A bad user experience (UX) is instant death for a mobile app.
The majority of mobile apps downloaded have low utilization rates and wind up in the trash, and bad UX is one of the main reasons why. But there’s some good news: creating a quality user experience is not that complicated. There are some simple guidelines that can make a world of difference when it comes to creating a useful app that, at the very least, ensure that your app won’t be instantly closed and uninstalled seconds after the first launch.
Think mobile first
If your app is already available online, or in some other incarnation, look at the mobile version as a chance to start fresh. Begin with a blank canvas: what do mobile users want most? How can you give it to them in as few steps as possible? How can you pare down and streamline other features? By thinking through these questions, you’ll make decisions about what features matter, which is key to a good mobile UX.
The little screen doesn’t have a lot of room for loads of tabs, features, and text. Instead, the best way to design an app is to focus on a single function and create everything around that. Obviously, this won’t be ideal for every app, and instead a handful of features will be made available. Still, the point of the exercise applies to all mobile apps: less is more.
Be simple and fast
This ties into the above point. Your app should be streamlined, simple, and speedy. At each screen, available options should be limited and clearly presented so that navigation is straightforward. People have been trained to be quite impatient with digital solutions. On mobile devices, this impatience is ruthless. If things are unclear or take too long to load, the app is toast.
Make it simple, make it quick, and you’ll be off to a good start.
Value should be easy to understand
By now you can see that everything on mobile revolves around simplicity. Another outgrowth of this central principle is that the value your app brings should be very easy to understand and acquire. Don’t hide the ball, and don’t expect users to spend a lot of time getting acclimated to your app. Deliver your value front and center, then design everything around it, so users don’t get lost.
Study analytics and feedback, and change over time
Apps are living things. After launch, it is essential to see what tabs and functions users prefer, where and when they use your app, how long they use it for, what actions they take, etc. It’s also very valuable to check out user feedback. If users are upset, they’ll tell you exactly why, and you’ll have your work cut out for you.
Make the necessary changes, and then continue to measure and evaluate your app. Over time, it will become a finely tuned machine that does just what users want it to do. If you don’t get that right, nothing else really matters.
Conclusion
Basically, all of this advice about UX boils down to putting the users first. Your own goals are obviously important, but if you focus on them too much, you’ll actually hurt them because your app will suffer. Take care of the users, and they’ll take care of you.
