With over 6 billion smartphone users around the world and retail purchases becoming increasingly mobile dominant, mobile app development has become an integral part of our revenue stream. However, how likely customers are to download, share, and purchase things from your mobile app can be quickly derailed if there is lackluster design.
This article will cover some fundamental tips and tricks on mobile app development to ensure you deliver the best quality experience to the user.
Table of Contents
Unique Value Proposition
One of the biggest flaws in most people’s app ideas is that they believe it would be cool to use, as opposed to solving an actual problem. Novelty apps, for example, are luck of the draw as to whether it goes viral. Instead, offering a solution to a common problem is going to increase your chances of having a valuable app that is shared, recommended, and used. And, even if it’s not a specific problem beyond being an entertaining way to spend some time, it must still be unique.
Of course, when grappling with your unique value proposition, it’s important to define the audience. Having the audience in mind before the development process is underway is crucial, as it will reflect on better choices in developing the features. For instance, if your target audience includes individuals with hearing impairments, developing a high-quality hearing aid app would provide a valuable solution to their needs.
Competition
It’s easy to perform some market research, determine your USP, and begin developing an app. The issue with treating these as sequential steps is that developing an app could take you years, or at least many months, in which the market is constantly changing. So, pay regular attention to the latest trends within both design and the app category market. It’s not just your direct customers’ decisions to analyze, but even broad app design trends or developments in programming frameworks.
Security
Security is often overlooked by smaller developers who may not see right away that their app will be storing sensitive information. Security compliance is crucial, and this can start by consulting backend staff. Annual compliance is not enough, though, as regular monitoring of your security is necessary.
Post-development feedback
Plan for frequent updates early on, as you will gain a lot of immediate feedback on the flaws, bugs, and inefficiencies of the app. Maintenance is a big part of the last phase of developing an app, so a maintenance plan needs to be in place. However, it’s no good just planning for this time to be allocated, as gathering good quality information back from the early customers is vital.
Customer service
Customer service within the app is extremely important, if this is where the users are spending most of their time. Even if you’re not a service but an entertainment app, or a game – many companies still have a “contact us” email address on their website, but fail to have a message form in the app built-in. A live chat feature is also handy if a higher level of customer support is necessary, though this can be a chatbot at first to help keep overheads down. Going above and beyond with customer service within your app will reflect well in its sharability and App Store reviews.
About Carson Derrow
