Impacting the Market with Good UX
People download apps because they serve a purpose in their lives. Once installed, they expect that app to make their life simpler and solve their problem(s) efficiently. If your users don’t gain that expected experience, then they will quickly give your app the boot. Avoid becoming discarded by investing in exceptional user experience (UX).
A successful app doesn’t need to explain how to navigate from one screen to another or what each button means. The users should easily navigate through your app on their own. People lose interest when things get confusing or have to be explained; they don’t need another task to sort out. But companies that fail to invest in this area will find they’re soon overtaken by competitors who put users front and center of everything they do.
Keep it Simple
Begin with choosing the right features. User experience starts at the planning stage. But beware of App Insecurity, where app businesses feel the more features the app has, the more value it will have for the user. That couldn’t be more wrong. It’s actually quite the opposite – bigger is almost never better.
You can’t win without your Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The very core of your app. Start with the primary functions that solve the problem at hand. One of the toughest parts of building an app is deciding what to keep in the first version. Keeping it simple and creating an app that offers the core value will help your users to navigate through the app quickly. Once you’ve got them locked in on your MVP, then you can analyze their behavior and build additional features.
It’s essential that you make it easy for the user to flow from one screen to another, or from one feature to another. This is where investing in a sound UX designer comes into play. Don’t short your app with a cheap development plan. What you invest in your app is what you get in return.
Understand Your Users
A large part of providing a great user experience is knowing the end-user. Who is your target audience? Get specific; age group, gender, culture, behavior, etc. If you’re making a gaming app for kids ages 3 to 10, features such as button size or content will differ versus an app for adults.
Be mindful of your users’ irritability level. Push notifications can get annoying. However, they can really help your app business push forward. When setting triggers for notifications, don’t become intrusive. Users should always have the option to turn off all notifications.
Furthermore, feedback is crucial for your apps continued success so give users the option to leave it. Feedback from your users allows you to understand what the shortfalls are in your app or what features they enjoy so you can grow to meet their needs. Treat user experience as not just a part of the design, but as an essential part of your app.
Keep Them Happy
Almost 90% of potential users trust online reviews as much as they trust word-of-mouth recommendations. So, if users are bagging on your app in online reviews or even social media, that’s a problem. Happy users and positive reviews directly impact a product’s growth, and good user experiences go a long way to making users happy.
User experience design can make the difference between a product that attracts and keeps users, and a product that fails. Incorporating UX research and design methods such as wireframing, prototyping, and usability testing into the product design process brings well-known benefits such as lower abandonment rates and better ROI. But businesses that embrace UX design also see other surprising benefits, from a more motivated team to lower advertising and marketing costs.
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