Mobile Application Support: Life After Release

Why would a mobile app have tech support?

If you do not pedal, sooner or later the bike will fall. Let’s divide the life cycle of a mobile application into three broad stages:

1. Preparation. The idea, research of competitors and users, verification of the viability of ideas, the development of schemes, the first prototypes.
2. Development. The most costly and important part.
3. Support and promotion. After the release, the life of the product is just beginning.

Until recently, both customers and developers focused on product development. Today, the competitive environment dictates other rules. The preparation stage in large projects stretches for months. And all because investing in raw ideas is too expensive.

It’s also unreasonable to leave the product unchanged after the release. The product must live and change with the environment. For example, respond to threats, adapt to changes in devices and operating systems. Developers should respond to user feedback about its convenience and functionality. This is especially true for medical apps. It is for this purpose that the mobile application needs technical support from developers and business analysts. They help to pedal the bike correctly.

What kind of support does a mobile application need after the release?

Let’s analyze in more detail the needs of the mobile application after “graduation into adulthood.”

The app needs help to meet the first users

Ideally, you should develop a promotion strategy in advance of release. The competition is very high. Successful developers and their applications get everything, while others “die.” There are more and more tools and promotion channels. People are inventing more and more sophisticated strategies. Moreover, they affect not only external factors, but may also require changes to the application itself

Error: to allow the app to eat up the budget. If this happens, and you cannot achieve the goals, you need to call application monitoring services to help. 

The application needs development

You’ve thought of everything at the preparation stage for product development. But any research and expert experience is just a hypothesis until the application has seen the light. Only real users will show you whether the hypothesis is successful. And if the app statistics and user reviews show the opposite, don’t despair. This is normal. You need to use data from statistics and bring the app’s functionality to perfection. For example, its usability, monetization method, and so on. The development process must be continuous. Without changes, the product surrenders and gradually dies.

Error: to fall in love with the product. What you have released must be changed, adjusting to the environment. This is normal. There is no other way to create an ideal product.

The application needs technical support

On your part and on the part of technical specialists. Ideally, these professionals should be the developers of the product. They know it better. You will administer and communicate with users. The IT partner team will quickly implement improvements and develop functionalities. They will also carry out adaptation for new devices and new versions of operating systems.

Error: to abandon the application after the release and wait for the profit. Unfortunately, applications cannot function successfully without human help. And any hypotheses and ideas have an expiration date. So you need to enter and verify them in the shortest possible time. Procrastination is a loss of profit. It’s good if you have a technical partner who is always in touch.

The application needs protection

Not only from hackers and viruses but from ordinary scammers. When collecting user data, ensure that it is safe. If you have a personal account and a loyalty program, you are also responsible for the user’s bonuses. And if someone else uses them, you will be guilty in the eyes of the client. The developers will help to ensure the safety and efficiency of the product within the technical support.

Error: to forget about the information security of the mobile application. Don’t respond to security threats. Learn about leaks and failures only from angry user reviews.

The application needs an evaluation of effectiveness

Before the development, you probably set important business goals for the application. After the release, it is worthwhile to focus on them and understand: are they being achieved? If so, set yourself higher goals and try to earn more. If not, then what is stopping this? To do this, users’ feedback, analysis of statistics, expert opinions on usability and marketing will help.

Error: to allow the app to eat up the budget. If this happens, and you cannot achieve the goals, you need to call analysts and developers to help. 

Effective technical support of a mobile application or website

For technical support, you need a separate contract

The type of technical support is individual. The content of the contract is clarified at the stage of the agreement. It prescribes the tasks be performed within the framework of support. Some tasks may go beyond technical support. However, such an agreement will give you confidence in the future. You can always count on the help of technical specialists. They know your product from the inside. This means that they will be able to quickly respond to assigned tasks.

Warranty and technical support are different things

The guarantee is prescribed in the main development contract. Work on the warranty — this is fixing bugs or finalizing the functionality on the terms of reference. Technical support goes beyond the specification and requires a separate document with prescribed tasks, conditions, and response time. In fact, technical support is an urgent solution to the problems that hinder the quality of the digital product.

These problems can be divided into three categories: Emergency level. These are urgent situations. They are solved first of all. For example, users cannot send an order, register or enter the application in principle. Average level. For example, interface errors that don’t critically affect the ability to carry out an order or other important action. Such problems are usually solved during the working day if there are no emergencies. Low level. For example, minor errors in functions and screens that aren’t related to the order or other critical functionality of the service.

You can choose the type of payment individually

Large high-load projects, for which safety issues are critical, need daily monitoring. Such customers are comfortable with the monthly subscription fee. Other smaller projects don’t require constant monitoring. For such customers, upon payment is possible. Write down all feasible tasks in advance in the contract. The cost of services is calculated based on the number of hours spent on solving the task.

With a technical support agreement, you can resolve all emergencies more quickly

They can cause the application or some of its functions to be unavailable to users. And this entails a loss of profit. In the contract, prescribe clear conditions for solving urgent situations. For instance, the degree of importance of situations and the speed of reaction in different days and times of the day. Such regulations allow the client to work and sleep peacefully.

After the release, the developer has the right not to support the application

Especially if there is no agreement on technical support. All the improvements that go beyond the terms of reference are outside the core development contract. Thus, if there is no support agreement, the developer company may not adapt the application to the new version of the operating system. Yes, we can conclude an additional agreement. But the company has the right to refuse. Not always there will be free hands on a small, but an urgent task. It isn’t always profitable. Therefore, sign an agreement for the technical support of any less significant project.

Development can also be part of the support

The created product, whether it be an application or a site, should work for a business purpose. However, without consistent product changes, it is impossible to achieve profit growth. The reason for this is the ever-changing competitive environment. Therefore, for some projects, it is appropriate to apply regular studies of competitors. And also build promotion strategies. Do not forget to conduct usability testing and analysis of application’ statistics. Such support provides an understanding of the development vector.

Draw a conclusion

Technical support is not only about stability and consistent product development. It also happens that technical support grows into something more. Sometimes in partnership, sometimes in a long-term cooperation. And the products that you worked on with your customers become more Mature, stable, and profitable.

Author Bio — Dmitrieva Iren. Iren is an editor of freeappsforme.com. She mostly writes reviews of mobile apps. Novelties in the world of gadgets and applications are what Iren pursues.