Mobile App Development Mistakes by Startups that are Fatal

The power and potential of mobile apps in terms of boosting business expansion has witnessed an unprecedented rise in mobile app development during last few years and is poised to grow at even higher rates for several upcoming years undoubtedly.

Mobile app development is the key contributor in terms of business revenue generated with the use of technology. Startups see it as awesome opportunity to develop an innovative, interactive and highly scalable mobile app to gain an edge over the competitors.

Often startups tend to make some mistakes unknowingly while turning client idea into real world mobile app. These mistakes can be deadly if not fixed before it’s too late. Let us take a dig into these mistakes one by one as well as find out the best solution for the same.

Miscalculation of Mobile App Budget

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Doing complete risk assessment of app development will avoid unwanted what-ifs that might raise the budget during final phase of development or in some cases just a couple of days before app launch.

Mostly third party integration are costly so it is better to stick with pre-existing plugins and keep your budget as per your financial feasibility. Marketing of app is another factor that cannot be underestimated during deciding the budget as it will provide a competitive edge to mobile app over other apps in same category interested in your target audience.  

Basically knowing the ins and out about the purpose of app development and expectations of your users will help you a lot to keep your budget optimised right from the initial phase.

Minimum or No Marketing

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Often one of the serious mistake that often go unnoticed is to wait for marketing phase of app until the app is completely ready to be launched. It gives them less time to promote their app and let the competitors have a advantageous edge.

It is therefore very crucial to let your audience know the usefulness of your app as soon as possible. Ideally, create social media pages, blogging,  raise engagement via email marketing, and uploading videos on youtube.

The earlier you start the more benefits you reap as it will add the element of curiosity in your target audience even before the launch of app.

Not so Delightful UI

Another major mistake that startups should avoid at all cost is just ordinary looking UI which is incapable of convincing the audience to stay long on your mobile app as well delivering a great first impression.

Another reason that contributes to development of very high end UI is countless number of great apps that have really cool UI to delight the user at the very first go.

It is therefore of utmost importance to pay serious attention towards the UI development of mobile app.

• Design process of mobile app should be done by considering the following steps
• Always make and stick to app design flowchart as it is helpful to designer in terms of streamlining the UI design process.
• Always focus on high resolution.
• Animations are good but should not hinder the load time of mobile app.
• Incorporate Gesture based interface to uplift the user experience to new level.

Not Changing/Upgrading/Rebuilding the Backend

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Mobile apps receive as much as 200%  more traffic in comparison to websites so to handle this huge amount of user and their requests it is really important for infrastructure to be completely compatible to smoothly handle the traffic load.

Due to lack of high end backend infrastructure it is often very difficult to handle this much load and it eventually affects the user experience in negative manner.

The Solution is as there are several important factors that need to be considered with full seriousness.

1. Low Latency: When the latency on the API call is far low then the required amount then user experience is not upto the mark and it eventually deteriorates.
2. Maximum Payload: To maintain highest level of user experience a good API is to be implemented that allows the client to be specific about maximum size of payload to be returned for the users.
3. API version number: Updation of server environment is a simple routine yet in some cases different mobile OS don’t update the apps in the background. It is therefore necessary to rely on API version number in parameters to ensure smooth and continuous user experience.
4. Retry: Owing to bad network connectivity most of the time, it is really important  
5. Too Many Features Usually the very first mobile app development by startups tend to have a long list of features but it is not as good as it sounds. It will most probably generate confusion among user even though if little.

Apart from that app will take more load time owing to bundle of features incorporated in it. It is therefore very necessary to focus on good user experience without adding too many features. Experts recommend to develop the maiden version of  app with primary features and extra useful features can be integrated during the next update.

This approach will also save a lot of development time , resource engagement and cost of building app which are crucial factors for any startup developing mobile app.

No Feedback from Test Users

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A startup with its first journey towards mobile app development might not always gets things always in its favour. Considering feedback from test users is a smart approach to find and counter some potential issue that might keep back your mobile app from becoming successful.

These test users represent your target audience the more functional and useful app will prove to test users the more are your chances to engage your target audience and serve their purpose.

These are the major mistakes that could possibly ruin the user experience by development of mobile app that is not up to mark when it comes to user expectations.

I hope avoiding them at all cost will help startups to develop mobile apps that will engage the users to the maximum and ensure they remain ahead of their competitors.

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