This article discusses some of the costly mistakes that inexperienced mobile app development companies often make and how to avoid them. Unfortunately, these mistakes are very simple and it costs next to nothing to avoid them. Here are some of them. You should avoid every one of them like a plague. Virtually all experienced app development companies are aware of these and they avoid them too.
Not testing apps before launching them
In the bid to launch their apps as soon as possible, one of the usual mistakes that mobile app development companies skip testing their apps thoroughly. No matter how great your app looks, you can never detect all the problems it has if you don’t subject it to a thorough test. Besides, some things may look normal to you and the users of your app may have problems with them.
When the first set of users detect too many bugs on your app, they will drop off and you know what? Most of them will not give you any feedback about the bugs and the worst part is that they may not want to try it out again even when you have fixed the bug. Most of the new mobile app development companies that launch their app without a thorough test often regret it as users will now detect the bugs they should have detected. Launching an app without testing it is like violating traffic regulation because you are in a hurry. It does not just add up.
Not updating their app
Some mobile app development companies have been carried away by the initial success of their app that they stopped seeking feedback and launching updates. You need to understand that no matter how great an app is, there is always room for improvement and the improvement ideas should be gotten from the users of the app.
So, because they failed to update their apps, competitors studied the apps for drawbacks and even sought users view on improvement ideas. Competitors built their own apps on the drawbacks of the first one and you know what happened? The initially successful apps began to lose users.
This is why you often see an app that has been downloaded and installed more than 20 million times having just 1 million active users or less. Good examples are BBM and WhatsApp messengers. BBM was the best instant messenger before the arrival of WhatsApp. But while BBM was resting on its oars, WhatsApp began to improve on Google. Right now, BBM is no longer a contender. Or do you still hear “what’s your pin?” half as much as you used to hear it in those days? Lack of regular updates caused the setback for BBM.
Long registration form
Other mistakes from app development that some apps have a very long registration form. Unfortunately, this chases a lot of customers away. Imagine, a customer decided to patronize you and you have to make the person go through the pain of filling a long-form. It is better to make your form as short as possible. Remember, typing on mobile apps isn’t fun at all. Besides, a lot of customers have become reluctant to give out too much of their details after the Facebook-Cambridge Analytical scandal.
So, you should be okay with only name, email address, home address, and telephone number. In fact, middle name is not necessary. You are good with just the middle initial and that it because of some customers that have both common first and last names.
Apps that do not support both iOS and android
About a third of mobile phones run on iOS and the other two-third run on android. Some apps work for only one of the two platforms and this means that those apps have third fewer chances of success. If an app supports only iOS, the app has already cut off millions of android users and if an app supports only android, it has also disqualified millions of iOS users. Unfortunately, app success is a game of numbers. Every app needs the numbers to succeed.
It is better to ensure that your app works on both platforms or create a version each for both of them. Most of the highly successful mobile apps by mobile app development company are the ones that support both android and iOS apps.
Setting a price for your app
Right now, for every app niche, there are numerous apps that are free to download yet some developers still attach a price tag to download their app. It has become so absurd for people to pay to download an app when they can get free alternatives. You should find other ways to make money from your app.
You can offer some in-app items for sales like top app developers of game apps do. Also, you can make good money from apps but you need to chase the numbers first. Setting a price for your app is like shooting yourself in the leg. You can’t possibly do that and get the numbers.
Being 100 percent online
Some apps do not function offline. This chases users away and if they have to download such apps, they won’t launch it often and even when they do, they will be out of it in a short period. This is because users are often concerned about their mobile data.
Even if your app has to function online, there should be a couple of functions that work offline. Take game apps for instance. When you check the most successful ones, you will find out that most of them function offline too.
Being too large
Some apps are just too large for their benefits. It can be listed in app development mistakes. You need to understand that the biggest constraint that mobile phone users encounter is limited storage space. What makes this worse is the fact that apps do not work from external memory. This is why you will hardly have enough storage space for all the apps you need. Most users also watch the size of an app before they download it.
Once they feel that your app is too big, they will look for a smaller alternative. More so, your regular updates will continue to make the app even bigger. So, you should try to keep your app smaller than 50MB if you can.
In Conclusion
To conclude, avoiding these simple but costly pitfalls will boost your app’s chances of success tremendously.
Read more 3 Important Features That You Should Consider During the Android App Development
