When designing a mobile app, getting distracted and forgetting about the practical side of things is easy. There are several features and functions to consider, not to mention creating an overall design scheme with the best user experience.
User experience has become increasingly important in determining whether or not consumers will adopt new technology products. While you can use mobile apps to accomplish just about anything, there are mistakes designers can make while trying to create the perfect app.
These mistakes can ruin the overall mobile app UX and cause users to delete your app from their devices.
Why Is Mobile App UX Important?
Many people are unaware of how crucial user experience (UX) is to their experience with an app, and some don’t understand why it’s so important. The following five reasons will shed light on why mobile app UX is so important in modern society and why you should start focusing on it today.
Captivates Users
For a mobile app to be successful, it must captivate its users. You can do it in several ways, but the most important thing is to ensure the app is visually appealing and easy to use. A great user experience will keep users returning and can encourage word-of-mouth marketing.
The Mobile App Experience Is Your Brand’s First Impression
In today’s mobile-first world, your app’s UX is often the first interaction potential customers have with your brand. A poor UX can make or break an impression of your company and its products/services.
If you want to keep your users engaged, investing in creating a great mobile app experience is crucial.
Get Featured in the App Store
Getting featured in the app store can be a great way to get your app in front of more people. And, if your app has great UX, it can help you stand out from the competition.
Enhanced Customers Complacency & Improved ROI
A company’s mobile app can make or break its reputation in today’s market. A bad mobile app experience will send customers to your competitor’s products. On the other hand, a well-designed mobile app can improve customer retention, leading to increased sales and higher return on investment (ROI).
Conserves Time and Cost
In general, an excellent mobile app UX will conserve the time and money of both the business and the customer. If a mobile app is challenging to use or takes too long to load, customers are likely to delete it and find a replacement.
This action wastes the time and money that the business put into developing the app in the first place. A mobile app with a good UX might not require regular updates, saving time and maintenance costs.
Top 7 Mistakes To Avoid When Designing an App
Building an app is one of the fastest ways to grow your business and gain a competitive edge in your industry. It’s therefore essential to do it right from the start. Check out seven common mistakes to avoid when designing an app to ensure your app project stays on track.
Failing To Understand Your Users’ Needs
Most app designers fail to understand their target user’s needs when designing mobile apps. For example, when developing a fitness app, not understanding your users’ needs might lead you to miss vital features.
Such features would otherwise increase your download rate and revenue per download by fulfilling the needs of your users. The first step to designing a great app is understanding your users and what they need.
It means doing your research up front and talking to potential users to get feedback. For example, understanding gaming habits is essential if you’re developing an app for gamers.
Once you have that information, you can think about how the design can address these needs. Create an onboarding process with images and text prompts that show new users how to navigate your design.
Overloaded User Interface
Another common app design mistake is overloading the user interface with too much information or options. This overload can overwhelm users and make your app seem complicated, ruining the overall mobile app UX.
For instance, you may decide to create an app with a highly interactive UI to keep users engaged. However, it may have the opposite effect because it will take more time.
You should only provide users with the essential features they need to get the job done. You also want to avoid hiding critical information in menus. Doing so will improve the overall UX, which might increase your download rates.
Inconsistent Design
Some app developers go overboard with design elements, but it is essential to remember that the fewer design elements you use, the better. Over-design can confuse users and lead them to make errors when trying to complete a task.
Users should be able to find what they are looking for in your app easily. Make sure that the overall look and feel of the app are cohesive and that all elements fit together well.
Maintaining consistency in your app design makes navigation easier for the user and shows off your brand identity more effectively. To create a sense of continuity across all screens, follow these simple steps:
- Choose one typeface and stick with it throughout your app
- Use consistent colors on each screen
- Stay away from too many graphical elements (such as gradients)
- Include buttons that match your color scheme to help guide the user on where to click.
Additionally, it’s vital to ensure you don’t use too many fonts or different types of graphics for your UI. For example, if you are using a logo, it should be in the same spot on every page.
Missing Calls to Action
A call to action (CTA) is essential to any app design. Poor positioning or lack of a CTA on the home screen could result in low engagement rates and poor retention rates.
Offering easy-to-find CTAs on all screens will make it more likely that your app will serve the user’s intended purpose effectively. You should also include CTAs where you anticipate people will want more information or will find themselves stuck without knowing what to do next.
The most effective CTAs are specific, concise, and straightforward. Include as many prompts as possible so that every time someone clicks on something new, there’s a way to continue exploring.
Too Many Annoying Notifications
Push notifications are a great way to keep users engaged, but if your app constantly bombards users with them, they’ll quickly become annoyed. Instead, focus on quality over the number of notifications.
Choose a few key moments to notify users about and stick to those. The best times to do this are after completing an action or receiving new content that may be interesting.
For example, some games will offer a notification that lets players know when their next turn is coming up to get them back into the game. Similarly, social media apps will notify users when someone posts something new so they can engage with it right away.
However, these alerts should only appear for limited periods rather than perpetually popping up every time a user opens the app. That way, people don’t feel overwhelmed by all the notifications.
Poor Information Architecture (IA)
A crucial step in designing a great app is to have a well-thought-out information architecture (IA). IA is the process of organizing, labeling, and structuring the content in your app so that users can quickly locate items of interest.
A poor IA can make even the most well-designed app feel disorganized and confusing, so it’s essential to get it right. For instance, when designing a shopping app, you’ll want to organize your product pages by category or brand. You’ll also want to list each item alphabetically if multiple items are in one class.
Doing so will enable you to provide clear navigation options and improve your mobile app UX to help users browse product categories easily. Your interface will also look organized, easy to understand, and intuitive.
Excessive Use of Modals
A modal is a window that pops up on the current screen, blocking the user from interacting with the rest of the app. They are helpful for confirmation dialogs, forms, or alerts.
While modals can be helpful in some situations, you should use them sparingly, as they can disrupt the user experience. Avoid using modals for any insignificant task change or action, such as switching between tabs or screens.
Instead, only use modals when you need to confirm something before proceeding and ensure they don’t block anything important from view. That way, users can still see what’s happening around them without losing focus.
Conclusion
Creating an intuitive app for your users is crucial since people may not be willing to invest their time in learning how it works. Avoiding these seven common mistakes can give your app the best mobile app UX.
Ensure your interface is attractive and well-organized, logical and straightforward. Users will trust you, buy from you, and continue using your app if they find it easy to use.
