How to create an awesome Mobile Application

Mobile app installs by users worldwide is growing 5% YoY. Users download 8.8 apps on average per month. This shows the immense reach and penetration of mobile apps in our lives. However it is equally true that app uninstalls are also high. An average Android app loses 77% of its daily active users (DAUs) within the first three days of app download, and a staggering 90% within the first 30 days.

So, while app developers do see a lucrative landscape, they have to be careful to deliver a fuller experience so that they can bring down app abandonment and provide much better value to the users. Let’s see how this can be achieved with these 10 tips.

1.     Complete testing

Testing the application in every juncture will help you find the defects in your code and also provide a platform for you to develop a better mobile application based on the business needs and OS acceptance guidelines.

2.     Including offline features

Users are now trying to switch over to applications that provide them with some required features that can be accessed offline. It is required to add such offline features to the mobile application, as there is no guarantee that you would get a constant internet connection while on the go.

3.     Connecting with users

Get down and know what motivates the users to use a particular mobile application. Try to set up certain triggers in your mobile application that encourages the users to use the developed application on their device.

4.     Simple design

Test the application you have developed by allowing your friends or family members to use the same. Check if they are able to understand the tech additions in the applications and if they have some difficulty, try removing them from the design to keep things simple.

5.     Develop based on use

Usage of the Android and iOS users might vary, so try to develop the applications that suit the usage pattern of the users. Keep in mind to develop an application that best matches the OS.

6.     Ease of use of app

The application that you have developed must have the easy use and must not make things complicated for the users. People might have got the hang of using the mobile devices, but they might require help if things are going to turn technical and complex.

7.     Ease the user’s needs

The application that you have developed must be in a position to ease the user’s life. Make the design human-centered, as people use these applications to make things in life easy.

8.     Cover platforms

Try developing an application that works on a cross-platform basis. This way you will be able to cover a wide ground rather than sticking to a single platform with limited set of options.

9.     Choose a theme

Develop your application based on a theme rather than trying to add every feature of every other application. Stick to a single purpose and you will be able to have an easy time in developing the applications.

10.  Feature the real world

For a better user experience, applications that make use of features from the real life and certain aspects of the same will work wonders. This helps you to connect better with the users.

A good mobile app not only ranks high on functionality, but also in terms of user interface and its aesthetic appeal. So create the apps accordingly and get going!

Mobile commerce is growing by leaps and bounds. According to a report published by the leading newspaper Economic Times, 41% of India e-commerce sales are from mobile; this gives a true picture why Google is heading towards mobile responsive website. With improved ranking signals for mobile responsive website, we can say that such sites will help business grow and make search engine visibility soar.

Here are some reasons that why a mobile responsive website makes for a smart business move:-

• It enhances the user experience

we all understand the meaning of simple and friendly navigation, but Amazon.com has translated it within its website to make shopping a pleasant experience. Starting from compact header to larger search bar to addition of Fire and Kindle in drop down, the company has rolled out amazing features for people who are searching products through the mobile phone or tablet. As compared to previous design, now the products are listed in horizontal rows, so that the mobile users can swipe to left to right or right to left, which is one of the common forms of navigation for mobile phones and tablets. Definitely, a mobile responsive website is intuitive, appealing and easy to navigate.

• It increases your brand presence on social networking site

On September 2, 2016 Facebook made an announcement that if your website is not mobile friendly and yet you run advertising campaigns on Facebook..it is better to make your site mobile friendly soon! Unlike its contemporary Google, Facebook won’t penalize the users if they don’t make a mobile friendly website, but the ads will suffer. How? Well, today more and more people are browsing the internet through the mobile. However, since it’s a new channel many businesses are unaware about the benefits that it offers and still suffer from slow load time. This can lead to negative consumer experience, and problems for businessman like site abandonment, loss of turnover, missed business objective and inaccurate measurement of business goal. Can a business afford it?

• To rank your website high on search engine

Creating a website doesn’t guarantee results, it needs to be nurtured and watered constantly. The best way to improve the ranking of the website is to follow Google algorithm rules.  According to the recent update, Google has hammered down the sites that don’t have a mobile friendly design. The reasons cited are

–        74% of the consumers wait 5 seconds for web page load and after that they abandon the site

–        71% of the consumers expect web pages to load as fast as on their desktop computers

–        More than 25% of views on You Tube are from mobile devices

Hence, it becomes crucial to build a website that scores high in terms of responsiveness.

• To offer consistency

We are a slave of our habits and we always want consistency. Twitter is one among us. In September 2015, the company created a unified code for iPhone and iPad devices to remove any hiccups that the consumer face while operating both the devices. This seamless experience yielded consistency that the users demanded. Also, the mobile-friendly update did create the furore in the social networking industry.

Traditional work cultures have undergone massive transformation in recent years. The 9-to-5 work vertical no longer exists in the corporate landscape, and remote operations have taken the lead. No matter where you are, you can still stay connected to your workplace, employees, and processes. All you need to do is get a Smartphone, or a smart watch or tablets to embrace mobility.

Well, here’s the term we have been waiting for! The emergence of enterprise mobility is a remarkable incident in the business landscape, which has the power to revolutionize operations. The trivial fact is that most of the people consider mobile technologies and mobility to be similar concepts. However, the reality is different, and that’s what we aim to find out.

Working on the differences

A majority of enterprises today strive hard to develop a dynamic and robust mobile strategy. They are making dedicate efforts towards strengthening their IT departments and devising effective mobile approaches.

Maybe that’s not enough to thrive and flourish in this age of cut-throat competitions. What you need is a dynamic mobility solution that helps you perform seamless operations across devices.

With that introduction, we can develop a basic idea of what differentiates ‘mobile’ and ‘mobility.’ Have a look!

• Mobile: It is a technology that connects devices. Quite a few business organizations and enterprises use connected devices, and mobile technologies play a pivotal role in this context.
• Mobility: Quite unlike mobile technologies, mobility is a trend that has the power to transform work cultures. Mobility can change according to contextual differences, and that’s where mobile technologies also transform to suit those contextual scenarios.

What is what: Identifying mobility trends and mobile technologies

Mobility brings connectivity, which is undoubtedly the key to improving processes and functions across industrial sectors. If market reports are anything to go by, 45% of employees in the United States work in traditional settings. Now, that means the majority likes to embrace mobility trends and work in mobile environments.

As an entrepreneur, you will surely want to optimize production. Giving your employees the liberty to work according to their convenience will be the first step towards achieving that.

The need for a dynamic mobile strategy

From colossal enterprises to small-scale ventures, every business organization is embracing mobility like never before. We are living in a dynamic world, where static approaches won’t help you survive the competition. A robust mobility strategy is the need of the hour and here’s how you should plan it.

1.     Fitting your work culture

If you want to ride the change, you will have to prepare your workplace first. Make sure your office is ready to accept the changing environment and employees are willing to work remotely.

2.     It’s more than relocation

Embracing mobility doesn’t mean you are just shifting your workplace. It’s more than relocating your office from one location to another. Mobility is connected to employee retention, metrics, ROIs, and cost savings. While making your business future-ready, you should keep these aspects in mind.

Welcome the future

Although there’s a difference between mobile technologies and enterprise mobility, there’s no denying the interconnection between them. There’s a common point of similarity amidst all these differences, and that’s their contribution to scale up your enterprise!

The popularity of enterprise mobility can be easily recognized from the fact that about 71% of the organizations consider mobility as their number one priority. According to an estimate by Nasscom, the global market for enterprise mobility is approximately valued at $140 billion annually by the year 2020. It is not a surprise at all to see this encouraging adoption of enterprise mobility services by companies irrespective of scale or size, considering that it can save almost 240 hours per employee.

But, it is also important to note that this is an emerging technology with the space being extremely fluid. Every other day, new paradigm seems to be emerging. Check out these top five trends in enterprise mobility for 2017 to ensure that you are on the right track with your mobility integration programme.

1.     Artificial Intelligence features likely to go mainstream

You must be aware that AI or Artificial Intelligence technology is being widely used in the field of computing. This has led to a growing number of enterprise apps becoming “smart” now. Some of the examples are Cortana, Google Now and Siri. The launch of many smart apps like these enables the users to regulate the security, heating and lighting systems.

An increasing number of enterprises have started relying more on technology due to the fast adoption of Artificial Intelligence. At the same time, security concerns have risen as compared to earlier times. In case, there is a security failure, it can be a threat to the whole enterprise. So, it is the responsibility of an enterprise to assure complete security.

2.     Rapid application of cloud technology

Cloud services now have become extremely mature. These services are easily available and are both reliable and can be procured at affordable prices. The high probability of the big data has further increased the migration of these enterprise services to cloud,

Though the popularity of the cloud computing is beyond doubt, there is a big challenge in the form of security. Many enterprises are trying to control this concern by opting for on-premise mission critical applications or apps and hybrid solutions on the cloud.

3.     Bring-Your-Own-Devices has gone being more than just a trend

BYOD or Bring-Your-Own-Devices culture is very common these days in the corporate world. It offers benefits like high efficiency and tremendous productivity along with increased use of mobility. All these have made BYOD not just a trend but much more. It is graduating into becoming a usual norm in several enterprises. However, there are some challenges too. The devices brought by the executives are hardly equipped with the security features that are mandatory for being used inside the premises of an enterprise.

So, the IT team of an enterprise is under a lot of pressure to ensure the security of all those BYOD devices, which are being used inside the corporate network. MDM or mobile device management solutions are deployed to minimize the possible pain points, which can come in the way of productivity, as well as the work fluidity that gets executed on those devices.

4.     Increase of companion apps

Many organizations are literally struggling to develop certain enterprise apps that will be beneficial for their customers as well as for internal functions. Instead of generic apps that were a trend earlier, the focus now is more on companion apps. These are apps that intend to make a certain function or task easy instead of cloning all the features of a particular desktop app.

5.     Increase of Citizen Developers

Since the enterprise apps are highly in demand, they have led to the popularity and the rise of no-code, low-code and cross-platform development environments that provide user-friendly options like drag and drop and speed up the timeline of the app development to a great extent.

GoodWorkLabs is now a Google Certified Agency

GoodWorkLabs is very proud to announce that Google has certified us as an expert agency that understands and excels at building Android applications. We are one of the first few companies in 2017 to make it to Google’s Android Certified Agencies list across India, UK, Russia, Indonesia, USA and Canada.

As a leading Outsourced Product Development Company and UX design studio, we know what it takes to build a mobile application that can spur millions of downloads from the Play store. Attention to detail, User Interactions, Design and Graphics, we ensure we build the best technology for our clients that will scale up their business.

GoodWorkLabs is one of the top 25 Google Certified Agencies: 

As part of this Developer Certification program, Google recognizes only a hand-full of organizations that have undergone the required training and have demonstrated expertise in building exceptional Android applications. By bagging this prestigious title, GoodWorkLabs has proven its excellence in terms of Android technology, design and mobile apps as a whole.

Here is the list of top Google certified agencies:

“This is by far the biggest recognition in the global industry that GoodWorkLabs is the leading company when it comes to building Android applications and related technologies. Google Certification has put us on the map of the best of the best agencies in the world,” said Vishwas Mudagal, CEO and Co-Founder at GoodWorkLabs. “Having bagged this certification, our credibility has gone up many notches higher, which in turn has resulted in increased confidence in our capabilities by our growing customer base across geographies.”

This certification will also help clients make a more informed decision while looking for an agency to build Android apps. In the past, we have worked with some of the top clientele which include both funded Startups and Fortune 500 companies.

Sonia Sharma, Founder and MD at GoodWorkLabs, said, “There is no bigger certification authority than Google for an agency. Years of effort in perfecting UX, design and technology, and a vision to build apps that touch the lives of millions of users have brought us here today.”

The benefits of becoming a certified Google developer agency are plenty, some of which include personalized training, priority support, dedicated content, and access to Google’s developer relations teams. Certified Agencies will also get early access to upcoming developer products and will get help with UX reviews.

GoodWorkLabs is delighted to be part of an ecosystem that understands and excels at building Android technologies.