Congratulations, you’ve made an awesome app, or at least have the idea for one! But how can you ensure that vision continues to make waves long-term?
App development remains an immensely competitive arena. There’s always something exciting in the works. Moreover, the most successful apps often get featured in online listicles from major publications. Regarding this software, achievements can be loud, often with the potential to eclipse others’ triumphs.
Of course, users can also get bored of certain apps, often feeling the desire to follow trends or move on to the next thing. If you’ve made an app, you may worry about it slipping into obscurity sooner or later.
You’re not powerless in these situations! Here are some things you can do to ensure your app remains relevant through the years.
Fuzz Testing
Fuzz testing has been around in one form or another for almost 40 years. Much like other types of tech, it’s changed a lot in that time, but it’s arguably become more essential as time passes.
If you don’t know what fuzz testing is, it’s a security strategy that triggers bad software behaviors to identify and address obscure vulnerabilities.
Fuzzing is often performed before new software is released, but by today’s standards, it’s a continuous process that keeps this tech sharp, resilient, and intact.
Many different types of fuzz testing procedures can be done, too. There’s guided and behavioral fuzzing, grammar-based and template fuzzing, and random fuzzing. Which you find most useful will depend on the software problems you hope to address.
Read this guide to fuzz testing to learn more about these solutions. You can also request a demo of ForAllSecure’s Mayhem, which custom-generates fuzzing tests for specific applications. If you don’t want to use Mayhem, they can still help you find another fuzzing solution if you think that’s best.
Application testing solutions are one of the biggest sources of security spending in software development. While understandable, the usual testing approaches often only detect well-known attack patterns and common vulnerabilities.
Fuzzing casts a wider net over app security, ultimately allowing your tech users to enjoy a safer and more consistent experience. Your reputation for reliable service will also be preserved, encouraging app usage.
Adapt the Roadmap
It can seem counterintuitive to make amendments to a roadmap. You may have deliberated over these plans for a long time or even built upon the ideas of colleagues and collaborators to make something you once felt would be lasting.
However, plans change. As your experience builds and you accumulate more knowledge surrounding app development, it simply doesn’t make sense to stick your guns on matters where being adaptable is essential.
The landscape around your app is ever-changing, and recognizing that should always be a priority. Be comfortable making changes.
Many app developers release content updates that don’t make much of an impact. Sometimes, barely noticeable changes have been made. However, this can be because they’re laying foundational bricks for something bigger later.
Test features and add those that add value. Make more scalable design choices that can grow over time rather than be a ‘one and done’ type of integration. If an old or new feature doesn’t solve a real problem, take it out.
Try not to find yourself in a position where you’re laying down tracks ahead of yourself as the train moves or taking big swings without a real aim.
Such figurative happenstances are all too common in the fast-moving world of software development, causing developers to become desperate.
If you can understand the need to adapt, any changes to the development roadmap can be made ahead of time rather than at the last minute.
Reevaluate the Need for Feedback
If there’s no productive dialogue happening around the software, it will soon become irrelevant. Users have to feel like they’ve been heard.
Dust off old social media accounts if necessary and start having genuine exchanges with app users. Even if they’re unpleasantly venting, responding with class (and perhaps even a pinch of humor) can humanize your team and create a more helpful consensus around all of your hard work.
Engaging with feedback can also be a rather humbling experience that supplies you and your workers with a sense of direction. After all, even if you’re amending the roadmap and making great changes, there’s still a chance somebody somewhere won’t like it.
Make a note of that, look for patterns, and consider making changes if there’s consistency across a broad range of responses.
Community managers should be better tasked with responding to user feedback. Provide ample training, and ensure they can navigate these discussions gracefully.
Approach Influencers
Influencers can be useful if you know how to utilize them well. If you collaborate with them, it’s better to get more than a quick shoutout from them too.
The influencers you work with should spend a healthy amount of time recommending your app. On-screen tutorials could also be showcased, where they explain key features. It’s recommended that you script what they say for a few reasons:
- The influencer won’t misconstrue what your app offers or give their audience a false impression of it.
- You can punch up what they’re saying if they don’t have great sales and advertising skills.
- It makes the presence of an ad much clearer and thus creates transparency between you, the influencer, and their audience.
It’s worth remembering that many influencers can be gross people as well. Though some of them have large followings, they may be made up of audiences you’re not necessarily trying to appeal to with your app.
Do your due diligence and do background checks; look at their social media, news coverage about them, etc. Ensure the influencers you work with speak your language, aren’t controversial, and generally provide wholesome content rather than clickbait nonsense. Don’t just chase views!
Conclusion
It’s difficult to remain relevant in a world that almost seems compelled to push aging things into obscurity. Nail down security assurances, promptly tinker with the development roadmap, navigate user feedback cleanly, and utilize influencer word of mouth.
After that, your app has a stronger chance of staying relevant for years. Complacency can ultimately kill an app, so as long as there’s a hum of activity around it, hope remains!
