If I ask you about anything you don’t know, would you open your laptop or desktop to search for it? Or you will just look it up in your phone? It wouldn’t be totally wrong if I say that we can connect to the whole world at a touch of a finger today. Traffic on websites through mobile devices has increased considerably in the past few years. Lowered costs of Smartphone and data prices have played a key role in this increased number of internet users through mobile phones. Businesses are also trying to leverage this huge technical advancement which has brought the whole world closer.
Every business and brand wants to reach out to the world using this technical advancement. Every business or brand has its own website today. As it does not cost much to make a website mobile friendly. Almost all the websites are mobile responsive these days. But an app connects you with the customer in a way like no other. The app is directly accessible to customers, they do not have to go online and search for your website to connect with you. You can also leave some offline support information on your app, whereas a website cannot be accessed at all without the internet. You can also notify your customers directly through push notifications through an app. This gives you an opportunity to make a very direct and personal interaction with the user. Hence, you must have an app if you want to give your customers a better and personalized experience.
Many people had this misconception that earlier that they might not be able to afford to have an app. But this is not the same now, there are also some easy to use free mobile app development software available today. Though a mobile app development and maintenance might require a bit more time and effort, this effort will definitely pay you well. All you need is a good mobile app development company that would take care of all key development and maintenance area.
The key areas of a Mobile App Development that you must consider in your app are given below:
1. Your mobile app must be user-centric:
This is the main motto of having a mobile app, that is to make it more convenient for your customers. It doesn’t matter how many features your mobile app has or how many products or services you offer. All the features or products must be easily accessible in your app. The designer and developer of your app need to work meticulously in collaboration to achieve this goal. The design of your application must be captivating, such that users wouldn’t want to leave your app. Apart from that, everything must be easily accessible for the users. If the user has to search for a particular feature on your mobile app, then the feature is of no use. You must have an analytics team, which should keep on trying and using your app to find out where it lags behind. This analytic team will then help the developers to add appropriate features at the right place. The user must be able to navigate easily through your mobile app. You can also put a help button or just a page to make it easier for people to use your mobile app.
2. Keep it simple:
Innovation and new ideas are good, but they must be clear. When you are taking a plunge in a new venture like launching an app, you will get plenty of advice. People will tell you that innovation and newness works! It does work, but until and unless it is understandable. What is the point if no one understands what you want to convey in your application. Hence, you must keep your app simple, such that everyone can understand your application easily. This also covers accessibility of the features, which must be quick and easy for the user. A simple app will load easily and work even if the data connectivity is very low. Whereas if your app is heavy and complex, it will take a lot of time to download and not every user might have the patience to wait. Hence, you must keep the design of your app such that it is easily understandable and users can use its features without any trouble.
3. Operating system compatibility:
This is one of the major differences in a website and a mobile app. You don’t have to worry about operating system and compatibility while developing a website. A website will work same on any browser, hence you just develop a website without worrying about which browser user will use. This is not the same as an app, as the user is going to download your app in their mobile devices. Hence, your application must be compatible with the operating system on the mobile device to run smoothly. Two majorly used operating systems are iOS and Android. There are even more operating systems which are not that widely used such as Windows and blackberry. Now to make your mobile app compatible with every operating system might cost you quite a lot. Therefore, you can also priorities this according to your targeted audience. You must see what age and profession are your targeted audience and then see which phones they are using. In this way, you can save a little cost by making your app compatible with only those platforms that your targeted audience is using. Although I would like to suggest you that you must keep your mobile application compatible with iOS and Android both.
4. Carry out the development process in phases:
A mobile app is not like a website that you develop it once and forget about it. A mobile app is a constant development process where you need to keep on updating the features as technology changes. A mobile app development is generally carried out in phases where we make changes according to the user feedback. This is the only way to make a mobile app user-friendly and user-oriented. You always need to keep your plan flexible and make quick changes according to the customer feedback. Mobile application development services do not work the same as a computer software development process. You can even release your application once with less functionality and features and see how the customer responds to it. Then you can gather customer feedback and suggestions to make changes in your further plan. This way you will truly have a customer-oriented application. Even if your mobile application is fully functional according to the customer, you need to keep on updating your app as technology changes. Also, you need to keep your users intrigued by the fresh content in your application, otherwise they might get bored and stop using your application.
5. Choose a technology that is scalable:
The web developers are working hard all the time to make your website more interesting and engaging. To improve your website’s functionality the developers also need to scale up their development platform from HTML to JavaScript. Now that enterprises have seen that apps are a better way to connect with the consumer, all the innovation and research are going on in this sector. Hence, the mobile app development software’s are also changing and scaling up with time and technology. This is why you must select the latest technology, which you see has the potential to scale up your mobile app. Also, you must see that the technology you are using will allow you to reuse modules and have a simple architecture. One of the most important reasons why you need an app is that you can integrate your app with features in your phone like camera and GPS. Hence, you must see that the technology you use must be able to do the integration for your app. You can also use these integrations in various innovative ways to enhance your user’s experience.
Conclusion:
As an enterprise or business owner, you must not rush into any decision and contemplate about each and every factor carefully. A mobile app development solution is very different from getting a website developed for your brand. It requires a lot more time and cost investment from your end as a business owner and you must be prepared for it. Even if you outsource a mobile app development company you need to stay constantly in touch with the developers and development process for the optimum result. You must keep all the factors checked stated above even when you outsource the development process.
An app gives you an amazing way to connect directly to the consumer. This is also the best way to update your customers about any new launch or event in your business through push notification. But this also means that the users are constantly connected with you and your app, hence you need to keep them engaged. Otherwise, people might uninstall your app as soon as they lose interest in your app. Therefore, you know every in and out of how you can get an amazing app developed and even maintain it afterward.
Agreed with your blog! Also, I want to add some more points like, Platform Development Prioritize, Scalable Development Technology, User Centric design &Performance &Implementation.