5 elements of a great mobile app

A mobile app is the walking cane of the digital age. Without it no one gets anywhere. The smartphone boom has opened up new revenue streams for enterprises and has encouraged healthy business for app designers and developers. However, it has also presented innumerable technical, aesthetic and business challenges. Popular apps like WhatsApp and Ola have successfully addressed these challenges. They work seamlessly across a variety of handsets and operating systems, and have gained consumer trust and acceptance. So what goes into making a successful app? Here's a list of five.

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Remember, it's all about convenience

If your business has a mobile app, it means that you are focused on improving convenience for customers. That is a very noble thought. However, if the app takes too much time to load, or frequently hangs, or simply exists for the sake of a mobile presence for your business, then your business is better off without it. An irritated, inconvenienced customer is far too damaging for business than a lack of a mobile app.

Keep it lean and mean

Will your app survive the frequent spring cleaning mobile users do to keep up the operating speed of their handset? If your app is useful but takes up too much space, it is most likely headed for the trash bin.

Let insight inspire

If you're inspired to build a mobile app on the lines of a great app you just saw in the app marketplace, you are not inspired enough. Before getting into building and designing the app, one should make an effort to familiarise themselves on the fundamentals of human psyche (popularly known these days as consumer behaviour). Involve your friends, family, team and clients. Gain as much insight as you can on what they think makes a great app.

Dig deeper into the science of design

Read books on the science of symbols, colours and fonts. Great marketing campaigns have made the most of fonts, colours and symbols by using them the right way. Do thorough research on UI and UX. Go through app development guides provided by Android and iPhone. These guides help you create great apps that are screen size independent.

Solve a problem

Make sure your app solves a particular problem. A mobile app is an extension of your business. It represents your business in its own organic way. It's not enough for a shoe brand to have a mobile app just to sell shoes. But if the brand's mobile app does interesting things like measuring the feet size, by analysing a photograph of the feet, in order to ensure a perfect fit, that app would come in handy, because most of us are never quite sure of our feet size.

In conclusion, for a mobile app to make business sense, it has to make sense to the customer. It has to be relevant, easy to use and should solve problems. If it does all three in an interesting and innovative way, the app is sure to become a hit.