What Makes Good Apps Different?

It’s a tough world out there for launching a technology startup. Too many startups fail, but many succeed as well. What makes top apps succeed?

Why do some apps or software just seem to get all boxes checked? When they come into our hands, they don’t satisfy us, they delight us. We call these elements “Magic Beans.”

They do not make a difference when they are in the app but if they are not, the user feels something is a miss. For e.g, Users expect apps to be responsive and fast. If the app does so, people do not explicitly appreciate the speed of the app. They would just say that the app is good but when an app is laggy or takes a few seconds to load everybody complains.

So what are those magic beans that go into the development of a top app. Read on to know more.

Faster Data Retrieval

Applications need to execute fast. Research says that for every 1 sec of extra loading time, you lose 7% of user conversion. The major issues that make your app being slower are

• Obsolete app
• Server speed low due to smaller server size or lack of optimization
• Connections not optimized
• Faulty choice of technology
• Too much data loading
• Network Lag
• Broken SDKs
• Siloed Data

Each of the above parameters needs to be optimized and solved. You need to keep your app upgraded, server optimized, use cache management, and even optimize image sizes.

Here is a link to an engineering blog from UBER outlining the Hadoop based Big-Data platforms being used to operate with humongous amounts of data with minimal latency. The case of implementation of QUIC protocol to optimize apps functioning using state of the art connectivity functions makes an interesting read.

Of course, until your application reaches millions of users, you don’t need to get overwhelmed with Uber architecture but I point them out to make a point that one needs to constantly optimize the speed of data retrieval.

Good Image Resolution

Compelling images have a unique ability to inspire and engage your audience. Using the right images is considered the most important factor in improving user experience and the correct images would convey the right brand message. Relevant images do make the content of the application engaging and exciting to use alongside establishing an emotional connection with the users. Hence, the use of correct images is important along with the quality of the image too.

Consider using focused images rather than using stock photos while maintaining the resolution and removing any distortion. While making an app, ensure that every image is up to the mark to fulfill the user experience.

Best practices of using images are

• Do not overcomplicate
• Do not make the user search for meaning
• Use appropriate sizes. Here are references for Apple and Android
• Keep text legible
• Avoid using stock images

Here are some examples of images used by major brands

Top Security

Top apps are reliable and make the user feel secure when they share their data with the system. Ensuring top-notch security to protect sensitive data is essential. Especially once your application is among the best, your app would get attention from hackers as well. The readiness for such a situation has to be done from day one.

Here are some things to take care of while building your app

• Write code with best practices
• Encrypt all data
• When using 3rd party libraries, be extra cautious
• Use authorized APIs only
• Use OAuth based authentication
• Have proper session handling
• Keep services and policies up to date
• Keep data backed up
• Use proper architecture
• Get 3rd party audit done regularly

Top applications give the end-user a sense of security while he/she decides to stay on the platform or not. Security of course also gets communicated with other magic beans such as a fast and stable application.

Apps like Amazon and Uber have clearly communicated security policies as part of their brand-building ensuring the safety of their users in all aspects of their usage. With predictability, assurance, and top-notch support, the user feels safe to use the app.

Search That Works

One of the important magic beans of any top app is search. Are users able to find what they were looking for? Did the app give them those answers when users search for them?

To create a successful mobile app search option, either by designing a search bar or tab you need to construct a conversation with the user.

You need to have a detailed focus on how the user would lead to finding his answer, making search discoverable, placing it in the right part of your app, saving search history, auto-completing the search, suggesting the products, etc.

Best practices of building search are

• Offer suggestions
• AutoComplete
• Showing Search History
• Constrain search to keep results meaningful
• Manage no result scenarios wisely like having a fallback content
• Automatic sort of results if applicable
• Show number of results in advance
• Provide suggestions

When you see the top apps around you, you would find all top apps have great search options.

The search may not be the most advanced feature during your early days. During that time just make sure that the search is able to handle boundary cases well and explicitly mention what works and what does not in the app. You can also limit the search breadth by the use of filters.

Intuitive Push Notifications

Push notifications are the updates that flash on the notification tabs of the user. Top applications do a great job with push notifications. Push notifications are used by apps to keep their users engaged and open the app every day.

Top tips for great push notifications are

• Make them personalized
• Use the person first name
• Use humor and wittiness
• Use copywriting expertise
• Elicit positive emotion or excitement
• Use the words “we” and “you”
• Make users feel insiders
• Have a call to action choice embedded like now or later

Want to know more Magic Beans that make application boom among the audience? Read our complete blog on What Makes Good Apps Different?