User experience- a huge parameter that digitally shapes a mobile app. Luckily, this is the only golden nugget that starts making your brand stronger. The good(or bad) habit of smartphone users prompts them to check their 5-6” of screen recurrently. Smartphones are something users can’t run away from. Thanks to Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and other real-time messaging platforms. But apart from the turbulence of social networking, there is something more that calls for users’ attention! Nonetheless, its service based apps that fulfills the day-to-day need of consumers.
According to a survey by Forrester Research, (US and UK smartphone owners use an average of 24 apps per month, but spend more than 80 percent of their in-app time on just five apps. On top of that, most users abandon an app within just 30 days of download.
Apparently, it’s a tough job to capture a mobile users attention and keep him captivated consistently.
So how can you keep your users fascinated with your app for a long run? How can your app generate happy, engaged users with a higher retention rate? Here’s a checklist worth a read.
• Self Explanatory: If you want users to instinctively know how to use an interface, your App’s UI design must work at the speed of thought. It should be user centric and behavioral driven.
Ideally, it should make an apt use of familiar visual metaphors and interface that’s easy enough for novice users, without making them tedious.
• Goal – driven Design: Design it for your right users. Conduct user research such as surveys and interviews, that will help you create personas for those most likely to use your app. This is the key to create specific goals for your users and tailor your app’s workflow to suit their needs.
• Affordance & Signifiers: The affordance is the function. Signifiers hint at affordance. For example, blue underlined text hints that clicking on it will take you elsewhere. The use of correct signifiers makes it easy for the users to guess what each UI element does. Additionally, your mobile interface with a modern appearance while still cueing users about possible actions.
• Easier Onboarding: Providing a seamless onboarding experience can help significantly reduce abandonment rates. Make sure you skip too many steps to sign up, too many information fields and make Facebook or Google as the door to enter your app.
• Effortless Navigation: Create a flow that hardly requires one or two swipes to reach the targeted content- anything more than that and the user will give up.
