After building a lot of mobile apps, we’ve gained a pretty good idea of what makes a mobile app great. The seven things listed below are the features shared by almost all of the great business mobile apps we’ve seen. We designed the Mobile Solutions platform to include each of these features and to make it easy for our customers to stay close to these core goals when making their businesses’ apps. By keeping them in mind, you’re really keeping your users in mind, which is always a good idea.
1. It’s functional
This is probably the most important thing when it comes to apps. With a world of buggy, non-functional apps, you need to ensure that your app works. It should launch without issue, tabs should open up when clicked, and buttons should work – and this experience must be tested on a variety of platforms and devices. This seems like the most obvious possible advice in the world, but you’d be surprised how many apps suffer because of inadequate testing and debugging.
2. It rewards users
When a user opens your app, it should be obvious how the app is going to serve them. The value should be delivered fairly quickly, or should at least be apparent. If a user is stumped right off the bat, your app is toast. Start things off right and make sure that users get something out of your app immediately.
3. It looks good
It’s an image-based world, for better or worse. Your app has to look like a well-designed program and making it “pretty” is generally the way to do this. Unless you have a hardcore user base, it doesn’t matter what you have under the hood if your interface is ugly and non-intuitive. Keep it neat and your users will feel like they’re in good hands.
4. It’s simple
Don’t overcomplicate things. There isn’t a lot of room on the little screen. Instead, you need to stick to a few core functions and make them super-easy to spot and use. In an industry of hyper-specialization, clutter has become unforgivable. Find out the most important things your users want (1, 2, or maybe 3 tasks), and focus on those. “Robust functionality” can wait.
5. It’s free
Charging for an app is quite a statement. Unless you’ve pioneered something that truly delivers significant value and can demonstrate why it’s worth paying for, consider making your app free. Free apps are no-risk propositions, and many users will only browse the free section. Go where the biggest audience is, and remove a huge hurdle to downloading.
6. It’s quick
Your app can’t have delays in operation. It’s got to be blazing fast. Anything less is going in the trash. End of story.
7. It’s shareable
Make it easy for users to recommend your app to others. Viral spreading is still one of the best ways to become successful in the digital world and making your app easy to share facilitates this. Social media links are the key method for sharing. Make sure you’ve got an easy-to-click option to share somewhere in your app, and it will grow organically.
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