Mobile and tablet Apps still remain one of the hottest trends in technology, with over one million available on each major platform. App downloads have topped the 50 billion mark on both the App Store and Google Play. The competition is extremely fierce, but if you can create an app that enriches people lives and compels consumers to download it, use it, and tell their friends and family about it, the possibilities are virtually limitless.
Do you have an idea for an amazing mobile app? Are you wondering how you should begin developing it? These 3 basic top tips can help you lead a successful app development process:
When attempting to bring your app concept to life, it is often all too tempting to over load it with all the bells and whistles, adding an extra feature here and a extra function there. However you would be extremely wise to resist this temptation.
1. Focus on New Features
Before planning any new app outline the basic requirements of the user and remember people have short attention spans when using phones or tablets, where there are numerous opportunities for users to get distracted.
I recommend focusing on a few key features and making them as good as they can possibly be. Then, as your user base grows, you can add new features and scale as per demand.
The ‘Yelp’ app is a good example: It’s a popular app with features such as Reviews, Monocle, and What’s Nearby amongst others. Yelp’s popularity really gained traction by giving the user the ability to see the restaurants nearby and around a specific location. This really is a very prominent part of the app now, and this development has been driven as a result of the user demands, which have driven the app in this popular direction.
In the end, apps that embrace natural human behaviour are the ones that create an impact – and ultimately disrupt the market. The ideal “UX” should align with your app’s primary user base and anticipate their needs, motivations, and engagement before evaluating the technological component.
2. Deliver a Great User Experience
Therefore, to produce a successful app, you need to start with the user experience and work backwards to the technology.
When you set out to build an app, you’re essentially testing a hypothesis. However, you also need to evaluate your original hypothesis.
3. Built in Analytics is a must
Implementing analytics let’s you track app performance and identify what features are being used, and which are being neglected. Such data gives you valuable insights into the users’ app adoption, and allows you to iterate features based off your findings.
Apps often become popular for reasons that do not fully align with the developer’s hypothesis, and features that weren’t originally expected to be the most popular, sometimes drive the apps longevity and popularity, a developer would be wise to take these popular features on board and use them to steer the products life-cycle going forward.
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