The competition in the mobile app market has become intensive and several hundreds of new mobile apps are added every day. With so much variety of applications available, mobile users do not give apps a second chance.
According to a Marketwatch survey, around 35% of app engagements last for less than a minute and users don’t need much time to make a judgment. The failure and success of your mobile app largely depends on the user and you need to seriously look at the reasons that lead to the failure of mobile apps. When learning about the reasons for app failure, you will also know the things that you need to pay attention to.
POOR OR NO MARKET RESEARCH
Even the greatest mobile app idea is likely to fail if it is not backed by strong market research or benchmarking. The big question is what the market research should cover. Here is the list of questions that the market research should provide answers to.
- Is your app idea well defined and is it sufficient to execute?
- Is there a market for the mobile app?
- Who is your target audience?
- What is the level of competition in the niche?
- Which core problem your mobile app is trying to solve?
Believe it or not, a lot of mobile apps fail because the mobile app developer is too excited and confident about the app idea and ignores the importance of market research. Before making the business plan, make sure there is a market for your app. Every mobile app development company needs to have accurate insights of the mobile app market. Research puts some data in hand which needs to be used to make a quick reality check and see if the app idea works. Based on your research findings, you need to design a mobile app that will have many takers and there are greater chances of success for your mobile app.
NEGLECTING STUDY OF PLATFORMS
There are two major platforms for mobile apps: Android and IOS. Each one is very different from the other. Without deeper knowledge of these platforms, you are more likely to create a buggy app that has no takers. Every app platform has a unique app development framework with interface guidelines. The platforms operate in specific ways and have different guidelines for interactive elements in the mobile app. Hence it is imperative that you understand the app platform thoroughly before you choose it for your mobile app development.
POOR User Experience
A high number of mobile app downloads does not mean success. Did you know that around 90% of apps are downloaded and then deleted? The high abandonment rates mean the user acquirement strategy bears no fruit and you will not have any app monetization chances in the future. It is no secret that user experience plays an important role in user engagement and retention. In simple words, user experiences make or break a mobile app. The advanced functionality of the mobile app loses its value if the user experience is poor.
UX is an important part of the mobile app design. While designing a mobile app, you need to ensure the interface is intuitive and useful. The user interface should not have a steeper learning curve and must ensure users are able to do multiple tasks in fewer steps. When the user leaves negative feedback, it is mainly due to poor design or a bad user experience. Remember only a great user experience can garner good reviews.
BIG MEMORY FOOTPRINT
The physical memory is a limited resource on mobile operating systems. It is necessary that your mobile app uses this resource cautiously. Looking at the new trends in the mobile app world, it is often a difficult task to maintain a balance between fancy features and memory usage. If your mobile app hogs a large amount of memory, the mobile operating system will become unresponsive which may require the user to kill your mobile app process to release memory. If the user continues to experience such problems, the user will delete the mobile app. Hence, you need to focus on memory leaks and optimize the memory allocation and release procedures to avoid big memory footprint.
COMPATIBILITY ISSUES
Since the screen is the main input and output medium for a smartphone, the different screen sizes pose a challenge when designing mobile apps. The major compatibility issues arise because mobile app developers do not consider the challenge posed by different screen sizes. If your mobile app is not designed to support multiple screen sizes, it will only lead to compatibility issues that degrade the user experience. To avoid compatibility issues, mobile app development companies need to study the rendering guidelines released for Android and iOS platforms. App development firms need to use the display API’s intelligently to optimizer user interface for different screen sizes and orientations.
NEGLECTING USER ENGAGEMENT
As mentioned earlier, the number of app downloads is not a success indicator for a mobile app. Hence your acquisition strategy needs not stop with the user downloading the app. To generate revenue, the user needs to use the app regularly and feel happy while using it. Only then the user will recommend your app to friends and other people.
For this to happen, you need to engage users at different levels by answering to the feedback, offering improvements, introducing new features and gradually introducing them to the depth of the app. Remember the first impression is not everything in mobile app marketing, you have to gradually build loyalty through strategic user engagement.
IMPROPER MONETIZATION
Every mobile app development company wants their app to generate revenue streams but they seldom pay attention to adopting right monetization strategy. One of the hardest tasks for an app owner is to select the right monetization strategy that will work for the mobile app. There are several methods of app monetization such as email lists, in-app purchases, ads, free/premium versions, SMS marketing and many more. Depending on your business niche and target audience, you need to decide the right monetization method for your app. You can research your competitor’s app to find out what are the features that customers are ready to pay for.
INADEQUATE MOBILE APP TESTING
If the mobile app has not gone through strict testing, the result will be a buggy app that no one likes. Many mobile app development companies do not thoroughly test their app to cut down development time and the result is an imperfect app. While providing updates to fix a bug is one of the options, it does not mean you release a mobile app full of bugs that can be fixed later. Remember, even a single app crash is enough for the user to form a bad opinion about your mobile app and delete it. Conduct a well-structured testing of the mobile app to ensure the main functions and other functionalities are working as expected.
POOR MARKETING PLAN
According to App figures statistics, around 2,500 apps are added every day in Google Play store. This clearly defines the scale of the competition that your mobile app has to be ready for. Without the right mobile app marketing strategy, there are very few or no chances of your application getting noticed.
A large number of mobile apps fail because the mobile app owner spends all funds on the development phase and ignores the mobile app marketing completely. A good app marketing strategy can take your mobile app to great heights. You need to draw a good marketing plan for the app launch and execute the plan in steps in a timely manner. If you want high downloads and good retention, you need to create a good opinion about your mobile app within the first few days after the launch. There are several marketing channels like Twitter, Snapchat and other social media platforms to get the word out. Without a proper app marketing plan, the potential users of your mobile app will not know your app exists.
NO PLAN FOR UPDATES
Mobile app development is not a one-time thing that you launch and forget. The smartphone technology changes fast. You will find Android and iOS updates released frequently. You need to gear up to keep your app updated so that it continues to offer great user experience. There are chances that a user discovers few bugs that your testing process might have missed. You need to fix bugs in time to improve the user experience. Sequential updates also provide you opportunities for user engagement which should be tapped. New smartphones with improved hardware are released throughout the year and you need to ensure your mobile app is compatible with new smartphone technology.
