8 Mistakes You Should Avoid When Developing New Mobile Apps
Developing a successful mobile app requires a proper plan from the beginning including these essential questions: what you need, why you need it, and your target users?
Why Most Mobile Apps Become Failures?
It can be the greatest sense of achievement when turning your own ideas and dreams into a reality;
In the software development industry, this happens daily, dreams are made, however many of these Apps are soon left to rot after being neglected sitting in an application store — this article aims to help you find the most common mistakes that are made and help to avoid them before you run the mobile app marketing campaigns and make your app go viral.
To achieve a high level of interaction and user retention with mobile applications is by no means an easy task. In fact, according to Localytics, the percentage of user abandonment is around 23%. In addition, if an application is opened only once within 7 days, there is a 60% chance that it will never be used again.
A harsh reality perhaps, but it’s a dog eat dog world in the App industry, so, much like Darwin’s theory of Evolution: “If you don’t succeed, you become extinct”. A user can decide an Apps fate, within a matter of seconds, so be cautious to avoid mistakes in developing and marketing your Application, to help guide you away from these mistakes are a few of the most common ones and some tips on how to avoid disaster.
Maybe now you’re curious with questions: Why most of the new mobile app were failures? To answer that question, let’s figure out the main cause.
I. Apps Development Mistakes:
#01. CHOOSING THE WRONG DEVELOPMENT METHOD
When you build your own development process, you will be faced with a challenging mission: deciding to develop a Native App (the original application) or Hybrid App (Cross-platform/future applications). We elaborate more on one of our other posts -Cross-platform vs. Native Mobile App Development.
Native Apps can be costly to develop, although this cost, is often justified with the production of superior user interfaces. Hybrid Apps, the development to completion is often faster and it also can ensure the best overall experience on all platforms. But if you favor the user experience criteria, Native Apps are the way forward.
Although the Native Apps are generally considered the best, it still might not be the right choice for your company. So, make sure you are putting in a healthy amount of time into choosing the correct deployment method.
#02. DO NOT PERFORM THE REVIEW OF THE PLATFORM IN A FULL WAY
iOS, Android: Which platforms are your mobile apps in?
Probably this is a question that everyone must face when starting to build apps, but often they do not have a full analysis of the platforms. There are many things to consider when choosing the platform. According to statistics, iOS is very popular in America, but Android is dominating in the global scope. So, if you intend to publish your mobile apps in many countries, you should consider priorities for Android than iOS. When you choose the platform, please make sure that you have thought about all the possibilities and other options. If you fail to do that, you risk losing a large number of potential customers.
#03. TOO MANY ADDITIONAL FEATURES
A common blunder is that developers do not define a scope for their apps, adding features, seems like a harmless and somewhat good idea, however without a defined scope, features come thick and fast. Soon the project has so many features that the project can become uneconomical and never-ending.
“Mobile users looking for a fast experience, convenient and simple.”
If your mobile apps are crammed with many features, it can be overwhelming for the user. Worsened if the users are not using the latest hardware, adding many features can make your app sluggish on the outdated phone or tablet. This can make your app crash and severely affect the user experience.
Don’t overcomplicate, Instead, focus on a few core functions to charm your users. If you have more time and money, you should use it to enhance the user’s loyalty by refining the core features instead of searching and adding many other features. Another way to optimize your application is to hire a mobile software outsourcing company like Sioux — this Danang based subsidiary of a successful Dutch company, Sioux will help you turn bold ideas into real mobile applications with the greatest quality. Some examples of Sioux’s output is De Heus CMS and Mobile App, S-Hotel, S-farm, Film Mobile App, Amoha…
#04. TOO MANY MOBILE APP ERRORS
Unfortunately, many developers prematurely release their Apps, without the correct due diligence and testing. This is like playing with fire, the App might look great, but only a matter of time before there is a serious flaw and then a bad review soon after. Quality management and testing in the development process crucial stages in the development of applications. The release of your App on the market that lacks testing their performance is not so different from cooking without tasting.
The only way to avoid the risk is always testing the performance and take it into your development process as early as possible. Sometimes, even the most meticulous testing of your apps it can still have some bugs. However, outsourcing your testing to a company like Sioux.
“Why do I need someone to test my mobile app when I can do this alone?”
Of course, you absolutely can do your App testing alone. However, if you value quality and the possibility of time reduction then having a dedicated team of professional testers is for you. In addition to the detection of critical bugs, they also offer important ideas to make your App more user-friendly. For example, they can tell you that your in-app purchases are not well presented or clear to everyone, or even if there is an inappropriate advertisement that could ruin the whole experience of the users. The more people that test your App the nearer to perfection it will be.
The most crucial part of not receiving 1-star ratings on the App stores is to make sure all the critical bugs are ironed out.
#05. INFERIOR USER EXPERIENCE
When you cannot meet the basic requirements, rejection is inevitable. So to compete, your App should be very intuitive, easy to use, and unique. Users can easily evaluate the features of an App:
- One of the first they evaluate is the speed of the mobile apps. You should ensure that users can perform multiple tasks in minutes. Otherwise, they will be extremely frustrated and ditch your App.
- Another criterion they look at is a quick signup process; when users must work hard just at the login step, they can put off, even before they have used the App for its main purpose. This is similar to first impressions when meeting someone new, if someone is difficult to talk to in the initial introduction, chances are you won’t want to continue speaking to them.
II. Pitfalls in the Mobile Apps Marketing Strategy:
#06. BUILDING A SYSTEM TO ATTRACT USERS, IMPROPERLY
Many Apps cannot attract their target audience. That’s one main reason why these Apps fail. So, you have to always think about the initial user experience and create a smart and efficient marketing process. To be successful, you will avoid confusion and unnecessary frustration when users interact with your App for the first time.
The next step is to build a funnel analysis to help you understand exactly where the users are being lost during the use of the App. This will help you take the steps necessary to fix the problems.
Finally, remember that great user experience must also be based on the data from A/B testing. Do not assume that you already know the answer. Take the test!
#07. UNSTABLE MARKETING PLAN
When you are thinking about the marketing plan for your Apps, Normally, the focus is the number of downloads. However, these figures do not mean that your apps will be successful in the App stores.
Although the landing page is not an effective place for advertising, however, your users will know that there is a mobile application that has been optimized, and now it is available in the store.
Please take a moment to learn about the methods that can make your users discover your products. App stores can be the main method, but many publishers often ignored relevant factors such as the title, description, and keywords.
Since a high percentage of dissatisfied customers seem to leave reviews. If you want to increase the downloads, you need to have good reviews. Therefore, if you do not focus on how to get good reviews, you will lose thousands of potential customers.
#08. FAIL TO BUILD STRONG RELATIONSHIPS
Once your App is installed in the user’s device, “you” are in their pocket. This gives you a great opportunity to connect with your customers and interact with them. Investing in your mobile App and make it possible to connect with your users. Today, the expectations of users are increasing. Users always have problems, questions, and suggestions when using your App. Nowadays Apps often lack a “place” for user dialogue, commenting, or feedback, and this leads to the users extremely disappointed. This also prevents you from knowing the problem to solve.
Let’s consider building a feedback tool in your mobile apps, simplify the feedback process, and listen to your customers before they are disappointed and leave you a bad review. If you do not have time and resources to build such tools, you can search for IT outsourcing services companies like Sioux which can create these tools.
The Conclusion
Developing a successful mobile application needs you to plan carefully at the beginning and discover what you need, why you need it, and who wants to use this App. This should be planned before you start spending money on the development process. If you can avoid these mistakes, you will be able to create compelling mobile apps, that are simple yet effective.
