Business transformation is inevitable with the growing focus on the digital medium. The mobile app is core to change and embracing the digital world. However, despite the increasing number of apps at the app store, not every app is being downloaded.
Not all apps on the store enjoy a good retention rate; your customer may abandon your app after one uses itself. There are several reasons associated with abandonment.
- The app is not relevant
- Customers found it too slow
- The features were not intuitive
- It was too cluttered
- The buttons were not placed well
If you look at all the reasons mentioned here, you would realize the one thing the app is missing – a good interface design and a user-focused experience design.
It is suggested that you should always get a UX-led company to design and develop a mobile app for your business. They are more user-focussed, understand how the customers think, and lead a business app relevant to the solution’s customers.
Before diving into the tips, let’s understand what we mean when saying user experience.
What is User Experience?
The user experience encompasses all aspects of the user’s interaction with the end product (mobile app in this case). It takes into consideration the following things when articulating the interaction:
- The accessibility of the design
- The functionality of the app
- The ease of use for the user
- The design friendliness
- The intuitive ability of the design to help the user access the app
7 UX/UI Tips to Improve App Design
You are now fully aware of what we mean when we say user experience design. It is now essential to learn the tips that can help enhance the design and improve interactions.
#1 Know the User
You are creating a product that your target users are going to use. In this case, you need to define your users. Create the persona of the user (who they are, what they like, and how they use mobile apps) to improve the experience design.
- Their pain points
- Why do they use such apps?
- What are some of the goals they aim to accomplish with these solutions?
- Will the app help them overcome the issues they may be facing?
- The design should fulfill some of the hidden and lesser-known expectations of the user.
To know the user and learn more about their needs, you might want to interact with them. You can create a basic app and connect with them to understand how they use the app. If you don’t have an app solution, you can use any other app to learn about their existing learning curve.
It is essential to identify why they are looking for these app solutions? For example, if they are looking for productivity-enhancing app solutions, ask them:
- Why do you need this app solution?
- What are the issues that the app would solve?
- Are the current apps causing issues at work or home?
- What are some of the problems with the existing app solutions?
These interactions, design-related queries, and other conversations will help you design a more user-centric interface and experience that can translate into conversions.
#2 Define User Interactions
When designing for user experience, it is essential to know what accessibility, functionality, and usability mean to the user. However, if you ask them these questions directly, they may not be able to answer them.
It would help if you studied their interactions with existing mobile app solutions, checked how and when they use the product, and their experiences. This research will help you enhance the experience design.
Here are some of the interactions that you should necessarily study to understand their usage
- How do they watch videos? Do they hold the phone in portrait or landscape mode?
- How do they keep the phone? Do they use a single hand or both hands to control the device?
- How do they swipe or tap on the device to use the app?
- How far off are they alright with touching buttons and interacting with the screen on the app screen?
- What are some areas in which the user doesn’t prefer interacting?
- How do they like the buttons to be on the screen?
- Are they more into touch interaction or voice interaction?
When studying these aspects of interaction, you learn more about the user’s usability and accessibility considerations.
#3 Test with Real Users
While it is essential to test the apps on the devices to see how they function, you should also try the mobile app solutions with real customers. Conducting beta testing of your app is essential for design and development.
As a designer, you should remember you may or may not be the ideal user of the application. It is essential to know that the behavior and app interaction (as we have already identified in the first two tips) will be different for real customers.
Does your user interface and experience match the expectations set by the actual customers? Do they love the application as much as you do? Do you think it is the product that they will enjoy using?
When you test with real customers (it is important to note that family and friends don’t account for actual customers), you will learn more about your app’s UX design. It will help you improve interactions and experiences.
#4 Use Standard Practices
If we talk about user experience and interface design, some specific standard rules or guidelines have been laid out by past designers.
For example, if you are designing the screen, you should be minimalist with the design. You should use as few elements as possible to create the design.
Similarly, if you design the navigation, movement should be smooth and frictionless. The user should know how to come back to the main screen after navigating to another.
These are standard design rules that you cannot ignore when creating a design for your business app. Instead of beginning design directly, identify the standard norms and essential design aesthetics that should be part of your application.
It will guide you towards quick and hassle-free mobile app development for your business.
#5 Design for Shorter Attention Spans
The average attention span is going low by the day. Your customer may not like spending a lot of time reading or viewing your content. Imagine if a user with a limited attention span were to visit your app. Would they be overwhelmed if your design had too many elements? Yes!
So, what should you do in this case to engage and retain your customers? Design for their attention span.
When designing a screen for the user, start by identifying the essential elements. Think of how to make the design minimal and functional. Remove the things that do not support the design need or the user’s requirement.
For example, a bird on the screen for aesthetics can be quite a distraction. You might want to consider removing this element if it is not adding value to the design.
- If you need an image on the page, make sure you think through the idea.
- Is it necessary to add the image?
- Will the screen look incomplete without it?
- Will customers be able to understand the screen without the image?
If you have the answers to your questions and think you can do away with the image, remove it.
#6 Prototyping is a Must
If you directly jump into creating the ultimate design for the app, it will become a tedious process. You will be thinking of the functionality to add, the elements to keep, and other details while designing. This can lengthen the design and development process for the business app.
Instead, you can prototype the app design using one of the many popular tools. It will help understand the feasibility of the app design, know how it works and how to make it feasible.
Prototypes allow UX designers to see if the app design looks akin to what the user wants and is in sync with the user’s goals and requirements.
#7 Implement Clutter-free Design
When designing the application for experience, your interface should be clean. There should be enough white space and balance that attracts the human eye.
To make the design clutter-free and frictionless, you can add one task per screen. Instead of offering registration, signup, and logging in on the same page, you can create separate screens. This would reduce the confusion and make things more transparent for the audience.
It will also help increase app adoption and improve the retention rate for the mobile app solution.
Conclusion
You cannot ignore UI or UX design for your business app. It should ideally be the first step that you take towards creating your mobile app solution.
When you think UX-first, you will be able to deliver an aesthetic, innovative, and functional solution for your business. It will help you ideate for the customers, make the elements more functional and develop an accessible app.
As a business owner, you should partner with an able UX-led company that can deliver on standard practices and implements UX design principles. Finding such a company requires good networking abilities or excellent research capabilities.
When you are approaching a UX-led company, look for experience, expertise, and industry knowledge. At the same time, think through the design approaches they take. Ask them to show their past work to help them understand their abilities better.
