The introduction of smartphones in the early 21st century resulted in an exponential increase in mobile usage. The global web access on mobile devices grew so much so that it surpassed desktop internet usage for the first time in 2016. As per Statista, mobile devices (excluding tablets) account for 50.8 percent of web traffic worldwide.
Due to low financial and infrastructure restraints, mobile has become a crucial touchpoint for businesses and consumers. In most cases, mobile is the first interaction that a user has with a company and is often used to influence the user’s purchasing decision.
Many businesses have realized this need for a mobile presence and have introduced mobile-optimized pages and apps. According to a survey by Clutch.co, 42 percent of small businesses surveyed have a mobile app. It also revealed that 30 percent of the companies aim to build an app in the future to satiate the growing demand of mobile users.
The changing consumer habits have led to varying expectations from customers who now access the internet from mobile devices. Businesses need to consider users’ demands and meet their expectations, as E-consultancy states that 33 percent of companies consider their mobile customer experience as ‘poor’ compared to overall user experience.
A denigrated mobile journey can have serious consequences for businesses as users now expect their mobile experience to be as smooth and seamless as any other platform.
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Convenience, ease of use, and efficiency are the major priorities for some customers, while others prefer seamless navigation and a smooth experience like that of airG scam free apps. This article analyzes the highly-competitive app world and explores what customers expect from a mobile app. It also provides key insights so that developers may know how they can build an app that meets the customers’ needs and expectations.
Top 5 Mobile App Features Your Customers Want
1. Quick loading speed:
With the increased reliance on mobile phones, users’ patience for long loading times has worn thin. Customers expect mobile apps and websites to load almost instantly on their phone. According to a survey from Dimensional Research, over 60 percent of customers want an app to load within 4 seconds.
Apps that take longer to load will see higher abandonment or bounce rates. On the contrary, faster loading speed results in increased conversion rates, as demonstrated by the case studies of Walmart and BBC.
Many apps suffer from slow loading speed for reasons such as faulty servers, defective codes, and large image files, among others. You can resolve these issues by testing your code for bugs, avoiding disconnected servers, and compressing large image files on your mobile application.
2. Personalization:
Users’ expectation for a personalized experience is continuously on the rise. According to Retail Customer Experience, more than 63 percent of users in the U.S., U.K., and Canada expect brands to provide a personalized user experience. Furthermore, e-marketer states that 44 percent of consumers wouldn’t think twice to switch to a brand that offers a more personalized experience.
To personalize the customer experience, try to collect data about your customer’s age, location, and other similar variables. Moreover, track their preferences and analyze the actions they take in the app. Once you have enough data about the users’ demographics, behaviors, and tastes, you can recommend them personalized products and offer them individualized deals within the app.
Netflix masters the art of personalization by recommending content based on a user’s watch history. As users watch a show, the app recommends other similar titles that they may find interesting.
3. Simplicity:
When building a mobile app, many developers often get carried away and add complex features that deteriorate the user experience rather than improve it. 76 percent of customers want all brands to develop mobile apps that ensure ease of use. This makes sense because the overwhelming majority of app users are laymen who only want an app to solve their problems. They want a simple design, easy navigation, and intuitive features without any unnecessary elements that would make the app chaotic and confusing.
To simplify your app and improve customer experience, you need to develop an app with a simple UI, effortless search options, and minimum in-app permissions. You could perhaps take a page from Yelp’s success, which uses Google Maps, search filters, and a user’s current location to provide refined results with utmost simplicity.
4. Active Customer Support:
Active customer support is the holy grail of success, regardless of your business operations, product type, or app niche. According to the State of Global Customer Service Report of 2017, 54 percent of users admit that their expectations for customer service have risen compared to last year. Today, customers want mobile apps to cater to their needs and are even ready to reward them for better customer service. According to Salesforce research, 67 percent of customers are willing to pay more for an improved customer service experience.
In an era when businesses are trying to prioritize customer support, even a single experience can make or crash your business. If you want to fully excel at customer service, you should adopt a proactive customer service approach. Instead of waiting for the customers to report issues, you should test your app for potential issues and resolve them before they even know they exist.
To improve customer service, app developers need to provide prompt responses and instantly address their complaints. AI-enabled chatbots and live chat options can prove very handy for this purpose.
5. Security:
Mobile app security has failed to keep pace with the industry’s growth and the threats targeting them. By the end of the 3rd quarter of 2018, there were around 3.2 million malicious applications compromising customers’ data, as per a study published on gdatasoftware.com.
With the increasing number of security violations and data breaches, users want mobile apps to take measures that would safeguard their data, including addresses, passwords, and credit card information. Developers need to ensure that they keep up with the necessary security features and regularly update their apps to secure users’ data.
Conclusion:
Mobile app usage is on the rise, but so are customers’ expectations. Mobile app developers need to be aware of these expectations and build apps that meet the users’ needs. Follow this resource and implement the tips outlined here before you jump on the app development bandwagon.
