Over the years, the mobile commerce industry has been growing tremendously. Did you know that mobile commerce alone accounts for about 23% of the entire online sales?
As we speak, there are over 1.6 billion users already using their mobile devices to shop on the online platform. These figures are expected to hit the 2 billion mark by the end of 2017. The competition is stiffer than ever, therefore, in order to outdo their competition, mobile developers have opted to focus on enhancing the user experience. The main goal here is to create designs that can captivate the users.
The importance of mobile website optimization can never be overemphasized. A business or company that has its site optimized triple their chances of increasing mobile conversion by a rate of 5% or even more. With that said, not everyone is practicing this because statistics show that only 35% of businesses have their sites optimized for mobile use.
While on the quest to attain that ultimate mobile user experience, designers tend to make mistakes along the way which end up costing them a great deal. This piece highlights some of those mistakes.
Mistake No.1: Focusing on getting users to register with little consideration on the value
When designing apps, for example, a good number of developers tend to focus a lot more on the forcing users to sign up and register without considering the value that the app offers. As a designer, at no point should you force users to register. Your design creation should be enough to show the users its value and prompt them to engage and possibly register.
A good example
A social sharing network such as Tumblr normally asks users to register but does it in a more engaging manner. Instead of just asking you to register, the platform provides you with engaging content before requesting you to sign up. With Tumblr, users get a positive correlation between the rate of registration and the value they gain by using the app.#
A poor example
Pheed forms a perfect example of a poor app that forces users to register without offering them value first. The platform only gives users the option of registering on its first screen. This normally rubs off the users the wrong way.
Mistake No.2: Failure to deliver an excellent onboarding experience
As a designer, delivering a perfect first time user experience should always remain your priority. Your users need to feel right at home when once they access your design creation. However, achieving this is not easy. As a matter of fact, this is the most strenuous part when it comes to designing a mobile user experience. The main reason attributed to this is that different users have different expectations hence meeting their needs satisfactorily can be quite challenging.
Since onboarding is a very vital area, it needs to be approached with all the seriousness that it deserves. In connection to this, as a designer, you need to monitor your feeds constantly using app analytics in order to get clear picture of how your app is fairing on. You need to have a clear idea of what makes the users love your app and what makes them cease.
A good example
Dropbox forms a perfect example of an app that provides users with a perfect onboarding experience. The platform allows users to signup directly into the phone’s flow. If the user already has an account, the app synchronizes their content with their devices within an instant.
A poor example
KickSend provides users with a poor experience which has caused a number of users to drop off. The platform designed a tutorial as a form of onboarding users.
Mistake No.3: Gestures that fail to respond
Some of the most popular gestures you are likely to come across include but are not limited to the following: shake, tilt, rotate, pinches, swipes and double tap. Most of these gestures are still developing hence if you are not careful, they might cause some confusion hence end up frustrating the users. With these gestures, you need to make them responsive with your apps.
Ensure that all the dynamics are set in a certain way so that the user can enjoy the experience. As the developer, you need to have a clear picture of what you really want to achieve and deliver it. For example if you are creating a reading app, ensure that the screen is locked to make reading possible. On the other hand if it is a video app, you can make it rotating or tilting possible to make it ideal for viewing.
Mistake No.4: Failing to understand your audience
The target audience must always be in your mind when designing an app. By understanding your target audience, you’ll be able to come up with something that is target specific. Say for example, when creating an app for the younger generation, even if you make it technical, this group, due to their savvy nature they’ll be able to navigate their way around it. The same cannot be said about the elderly.
You can also look at this beyond just a physical audience. How about a physical device? By this it means that if say your users are more inclined to the Android platform, porting your iOS app so that it can work on the different android devices may not be seen as a good move because your iOS will feel like strangers in a strange territory. Your Android users want to have their own apps that feel and look like Android.
Mistake No.5: Overload your apps with feature
This is a very common mistake with rookies. Most of them think that by overloading an app with feature they make it appealing to the users. On the contrary, this is not true. The same has even affected smartphone developers who fill their devices with slick features. When doing this, you need to understand your audience.
The best way to approach this is for you to think of a feature that is most appealing to your target audience and capitalize on it. The last thing you want for your users is to confuse them with the tons of feature on display. It does not create a good onboarding user experience.
Images: Author’s Own
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