Building A Succesful eLearning App: 7 Steps To Consider
As the eLearning sphere is expected to grow to $325 billion by the year 2025, according to Forbes, and more and more people become active smartphone users, it becomes absolutely clear that eLearning apps are the future of this sphere. The spreading popularity of such apps as Coursera, Duolingo, Kindle, Khan Academy, and others clearly proves it.
Taking this into account, many eLearning professionals plan to build their own eLearning apps and are looking for more information on how to do it successfully. And it’s not surprising that app development is not an easy endeavor. It requires sufficient technical knowledge and experience, finding and hiring a great team, and retaining offshore technical support services after the launch. For this reason, we have written this explanatory article which will provide you with the key tips you must know to build a successful app.
So here they are:
- Know your audience
- Define your mission
- Choose the learning format
- Devise a marketing strategy
- Create a technical specification
- Select your developer
- Test the app after the launch
Of course, there are many more things you have to take care of. But these are the 7 key steps which no one can do without. So, let’s review each of them in detail.
1. Know Your Audience
The very first thing you have to do is to clearly define your target audience. Who are they? It can’t be everyone. You must have a clear and detailed understanding of your target user. Who is he or she, what are their needs and goals? Why is he or she going to use your app? These and many more are the questions you have to answer before you move forward. Once you have a deep understanding of your future users, everything else becomes easier.
2. Define Your Mission
Why are you doing this? What is your goal, what is your mission? You must clearly define your mission whether it is helping kids learn math, or help someone learn a foreign language. Every eLearning application has a goal, and yours is no exception. Only once you know the goal of your app, you can create a technical specification for it with all requirements and functionality.
3. Choose The Learning Format
There are different learning formats such as text, video, audio, games, and many more. Your app can have just one format or combine a few. Which option is the best depends on your audience and your goals. For example, gamification is the best learning format for kids, while the audio format may be perfect for busy people. So pick yours, and stick with it.
4. Devise A Marketing Strategy
In most cases, you will have to put effort to promote your app and make it popular. This requires devising a well thought-out marketing strategy. If you are not skilled enough in marketing, then it’s a good idea to hire a marketing expert or agency specializing in app marketing.
In many cases, you will want to use paid advertising to get downloads, use social media (especially Instagram) and even PR promotions. The key thing we must mention is that your strategy must be focused on your target audience in order to be effective.
5. Create A Technical Specification
Any app development project requires the so-called technical specification before development begins. This is a detailed technical document which describes the requirements and functionality of the app to be developed in the deepest detail possible, from A to Z. If you can’t write this document yourself, then you should hire someone who can or have your chosen app development company help you do it.
6. Select Your Developer
This is perhaps the most crucial step of this process. Whether you’ll find a reliable development partner will ultimately break your app project or make it successful. So how do you find one?
First, make sure the developer has a proven track record and has a vast experience in app development. Secondly, make sure the team has a fluent command of English and is located in the time zone and region which is convenient for you if you are not working with a local development company.
Finally, ensure that they have clear and transparent cooperation terms which you are comfortable with. Once you sign an agreement, don’t start to think that all hard work is over. You now have to keep track of the development process until the release. And even then there is one more step you have to take…
7. Test The App After The Launch
Once your app is released, it is necessary to conduct extensive testing by real users. Have them test the app and provide their feedback. This will allow you to identify any errors as well as things which should be improved.
Final Thoughts
As the eLearning industry is growing and so does the number of smartphone users, anyone can draw a logical conclusion that eLearning mobile apps are the new trend. If you want to take advantage of this opportunity, then you have to clearly define your target audience and mission, select the most appropriate learning format, create an effective promotion strategy and a detailed technical spec.
Then you have to select the best development team, sign a contract with them, have them build the app, and then test the app after the first release. All of these steps will help you to build and launch a successful eLearning mobile application.
