Let’s say that you are currently running a business and recently came up with an app idea for your brand. But where do you go from there? A SWOT analysis is known as a research and examination tool which assesses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your business. It is a strategic plan making it easier to decide how to move forward with your app idea and improve your business.
It is through a SWOT analysis where businesses can identify internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) influences. This helps to gain a better understanding of how you will be able to execute your ideas and what the end results will be before the app development process begins.
This technique allows businesses to explore and test the potential and eligibility of their app ideas, objectives and goals, to find and analyse issues that might be affecting their brand and to help their app ideas respond better with targeted audiences and market trends. Gaining this deeper understanding of your business can help to achieve better results and overcome threats for your mobile app venture.
Luckily there is little to no cost for a SWOT analysis because anyone with a good understanding of your business can perform one, helping to find the best way forward for the brand and identifying the problems and goals that must be conquered and achieved.
The 4 Factors in a SWOT Analysis
Strengths
This part of the analysis is where businesses identify their strengths and critical success factors. These are the parts of your business that are doing well which can then be reflected in the mobile app idea. It is important to find ways to leverage and build upon these strengths to help grow your business, ensuring your app best responds to these assets. Mobile app features can be implemented making sure your business advantages are conveyed and received in the best possible ways with users. During this section of the SWOT analysis you can ask yourself the following questions:
- What advantages does your business have?
- What do you do exceptionally well?
- What makes your business unique?
- What valuable assets and resources do you have?
- What makes your app idea better compared to others that are similar? How would it perform better?
Weaknesses
Identifying business weaknesses early-on can help to avoid failures in the future with the development of your mobile app. You can compare your app idea to other succeeding brands to discover your own weaker points or drawbacks and understand how to deal with any upcoming challenges that could arise. These are the factors putting you at a disadvantage to your competition. It can be helpful to ask yourself the following questions:
- What improvements can be done?
- What parts should be abandoned or discarded?
- Which points are seen as weaknesses? Where do you get the most complaints and criticism?
- Where are you vulnerable?
Opportunities
It is important to note that you can turn your strengths and weaknesses into new opportunities for your app idea. Capitalizing on these opportunities and pinpointing other openings in the marketplace can be beneficial for your app venture. Different trends and technologies can be implemented and you can identify your competitors’ weaknesses and use them to your advantage, offering your potential users something the competition cannot.
Threats
Threats can be identified by analysing your business environment and market fluctuations. You can predict the difficulties you might face and look at how your competitors overcome their own threats. Ask yourself the following questions so you may have a deeper understanding of the threats that lie ahead:
- Will there be any funding problems?
- Are the economic conditions affecting the financial viability of your product?
- Is your app idea up to date with today’s technology? Will it adapt well to the rapid evolution of technology?
- What are the external issues that could prevent progress?
It is important to remember that you cannot go in blindly to develop a mobile app for your brand. It is critical to go through each SWOT factor and really pay attention to the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for your app idea in order to ensure its future success. If you ever need help with the SWOT analysis process, be sure to contact us and we will be happy to help!
