10 Mistakes to Avoid while Mobile App Development

According to recent data by Statista, mobile apps are expected to generate a gigantic revenue of $ 188.9 billion by the end of the year 2020. This data clearly shows the enormous growth that mobile application development is growing to receive. The number of mobile applications is expected to rise to 258.2 billion by 2022; hence, it is quite evident that businesses can gain huge benefits through mobile apps.

While there is considerable growth in the usage of mobile app businesses, not every app out there achieve success. In a recent survey by AppsFlyer, it has been found that around 30% of applications get uninstalled in the 30 days of being downloaded. This means out of 10 installed apps, 3 gets uninstalled. Another survey by Localytics shows that around 80% of the mobile app users stop using an application within three months of its download.

The above stats clearly show that although the mobile industry is booming, not every app is appreciated by customers. After all, there are 5 million total applications in major app stores, but only 32K apps reach the mark of 1M downloads. To make sure that your app covers the steep difference in the number of total applications and the number of successful applications, it is important to avoid some mistakes.

Here is a list of mistakes to be avoided to make sure that your application is not amongst one of those apps that users forget to open:

1. Not identifying the needs:

This is one of the biggest mistakes while bringing an app into existence. Not doing analysis of the market and needs of your target audience is the same as serving Sausages to vegans-nobody is going to eat it.

You have a great app idea, but you simply put your money into it without understanding the need of your audience and doing market research. App development requires a big investment, hence it is recommended to take things slow.

No matter whether you are a startup or established brands, the first step to follow while going for app development is to recognize the pain point of customers. Identify the pain point of customers and then develop an application that cures this pain.

In this oversaturated market of mobile applications, realize the real needs of the customer and then devise a plan for the application. This will make you stand out from your competitors.

2. Outsourcing your project to the right app development company:

Just as there are different types of applications in the market such as Educational apps, eCommerce apps, Dating apps, Financial apps and more, there are categories of mobile developers also. And, all the mobile app development companies also differ from each other.

Before choosing an iOS/ android app development company, you need to fix the budget, the complexity, the platforms and the domain of your app. After this, research for the right company to outsource app development. Here is how to find and hire the right app developer.

3. Underestimating the Total Budget:

As mentioned above, app development incurs a big investment. So, before you begin the app development process, make sure to understand the detailed scope of the resources and budget that you would require in the complete process.

Determining the overall budget of app development includes evaluating development hours, material, space, marketing, overheads, operation team, etc. In other words, these aspects require a considerable investment. Hence, it is crucial to estimate your overall budget beforehand to make the app development smooth and error-free. Make sure you also divide your budget for App marketing too.

4. Ignoring the importance of MVP:

Making an MVP is a beneficial idea that can save your app from being a disaster. An MVP or Minimum Viable Product offers you a chance to test your product in real-time market conditions, where you have daily users to evaluate the performance of the app.

With MVP, you will be spending as little resources as possible to engage your first users, get feedback and understand your target market. It is important to note here that MVP is not synonymous with primitive or unfinished product that is created in a hurry. By creating an MVP, you can better understand the needs and expectations of your audience, and design an app that fits it. It is also important to choose the right platform for building an MVP.

5. Building a Poor UI:

One of the biggest mistakes to avoid while developing an application is not paying close attention to developing the UI of your application. The user interface is the face of your application, which will be held responsible for pulling the attention of users.

Since there are a plethora of applications available for accomplishing the same task; users are highly impatient while deciding to keep an app on their mobile devices.

A good UI is the user retention key for your mobile application. Effective UI/UX design aids in winning the consumer’s confidence and make them use your application for finding what they are looking for. The number of users you are getting on your application can measure the success of UI/UX.

For a small venture or start-up, UI and UX hold great importance as the first impression lasts long, and using UI and UX design can break or make the recognition.

While designing a UI, make sure to:

• Never start designing an app without an App flowchart
• Pay attention to the resolution
• Avoid making an animation for into, because an unskippable into can make them uninstall the application
• Use things that keep users engaged.
• Add a Gesture-based interface.

6. Overcrowding the app with features.

Thinking that by adding more features, you can make users appreciate your app is one of the biggest mistakes. Many app developers and businesses strive to make their application “feature-rich” and in this process, they feed their app with excessive features. This is one of the most common mistakes that app developers and businesses make.

On the other hand, if we go by the user feedbacks, adding too many features in an application makes it cumbersome, without adding much value to the user experience.

It is better to have limited and highly targeted features to make your mobile purposeful and easy to understand. In addition to this, having too many features makes the app bulky and adds to the load time. This way you can preserve the time, efforts and resources that get wasted in adding these extra features.

For example, if you are planning to create a dating app, here are some of the essential features that your app should possess:

7. Not Having Cross-Platform Strategy:

Not developing an efficient cross-platform strategy is another mistake that is needed to avoid. Gone are the days when you require developing an application for an only single platform.

Today, there are a number of cross-platform app development tools, through which users can build applications for both Android and iOS devices. Developers can use a single source code to deploy an application on multiple platforms. PhoneGap is one such tool that can be used for building cross-platform applications.

Although there are some drawbacks to developing a cross-platform application, however, when you have a limited budget, it is the most viable option.

8. Communicating Unclear Briefings:

It is important to communicate your expectations clearly at the beginning itself.

The best way to avoid miscommunication is to explain clearly what all features you need within the application and better to convey your message with the help of visuals. Start by creating diagrams, flowcharts, and sample sketches of the screens so that designers and developers can get an idea.

Explain each element in detail, what should happen when a person clicks a button, where the call-to-action buttons should be placed, which screen should appear after a particular activity and more.

This will aid you in setting up a realistic budget as the developers know exactly what is required to be accomplished and how much it would take to achieve the goals.

9. Not doing the testing:

Users out there always look for an application that can provide them with glitch-free performance. Flawlessly performing app is required to make sure that user retention is high.

Apart from simple testing of an application, it is crucial to test it over a wide range of devices to ensure a good first impression. It is better to know before what are the strategies that your web development company follows for testing.

It is also important to note here that when it comes to testing an application, the task should be performed by the professional app-testing team.

10. Unplanned market launch of the app:

One of the biggest mistakes in mobile development is made during the Market launch of an application.

Following are the important steps to follow before launching your mobile application:

• Validate your MVP before investing in a launch. This will provide you an idea of what changes are required to be made.
• Use professional help for optimizing the App store
• Pay extra attention to the on-boarding process
• Never neglect a good User Experience

Summing Up

Mobile app development mistakes can significantly affect the success of your mobile application. Take a cue from the common but some of the blunder mistakes stated above and make sure to avoid these mistakes while pursuing the app development process.

Keep in mind that app development is all about engaging with the customers in a way that will help you grow your business and get the desired return on investment. Therefore, it is crucial to pay attention to aspects like requirement analysis, need identification, customer testing, app launch, app testing, etc. The feedback you get from here will help you reach new heights in your business.

Originally published at https://graffersid.com on February 24, 2020.