App development is a fluctuating business- it isn’t all plain sailing, not even for experienced developers. Having the experience to back you up can make challenges less daunting and relatively easier to overcome, but it nowhere prevents you completely.
So what challenges do developers face?
Performance
The performance of the app is critical because if it isn’t up to par then it’s going to turn users away rather quickly.
Techbeacon wrote that 80% of app users will only attempt to use a problematic app 3 times before leaving and 36% said that an app with performance issues made them have a lower opinion of the company.
Imagine this scenario: You are in a fairly rural place and any mode of public transportation whether it be bus or train doesn’t come through until it hits the hour and you missed the last one by 5 mins.
You wait around and start to get anxious because you are due home for dinner with Auntie by half past so you pull out your phone and try to use a handy app to get a cab, sounds like a good idea right? I would agree so too but it’s taken 5 mins for the app to even load and when you get to the final payment screen the app freezes, closes and you have to start all over again.
So you try again and nope, the same thing happens so now you start to panic, has it taken your money multiple times? Will you be charged a third time if you try again? What if multiple cabs show up? And to top it all off the app has now completely stopped loading.
Angry and frustrated you realise you will have to call Auntie and explain why you will be late but your phone is only on 1% now and you can’t understand why as you had plenty of power before, well it’s because the handy cab app is also battery heavy and drains the power.
This was an app made by an app development company in London; and being from London myself, it was rather upsetting.
You would uninstall this app, wouldn’t you?
This is why it is important for developers to get the performance on point because no company wants to lose their users to performance issues and developers don’t want to gain themselves a reputation for creating mediocre apps.
The performance will be one of the biggest turn-offs for customers if it’s slow, laggy and generally buggy- the user base will start to dwindle until eventually there is none.
Getting The App Noticed
Getting an app noticed can be one of the single most important things as there are lots of competing apps.
“if you can think of it then it probably already exists.”
There are many factors to be taken into consideration and a lot of them can be done severely wrong and some development companies don’t even take them aboard, to begin with.
So you must be wondering, what are the factors?
- Target Audience
If you create an app aimed at teenagers but market it to older people then that isn’t going to work is it? You need to keep in mind who your target audience is and keep it that way.
A 40-year old male isn’t going to want to see the latest Justin Bieber news and a 14-year-old female isn’t going to want to see bodybuilding techniques so having your target audience in mind is key.
- What Are The Goals?
Is the goal of your app to get from point A to point B quickly? Or to show people the latest beauty trends?
You need to follow this and find a way to outshine the rest of the market as a standard app with a few images won’t cut it.
- Marketing
Is there genuinely a market for your app? If the answer is yes then great! If no, then it will be harder to breakthrough, than if there were a market or it could just fail altogether.
Believe it or not, there is a market for everything! As an example, there is even a market for sending animal poop to your enemies.
- Functionality
Does the app function well? If not then take a rethink and redesign because mentioned in the first part less than good functionality will drive users way.
- Does It Stand Out?
1. What are you offering that hasn’t been done before?2. Why is your app different?3. Does it have useable features?4. Does it look good?5. Is it understandable?
If you can answer yes to these then you shouldn’t have too many problems with getting the app noticed. Of Course, it will still take work and marketing but if you can build up a fanbase and get people talking then everything will fall into place.
I’m not saying at this point you can stop working and just let the app do the talking you will still have to work because app development is an ongoing process, not just a few clicks and then done.
Ad Blockers
Everyone who owns a computer or a phone knows what ad blockers are, they are actually very common to have now and some phones even come with them already installed.
Ads are simply annoying and can turn customers away, I myself find them downright infuriating when I’m in the heat of the battle on Critical-Ops and an ad pops up and ruins my flow!
Incorporating ads into apps especially if that's how you earn your revenue is going to be a bit of a hassle due to these ad blockers. Free apps are the ones that usually use ads and sometimes they do appear in paid apps but very rarely. So the challenge here is to decide whether to make a free app with ads or create an ad-free paid app and convince the users to download.
Conclusion
From the performance to ad blockers these challenges always arise but for the love of their job and to see their clients happy all developers power through and get the job done!
