5 Prominent Causes of Mobile App Failure And How To Avoid Them

It takes a matter of seconds for a person to decide whether or not they want to download a particular mobile app. However, what seems like an infinite influx of apps, compete for user attention every day. App Annie found that a smartphone user only uses an average of 9 apps per day. That is a very small number when compared to the millions of apps available on app stores today. A study by CIO also concluded that about 80% of mobile apps are abandoned after their first use. With an increase in competition, there is bound to be an increase in the rate of failure.

The good thing about failing in the mobile app development industry is that you can learn from it and take specific steps to prevent it the next time. The bad thing about it is that developing an app involves the investment of a significant amount of time, effort, and money. As a business, you simply cannot afford to fail. Here we have compiled a list of reasons mobile apps fail and ones you might want to consider before publishing an app on any platform.

1. Lack of Originality

There’s a common theme among the most successful apps of today’s day and age: they all carry a truly unique value proposition. You do not want your app to contribute to the oversaturation of similar apps on the market. If your app is unable to solve a very real-world problem, no amount of design efforts or funding is going to convince people to use it. Ask yourself, is your product original? Can you define your competitive advantage? Does your app have specific features that sets it apart from the rest? Your app should be able to solve a fundamental need or issue and also create or address something new in the process.

Creating a vision statement for your product can go a long way here. Testing your app with a prototype is also a great way to shape your development process and refine your product concept until the final version of your app is able to meet both customer expectations and business goals.

2. Poor User Experience

Most apps are deleted only minutes after an initial download due to unpleasant user experience. Features that create a slow app performance and inefficient coding contributes to these poor user experiences. Choosing the wrong platform (iOS, Android, etc.) for a particular target audience can have a significant impact in this realm.

It’s also important to balance the quantity of features your app offers. Too many features might confuse your audience while too few of them might prove inadequate for their needs. Either way, they will be compelled to opt for a different app with the appropriate and desired features.

A shaky backend support too renders apps incapable of handling traffic spikes, which negatively impacts customer loyalty and returning users. With the advent of cloud technology, it is crucial one embraces a more efficient means of storage and support.

Providing a good user experience is also about being in sync with the latest trends. You need to conform to your target audience’s preferences in using mobile apps. At the least, your app should be intuitive, mobile-friendly, appealing, and inclusive of all basic functionalities. Inconveniences like long load times and feature inaccessibility should be eliminated.

3. Avoidance of Testing

Quality Assurance (QA) is something you will want to invest in way before launching the app. It’s understandable for an app to have minor bugs during release. Since mobile apps are really complex, only 4-6% of apps are launched without any bugs. But too many of these can heavily impact user experience and might even cause the app to crash. People are unlikely to use an app again even after one crash. In fact, negative app reviews usually sprout from app crashes. App testing should be a structured and documented process that involves identifying bugs, getting user feedback, and enhancing product awareness. It takes several iterations for an app to reach the top.

4. Lack of Funding & Monetization Strategy

There is no average development cost of an app. You will need to budget according to the scope of the project. Unfortunately, a lot of the times mobile app budgets are significantly underestimated and end up requiring more time and resources than originally thought. More commonly, the majority of the money is spent only on design and development, leaving very little for testing, support, marketing, and maintenance.

On the other end, your app also needs to be able to make some money. Or else, you won’t be able to secure the necessary resources to make timely updates that users want. For a more detailed overview on choosing an appropriate monetization strategy for your app, check out our blog!

5. Ineffective Marketing & Support

The existence of an established marketing plan is pivotal to the success of an app’s launch. Prior to the launch itself, you will want to focus on making a good first impression for potential users. You should use your marketing strategy to communicate the unique value and features of your app. This will increase your download and user retention rate after launch.

A lot of apps are also abandoned due to inefficient customer support. Being unable to provide sufficient support to users is a very poor reflection of a brand and is often why a lot of apps fail.

It’s also important to remember that launching a mobile app is a cyclical process that neeeds to evolve as market demands change. You will need to constantly adapt to the emerging competition in your industry.

In the midst of this heightened competition in the Kuwait mobile application development industry, Design Master and its team of experienced app developers will endeavor to develop your mobile application with careful strategy and planning, from the very basic concept to the finished and tested product. We offer both Android and iPhone application development in Kuwait and train our developers to choose the appropriate app development approach that can achieve your desired features and user experience, while catering to your development budget and timeframe. We will mindfully build your idea into a fully functioning app by formulating and executing a step-by-step fail-proof development process. Contact us today and let us help you create a successful market-ready application.