How to write a business plan for a mobile app

Starting a mobile app will probably require funding to help with some of the development and launch costs. So, it is crucial to put together a business plan that will represent your idea in the right way to secure any sources of finance through investment or lenders.

This guide will detail how to write a business plan for a mobile app to make sure your concept gets the treatment it deserves. It covers these areas:

• Description of business
• Target market
• SWOT analysis
• Financial projection

Your business plan should start with a section that describes the nature of your mobile app. This can involve simplified design plans that help explain it visually, perhaps. If your app fulfils a specific niche, your description should be understandable without knowledge of the subject.

To get across the idea, look at putting an emphasis on your USP (unique selling point). Your USP should be the critical thing about your app that makes it stand out from any others.

Beyond the app’s function, it is also good to show the branding behind it. You should have a symbol or logo, plus a name and a colour scheme that you can use in your app. These elements of your app’s brand will show your ability to market it. Getting people to download mobile apps will be as crucial as building them.

There are likely certain groups of people who will benefit more from your app than others. Putting time into researching who those are going to be will back up your chosen target market in your business plan. Your research could involve speaking to the public through surveys or investigating who uses similar apps by seeing who competitors target.

When you spend time researching the audience, you should note similarities in who the groups of people are. Then, converting these traits into hypothetical people is a helpful way of understanding them. This process is called creating customer profiles (sometimes called customer avatars).

Your ideal customer profile should include a name, age, gender, job, hobbies, and interests. Find out when your audience will need the app and how you will market it towards them. For example, if it is a calculator app, think about what jobs would need it and which social media platforms they use.

For your mobile app to excite investors or look viable enough for a bank to give you a loan, your plan must demonstrate an understanding of your business. A SWOT analysis is helpful to prove that attention has been paid to every aspect. It involves highlighting your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Any successful mobile application will have the essential features that give it appeal. But as a business offering when looking for finance, your strengths may include more than this. 

If you are launching a new app, you may have skills in design or development, for example. Mentioning any past experience would further add to your business, which would be considered a relevant strength. 

By acknowledging any weaknesses of your app or overall business, you can also mention how you plan to overcome them. Highlighting weaknesses shows that you are realistic, as it is doubtful for any new brand not to have any. 

For example, there may be areas of the business you are unfamiliar with. In that case, you can demonstrate how you will work on those. Perhaps you have little experience in finance, so you could mention that you will be using an accounting tool that makes it easier, like Countingup.

Your business plan needs to include some reassurance that an enterprising individual can rely on. Proving that there are potential opportunities for your business to take advantage of shows the longevity of your thinking.

For example, there may be other areas for your app to move into in the future. In addition, there may be additional features that you would like to include down the line to appeal to different audiences. Having a broader appeal in the future would help you attain your planned growth later.

Use your business plan to present yourself and your mobile app as well-prepared. There may likely be situations in the future of the business that could threaten your success. Pointing out some and explaining how you will avoid them is crucial.

For example, if another app is launched with similar features, it could cause yours to lose users. By making sure that the relevant patents are filed correctly, you could use legal action on another company to stop them from infringing on what you own.

For more information on patents, see: What’s the difference between copyright, patent and trademarks?

Investors and lenders are often interested in the projections that your business plan can put forward. Understandably, they seek reassurance that the plan you are putting forward is backed up by calculations.

A sales forecast shows how the business expects it will do within the first month, quarter or year and how much it will make over that time. This should be backed up by your market research, you could base it on how much competitors earn. Again, though, the way you bring in revenue for a mobile app is essential.

Explain whether the application will have a price or whether it will be free and income will be made through additional in-app purchases or by allowing advertisers to promote through it. Then, with your chosen methods of making money, you can multiply that by the number of downloads you expect to put together your sales forecast.

Financial management is crucial for you to launch a mobile app. You have to ensure that all of your costs for development are recorded so you can monitor your spending. To make this easier for your business, it could be helpful to set up a separate account.

Countingup is the business current account with built-in accounting software that allows you to manage all your financial data in one place. With features like automatic expense categorisation, you can make sure development runs smoothly.  Another feature is cash flow insights which can help you plan ahead for your future, all through the app you can confidently keep on top of your business finances wherever you are. 

You can also share your bookkeeping with your accountant instantly without worrying about duplication errors, data lags or inaccuracies. Seamless, simple, and straightforward! 

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