Building an app with Cheesecake Labs: Phase #4 Product Optimization

If you’ve been reading this blog post series since the beginning, you should have already gone through all Cheesecake Lab’s product development phases. Phase 1 helped you define your product and your goals, Phase 2 gave your app a design, and Phase 3 brought your product to life and released it to users.

Your app is out in the world now. But the most exciting — and important — weeks, months and years still lie ahead.

If you don’t continue maintaining and updating your app after launch, you’ll fall behind the curve. There are always software updates, new regulations, and user feedback to address. In fact, you’ll likely continue cycling through Phases 1 to 3 again with your app — re-addressing user needs, re-designing some elements, and re-developing as well.

At Cheesecake Labs, we know this and have created Phase 4: Product Optimization just for that.

Why continuous improvement is essential for your app

There’s no such thing as an app that functions perfectly after you release it. Below are some of the reasons why you can’t rest after you push your app to market.

Undiscovered bugs

Perfect development doesn’t exist — there we said it! Even people who have decades of experience won’t catch every bug in their code. And some bugs might only occur when the application starts to scale and get traction.

That’s why you need to monitor your app for errors and take care of undiscovered bugs as soon as you find them. The optimization phase will help you find these bugs by logging issues as they occur and taking in user feedback.

Customer needs

If you did your homework during Phases 1, 2, and 3, you should be laser focused on your users’ needs as they exist today. These insights might change once people start using your product though.

The Product Optimization phase helps refine your product by getting feedback from the people you want an on-going relationship with. You can adapt your application to meet emerging and evolving customer needs, to give people the experience they’re looking for.

Hiccups in the UX

Not every part of your product will get equal attention from users. In some cases, it’s because people aren’t interested in those features. In others, it’s because the user experience isn’t up to par — yet.

The data you collect from users during Phase 4 will help you find screens that have high bounce rates. Once you know where your usability issues are, you can refine those screens to make every part of your product enjoyable.

Pressure from competitors

Chances are, you’re not the only app of your kind in town. The marketplace is vast, and you’re going to need to set yourself apart from the competition.

You might do this in the beginning — answering a new need and doing it in a more delightful way. But you can’t count on staying number one when your competitors are out to surpass you.

Adding new product features will keep you competitive so that you never fall behind.

Meet new business goals

The ultimate goal of your app is to meet a business goal. While your app might do this in the beginning, things can change in the future.

Your app needs to change with your business and market conditions. The optimization process helps by making sure your product continues to align with your company vision.

Cheesecake Labs takes Product Optimization as seriously as creating your product

We can all agree that Product Optimization is essential for app success. You don’t want to leave your users hanging with undiscovered bugs or unoptimized features. And you don’t want to get left behind by your competitors either.

To get the results you want from your app, you need to be dedicated to getting it as right as possible on release day and for every day that follows too. We said there’s no such thing as perfect development, but there’s also no such thing as the perfect app — it’s one thing to catch as many bugs as possible before shipping, but your product will always be a work in progress.

We get that at Cheesecake Labs. We know that sustainable success requires continuous effort, so we won’t leave you hanging once we finish your project. We’re with you for the long-haul, offering two main approaches to the optimization phase:

On-going optimization

As a dedicated Product Optimization team, we’ll keep a close eye on your app and how it performs for your customers. We’ll gather feedback, look for bugs, suggest ways to improve the user experience and even start planning a roadmap for new features, with an on-going release plan.

We’ll also stay up-to-date on looming software changes, and respond quickly to third-party updates on your behalf. You never know what will happen when software updates or third-party integrations change, but your dedicated team will test updates as they come in, to ensure nothing breaks your application.

Here when you need us

Even though Cheesecake Labs likes to take a proactive approach to Product Optimization, we understand that not every business wants a dedicated team working for them. They prefer to make changes as they’re needed, and Cheesecake Labs can accommodate those requests with proper planning and resource management.

How Product Optimization works with Cheesecake Labs

The same project manager and team that built your app will also work on your app during the optimization process. They’ll know your product’s ins and outs and will have the experience needed to keep your app running smoothly. Whether it’s daily, weekly, or monthly work, we’ll do whatever it takes to meet whatever needs you and your business has.

Of course, as time goes on and your business grows, you might want to take your development team in-house. And that’s no problem! Our team will help you onboard your new developers as best we can.

Code quality and documentation is a core principle at Cheesecake Labs — it’s something we rely on to onboard our new team members, too. That’s a benefit we pass on to you once our Product Optimization journey has come to close. You can take our custom-crafted high standards, and simple-to-learn development processes, and keep optimizing on your own.

Keep in mind, though, that Cheesecake Labs support is available all throughout your digital product’s lifecycle. You have a great design and development team at your disposal. And can rest easy knowing that we’re here to help, while you continue focusing on the core parts of your business.

You can count on Cheesecake Labs to keep your product optimized

Product Optimization is one of the most critical parts of the app development process. Digital products can live long, successful lives — delivering ultimate value to yours and your business — but only if you keep on working to improve them.

If you think you’re ready to hit ‘go’ on your app idea, get in touch with Cheesecake Labs today. Our experts will fill you in on all the little details you need to know before you get started.