7 Key Features Of A Successful Mobile App

7 Key Features Of A Successful Mobile App

Mobile app marketing is a crowded field with millions of apps available for download and vying for attention from the same audience as your mobile app. It takes a lot to stand out from the crowd. You can’t afford to be careless or live on the assumption that the products you sell are unique and users will throng to your app.

Your mobile app features will decide the success of your app. It will help the app store recognize your app and promote it at the top among countless others. An app’s features will ensure the best user experience and show the true value to its users.

When creating a mobile app, you need to consider far more than the purpose it serves. So, in this blog, we’ll list the seven key features of a successful mobile app that will get you increased visibility and downloads.   

1. User-centric design

Your users are crucial to your app’s success. They’ll spend time on various app activities and it is necessary to design the app keeping the needs of your users foremost in your mind. First, understand what type of customers you are expecting, their demographics, interests, and preferences.

Next, have an intuitive and visually appealing design to make it easy for users to navigate and use the app. This includes using clear and concise language, easy-to-use buttons, high-quality images, and a layout that is easy to understand and follow. Let’s see some of the crucial factors of UI/UX for app development.

• Stick to a sophisticated color palette to make it look attractive
• Keep consistency in using icons, colors, and fonts throughout the app to improve user familiarity with the app
• Optimize image and content to improve the app loading speed
• Use white space to divide content clearly
• Use a minimalistic approach by using one or two typefaces in your app
• Optimize the content to fit mobile app screens of all sizes
• Write short content for the app for users to easily skim through it.
• Use simple language to be understood even by non-native English speakers.
• Follow the OS design guidelines for both Android and iOS.

Concentrating on building a solid mobile app for your users will help you get more active users and increase engagement.

2. App functionality

Consider adding features that help in improving your app functionality. For example, providing an address autocomplete feature at checkout reduces the time needed to fill out shipping details. It also helps you capture accurate customer addresses. Every single feature in your app must serve a functionality. But ensure not to load too many features in your app that increase the load time and make the app inefficient.

3. Simple navigation

Navigation is crucial to help users move from one point on the app to the other easily without getting confused. Menu tabs at the top and screen bottom are popular as these are within the tapping distance of the thumb at all times.

The biggest factor to be considered when designing navigation is space. It’s necessary to practice restraint in order to make navigation simple. Here are some factors to take into consideration while designing your mobile application navigation.

• Use the slider design patterns to deliver information about features. Users can easily slide through the features and choose between them.
• Use drawers, slideouts, and sidebars to avoid clutter in the app design. They help users to navigate between different features on the app. Collapsible menus or buttons that slide out also help users to focus on sections without getting distracted.
• Add walkthroughs and tutorials to demonstrate all functions and features on the screen. Use popups to show information or actions associated with the current screen.
• Add a search box or a search icon to make sure you give your users the freedom to search for whatever they want.
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• Hide the menu items under the hamburger icon if your app is complex and you have a lot of content to display.

Remember, your app design is not all about looks, it’s also about how easily users can move about through the app and how well they can interact with it.

4. Mobile application security

Let’s say this- app security isn’t a feature, it’s a necessity. A breach is enough to cost your business million of dollars and a lifetime of trust. Here are some ways in which you could build security into your app.

• Write a secure code with zero bugs and vulnerabilities.
• Encrypt all data that is exchanged over your app
• Be cautious when using third-party libraries.
• Use authorized APIs that are perfectly coded.
• Let your app to only allow strong alphanumeric passwords from users
• Make it necessary for the user to renew the password once in 3-6 months
• Use multi-factor authentication that uses a static password and a dynamic OTP
• Activate tamper detection software to keep your app code safe
• Use the principle of least privilege. Here, a code runs only when it gets the permissions it needs and no more.
• Use tokens instead of device identifiers to identify an app session.
• Test your app repeatedly for vulnerabilities.

App security is a big contributor to the success of your app. You need to secure your app and do everything to protect its users.

5. Offline capabilities

The dependency of mobile apps on internet connectivity restricts their access and makes it difficult to use in locations where the network connection is poor or non-existent. One way to sustain user satisfaction is to implement offline support in mobile applications. Here are some of the ways for offline support.

• Allowing the user to query in the absence of a network connection
• Retrieve the data from the local cache when there is no connectivity to enable certain features
• Queue server requests locally for later processing in the absence of network 
• Synchronize the data for making the app work offline.
• Disabling certain controls when there is no network
• Displaying error messages when there is no network.
• Allowing users to download videos, images, and files for later use when there’s no connectivity.

Google Maps allow users to download a predetermined area of the map so that they can access the directions even with absolutely zero internet connection. Even Netflix allows users to download shows and movies on their devices and watch them later while being offline.

6. Push notifications

The push notification feature is a must in a mobile app to get customers back to using the app again and again. Ensure your customer has spent sufficient quality time on the app and explored its features before you send them a popup requesting them to enable you to send push notifications to their device. Push notifications are easier than emails or SMS and are less likely to end up in the spam folder. Use a combination of text and graphics and create personalized messages aimed solely at a specific target audience.  

7. Regular app updates

Releasing an app on the App Store/Play Store is not the end of the app design. You have to constantly ask for feedback from users about the app and act on it to improve its features and functionality. Regular app updates keep your app up to date with user requirements and advanced technologies. It builds customer trust and improves retention rates.

Final thoughts

An app becomes successful when it solves customer problems and motivates them to return and use it repeatedly. Simplicity, user-friendliness, security, functionality, speed, push notifications, offline capability, and a host of other features make the mobile app indispensable to the user in spite of competitor apps. Does your app have that hold? It’s high time you work on making your app successful.