A smartphone is now a personal device and helps in more activities than just messaging. Every action on the smartphone is intimate and hence the design of the sites and the apps should be highly user-centric. Here are the top 10 tips that one should use for devising a strong mobile strategy and for successful user engagement.
So what can you do to improve your mobile app user experience? In this post you’ll learn proven ways to get it right. Let´s go!
1. Know Your Users
Screen size isn't the only constraint in mobile design. Users form the basis of your interface’s constraints. So the first step in creating a goal-driven app is to know your users. When you have an app idea, make sure you consider the user's perspective. How, when, where, and why will they use your app?
2. Implement the concept of responsive design
While designing the UI for a mobile app, you should keep in mind that the app should be compatible with a wide variety of devices. While tweaking media queries, JavaScript or the CSS, a special focus needs to be in place for handling issues associated with different elements in these mobile devices.
3. Involve real users for evaluation
It is to your own benefit for evaluating UX and UI design ideas so that you can rectify the glitches in an early stage of development and reduce chances of confusion in designing buttons and features on an app.
4. Keep it simple
Keeping things simple refers to ease of use for a first time user without the need for instructions or guides. In short, mobile users don't expect to read an instruction manual. Things like clear iconography are a great space saver but if you find yourself having to put a FAQ in your app, you've probably gone wrong somewhere. In the long run, the simpler the app, the better it will be.
5. Be fast!
Users are impatient. Some users will complain if the app takes more than two seconds to respond or will abandon your app. But this is not all. Prospective users won't even try the app if it loads too slowly. If an action takes too long, break it up so each step moves quickly. It's better to lose a feature than to overcomplicate the UI.
6. Stick to guidelines
It is important to follow user guidelines pertaining to the OS. Trying out innovations with navigation, gestures and interactions should be aligned with the present standards. One should implement UI design with vital features and get rid of unwanted ones.
7. Do thorough homework
Mobile apps are delivered in varied forms and concepts but few can make a difference or Visiting successful and high-traffic apps will help you identify gaps more quickly than any other idea.
8. Integrate with other apps
App integration is key to keeping your users involved. If your users can't easily share your content with their friends, or jump into your app from a browser link, they'll feel like your app takes effort. That means they'll leave you for the first app that takes less work.
9. Remember the 80/20 rule
Generally, 80% of app users will use just 20% of its functionality. If your service is already online, an easy way to ensure that you cater to this is to look at how your customers interact with your app and identify what functionality is used most, then use that information to cut down your feature set and make sure this vital 20% is as easy and intuitive to use as possible.
10. Last but not least: don't drain battery life
Users are very sensitive to their battery life: To some, it feels like oxygen. Make sure your battery consumption, along with other critical resources like data and memory use, are kept to a reasonable level.
About Marcelo Nigro
Marcelo is a Software Engineer with more than 20 years of experience developing Web and Desktop applications for some of the most important Fortune 500 companies
Nowadays Marcelo specializes in leading the R&D department of TISA, looking for implementing the latest technologies and frameworks to be used in future projects.
Beyond his technical knowledge and passion for the technology Marcelo enjoys playing Ping-Pong and is half marathon runner, he also like listening musing from the 90's.
