As we are deep into the “mobile first” age. Mobile apps are the primary means by which software gets into the hands of consumers and forms their communication with businesses. This is generally a two-way exchange in which an app provides value for users – usually at little to no direct cost – and through quick scaling the business on the other side of the deal can produce the result. This is as true for indie games developers as it is for huge big-box stores that use mobile platforms to drive more in-person sales.

This means that mobile app design principles are now integral from business success method. We will present to you 11 of these core principles and how they are crucial for driving dollars your way.

Your App Needs a Clear Purpose

The app name should clearly specify its goal, its online description, its aesthetics, its UX – in short, every aspect of it should be focused on a target. It should follow with the remarkably successful principle of “do one thing and do it well.” Whether its purpose is ecommerce, community engagement, content delivery, or something else entirely, it should focus on a core target user (one that is generally trying to solve a specific problem) and every form of it should be wrapped around engaging that user.

Your App Can Only Achieve Its Secondary Goal If It Has Nailed Its Primary One

Only if you hold true to the principle listed as number 1 can you then fulfill the “other” purpose of the app. If users are not finding value in their app, they will not reciprocate much value to you. The canonical example of this are mobile games. Only games that give users a great deal joy, engagement and challenge also enforce them to make in-app purchases.

Revenue Model

It’s expected that all an app has to do is rank highly and it will automatically rake in income.
This model is foolish and is generally one of the major element that leads to an app being a flop. Without a clear planning, one that permeates its whole design and function, the app will never generate profits.

Models need not to be complex (nothing about an app should really be complex) but model must inform goals for the app. Do you intend to generate ad revenue? Then the app should be free, solve a very general problem, and feature advertisement in a way that is self-effacing as possible. Will it have in-app purchases? As mentioned in principle number 2, providing user with so much value that they will be happy to pay for the “power ups.”

App UX, Color and Iconography

The first thing that will lead a user to your app is whether or not it fits the search terms of whatever problem he or she is trying to solve. The first thing that will cause a user to discard an app is poor UX and overall aesthetics.

Bad UX naturally means a bad app, no matter how likely useful or powerful its feature set. The target of an app is to impart benefit, and an app that feels like a graceless is nothing but an inconvenience.

However, color and iconography are also important. The psychology of color in design and the financial space is a topic that predates the digital age but its rules are enduring. An icon is a navigation shortcut. It allows to communicate performance more efficiently and in a way that keeps design flow. You must then be careful about icon choices. For example, it is very likely that the “save icon” will change within a few years – a growing number of computer users were born after we retired floppy disks.

App navigation and search

Once again, the goal of an app is to impart convenience. When a user loads the app, it will take significant time before he or she can navigate it.

Would the app benefit from an intro tutorial? If the app has a larger than normal set of functions or content, is there a favorable search bar (with fast response times) that can prevent the user from getting lost.

Crisp and well-defined data structure and flow. No unnecessary data.

We like to gaze that the mobile devices of today are much more powerful than the computers that took us to the moon but compared to larger devices they still have constraint on processing speed and bandwidth. So, designers must pay attention to the data flow of the app. They cannot afford to load, process, and display excessive data. This can also be treated as a part of UX: the app does not have resources to process unnecessary information, and your users do not have the patience to sift through data that they do not care about.

Commerce and Conversion

We have been able to identify factors that help drive commerce and conversion and apply them to the mobile realm as from some time users have been communicating with web commerce. Several strategies from insight guide of Google outlines here :-

• provide previous search and purchase information,
• enable comparison shopping features,
• allow user reviews to be viewed and filtered,
• make it easy to add and manage payment methods
• provide multiple third-party payment options.

Tracking and Analytics

Devices provide us with a great deal of facts about the habits and characteristics of users. Now a day the mobile commerce gives us benefit. We will mainly know where, when, and how a user is engaging with our apps. Even the “hot spots” can also be identify by systems. All of this information is crucial to the success of an app and you should use it ideally with the help of advanced analytics to refine app and future strategy.

Marketing and related tracking

There is also a role for conventional marketing in the success of an app. Apps may be tracked and ranked on public marketplaces, but simply launching it at app store rarely ever yields good results. This consist of websites with strong landing pages, social media commitment, and even old-fashioned human promoters armed with flyers at conferences or festivals. In each case it is important to measure how many conversions you are getting for your dollars, whether it is by chasing click-through or by measuring how many subscribers you can get on to an email list.

Product roadmap and releases

In inquiry, we come to know the fact about mobile app retention, after just three days of the initial install, the average app loses 77% of its users.

Furthermore, PokemonGo is arguably the greatest app success story in history. It also has lost over 10 million users since its release and those that have not yet abandoned it are showing a large drop in engagement.

It’s not just enough to get an app to market, you must have a product roadmap that keeps the application fresh. It should evolve in capabilities in a series of releases spaced only weeks apart. One analysis showed that leading iOS apps put out a new version every 30 day on average.

When there is a situation that can cause application failure, it should be immediately reported up while stopping execution.

While users do not necessarily like crashes, this favorable to the alternative. It is much less annoying than an application that appears to work but slowly builds inconsistencies that degrade performance (and app store ratings) while possibly propagating corrupt data all the way to a production server.

We at Unanimous Studio provide all in one mobile application and game development solution for your need. Feel free to contact us here.