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Mobile apps can turn into massive successes or unmitigated failures, and the difference often comes down to the amount of hard work and care that went into development.
If you’re creating an app, it’s essential to do your research, choose the best development approach, & make sure you have the right tools in place before you start building your first feature.
Here are 15 major causes of mobile app failure you’ll want to consider before releasing your first product to the public.
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The concept sounds great, but is it solving a real-world problem? If not, then no one will want to use your app. It doesn’t matter how stunning it is or how much funding you have raised – if no one wants to use it, there won’t be much point in launching.
When figuring out whether or not you’re trying to solve a real-world problem, make sure that your solution adds value over what people are already doing with their time & money.
An app has to have some professional utility to appeal to anyone other than you or your family. Having a passion for an idea is great, but it’s not enough.
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To avoid having an app nobody wants, research before starting development to ensure you’re making something people want. For example, if your idea is for a new video streaming app, it might be better off as a web application rather than a native mobile one.
By reading through mobile user research data collected from the mobile analytics software, mobile UX experts know exactly how users behave in their mobile environment, which metrics affect engagement rates, conversion rates, and retention rates.
Using this info, they can develop solutions that truly solve problems for users.
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It would help if you had an easy-to-use user interface that allows people to get straight into your application and get value from it. Otherwise, you risk losing customers before they ever use your product. Try and keep things simple; if you make it hard for people to figure out how to use your app, they won’t stick around for long.
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Your first stop should be identifying which mobile platform—iOS or Android— and ecosystem best fits your product and customers. Each app platform has its benefits. For example, Android offers a plethora of audience and hardware options, but iOS users tend to spend more on apps.
After choosing a platform, you need to make sure you’re developing for it properly. Not all developers are created equal, so make sure you hire app programmer with years of experience. They must have a proven track record in building apps for that specific mobile operating system.
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Mobile apps require a fair amount of testing. They’re so complex that only about 4% get released without any bugs at all, as per Failory. Even after apps have been tested, there is no shortage of updates and improvements based on user feedback.
If you do not put in enough time in testing your app or use adequate testing tools, it can fail to get your app into people’s hands. It takes more than one iteration for an app to become famous; it takes time and iteration after iteration until it does!
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Most people think their job is done by simply having a presence on Google Play or Apple’s App Store. However, getting an app into those stores isn’t nearly enough to drive significant growth and achieve success.
The placement of your app among search results is primarily based on metadata that you provide to each store upon launch—but it’s not a one-and-done deal.
To reach consumers who will download and use your app regularly, you need to consider how your marketing efforts relate to those already in place from platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
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It’s hard to get sufficient data on how often companies run out of money before finding enough users to generate revenue. Still, it happens often enough that several firms have started developing new app financing strategies designed to fill in these funding gaps.
• What are your risks for running out of money?
• Are you sure you have enough?
• Have you tested your assumptions about how much it will cost to launch your product?
• What are your options if things don’t go as planned?
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The best way to avoid app failure is by creating a solid marketing strategy for your product before building it. You should know who you want to reach and what you’re going to say before making an app or mobile site.
Don’t let lack of planning ruin everything! With several affordable marketing services available, there’s no excuse to start promoting your idea early on. It could save you time, funds, & heartache in the long run.
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Slow response times, miscommunication, and inadequate training can derail any mobile app. With nearly 30% of app users abandoning an app after one use due to insufficient customer support (KISSmetrics), optimizing your customer experience strategy is essential for preventing mobile app failure.
However, many businesses neglect to invest in their Customer Success/Support team; according to The Balance, Small Business Support workers need years’ worth of specialized training—and an array of technical knowledge—to be effective.
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In today’s world, clients have more power than ever. If you ignore what they say about your mobile app, it could spell disaster for your company. Without user feedback, you can’t grow sustainably.
Customers may love a particular feature when it first launches, but chances are their feelings will change over time. For example, that catchy intro animation at launch might get annoying if left unchanged in an update that comes out three months later.
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If there’s one thing we should’ve learned over the past decade, it’s that internet security is paramount. Yet, even with apps earning more access to our phones, which essentially hold all our essential information, companies still fail to see mobile app security as a priority.
To keep your business information safe & secure from hackers, consider investing in mobile app security software or services
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It might appear evident while reading, but you have to make sure your mobile app has been built well from a technical standpoint. If it doesn’t work when it launches or contains bugs that make it difficult for users to navigate, you could be in trouble.
Flurry data shows there are more than 400 million instances of bad apps per month. In other words, if your app is faulty when launched, you’re going to have a lot of angry customers who won’t want to do business with you again in the future.
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User experience is a huge factor in determining whether a mobile app succeeds or fails. It’s easy to write an app that seems intuitive and fun to use, but if it takes too long to analyze how to use, offers preliminary design, or misses vital features, users will quickly lose interest.
It will help if you put as much time into making sure your UX is as good as possible with development. That way, users won’t have any trouble using your product from day one.
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Too many developers, designers, and project managers view prototypes as something to do only when necessary—such as after you’ve done all your research and know what needs to get built.
However, great prototyping can save you time and money by helping you visualize your ideas early on and answer questions before they become issues. Even if you think you know everything about what you want to build in advance, it doesn’t hurt to prototype quickly to see how things will look—and if there are problems or missing elements that need fixing or improving.
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It’s no surprise that an app’s time to market matters. From a startup’s perspective, users are more likely to download your app if it’s available on their mobile device right when they need it. So why wait?
Depending on your app’s complexity, take advantage of prototyping software and tools to create, test and deploy your mobile app in just days. If you opt for custom development instead of rapid prototyping, you should expect an average nine-month lead time before you can deliver your first mobile app.
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