Building your mobile app can be an exciting experience that offers you an opportunity to create something that people will find helpful, entertaining, or both. A positive attitude while building your mobile app is highly appreciated but you should not overlook causes of failure. 

It’s essential to remember that many common mistakes can hurt your app’s chances of success. Statista says that in2020, an average app session length stood at just 20 minutes. Moreover, as per Gartner, 0.01% of consumer mobile apps are successful, and the rest fail miserably.

Here’s an infographic giving insights into the average app session length worldwide.

Average app session length

Source: Statista Average App Session Length

Undoubtedly the above infographic illustrates how arduous it can be to develop a successful and appealing mobile app. Avoiding common mistakes is one of the critical aspects of a successful mobile app development strategy.

And, that’s precisely why we’ve prepared a list of mobile app development mistakes you should avoid for improving your overall app design and user experience. Take some time to review these errors and keep them in mind as you plan your mobile app!

Here are the Top 9 Mistakes to Avoid for Developing Successful Mobile Apps

1) Lacking a Clear Vision

Lacking a clear vision

If you start by building a product that doesn’t have a clear vision, then your app won’t have a compelling purpose to help users. Instead, you will fill the app with features and functions you think people will want. But in most cases, customers do not know what they want until they see it.

Create a crystal-clear purpose for your mobile app to define its direction and keep you on track when making design decisions. Start by asking yourself: 

  • Why am I creating this app? 
  • What problem is the target audience struggling with? 
  • What do I want them to get out of using my mobile app? 

Once you answer these questions, everything else about your app will fall into place. With a crystal-clear purpose for your mobile app, every design decision you make should bring you closer to achieving that purpose.

Not only does it make it convenient to identify potential problems with usability and appearance, but it’s also easier to justify why something should or shouldn’t be a part of your mobile app.

2) Investing Little Time in Research

Many developers rush into mobile app development without doing their homework. An excellent mobile application takes time and money, and it’s worth getting everything right before launching. Please make sure you conduct thorough research and analyze your competitors and look at your target audience to learn more about their needs and behavior.

Don’t rush into development until you know what you are doing, as there is no coming back once you have launched! Most mobile apps are developed using native platform languages, such as Objective-C or Java.

It makes sense if you are developing something as a part of Apple or Google’s core functionality. Still, if not, perhaps it might be worth considering cross-platform technology instead. 

Cross-platform technology allows mobile applications to function across different operating systems rather than being limited by them; they can work on both iOS and Android devices without any need for alterations.

3) Ignoring Your Target Audience

If you haven’t performed research on your target audience, your design is likely to suffer. Sure, you can make broad guesses based on experience with similar products or how features are getting positioned in competing products. Still, if you genuinely want to ensure the success of your product, it’s best to get direct feedback from potential users.

It may come in the form of interviews or surveys. Surveys are more passive, while interviews allow you to dig into why people make confident choices—and these insights are often critical for creating a great user experience.

No matter what type of research methods you choose, conducting audience research will save time and money in development and improve your odds of creating a compelling product for your users.

4) Taking Advice From the Wrong People

One of the primary goals of a mobile app development project is to reach and keep your app users happy. If you want that, then you need to know who they are. 

  • Who are your competitors?
  • What kinds of apps do they offer?
  • How do they differ from each other?

These kinds of questions can help you build an app, or mobile service people will love—but only if you take time to listen to their needs. The more you hear, the better your chances at building something people will use.

Do not expect sound advice from a novice. Rely on app development companies or professional app developers. For example, if you are developing for iOS, it’s vital to consult passionate and experienced iOS app developers. 

5) Failing to Build Brand Values

Whether it’s a mobile app or something else, you’re setting out to build a company with staying power—and that means paying attention to every detail of your product. Even if users love your app, they won’t stick around if you don’t give them a reason to return.

It means building a solid brand that stands for something and has an identified user base that can get recognized across different platforms and mediums. Failory says that 80% of the mobile apps fail to survive even for a year after their release. 

If you want people talking about your business more than six months after launch, then you have to build a memorable brand that goes beyond surface-level appeal.

6) Disregarding Feedback of Potential Users

Instead of focusing on how excellent your idea is, spend time talking to customers. Find out what problems they have that you might be able to solve with your app. It would be best if you validate your assumptions about an app’s needs before you build it.

If there are already several apps out there solving a particular problem, think twice before competing with them unless you can do it better or differently. It’s also important to note whether consumers are willing to pay for mobile apps before writing any code.

7) Ignoring App Retention Rate

Keeping users engaged is vital to your app’s success. And while it might seem like you’re doing an excellent job by having them return to your app, an App Store metric called retention rate shows how many users are returning daily.

The retention rate for most apps hovers around 42% for 30 days, as per Geckoboard. It means more than half of the people who download your app will be gone in just 30 days. If you’re serious about making money off an app or have plans to use it as a long-term service, you want that number much higher.

App retention rate

Source: Statista App Retention Rate

 

Analyze user behavior and show them features they can enjoy when they return—and hopefully, drive them back for more.

Use analytics to gain user insights and understand what your users are doing, how they’re using it, and what exactly they want. It will help you deliver more targeted content that people want to see or use. 

Use push notifications sparingly. For many apps these days, push notifications are used as a last resort — when there’s nothing else left to do!

Like email marketing tactics (like squeeze pages), excessive push notifications can cause people to tune out; Allow users to customize their experience.

8) Creating an Unfriendly UI/UX

As per Biz Genius, 70% of apps dealing with online businesses fail due to poor usability. Thus, one of the primary goals of the developers is to make sure that apps are easy to use and visually appealing. It is where UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) come into play. 

With UI, you’re dealing with all of your app’s controls and interactions, like buttons, checkboxes, or an on-screen keyboard. UX deals with how users interact with those controls.

Make sure they understand how it works. Don’t make users feel frustrated by making it difficult to use your app. As you want users to stick around after downloading it, make sure they like their first impression of it!

A great way to test new interfaces is by asking users for feedback during different phases of development. Get people’s opinions before launch and ask them what they thought about their experience using it–you’ll be surprised at how valuable that kind of data is for your next project.

9) Creating a Poor Monetization Strategy

It’s hard to imagine a scenario where monetizing your mobile app isn’t essential. Still, sometimes developers get so wrapped up in creating a fantastic product that they forget to consider how they will turn a profit.

Monetization strategies aren’t just about squeezing money out of customers, but they need to be part of it. It’s also about creating an experience free from distractions, annoying ads, and other nuisances.

Once you determine how you plan on making money off your app, please give yourself plenty of time to work it into your overall design plan. The last thing you want is for it to feel tacky or forced.

Wrapping Up

Unfortunately, every app developer might make mistakes at some point. When you’re starting, it’s easy to get frustrated by these mistakes and feel like your app won’t succeed.

However, if you connect with a dedicated iOS app development company in India that learns from its errors and avoids making them again, you can eventually create a successful app. 

Whether it’s developing for iOS or Android first or using an agile development process, there are many things you can do to keep your costs down and increase your chances of success.