🎉 You have an innovative and high-performance product!

How to be sure that your mobile application is a success 🔥

                       Here are the main solutions

Why do some applications fail? While competition in the application market is strong, failure is not always the result of bad luck. In most cases, there are other contributing factors. Here are six of the most common reasons for mobile application failure.

« The only way to make people want to give everything to work is to convince them that their contribution is useful and recognized »

- Mark Pincus, Co-fondateur of Zynga

First point: Have you studied your audience well?

In theory, good ideas do not always have good applications.
The decision to launch a project must be motivated by these questions:
Is there a market for the type of application you want to develop? Are you sure you are solving a problem?
What does the competition look like?
Is the idea sufficiently defined to be implemented?
It’s easy to think that customers will love your application, but can you justify it?
Have you checked what your competitors are doing?
If you decide to create an application without searching, defining the audience and developing strategies for use cases and features that will appeal to that audience, you may be able to create a product that you assume users will want.
The introduction of a new product to the market should be an iterative process to validate assumptions about the user’s behaviour and the product itself.
Here at Digital Unicorn, we develop the product with the user experience in mind.
An iterative process is extremely beneficial to continuously meet the needs of your users and maintain their commitment.
But how do you know exactly what to create for your users?
How will you solve their problems and exceed their expectations far beyond what your competitors are offering?
It is therefore important to carry out an audience study beforehand and to offer a quality product that is different from the competition.

"Whatever you think, think bigger."

- Tony Hsieh

Second point: originality 🚀?

The reality is that the Apple Store or the Play Store are always saturated with the same types of applications.

Successful applications such as Uber and Airbnb both have a strong value proposition.

Competitive research will help reveal your strengths and weaknesses, in order to define your own competitive advantage.

Building a product with the same features as your competitors will not help you win over many users.

A Value Proposition (VP) is the first step to consider in order to optimize your company’s chances of success.

You will therefore need to differentiate yourself, whether it is by the main features you offer, the design, the user experience, the performance or an excellent launch strategy.

"You have to learn from your competitors, without ever copying them. "

- Jack Ma, co-creator of Alibaba

Third Point: Compatibility? Test your application 📱

Android and iOS (as well as other platforms) have very intuitive interface guidelines.

They work in different ways by using different common gestures and buttons or prompts placed in different areas.

For example, Android users are used to an integrated return button. Apple devices don’t have that.

Failure to take into account such platform-specific nuances can seriously affect the user experience.

That is why it is recommended to use professionals when creating your application and not to look only for the cheapest quote and poor quality for development.

The lost user conversion rate, if the accounting factor of IOS and Android smartphones is not taken into account, can result in up to 47% fewer users.

When applications do not work properly on all devices, networks and operating systems, this becomes a major problem.

Users are frustrated when an application runs on the iPhone, but not on their iPad, for example Apple Watch or TV app.   When developing for multiple platforms, it is important to take into account platform differences. If you take the case of Netflix, for example, it is available on all platforms, so it is important when you build an application that it is also available on all platforms.

Digital Unicorn is currently, in France, one of the only “digital studio” to offer application development on Apple Watch, Android Wear or Apple TV.

If applications do not work properly, end users will be frustrated. And since the average user decides in less than a minute whether your application is worth it, even low frustration can mean a lot of failures.

frustration peut signifier beaucoup d’échecs.

Fourth point: do you have a good UX?

Creating an application that delivers an exceptional user experience is linked to many components.

We advise you to read the article we wrote on UX Design which explains very precisely the different actors of it.

UX Design, An obligation in 2018

However, at the lowest level, your application must be intuitive.

If a user has difficulty performing the basic functions of your application and fails to understand the basic features, the result is a very low user conversion. So it is important to focus on the basic features and then if the application works, move to a new version with more features and not put everything at once. This, instead of adding value, will run the risk of losing the user who will uninstall the application.  In addition, this will impose an additional cost for the implementation of the application.

Other examples of poor user experience include excessive loading time, cumbersome registration processes, etc.

Particular attention should be paid to platform-specific IU / UX best practices.

As mentioned above, ignoring them is a serious mistake because each platform has unique elements to which users are accustomed.

For example, the minimum sizing of interchangeable controls or specific scanning gestures varies from platform to platform. Users expect the results of the actions to be familiar and compatible with other applications on the platform.

Fifth point: Choose the right provider to test your application 🖊️🔥 !

It is rare that an application is free of minor bugs at the time of its launch, investing in pre-shipment quality control allows you to avoid any major problems.

It is therefore important to ask the agency or freelancer who developed your application to perform real unit tests and test your application on as many smartphones as possible.

Here at Digital Unicorn, we use Kobiton, a tool that allows us to test our customers’ applications on more than 1200 different phones, to ensure compatibility, perfect quality and a very high user conversion rate.

If an application is not tested properly, bugs affecting the user experience and generating “crashes” may occur.

A single “crash” is more than enough to prevent users from using it again. In addition, they may uninstall it and describe negative reviews on the Apple Store or Play Store and harm your SEO because of it.

In fact, more than 80% of the most common negative reviews of App stores are related to application crashes.

Of course, the more negative opinions you have, the more likely your application will fail.

Application tests must be performed thoroughly, with a documented process in place, to ensure that your application is as market-ready as possible.

It is unlikely that you will get a second chance if you fail to attract users the first time, so it will lead to the failure of your application and your business.

It is therefore essential to choose an excellent service provider and not to define the mobile application as a cost but as a sustainable investment.

Sixth point: a bad launch of the mobile application....

You have done all your market research, the UX design is perfect, the application is well coded, no bugs on the different phones tested.

Now is the time to focus on running the launch of the mobile application.

For a successful launch, there must be an established marketing plan in place to ensure that each step is completed and executed correctly and on time.

It should be noted that mobile users stop using an application after only three days. It generally uses 7 mobile applications.

If you want your application to have a high download and retention rate, it must make a good impression in the first few days before launch.

This is a critical time to focus on the value of the application in order to optimize the integration process.

If you do not impress your new users quickly, you will probably lose interest, is lose after 3 days more than 90% of users. It is therefore essential to launch a mobile application

Launching a mobile application is not a one-time event.

There will always be room for improvement, so the mobile application launches a cyclical process that requires re-evaluation in response to changing market demands. It is therefore important to ask for maintenance from your freelancer or agency that produces your mobile application.

Recently launched mobile applications must be updated and relaunched regularly to keep users informed of new updates and features.

To summarize 🎉

In conclusion, the performance of an application depends on many factors, which can range from competition to marketing budgets and luck.

But beyond these factors, poor research and execution, poor design, poor user experience or the use of unqualified people are common reasons why applications fail to launch.

Focusing on market and audience research, following platform-specific best practices and conducting rigorous quality assurance tests can make the difference between failure and success.

Launching a mobile application is therefore something that requires time and a significant budget to ensure production quality. A mobile application is not only about “code” but also about a long and complex process to ensure its success. It is therefore necessary to take care to take the right partner and to take the time to realize his mobile application. A mobile application is much more than a product.