App Store is overloaded with thousands of apps. The dependency on mobile applications encourages many stakeholders to build apps. Either the new application is built on a fresh idea or for the business identity. But most of the mobile apps fail due to improper planning because newbie app owners are in a hurry to build castles in the air.
Being a leading mobile app development company, we are acquainted with the actual reason for app failure. Most of the time clients cry over spilled milk. They often discuss past mistakes. So we came up with this post. It will describe the top 10 reasons why mobile apps fail and how to avoid them.
“All business leaders need to be technologists, as every industry now has a Netflix or an Uber on the horizon, threatening to upend businesses as usual. Apps are driving this disruption, and every enterprise needs to become an app company.”
– Parker Harris, co-founder of Salesforce
This post addresses mistakes about app category, resources, app store optimization, freemium app, UI design, market research, testing the app, and much more. The testing and feedback on the application can convert ordinary into a winner output. Many times app owners work on the ideas for so long that they forget to research market needs.
This is the most common mistake that results in mobile app failure. Most of the times newbie app owners are in a hurry. They just want to jump on the bandwagon. Preparation before app development is always a crucial factor. If the ideation of the application is perfectly crafted, then the output gonna definitely attract the users.
“As with anything we do as entrepreneurs, researching how our businesses impact and influence our customers and our markets – and our world – is critical to building something as valuable as a business.”
– Michael Gerber
Market research simply means identifying the need of the app and targeting the audience. This is a fundamental strategy, but most app owners are unaware of market research. Not doing a need analysis while crafting the dream application can ruin your dream. The research about the need for another application and the right app category can save you bucks.
You have a dream idea and want to formulate it into the application. It’s not the right way to put your money and time without doing proper market research. Actually, most mobile apps fail because there are already several apps that are popular and solve the problem. So instead of wasting time, it’s good to work on the right idea with the right resources.
Identify the target audience, build an app according to their needs and give some personalized features. You can provide some better features than the current apps to compete in the app store. This strategy also helps appeal to the users. If you need attention from the customer, you have to present something unique.
Successful or viral apps always have a roadmap to reach destiny. It seems like there is a luck factor behind every viral app. But every popular app follows a process intentionally. It’s good to be late than never. So try to research for app demands and identify the target audience.
Having a great idea does not always produce the desired output. Therefore, proper ideation is a must. Most of the startups fail due to bad ideas. But same goes with the application. Improper ideation always causes the failure of apps, no matter how attractive the app is.
Every successful app once had a half-baked idea, then it was narrated in the right phenomena. If you noticed, apps which are willing to resolve the issues are always popular. In short, try to find a relevant problem that your audience is facing. If your app can solve any problem, then users will love to stay loyal to your application.
Identifying the ideas and their demand is always helpful. Research on Google to test your idea and find out the competition in your app category. You have to decide the right app category for a better result. To sustain in the crowded app store, you have to give better services.
You must sharpen your weapon before going to the war. The same goes for app creation. To nourish your dream app ideas, keep asking yourself the “Wh” queries. Questions like why people will download your app, what will be the elementary features in your dream app, etc. There are two big reasons for app creation - creating a business app or crafting new ideas to resolve any issue.
This is not a mistake but a crime. It is quite usual that making a premium application with many awesome features is a dream. But it can be complex to work on it. Newbie app owners are lost in thought while developing an application, so they keep adding features.
Though adding the latest features in the app is not a mistake, constantly doing this for needless features is inappropriate. It exceeds the app development time and cost. Many a time app owners demand unusual features that take time to develop. But it makes no sense in output.
“Without requirements or design, programming is the art of adding bugs to an empty text file.”
– Louis Srygley
One more reason is the free elements. The internet is full of free jargon such as free themes, app builders, plugins that encourage many non-coder to build an app without having coding knowledge. Each required element is easily available and free, so app owners keep experimenting with unusual features. It causes overloaded features with the complex app in output.
Adding dozens of features also increases the application size. Most mobile apps fail due to their large size. App size below 10 MB gets more downloads on the app store compared to heavy-sized apps. So try to build your app with expert developers or hire a renowned mobile application development company like Acquaint Softtech.
Having too many features makes the application slow and increases its load time. So try to add only those features which are necessary for the basic version and introduce the rest in the updated version. As you build the updated version, your users will love to know that the app is active, and users will keep waiting for the next update.
It worst feeling when your app has an attractive design with the required features but still stumbles to get ample downloads. The reason might be the wrong audience. You must identify the target audience. Otherwise, shooting in the dark night can be worthless. If one keeps marketing for the wrong audience, then how can they accept this application.
For example - If you want to create a shopping app especially for women, but are targeting men or have added features for men. Imagine what will be the future of that application. In short, first, identify the right audience, then try to stay on the audience and keep crafting features according to your relevant audience.
Most of the times app owners and developers forget their vision for the app at the initial stage. They get deviated from the vision while experimenting on the new features and design. To avoid this mistake, keep asking yourself why I choose to build this app and how I can do better with resources.
Every popular app is always designed according to the relevant audience. The features are personalized according to the user's interest. That’s why they became an instant hit on the app store. They identify the problems and are willing to resolve them. Identifying the relevant users always helps in curating the winning feature and a user-friendly UI.
If you fix or avoid all of the above mistakes and still your app stumbles on the app store, you should try ASO techniques. Many newbie app owners are unfamiliar with the ASO, which could be another reason for app failures. ASO is an acronym for App Store Optimization. It is used for improving the app rank in the app store.
“If you’re not using mobile marketing to attract new customers to your business, don’t worry. Your competitors are already using it and are getting those customers instead.”
– Jamie Turner
Every digital nomad is likely aware of SEO. ASO does the same as SEO, but for the application. ASO can be a deciding factor for the number of app downloads. Every app owner should know at least the basics of ASO because it can elevate any app to rank on the top.
Read Also: App Store Optimization: Secrets of Popular Apps and Keywords
Being a renowned mobile app development services provider, our development team always takes charge when any application needs to resolve any issues. From our experience, we can suggest some tips for ASO.
Try to add a catchy keyword in the title
App description must contain keywords
Use attractive & appealing screenshots
Insert informative video in the screenshots
Identify the audience by App Store analytics
Insist and encourage users for positive reviews
Try to design a brand identity for App (Icon, Color)
User Interface is one of the factors that decide how long your users will stick with your application. Creating better UI is crucial but is ignored by most app owners. So keep the focus on attractive & user-friendly UI. One can attract customers by marketing and killer ASO tactics. But if the UI can’t satisfy your audience, then it will be worthless.
What will be the first thing you notice when downloading a new app - rich content, features, or attractive UI/UX? Hmm! You guess it right, UI/UX is responsible for a very first impression for any application. A better User Interface can become a USP for apps.
You can try prototyping and wireframe for better result-driven output. So put all your priority on the board and start creating a prototype for a dream application. Actually, the prototype is the best way to identify the actual output. Wireframing is used for organizing any app features and their UI. So keep a focus on these two methods.
Try to create an attractive intro(Home page). Otherwise, users will uninstall your app without giving a second thought. You can take help from the latest app design tool like Sketch for better output. App UI should be created according to all sizes of smartphones. To make it more astonishing, you can add extra features like Gesture to engage the users.
This could be the biggest mistake by a developer or app owner - ignoring the screen sizes. Nowadays, smartphones update their features and screen sizes. So whatever you want to create related to smartphones, it must feed all screen sizes. The latest version is foldable phones. Thus, your dream app should be compatible with the latest screen size.
The latest iOS 13 and Android Q are also compatible with foldable phones. It shows if one wants to sustain itself in the market, one must be updated. So keep researching about future technologies and try to jot them down for implementing them all. In short, the app should fit in all mobile screen sizes.
While we are saying that Every App should fit in all smartphones screen sizes, it simply means the UI & UX. Every successful mobile application follows the best UI/UX design principles. So keep the focus on crafting best-in-class UI/UX to appeal, engage, and attract the users.
Creating a dream application is always fascinating but crafting a unique one is tough. Most of the time app owners strive to cater to any USP for application, but the output comes the same. It’s a bitter truth that there is a sea of applications, and you must be unique to be found easily. For making a viral application, your app should have different features that others don’t.
We all are acquainted with the rush in app development. Everybody wants to jump on the bandwagon, so as a result, the app store is packed with thousands of apps. Every app category is overloaded with countless applications. Thus, to sustain itself in the cut-throat competition, your app has to serve something unique or in a better way.
App category is the most important thing, so do proper research for choosing the right category. According to Statista, the most popular Apple app store category (till May 2019) is Games (24.8%). The second most popular category is Business (9.77%). And the third rank is achieved by Education (8.5%). Music, food, and shopping category shares are below 3% each on the Apple app store.
The uniqueness stands out in your app, but it also helps in genuinely attracting more users. Try to highlight your best features so users can understand why you are unique. You can cater easily to use UI or craft attractive content to nourish your features. The best practice is to create an app that resolves any problem for your target audiences.
Well, this is a contradiction that QA testing of mobile applications can exceed the development time. Most startups or individuals have a fixed budget for app creation, and they do not want to invest in bug fixing. Paying zero attention to the QA testing may cause application failure.
Let’s assume, somehow your application is successful or becomes a hit on the app store. But if the application has bugs, then users will surely uninstall the application without any second thought. So, launching an application without QA testing can hurt the user.
At Acquaint Softtech, we always test the application in all possible manners. Our QA testing team strives to fix all bugs for building an application that stands out. If you are still lost in the thought or confused, test your dream just for extra development cost or time, then there is a higher chance that your app will stumble on the app store.
Pro Tip – You can also get feedback from the audience before launching the application. Circulate your demo app in your circle and insist on your colleagues for feedback and reviews. This is the most underrated but effective way to create a bug-free and lovable application.
If you want to have a delicious dinner then you have to choose restaurants wisely. Otherwise, it will gonna worthless. The same goes for app creation. If you want to develop a winsome mobile application, then you must hire a renowned mobile app development company like Acquaint Softtech.
Most of the times stakeholders made the mistake of relying completely on the Google result. They simply search “Hire Mobile App Development Company” and choose one option from the Google first page. Google only shows the relevant results. So take your time to research for a suitable app development partner.
For hunting an apt mobile app development company, you have to follow a process. A process that includes researching relevant technology, examining portfolios, clients reviews, discussing requirements, deadlines, and a lot more. It is good to take time and research well rather than land in the wrong place.
To ease this process, we have a solution. Acquaint Softtech is a leading mobile application development company with having the trust of 500+ projects. Our creative app developers are the most prized assets of our company. They have ample knowledge for turning your complex ideas into a masterpiece. So instead of wasting time searching, just discuss your ideas with our experts.
If your business doesn’t have a mobile application yet, then you might be missing out on a lot more than what you can imagine. If you are thinking to build an attractive app, do follow the points below.
Having a great idea is not important. Planning makes an impact.
Do proper market research over your dream idea before working on it.
An app that resolves issues and makes life easier will always succeed.
Try to launch your app with fundamental features and introduce the rest in the updates.
Invest your time in quality resources like the latest tools and app platforms.
Choose app category wisely. You can market research about the same.
Always hire a renowned mobile app development company such as Acquaint.
Take the QA testing very seriously. Otherwise, coding is just the art of adding bugs.
We discussed why most of the application fails and tips on how to avoid those mistakes. This article recites the importance of market research, proper ideation, bug fixing, and above all, the process of hiring a suitable mobile app development company. The UX/UX is also a deciding factor in the success of any apps. In short, create an attractive mobile application that can resolve the problems of targeting the audience.
Hiring any mobile application development company doesn’t mean you’re done. The app owner also has to inject their vision and suggestions into the app. So keep in contact with developers during the app development process to narrate your requirements. Having a mobile application in an app store doesn’t make any sense until the app is not developed perfectly.
If you are looking to create a next-gen application then we are the right. Acquaint Softtech is a renowned mobile app development company, having a vast portfolio that vouches for excellence. Feel free to discuss your dream idea with our experts. Drop your requirements at info@acquaintsoft.com or call at +1 773 377 6499. Keep SHARING this piece of content with your bestie.
I love to make a difference. Thus, I started Acquaint Softtech with the vision of making developers easily accessible and affordable to all. Me and my beloved team have been fulfilling this vision for over 15 years now and will continue to get even bigger and better.
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