Over the past years we have worked on over hundred digital technology projects. We discovered that the most important stage in developing a web service is not the actual development. What often defines success or failure of the engineering plan is the stage that we at Skein call Research & Analytics Phase.
So what are the key point to cover before writing the first line of code? They include:
- Competition and user research, including market trends, competitor media strategy;
- Target user profiles and media portrait, which is useful for creating marketing plan and user acquisition strategy, and for design;
- User stories and user personas;
- Analytics for the history for the current site and setup of analytics for the updated service;
- Wireframes of all the service screens;
- Ideas on User interface design, brand identity and UX;
- Technical specification with the timelines and costs, including different scenarios and options for further development.
It is essential for devising a usable, engaging web or mobile app. Similarly, the analysis of user expectations with regards to the design, interface and interactive elements will be instrumental in getting fast user acceptance and achieving the target business KPIs. Therefore, we offer a preparatory project stage to provide an efficient solution to the technology innovation challenges our clients are facing.
We worked with many web technology projects where clients say that they are certain about the necessity of the features they come up with in a chat with their cofounder, and they just need all those feature to be built. If we are not able to convince the client about the need to carefully consider the market need and possible user feedback, analyse the competition landscape and the degree of the target user readiness to use the features, then we say ‘no’ to the project.
Another widespread scenario to which first-time innovators can be prone, is to expect a fixed-price proposal based a set of loosely defined features that were not researched, tested and technically planned. This approach most often leads to vague budgets, overstretched timelines and a failed product that is not accepted by users.
So following some simple steps will help you to ensure that your digital innovation project is built in the most efficient way time and money-wise, and most importantly, that your product has the most chances to be successful.
