Mobile apps have become an inseparable part of every smart phone. Mobile apps are designed and popularized by different business organizations as it is an ideal medium for business promotion and taking a product to the customers.
Companies contend to bring new and exciting mobile apps that create an eagerness among people to download. Unfortunately, only a few among them remains in the users’ mobiles for long. Most of them are uninstalled after a month. This is a major concern for the business organizations. They have been doing researches in order to find out the possible reasons behind this and to find a permanent solution. The UX design principles have come up with revolutionary ideas for sustaining the usage of mobile apps.
Features of Mobile Apps
Mobile application (app) is an application software designed specifically for usage in smartphones. The digital age has made mobile apps popular and favourites of the new media users. Although, most people make use of mobile apps, their prolonged usage is limited to only a few. When old apps are removed for the new ones, it negatively affects the organization that developed it.
The users may have several reasons for uninstalling an existing app and installing a new one. There are some features that they expect that the apps should have. Organizations that develop these should have a clear understanding of the features that that the users demand.
Following are some of the basic qualities that users look for in an app:
- User friendliness
- Simplicity
- Good performance
- Attractive design
- Security
- Immediate feedback
- Compatibility
- Regular updates
- Offline support
Distinguishing between CX and UX
CX stands for customer experience and UX stands for user experience. Even though, these terms are used interchangeably, both have different meanings and different purposes. Customer experience involves the entire experience that a customer has when he/she interacts with a business organization. It includes all contexts, devices or channels. It is a general concept.
User experience concerns the experience that a user has in a specific context. It can be the experience with a single product or service. Improving user experience encompasses making it easier for the customers to find a particular website or app and use it in a simple way.
Although CX and UX have different meanings and goals, they are interlinked. An organization should improve both CX and UX for effective communication with the customers.
Elements of UX design
In order to improve the user experience in a mobile app, it is always advisable to hire a UX designer. There are certain elements that a UX designer must be aware of. They are:
- The user: User is the most important element in UX design. The designer must keep the target audience in his/her mind while designing the apps. Designers can carry out user researches to understand the nature of the users and design apps accordingly.
- Task Analysis: Task analysis is a critical process in designing mobile apps. It is a step-by-step procedure which evaluates the tasks which are to be accomplished by the users from their own perspective.
- Smartphone display: The applications must be designed in a way so that they have a better display in mobile phones.
- Clear communication: Communicating the various usability and advantages of the app is an important aspect that the designers are to be careful about.
Methods (Principles) to transform mobile UX
- Improved user interface
Organization must be able to provide spontaneous user interface which urges the user to continue. One of the first steps which can attract the user is the download description, which should be simple and communicate the purpose of the app. The menu structures and layout should be reconstructed so that the user can find the intended location immediately. There should be back and home buttons for better navigation.
- Simple sign-up process
Signing up is the first step to a mobile app. If it is complicated, the user would be hesitant to continue. Thus, companies should develop an easy sign-up procedure. The process of creating password and management should be simple.
- Seamless in-app purchases
The users must be able to buy products and services through mobile apps. Purchases and payment process must be simple and done in the least amount of time. The payment management process should incorporate different options for the users, for eg. PayPal.
- Provide user guidance and feedback
The mobile app developers should have a rough idea about the knowledge-level of the users and guide them using language that is free of complicated technical terms. Feedback is the factor which helps in making communication a two way process. When an organization sends a reply to a customer’s query, it shows that they matter to the organization.
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