The number of mobile applications in Google Play and the App Store by 2014 exceeded 2.5 million. If current growth rates continue, this figure will double by 2017. It is not surprising that as the market for mobile applications grows, so does the number of people willing to invest in their creation.
The success of an app depends on its quality. On the one hand, quality is objective, on the other hand, it is subjective. Objectively, this is a good work of the application: performance, aesthetics and consistency. Subjectively, this is the rating of an application on Google Play, which depends on the value to users. If the product is of high quality, the rating is likely to be high. In addition, such an application can be featured on Google Play, selected in the collection, and this gives a significant influx of users and increases the chances of the application being noticed.
App success in the eyes of users doesn’t always mean success for app creators. The application can be installed on hundreds of thousands of smartphones, but not generate income. The success of the application is still the achievement of the goals of the project, which the developer set for himself. This is especially true for applications that do not generate income by themselves, such as Yandex.Maps.
For the product to be successful, you need to pay attention to the little things – to track the user’s behavior in the application: how long it stays on the screen and why, how quickly it makes a decision, on which screen it closes the application. Analytics tools will help with this: Flurry, Google Analytics, AppsFlyer, etc.
But in order to make money in these markets, you must initially put certain points in the design and architecture of your application, and also choose the right development tools.
What should be a quality application?
An objectively high-quality application is, first of all, developed according to the guidelines of the App Store and Google Play. They, in turn, consist of the following parts: a quality checklist, navigation patterns, blocks for implementing controls.
Generally, guidelines are aimed at simplifying the user’s life. They describe the logic of the application on the platform and what expectations the user has about the application. And at first glance, a beautifully made application, but deviating greatly from the guideline, can be perceived by the user as unusual, incomprehensible and of poor quality.
Tutorial
A high-quality and short tour of the application becomes a necessity. Assume that the user is not only using your application for the first time, but the operating system as a whole. Google recommends having a video demonstrating the process of using the application, users want to have an idea of what this product is and how to work with it in advance, before installation.
App permissions
When installing or updating apps and extensions, you may be asked to access your data. It is important to properly prepare the user. Feel free to first explain in your application why you are requesting permission, and then call the system access request function. There may not be a second chance. Often for the user, setting permissions and access is a real dense forest.
Mobile analytics
It’s simple: the more you set up mobile analytics, the faster you can conduct analysis and quickly make a release with the updates that your business really needs. What are the most important metrics for developers and their marketers? Number of active users, installs, returns, ARPU and LTV. What is mobile analytics used for? Increase user engagement, improve monetization, data collection, and improve user experience. For analytics, the most important are reliability, performance, feature set and ease of use.
Performance
Allow sufficient application performance in planning and design as well as other capabilities. To do this, you need to figure out which parts of the target platform are most critical from a performance point of view. This can be done by measuring performance early in the development process. It is impossible to put up with interface “lags”, slow launching of applications and long response to commands. When the speed is no longer satisfactory, users simply uninstall the applications. In addition, you should take into account the speed of the Internet in the regions, so pay attention to the size of the distribution kit.
Older mobile OS versions
Older OS versions are still in this universe. Someone forgot or doesn’t want to update. Decide depending on the device statistics: which systems are still relevant and when to end support. For example, 86% of all Apple mobile devices are running iOS 8, and the share of Android Lollipop almost a year after the announcement is only 18.1%. The differentiation of the Google system is both an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time.
Economical work
Apps are renowned for their appetite for smartphone battery life. Short battery life is one of the main drawbacks of modern mobile devices. Keep this in mind when mobile game app development company, otherwise it will be a good reason to delete the app.
Internal store rules
Check with current store policies. Always.
Blank screens
Often, until the user starts actively using your application, some screens are not yet filled with information. It’s cool to use every opportunity to get into a dialogue with the user. To do this, you need to inform that the screen is still empty and, if possible, add a call to action: a button, link, illustration, animation.
Forbidden states [iOS]
There are many applications in which all interaction is tied solely to the user’s decision to allow specific actions. So, for example, if push notifications and access to contacts are prohibited for a messenger, it will not be used and will be immediately forgotten. If we are still forbidden to do something, then it is correct to explain to him how we can improve the situation. A textual description of the correct path to System Settings and illustrations will be enough to attract attention.
Error messages
Do not forget that the user may have many problems while working with the application (Internet, error on the server), so it is better to prepare him a clear and simple explanation of what happened and apologize, or say what needs to be corrected.
Security in the app
Try to avoid forcing the user to enter a password. For simple user identification, there is an alternative option, for example, using the built-in Google account. If you use someone else’s content or elements, you need to have a link to an agreement or other fact about licensed use in the application description on Google Play in order to avoid problems with the application ban.
The secret of a successful application is two things: a clear and simple idea and a competent presentation and administration. Fixed assets should be spent on working out the business idea itself, on promotion and further on painstaking daily support. In the overall budget, the cost of developing an application is not dominant. You can’t just develop a good application; that’s only half the battle. There are few successful applications. This is a rather difficult task, luck alone is not enough here, a professional approach is required. There are few customers who are able to correctly formulate the task and developers who are able to implement an idea without losing anything along the way.
If the risk does not bother you, and you are interested in the mobile products market, you can always contact our studio.
