Mobile apps quickly went from being a fairly new trend to becoming one of the most important sales and promotional channels. Businesses from all niches use them to maintain a strong relationship with their audience and to simplify their ordering process.
We have already wrote about the benefits mobile apps bring to businesses. The most optimal way to equip your company with a custom mobile app is to hire a professional developer. Virtual Spirit has a rich mobile app development portfolio and you only need to contact us and tell us your basic idea, and we will equip your company with the custom app that will serve as the perfect audience engagement tool.
If you want to save money, you can also build a mobile app yourself. We explained the whole process of mobile app development in our Build Your Own Mobile App From Scratch guide and the Basic Mobile App Design guide can also be very helpful.
In this article we will continue to explain the benefits this concept brings, by checking out the popular apps from various industries and determining the features that every successful app must have.
Basic characteristics of successful mobile app development
Before we jump to individual features, we will try to determine the basic characteristics that define all modern mobile apps. These include:
- Purpose– The good app design is essential for the app‘s success, but it can‘t be its only characteristic. Apps are created to solve users‘ problems, which means they need to have a strong purpose.
- Targeting – Every app needs to cover only one market segment. Apps are usually made for the targeted audience and both their design and functions need to be customized for the users‘ needs and preferences.
- User friendly – Good apps are easy to use. You can make them user-friendly this by paying close attention to the app‘s navigation and user interface.
- Adaptive – Mobile apps change at a very fast pace. Sometimes you will need to change your apps‘ interface, adapt it to the latest design trends, or introduce a completely new feature. Adaptive apps can be easily updated and equipped with new and trendy features.
- User centered – Apps need to revolve around users‘ needs and preferences. Their interface needs to allow easy interaction and should be oriented towards solving the problems of the targeted audience, and not for showing off company’s work.
Features of highly successful mobile apps
Mobile apps can have dozens of different features. From buttons, menus and other forms of basic interactions, to location targeting and bar and QR code scanning. They often come with other complex features that engage different pieces of the smartphone hardware. In this article we will stick to the basics.
We have already mentioned that simplicity is one of the most important characteristics of mobile apps, so we will only list the easiest and the most user-friendly features that are shared across hundreds of different apps you can find on iTunes and Google Play Store.
Simple UX
Simplicity for the end user is the most basic characteristic of every successful mobile app. In most apps this includes easy navigation and a highly convenient user interface. People use their smartphones a daily basis, and many users‘ will uninstall the app, just because it is too complicated. On the other hand, if your app has a simple UI, you won‘t have problem with popularizing it one the most famous app stores.
Mobile app development that covers both Android and iOS
There are two major app stores that promote and sell apps for two different operating systems. Android and iOS are not the only operating systems, but they are definitely the most popular ones. All successful apps cover both systems. Their developers use cross-platform frameworks, like PhoneGap or ReactNative. This type of mobile app development ensures booth high performance and cost-effectiveness. In addition to these two operating systems, you might also cover Windows, which is the third most popular app store on the web.
High-performance mobile apps
Performance is one of the most important characteristics of every mobile app. Mobile users are much more impatient than the people who browse the internet on desktop computers. They don‘t like those apps that are bugging and keep them waiting. If you choose to hire Virtual Spirit for mobile app development, you will always get quality assurance for the app‘s performance.
Mobile app security
Security is an incredibly important feature for every mobile app, especially those made for banking, healthcare or communication niches. E-commerce apps are also common victims of cyber-attacks, as well as any other apps that require users to leave their credit card data. That is why e-commerce entrepreneurs and all other business owners who store customers data and use it for marketing and UX purposes need to hire trustful developers, who will make sure that the app will be equipped with adequate security that will stop data breaches from happening.
Offline work
Mobile internet plans are much more expensive, which means that mobile users‘ often need to use some of the app features when being offline. That is why the apps‘ offline work is very important. Apps‘ ability to synchronize the online and offline changes adds up to its popularity among the targeted audience. For example,n a Gmail app doesn’t load your whole email inbox, whenever you go online or click on the refresh button. It copies the emails from the old file and imports only the latest changes.
Mobile apps are currently the most effective marketing and sales channels. The intuitive mobile app development ensures that you will have a fully custom, a scalable app that will answer all of your company’s marketing and sales needs. That is why by hiring Virtual Spirit, you are lowering your business risks, and ensuring that your digital marketing strategy will answer your audience’s needs.
