The app development sector is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Figures state that an average of over 6100 mobile apps are released through the Google Play Store every day. This means that competition for users’ attention is very high and anyone developing an app must ensure that it is engaging, easy to use, solves a pain point and importantly works really well.
Nearly 35 per cent of mobile app engagements last less than 60 seconds. In fact, according to Quettra, 77 per cent of daily mobile users stop using an app after just three days. While building an app is one thing, ensuring that it achieves high take up and retention of use is another.
There are four key reasons why apps fail:
- Poor market need – the app doesn’t really solve a burning problem, there are not enough potential users, or there are already plenty of offerings in the market to solve the issue and it does not offer anything new or original in the market.
- Poor functionality – the app doesn’t deliver a good user experience; the features are too basic, the functionality is clunky or it only solves part of a problem.
- Poor performance – the app doesn’t perform well. It is slow, constantly hangs, crashes or contains bugs and glitches.
- Lack of monetisation – the app fails to generate income.
Apart from the fact that many people experience problems trying to find a good app developer, the costs of app development can be prohibitive as well.
Finding a developer that you can afford is important, but a good app developer will always help you to overcome the most common problems associated with app failure.
Good developers will help you to ensure your app includes functionality which is easy to use, engaging and importantly performs well. This is part of the testing process. Apps need to be well tested before they are fully launched. This ensures problems and bugs are ironed out before it hits the full market.
Anushka Bandara, Founder, Elegant Media
