Top Tools for Mobile App Market Research

Why is understanding the mobile app market so crucial, and what tools can help with this process? In this article, we’ll answer these questions in that exact order.

The mobile app market is a dynamic and highly competitive environment where new ideas, products, and services emerge daily. However, many projects fail because their market entry process was not thoroughly researched. Conducting market research is critical for a successful app launch as it helps identify the needs of your target audience and define the key factors for success.

Developing a New App: Key Success Factors

When breaking down the factors for a successful app launch and its subsequent growth, the sequence looks like this:

1. Time-to-Market
   This isn’t just about the season or calendar timing, though these can play a role. It’s more about market and user readiness for your product or service. Many stories exist about products or services that were ahead of their time or launched at the wrong moment. Releasing a product at the right time can be a game-changer. Staying informed about market trends and anticipating demand is essential.
2. Target Audience
   Building on the first point, every product or service should already have a defined target audience. Identify who your product is for. If the app is innovative, the audience might include early adopters and pioneers eager to try out new solutions.
3. Market Readiness
   This ties back to the first point as well. Assess how well your product meets the current market needs. If the product is ahead of its time, even early adopters may struggle to accept it.
4. Competition
   Analyze the competitive landscape to understand who you’re competing with for user attention.

This is why conducting thorough market research for mobile apps is a must.

The Importance of Mobile App Market Research

Market research is the first and most crucial step in creating a new mobile product. It helps to:

• Assess Market Size and Dynamics
  Understanding potential demand prevents creating a product for an overly narrow audience or a saturated segment.
• Analyze Competition
  Identifying strong players and their strategies allows you to carve out your niche and offer something unique.
• Study Global Trends
  External factors and trends can significantly impact your app's success.
• Validate Ideas
  Even the most unique ideas need to be backed by data. Without hypothesis testing, you risk investing resources in a doomed project.

Common Mistakes of Indie Developers

Indie developers often approach their projects with "blind love": "This app is unique, and there's nothing like it on the market!" While enthusiasm is commendable, it's not always supported by an objective market evaluation. Without clear analytics, it’s hard to predict if a product will meet demand. Experienced companies understand that without market research, any app launch is a gamble.

How Mobile Analytics Supports Research

Mobile analytics tools provide developers with data essential for conducting thorough market research. These tools can help to:

• Analyze Competitors' Downloads and Revenue
  This insight highlights which apps are successful and why.
• Examine Categories and Top Charts
  Identifies trending niches and popular directions.
• Compare App Stores
  Understand how apps perform in Google Play and the App Store.
• Evaluate Similar Apps
  Understanding competitors' strengths and weaknesses reveals opportunities for improvement.

Tools for Mobile App Market Research

Using analytical tools is more than just collecting data; it forms the foundation of a winning strategy. For example:

• Identifying Popular Niches
  Analyzing top charts helps discover trending categories.
• Comparing Competitors
  Reviewing their downloads and revenue provides insight into user preferences.
• Discovering Keywords
  Keyword analysis tools improve your app’s visibility in search results.

Let’s explore how ASOMobile tools can assist in market research and make this process more effective.

Store Insights

Store Insights is the perfect starting point for exploring the mobile app market. This tool helps identify key market trends, pinpoint the most in-demand categories, and discover which apps are currently the most popular.

With ease, you can uncover:

• The number of new apps added to the App Store and Google Play
• The market structure by country, broken down into apps vs. games, paid vs. free apps
• Category-specific data, such as the Top 10 apps by downloads and revenue

The mobile app market is constantly growing, and individual categories evolve alongside it. Leadership trends shift rapidly, so staying updated is crucial. These insights allow you to adjust your strategy promptly, keeping pace with market developments.

Once you've grasped the broader trends of the mobile app market, it’s time to dig deeper. The next step is evaluating specific categories to refine your strategy further.

Category Analysis

Category Intelligence provides comprehensive analytics for any app store category. By selecting the country, app store, and category of interest, you gain access to a complete overview, including:

• Category Revenue
• Number of Downloads
• Total Number of Apps

You can also explore a detailed Top 100 list based on downloads or revenue, helping identify the niche leaders you should consider as competitors if this category aligns with your app’s focus.

For a deeper dive into category rankings, the next tool will offer even more insights.

Top Categories

Depending on the marketplace - App Store or Google Play - you can explore Top 10, 100, or 200 apps, segmented into paid and free categories. Additionally, you can assess the leading revenue-generating apps in a specific category for a particular date.

This analysis provides invaluable benchmarks and role models: competitors whose strategies can inspire your app's development and promotion.

Beyond their market leadership, two critical metrics should guide your strategy:

• Number of Downloads
• Revenue

Understanding these metrics allows you to evaluate their success and align your plans for growth and visibility in the app market.

Downloads

The Downloads section provides insights into installation levels for both your app and competitors. You can effortlessly analyze downloads across all available countries, tracking seasonal trends and more granular timeframes.

Revenue

Similarly, the Revenue section offers detailed data on app earnings, broken down by country and over a selected period.

In addition to competitor analysis, it’s essential to monitor trends and popular user demands. Understanding what users are currently engaging with and searching for - through trending keywords and queries - can provide critical insights to guide your app’s strategy and align it with market needs.

Trending Searches

Trending search queries can inspire both product ideas and semantic work, depending on the stage of your app development process.

Trending Searches is a tool that allows you to explore:

• Top keywords for any month or day
• Long-lasting search terms, which often provide more valuable insights than short-term trends

These insights can help you align your strategy with user interests, whether you're brainstorming ideas or optimizing your app's visibility.

Now that we’ve moved from market-level analysis to working with semantics, it’s time to dive into Top Keywords for deeper insights.

Top Keywords

The Top Keywords tool provides a list of the most popular keywords, segmented by country, platform, and traffic metrics.

This journey - from broad market evaluation to specific, actionable insights like trending keywords and semantics—highlights the importance of analytics in every stage of app development. Whether brainstorming a product idea or optimizing an app post-release, these data-driven insights can guide your strategy.

The significance of user-friendly analytical tools cannot be overstated, as they directly enhance your chances of success. ASOMobile offers a comprehensive suite of data to support mobile market research. With ASOMobile, you can:

• Analyze the revenue and downloads of competitor apps
• Identify the most successful categories and apps
• Monitor global trends and market shifts
• Select impactful keywords for effective optimization

These tools equip you with the insights needed to navigate the competitive mobile app landscape effectively.

Mobile App Market Research: Your Path to Success

Without thorough market research, a successful app launch becomes a matter of luck rather than a predictable outcome. Leveraging mobile analytics tools minimizes risks and allows you to build a strategy based on precise data. This is particularly crucial for indie developers and small studios, where every mistake can be costly.

Our blog offers in-depth reviews of entire mobile app categories, with forecasts and actionable recommendations - for example, insights into the finance app category or shopping apps.

Start your journey with market research and ensure your app's success is backed by data, not chance.

Research and Build Winning Strategies 💙