That’s one segment where web apps are common and it’s thriving – according to Precedence Research, the SaaS market reached a size of $314.54 billion in 2023.
It’s also expected to grow to $1,016.44 billion by 2032, reaching over a trillion dollars in value at a compound annual growth rate of 13.92%.
And that’s just one market segment.
There are other reasons why you should build a web app, like:
Wider reach
Convenience (no installation needed)
Lower development costs
Easier troubleshooting
And those are pretty compelling reasons to build one for your business.
Top tips for web app development
Now, let’s discuss some top tips for successful web app development, which are:
Understand your target audience
Create a software requirements specification
Build an MVP for your web app
Focus on scalability
Use responsive design
Build a progressive web app
Rigorously test your web app
Let’s discuss each in more detail.
Understand your target audience
The most important thing you need to know before developing your web app is knowing who you’re building it for.
And that means understanding your target audience.
Without that, it will be much tougher to build an app that meets your users’ needs.
Understanding your target audience is the first step to successful market research.
And thorough market research will help you get a product-market fit, which is essential if you want a successful app.
While we’re on the subject, here’s what Resonate’s founder, Davor Culjak, has to say about achieving product-market fit.
But, how can you get to that point?
There’s a simple answer to that question – thorough product discovery.
During product discovery, you’ll dive deep into researching your users’ needs and pain points.
This will help you find out what your target audience wants and how your app can solve their problems.
You should use a variety of qualitative and quantitative research methods, like:
With these methods, you’ll get a deep understanding of your target audience and cover all your bases before you start developing your web app.
And that’s key if you want it to be successful.
Key steps
Analyze your competitors – study your competitors’ reviews and feedback to see what their users like/dislike about their apps
Use social listening – you should monitor social media to see what your target audience wants from your web app
Create a feedback loop – having a feedback loop is essential if you want to successfully iterate and improve your app
Create a software requirements specification
Developing a web app without a software requirements specification (SRS) document is like building a house without a blueprint.
And would you move into a house that was built without a blueprint?
Of course you wouldn’t.
And that’s why you shouldn’t build an app without an SRS, either.
But, what exactly goes into an SRS?
Here’s what a typical SRS looks like:
Of course, your app’s SRS will be slightly different.
But, your SRS should always cover 2 key areas – your web app’s functional and non-functional requirements.
An easy way of thinking about them is like this – functional requirements cover what your app does and non-functional requirements cover how it does it.
Your app’s functional requirements cover everything your app should do when users interact with it – this includes all its features and functionalities.
And the non-functional requirements cover how your app does things and they’re more focused on performance and security metrics.
The reason why an SRS is so important is because it helps align everyone working on your app.
This means that you can create a clear development timeline and prevent scope creep.
And that will help you get your web app to market faster.
Key steps
Use simple and clear language – using simple and clear language will help you avoid misunderstandings
Use visual aids – visual elements like diagrams and flowcharts will make your SRS document more engaging and understandable
Regularly review the SRS – regularly review your SRS to ensure it stays relevant and useful as
Build an MVP for your web app
Building a minimum viable product (MVP) of your web app is a great way to make sure your idea works before fully committing to development.
That’s because an MVP is a bare-bones version of your app with only the essential features.
It’s the ultimate idea validation tool that shows you if there’s demand for your web app on the market.
Using them makes developing scalable web apps easy and cost-efficient.
And that’s why you should go for them.
Key steps
Use load balancing – load balancers distribute traffic across multiple servers, which improves your app’s performance and helps in handling large traffic loads
Continuously monitor your web app – continuous monitoring tools will help you find performance bottlenecks and plan future scaling
Regularly optimize your code – optimizing your code on a regular basis will improve your app’s performance and make scaling easier
Use responsive design
Your web app’s design is as important as the technology behind it, if not more important.
Your users agree with that, too – according to Zippia, 94% of users will leave a website if it has a low-quality design.
That’s why getting it right is essential.
And using responsive design is one of the best ways to do just that.
But, what exactly is responsive design?
Responsive design means that your web app automatically adapts to your user’s screen size, regardless of the device they’re using.
Media queries allow you to apply CSS styles based on the type of device your users are using.
In simple terms, they make responsive design possible.
Another important method for responsive design is fluid grids.
They’re a visual way of creating design layouts for different devices, and you can use them to specify the layouts for each device type.
They’ll help you provide a consistent experience for all of your users.
And that’s what responsive design is all about.
Key steps
Use flexible images – flexible images scale with your fluid grid, which is key if you want to use responsive design
Test on multiple devices – make sure your design provides a consistent experience to your users on all device types
Use responsive typography – just like images, text in your web app should adjust to every device type
Build a progressive web app
If you want to take your web app to the next level, building a progressive web app (PWA) is the way to go.
Alex Russell, the software engineer who coined the term, described PWAs as “websites that took all the right vitamins”.
PWAs are web apps that combine web and native mobile app technologies – in simple terms, they’re web apps that feel like mobile apps.
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And this means they provide users with a better experience, which has numerous business benefits.
The stats back that up, too.
Flipkart, one of the biggest Indian e-commerce companies, built a PWA in 2015 – their PWA increased conversion rates by 70% and tripled the amount of time users spent on their site.
So, what exactly sets them apart from standard web apps?
PWAs are built just like any other web app with HTML, CSS, and Javascript but are different in a number of ways:
PWAs can be installed on users’ devices, for example, mimicking how a native mobile app works.
But, the essential component is the service worker – it’s a background script that caches data and content.
It’s what enables offline access to PWAs, which is what sets them apart from standard web apps.
It’s also one of the main reasons why they provide a better user experience (UX).
And that’s a pretty compelling reason to build one.
Key steps
Prioritize offline access – make sure that your web app’s core features can work without an internet connection
Add push notifications – push notifications increase user engagement and are a great way to keep your users informed about new content and updates
Focus on UX – providing a good user experience is key to your PWA’s success, they should offer a similar experience and functionality like a native mobile app
Rigorously test your web app
Excellent quality is non-negotiable when developing a web app.
And that’s why rigorous and thorough testing and quality assurance (QA) is an essential step in web app development.
Testing isn’t just about making your web app better, either.
Doing it yields other benefits as well, as you can see in the picture below:
It can also prevent you from losing out on potential revenue – slow-loading sites cost their owners $2.6 billion in lost revenue every year.
And that’s a huge loss you can easily prevent by thoroughly testing your web app.
But, how exactly do you do that?
There are a number of testing methods and metrics QA teams use to test web apps, like:
Tarek is our go-to expert for all things JavaScript, especially React. A proud graduate of the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Organization and Informatics, he’s honed his craft on some of our toughest projects while managing to lead our JS team at the same time. Pretty impressive, right?
Outside the office, you’ll find him dominating in Dota 2 and Counter-Strike. He'll also often daydream about his ideal workspace in the picturesque hills of Zagorje near Trakoscan castle with a Starlink connection, so he's always ready for action.
