‘The customer is always right’ is a phrase that’s often used to instill a certain attitude towards customer demands in your employees – especially when it comes to service or retail work. However, it can also demonstrate how the market works and how you have to play to these desires and demands in a variety of different business areas.
Sometimes, of course, you might be offering your audiences something that they aren’t consciously aware they want until they’ve seen it, at which point this might become the new standard and drive demand down the line. This is especially true with digital spaces, where competitive demand is constantly driving change, meaning that you have to keep your eye on the ball.
1. Security
First things first, you can’t afford to risk poor security when it comes to your app. If your platform becomes associated with high risk in breaches of personal data, this might be a label that’s difficult to shake, no matter how many updates you roll out. It is difficult to understand how the reality of audiences using your app is going to compare with the tests that you conduct beforehand, which can naturally lead to unexpected situations. However, ensuring that security is at the top of your priority list when you’re designing your app might prevent an easily avoidable incident from occurring, and that might include implementing the latest security measures, such as cloud security systems.
2. Functionality
Functionality, in this instance, can be divided into two main meanings – first of all, does it work at all? While, again, this might be something that’s difficult to test without having the app plunged into the wild, if the first impression that your audiences make of your platform is that it doesn’t function how it’s intended, that might result in a poor score on the app store that’s hard to shake. You want your debut to be worth getting excited about, and taking every action possible to make a splash can put you in a better position for future updates. This brings you to the second form of functionality – how above and beyond you go to create an experience that’s a cut above the rest. Researching API technology blogs can give you some ideas about how you can do this and how you can use similar technologies to make an experience that is not only functional but impressive.
3. Consistent Updates
Those updates are important, however. If you outsource your development team, you might be hoping that this is something that you can cut loose as soon as the app is pushed out the door. However, audiences are going to discover issues with your app as it’s put to use, and without fixes, you could risk your audiences abandoning your business entirely. Therefore, you not only need access to a team of development professionals, but you also need a way for your users to report issues as they arise and potentially a complaints team to respond to these quickly – making it clear that these complaints aren’t falling on deaf ears. You can, of course, keep using an outsourced development team throughout this process, but if the app becomes truly integral to your services (as your website might be), then perhaps hiring in-house is worth your consideration.
4. Impressive Visuals
Not all websites reflect the age in which they were designed. If you find a website for a business that hasn’t been visually updated in many years, you might find that it stands out in contrast to its peers. This isn’t just a question of aesthetic taste; it can also have a direct impact on audience engagement. It might sound strange to refer to trust when you’re talking about using an app or a website, but an obviously artificial or outdated platform might reduce their trust in your business’ ability to create an experience that’s capable of offering them what they need. While at first, this might only extend to your app or website, it’s a doubt that could extend to your primary service as well.
5. A Reason to Download
If your audiences feel as though they can get the exact same service that your app provides without downloading it, then why should they? At times, the incentive might be as simple as convenience. Take fast food restaurants, for instance – you could just wait until you get there and order the food at the venue (something that is already made convenient through digital ordering kiosks), but if having the app allows customers to order their food in advance, they can cut down on the amount of time that they’re waiting at all. On the surface, this might sound like such a slim benefit, but given how central convenience and reducing downtime is to a lot of modern technology, it’s a move that can start to make sense.
6. Small File Size
Your business isn’t the only one trying to tempt audiences into downloading their app. With so many different services that audiences are trying to make use of, why should they have to delete platforms that they use regularly just to make room for your brand? While the answer to this question might be something that you’re trying to convey with the purpose of your brand, that won’t matter if the file size is too big to be practical. Doing what you can to bring the file size down might lead to a higher number of potential users, helping you to get your foot in the door.
7. Reasonable Load Times
This isn’t something that’s easy to control necessarily, but it can completely make or break the user experience. If your audiences download your app because they’re told that it’s the optimal way to engage with your brand, being faced with incredibly long loading screens each time they select an option will swiftly shatter that illusion. Going back to the suggestion that this might be something that fast food restaurants employ, if sitting around on the app waiting for it to load actually takes longer or starts to feel less convenient than the regular alternative, what’s the point of the app in the first place?
Understanding and integrating these key features will help you build an app that stands out, driving customer satisfaction and business success.