4 Ways To Extend The Life Of Your Mobile App

So, you have this idea for a great mobile app that you want to create, or maybe you’ve already created it. Have you taken the time to ensure its life span is longer than the next few days? We’ll be discussing some ways to affect the longevity of your app including: marketing, security, design and updates.

These four areas will help you to not only knock out competition, but also ensure your app will survive as long as possible. You’ve poured your heart and money into this app, let’s do everything we can to see your baby grow up.

Marketing

This may very well be the most important part. You need to properly market your mobile app. If this part isn’t done effectively, you may as well close up shop now. First, make sure the description of what your app is, what it does and its purpose is clear. Make sure that you’re doing everything possible for app store optimization. This is sort of like SEO for websites.

Do your best to reach out to your target audience via social platforms. Use Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, or LinkedIn to better publicize your offering. Possibly even consider paying influencers or offering incentives to those who can get your app in front of as many people as possible. Offering promotions for paid features to get buy in and generate more income is also a good idea to consider.

Mobile App Security

This part is pretty simple. You need to make sure your mobile app is secure. Hackers should not be able to access personal information like credit cards and banking information. There needs to be a reasonable amount of privacy as well. Be sure that your data policies are clear to users. No one wants to find out several weeks after buying an app that their data is being sold to another party or used in a manner they were not aware of.

Design

When it comes to design, your mobile app must be top notch. But, ensuring that it has a low bandwidth design is also extremely important. Waiting long periods for data to load can be frustrating. The app needs to be snappy and useful. Use an asynchronous design that does its job but doesn’t make the user wait for it to load. Be sure that UI choices are made correctly. An ugly app with strange buttons or functionality, will kill your app from the start. It’s also crucial to check the design on different screen sizes and orientations.

Another key point, don’t use too much battery power doing whatever it is you are doing. Nowadays there are apps built in to phones that will identify battery draining apps. If your app is on the list, there is a good chance that it will be uninstalled.

Navigation within the application needs to be intuitive. Strange or unfamiliar navigation is a big turn off for new users. Do your research on some of the most commonly used apps and their navigation so your users will feel comfortable when navigating through your app.

Be sure to give users a website or desktop version to use so that if they don’t have their device around they can still use your technology. For example, being able to still access pictures without the mobile app is a great feature. Also, if you’re not going to support the mobile app on old OS versions, make sure you are clear about it.

Updates

This is really important. Be sure that you are constantly updating your app. Whether it’s security related, new features or just a bug fix, be sure to keep things updated. No one wants a buggy, out-of-date app. Make sure your users know about these updates as well. Use push notifications and email marketing to send out notices.

When making updates, reference the source of the requests from your audience. You can do this through surveys, comments on the app store, or social media comments. You want your audience to feel important and part of the decisions you are making.

Conclusion

You now have a picture of what four areas to address to ensure a long shelf life for your app. Marketing, security, design and updates will set you apart from competitors. Be sure to take all these ideas into consideration when developing your application. Now that we have covered the top 4 factors that affect the longevity of your mobile app, let us know how we can help!