Updated: August 4, 2021 
When you take a closer look at the mobile app development industry, you’ll notice that a surprising number of apps are abandoned after their first use. This is primarily due to the digital market’s extreme competitiveness.
Apart from rivalry, there are a slew of blunders that app development companies
Keep these mistakes in mind as you design a product that will provide you a competitive advantage and bring about the change you want to see, and you’ll be one step closer to success.
So, how can you ensure that your mobile app stands out from the crowd and gives your company a real competitive advantage? Avoid the most common app development blunders made by business owners. Instead of focusing on increasing your app’s functionality, you might choose to focus on identifying typical mobile app faults to avoid throughout development. To provide app owners with the most up-to-date information, we’ve compiled a list of the most typical app development lapses that developers make while creating a custom app.
Developing a Mobile App When There’s No Genuine Need
Many business owners come to us with a “great” concept for a mobile app for their company. Mobile apps can help you extend your consumer base, but designing one that isn’t in demand is a bad idea.
The development of a mobile app is a time-consuming and costly procedure. If no one uses your app, it could impose a significant financial strain on your app development company. You should clearly identify your business goals and determine if the app helps you achieve them.
The first stage is to identify your consumers’ needs as a mobile app development company. Then examine if a mobile app can help you solve the problems and meet your clients’ expectations. If you answered yes, you can proceed with the app creation process. However, if you fail to validate this idea through a thorough understanding of your target audience, your project may be doomed.
Including too many stakeholders in the decision-making process
Gathering information is an important component of the mobile app development process. As an app development company, you must ensure that the app meets the demands of a variety of consumers. However, attempting to include feedback from a dozen stakeholders, all of whom have opposing viewpoints, makes decision-making extremely difficult. You’re stuck taking everyone’s feedback into account and trying to account for all possible scenarios before the initial launch.
“As long as you want to please everyone, you won’t please anyone,” says Seth Godin. Focus on your core target group involved in mobile app development and the key need you’re trying to solve and make sure you’re meeting that need.
If you’re having trouble coming up with a single shared vision, sit down with your stakeholders in your mobile app development company and brainstorm. You may come up with previously unconsidered perspectives on your app development and provide you with a bird-eye view of your business, assisting you in setting project priorities.
Assigned roles such as decision-makers, feedback providers, and recommendation givers could be included in stakeholder hierarchies. This form of framework can assist you in avoiding confrontation. Nonetheless, when a conflict emerges, consider each stakeholder’s interests in light of the project’s goals.
Insufficient Research
Every effective piece of software is based on extensive user research. It’s normal for app development companies to believe that their software will be a customer favorite, especially in the early stages of development. Before deciding to construct a mobile app, business owners must conduct extensive research. Remember that each business and app development process has its own set of goals.
Never make a decision based solely on your Google search results. As a mobile app development company consider your app’s principal goal, the nature of your business, your target audience, your competition, and your unique selling proposition (USP).
You must find answers to the following questions in order to design an app that will be popular with your users:
- How valuable and long-term are the answers proposed by your app?
- Is the app’s design in keeping with current market trends?
- Are your app’s features well-designed and implemented? Will these be too much for the users?
- What is the app’s level of originality? App marketplaces are already clogged with a plethora of identical apps.
The most basic strategy to get a head start on your project is to conduct audience research. You can save a lot of time and energy by validating your ideas and assumptions before putting them into action.
Mismanaging the Budget
App development is a big business expenditure, regardless of the size or nature of your project. As a result, one of the most important deciding elements to consider is the size of your budget and how it is managed.
There are three guidelines you should adopt from the start of the project to avoid blowing your budget. Before you begin the app development process, make a precise budget. Its usefulness and accuracy are largely determined by how much research you conduct. Understanding your target demographic, app features, design components, and intended revenue approach will all play a role in this.
Set aside funds to cover any unexpected expenses. Unexpected events will always emerge, no matter how thorough and extensive your budget is. As a result, a smart budget should leave room for unexpected expenses.
Follow the budget to the letter. Once you’ve come up with your ideal budget, make sure to stick to it even during the most important stages of the mobile app development process. Though there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer for funding it, good budgeting ensures that you always put your best foot forward.
Including unnecessary or too many functionalities
Another common blunder made by app development companies is wanting to incorporate all of the functionalities that come to mind. It’s fantastic if you have a lot of ideas, but keep in mind that each of these functions will cost money and take time to implement. Furthermore, you have no idea (yet) whether each function will be beneficial to your users.
One of the reasons why many apps fail to launch is because they try to cram too many features into the product. A complex app is difficult to sell, aside from the unsettling user experience it provides. You’ll rapidly uncover some areas where you can implement universal features if your mobile app development team has clear aims and goal sets. DragApp, for example, allows Gmail users to automatically construct a to-do list by storing emails in their inbox until activities linked with them are performed.
The more intuitive your app is, the longer you can anticipate it to be used. This is particularly true when it comes to navigation. To put it another way, it’s best to start with a simple app that serves the core objective. From there, you may ask your mobile app development partner to gradually develop it by adding additional features.
Not Communicating Properly With Developers
Communication is an essential component of any successful app development project, just as it is in any other company endeavor. Getting developers to see your app’s complete concept may appear to be an uphill battle, but it’s one you must undertake. How well you perform this can have a significant impact on the outcomes. When conveying a new idea to your mobile app development partner, full documentation with great visualization is essential.
Your app’s documentation should include a synopsis (a brief summary of what it does), an app wireframe, and a detailed feature list. In most circumstances, a professional app development company will expect you to provide these items.
Making a visual representation of the features you wish to add to your app is a creative method to avoid misunderstandings with your mobile app development company. Create simple sketches of the screens you want to show the user, along with a list of their functions. Answer the questions “What should happen when you click on it?” and “What decides what is shown here?” for each piece in the sketch.
Take into account the team’s level of trust in you, the outcomes of projects they’ve done, and their working style.
Not building an MVP
While a business owner may believe that he understands what his customers require, the truth is that we are rarely our ideal customers. During the course of the project, more information is received, and it deviates from the original concept. With a set number of hours, price, and deadline, this app development strong might quickly turn into a nightmare for everyone.
Making a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a good habit followed by all great mobile app development companies. With an MVP, you can allow everyday consumers to evaluate your app’s features and performance. To put it another way, you’re gathering genuine user input under real marketing conditions before releasing the final app.
This method aids in the speeding up of the app development process and the launch of the final product. The MVP concept has been adopted by many successful mobile apps, including Uber and Instagram, to generate extremely engaging products.
Failing to test enough
One aspect of the mobile app development process that you cannot afford to miss is quality control. It’s not uncommon to see developers testing their apps or having another developer look at them. Product testing, on the other hand, is not a developer’s responsibility. A great mobile app development company lays equal focus on the testing too.
While peer testing is beneficial from a technological standpoint, dedicated app testers are required for beta testing.
Here are some of the most common mobile app testing methodologies used by major development companies:
- Using pre-defined templates, create proper test case documentation.
- A Quality Assurance (QA) team is involved in unit testing. Individual app features, modules, or classes are tested here.
- To ensure smooth performance, functional testing is performed.
- Regression testing guarantees that code updates do not disrupt the app’s flow.
At the end of the day, thoroughly testing your app aids in the early detection of issues.
Designing a Poor UI /UX
Many factors contribute to the failure of mobile apps. User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) issues are at the top of the list. Although every mobile app development company assures you of the best user experience, still bad UI/UX is ranked the fourth most common reason mobile consumers abandon apps, right after forced social logins, privacy problems, and obtrusive adverts.
A mobile app development company can go wrong with UI/UX in multiple ways including:
- The program takes an excessive amount of time to load. The longer it takes for your app pages to load, the fewer users you’ll attract.
- Your design is boring and unimaginative. Users will be more likely to stick around if the app design is nice and uncluttered.
- Poor navigation necessitates the user scrolling and clicking multiple times to find what they require.
Other features of bad UI/UX implementation to avoid include low-quality content and superfluous login pages. A client-centric design is the most important feature app development companies can incorporate for successful UI and UX. Client feedback is essential for success even after you’ve implemented a standard UX design for your app.
Although the most common customer preference isn’t usually the most technically sound solution. In the end, the objective should always be to maintain a profit-oriented balance.
Not Marketing Your App
The features and performance of an app are critical in determining its success. Your product, on the other hand, will suffer a lingering death if you don’t have a smart marketing plan in place. That is, assuming it takes off at all! Discuss the app marketing strategy in detail with your mobile app development partner in the initial stages itself.
App marketing is a crucial activity that aids in the acquisition of new app users as well as the long-term profitability of the app. 98% of firms, according to The Manifest, have a defined app marketing strategy. Your app marketing efforts should incorporate both pre-launch and post-launch strategies for the best outcomes.
Market research, engaging your target audience, and developing a branding style for your app are all common pre-launch marketing activities that app development companies can follow. It’s critical to employ App Store Optimization (ASO) to increase organic traffic once you’ve launched your app. Different promotional strategies, such as paid ads, referrals, and viral loops, should also be considered.
Ignoring User Feedback
It’s hard to create a successful mobile app without putting the user first. App development companies won’t be able to persuade app consumers to adore their app unless they address major issues raised in previous feedback.
Users will look for a substitute if they notice that you continually ignore their input. App development companies who pay great attention to user input, on the other hand, can easily convert casual app users into committed consumers.
Deploying App analytics during app development, can provide app store reviews and ratings, along with wealth of information about how to improve your app.You’ll have enough information to meet users’ expectations for your app if you can properly mix data from both app analytics and user feedback.
App analytics, for example, will disclose the average length of a user session in your app. If the figure goes below your target, you’ll need user feedback to figure out what’s causing the low level of interaction.
Focusing on Downloads Instead of Retention
The quantity of app downloads is often touted as the final indication of mobile app success in various development circles. App success may not always imply high download rates.
Many businesses currently invest a significant amount of money in user acquisition. Surprisingly, if you invest time during the app development phase to devise strategies for user retention, you may be able to save a lot of money on marketing.
Existing app users might be a potential jackpot for garnering a big Return on Investment (ROI) if properly engaged. Repeat purchases aren’t the only thing loyal consumers do. They also provide free word-of-mouth advertising and positive reviews for your mobile app development company.
Here are five tried-and-true methods for increasing app engagement and user retention:
- Make the onboarding process as pleasant as possible.
- Integrate push notifications correctly.
- Use various incentives, discounts, and loyalty programs to entice users.
- User feedback should be encouraged and rewarded.
Setting up your app for improved retention rates is, for the most part, a lengthy process that entails both developing and maintaining a fantastic app. Both strong download and retention rates are required for a successful high-quality app.
Conclusion:
Mobile app development is a long process and developers are bound to make mistakes along the route that will jeopardize the app’s success. Poor app development processes include a lack of understanding of consumers’ demands, including too many stakeholders, and ignoring user retention rates, to name a few. But if you understand the most common developer mistakes, you can avoid them altogether and aim for a successful app.
App development is a difficult process that requires a big financial investment on your part. Be sure that the app development company you select for your project has the experience and subject knowledge to create a stable solution from start to finish. At RV Technologies we will guide and assist you along the road, preventing you from making these common blunders.
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