, for example) are in place.
Keep in mind the specific cultural differences between markets that can make all the difference to how your app is received by your target audience.
>See also: Why so ‘Siri’ous? – the new world of artificial intelligence in mobile apps
5. Focus on key objectives
Don’t lose sight of your key objectives, despite taking a big leap. Going global is a consuming task but that should not mean losing focus on the basics of your business.
The resources to help you are out there, you just need to maintain a clear mind and the drive to find them.
Sourced from Alban Sayag, CEO of WINGiT
