5 things that make mobile app a success!

Sanghamitra

With every size of businesses going mobile, launching an app has become a strategy of survival. Witnessing this paradigm mobile apps surely have a long way to go, making it more crucial on how you appeal to the consumers and in what unique way you strike the chord.

The number of mobile app developers have continuously been rising but their new thoughtful ideas and innovation remains the key that differentiates them and their work.

It is expected that downloads will exceed 200 billion per year by the end of full year 2017, and revenues in 2017 will reach $ 63.5 billion.

But, what is it in an that app really strikes you? Lets see few aspects of what it really takes to design, a good mobile app.

1. Idea: What is new in the app? Have we already seen something similar? For an app to succeed, it always has to kickstart with an awesome and innovative idea, undoubtedly.

Joseph George, founder -Sunday Mobility, says, "The most important thing to keep in mind is to have a very clear focus on why the app is needed, why should the customer download it and why should he ever open it again.  Nothing is more important, than having a clarity on these three aspects. Anything in the app should be there only if it addresses these three fundamentals."

2. Design: Understanding your target audience and what they want from the app is crucial. Incorporating all the necessary features and making it easy for usage is another significant point to design an app.

Abhishek Rungta, CEO, Indus Net Technologies Pvt. Ltd, says, "In a mobile app, it is critical that the navigation is intuitive and is directed by typical user behaviour and journeys. Anything that is emotionally close to us, gets used more and more. In a world of information overload, minimalistic design and clear-crisp interface is critical to get user attention. So, it is important to have clarity about user expectation and give clarity in terms of user experience."

3. Performance: A user is installing an app only because he wants the information instantly. So, if an app's loading time is slow and has a lag, the app is sure to bring no success. Checking the interface, its performance and the loading time is quite important from a user's perspective.

“The journey of building any product starts and ends only at one junction and that is the customer. This age old principle is immiscible and cannot be comprised even in today’s golden age of entrepreneurship. It is critical for the developer to conduct extensive research about the market and meet with his focus group even before building the app," said Raghav Mimani, CEO & co-founder of Nischint Technologies.

Aroj P George, lead consultant developer, ThoughtWorks and Vidhi Thakrar, senior developer, ThoughtWorks, says, "First thing to keep in mind while developing a mobile app is to make use of the mobile context. It's also important that the UX be simple and intuitive.

The experts added, "The minimum matrix required, while developing an app, is stability. A smart and beautiful mobile app design is without any roadblocks. This means that the app is always responsive to user inputs - with or without network or even when there is an error during file upload. Another fundamental need is great in-app customer support. This is so the customer can directly reach the support team and does not vent his or her frustration out, with poor app ratings. A great app's failings can also be its incessant permission seeking. This is resolved if the app seeks access to contacts or camera only when required."

4. Enhancements: Be it any mobile app, updates and enhancements are a way to keep your users intrigued. But, if an app lacks the necessary features and frequent updates it will eventually lose its audience even if the idea is unique.

Sai Srinivas, co-founder and CEO, Teewe.in, says, "Always prioritise what you can build based on what the consumer will be able to use well. There may be 10 features that are challenging to build and cool as hell, but if the user has no need for these features, there is no point in compromising on good experiences for them."

5. Vision: Although mobile app market is still maturing, this competitive space now requires absolute innovation and newer ideas. Though it all might seem easy, crafting a whole new idea in this cluttered arena is definitely not an easy task.

A strong vision about what one creates and how one continuously improvises it, is whats needed to pave the way ahead.