Why Do People Need App Prototypes & Strategies?
Are you planning to create a mobile/web app? If so, then you must be thinking about the design, functionality, and features of the app. App prototypes and strategies are helpful in this scenario. For the convenience of clients, the app prototypes give a clear demonstration of how a product/app will function. In short, this is a clear idea of the final release version of the product. Your app is more likely to fail without a roadmap. The best directions to take during the development stages can be confirmed easily through prototyping and in this way, it reveals how new opportunities meet the market goals.
During the app prototyping process, development teams are continually reviewing the product concept and refining it until it meets business objectives and user needs. In general, prototyping identifies and fixes problems earlier on a project when modifications are inexpensive and feasible.
If you have not yet integrated prototyping into your app development process, then you are going to make a big mistake.
Let’s go through the few benefits of app prototypes and strategies for your business
Cost-effective
Being an entrepreneur/businessman, your time and money are the limited resources. The budgeting, strategy, and return on investment (ROI) are the factors that you must consider before app development. App prototypes help to eliminate additional costs and rework that might occur after the development stage as it is easier to identify flaws and resolve them at the pre-development phase. Suppose if you do not use a prototyping strategy and changes are required after the app goes live then the whole development process needs to be redone and ultimately it will make the process expensive. In fact, maintenance costs can account for 15% to 20% of the total cost of developing an app. To avoid money wastage and saving costs in the long run, an app prototype could be the best choice.
Changes become more expensive as you get closer to launch. Early prototyping and iterative design will ensure a usable design, align all strategic design decisions to user needs, and ensure the protection of the project’s ROI.
Identify Possible Improvements & New Ideas
A prototype can be a roadmap and make it easy for you to decide what is necessary and what needs to be eliminated from the final app. During the prototyping phase, the user thinking process can detect the possible improvements that can be made before the final product is completely developed.
With a sense of clarity that how your app will look after development, it is easier to explore new ideas with the help of app prototyping. Your app can be developed more advanced if you want with all the desired possible features. When you test your prototypes, you’ll gain valuable insight into how to tweak or improve your project’s design or flow based on the analysis you gain.
Client/stakeholders Involvement
The best approach is to involve clients/stakeholders in the app development process and offer them a glimpse of their app concept. Design decisions and ideas must be co-owned by the client/stakeholders to give them an idea about their desired app's final version.
In the process of app development, the most efficient utilization of time is to keep clients/stakeholders updated through the prototype. The understanding of app functionality and the workflow will be easier for them even if they are non-technical. Demonstrating a working prototype will convince them that the app will benefit them in the future. A final version of the app without prototypes may cause observers to question the validity of the idea, due to the lack of information about the final product.
By seeing how the future app looks and feels, clients/stakeholders can predict its potential. Their concerns and doubts can be considered at earlier stages when concerns can be addressed as well.
Better UX with Validation
Achieving deep user engagement with a web/mobile app is a challenging goal. App prototypes resemble the final product in terms of functionality and user experience, which makes them an excellent tool for testing usability and validating UX.
It is notoriously difficult to achieve a shared understanding of intended functionality, user flow, and even the look and feel of an app without a prototype, so it is so valuable.
The user experience with your app can be determined by having the prototype tested by a relevant team.
Consider the following questions while validating the app;
- Does your app have an easy-to-use interface?
- Do you need an app walkthrough to explain how it works?
- Can you easily identify the key features of the app? Can you navigate easily?
Such vital questions can be answered through usability testing which is easier with app prototyping.
Conclusion
To validate any mobile app idea, app prototyping is the best solution. You can analyze whether your desired app is a better choice for your business or not? Should you go for the expensive development process or need to change the idea of your business app? The other additional benefits include UX validation, involvement of clients/stakeholders, exploration of new ideas before the final version, and identification of improvements. You can make better use of time and money with the integration of prototyping in your app development process. This strategy helps you get the desired outcomes with necessary intuitive features and in short, the chances of your success become higher.
Visnext is always striving hard to achieve its business goals by providing state-of-the-art software solutions including app prototyping and strategy. We create interactive and clickable prototypes for your future app that is a detailed working model without coding. Our priority is to ensure that clients have a clear understanding of the product we are developing for them. We endeavor to create high-fidelity prototypes that enable our clients to fully visualize their future products because we convert their vision into the product.
