Not every business is able to build a mobile app and immediately be able to strike gold. In fact, many businesses are left disappointed after releasing their application; this can be remedied.
A recent Forrester report details some key areas that are common to great apps. Make use of these tips to elevate your app from being merely good to being great:
Create mobile moments
As Forrester put it, good apps perform flawlessly while great apps create mobile moments. Flawlessness here means that the app is stable, performs well and has all the basic functionality.
However, there is a need to go beyond this and come up with an app that is able to give long-term returns and to do this you need to look at creating mobile moments. A mobile moment refers to a situation in which the consumer is able to get what he or she wants as soon as possible and in the correct context. This will go a long way in revolutionizing the way companies do business and how they also use technology.
Here are some of the conditions which a mobile app must meet if it is to move from good to great, as recommended by Forrester:
- Your app should be able to work flawlessly in terms of up-time, power use and speed
- Your app should offer an ease of accessibility, that is, anywhere and anytime
-The user must have good control over the interaction
- Your app should be able to give the user relevant contextual experiences
Understand Consumer Expectations
Great apps are meant to benefit consumers. This means that there should be a connection between the app which you are developing and the requirements and needs of your consumers. Research has come to show that there is often a disconnect between the kind of apps business have released and the kinds of apps that consumers really want. The explanation for this unfortunate finding is very simple; most of these businesses are not exposed to the right kind of information.
Many businesses pay attention to the wrong metrics regarding mobile app performance. They tend to concentrate on things such as number of mobile downloads, number of active monthly users and number of active daily users. The truth of the matter here is that these metrics are not an accurate reflection of the overall business performance of an app.
Instead, there are better metrics that ought to be given more attention if an enterprise is to work toward developing a great app. You must measure user engagement, the number of transactions, the direct impact on revenue and the cost of savings. The app must be created be in such a way that it is engaging; otherwise, users will end up feeling dissatisfied with the application. Therefore, at the end of the day, an app's success will narrow down to engagement and customer satisfaction.
Know the different between a good app and a great one
There are four major areas which great apps outshinegood apps. This is where the great apps outshine their counterparts. It is a matter of choosing to travel the extra mile and working toward building a great app.
Here are those areas:
1. Great apps generate higher rates of customer engagement and loyalty.
2. Great apps increase sales to your other channels.
3. Great apps save you money and help boost productivity.
4. The amount of revenue that great apps bring on board is five times higher or more than what good apps are able to bring in a single year.
To help you understand where your app stands and how to improve it you will need to develop a culture that utilizes measurements. Make sure that you pay attention to those aspects which are relevant to the goals of your company. You should know your company's goals and then pick the measurements which are relevant to these goals.
Remember, it is not wise to attempt to do everything with your mobile application. Do not put too many features in your app. You are vastly better off if you pick on one thing and make sure you do it exceptionally well. This will improve customer engagement.
Be willing to invest
Sometimes, we have no option but to spend resources for valuable things. Great apps call for a reasonable amount of investment to do the job properly. Entrepreneurs must be able to commit enough funds in developing the app to be able to build an app that users will want to use.
Accord to Forrester Consulting, most businesses have not been able to investment enough in developing mobile apps either because of the financial constraints or due to lack of knowledge as to how much funds they need to invest so as to come up with a good mobile app. Many companies have plans of creating more apps in the nearby future. However, the percentage of their total budget that they set aside for this activity is very minimal. With this, it is very easy to see why they may end up with poor quality apps.
Author Bio: Kimber Johnson is the co-founder of ASPEN App Design, which is a sister company of Vanity Point and Pacific App Design. He has worked within the Web development, graphics design, mobile application development, marketing and advertising fields for over 17 years.
