Overcoming the Barriers of Mobile App User Engagement

By now, you might have certainly come to know that creating a mobile app is one hell of a tough job. First, building an app takes months of hard work. Then it takes another few months to get people hooked to your app, after a download or install. It is a tough job to advertise across your app, through a right marketing strategy. However, people will use your app, only if they come to know about it. Creating awareness is important, whether you do it through promotional campaigns, or naturally by providing a memorable UI/UX.

Former strategy is something that is not in your hands. You implement your campaigns, and leave everything else to luck. However, today we will be discussing the latter strategy, something that if worked upon, delivers guaranteed results. The most important part of a mobile app UI/UX is on boarding process that makes or breaks an app. Petrified. Do not be. We will be discussing three golden rules, which will help you design a smooth on boarding screen everyone will be talking about.

1. Sign-in form hurdles to overcome

What is the first thing you see, whenever you visit an app? Of course, a create account form, or in simple words a login form. Most apps demand an account creation from users, in order to use the app. This can be frustrating for users at times, who have already created dozens of accounts, and have landed upon your app. A sign up form is a stage that appears right before the actual interaction with the app. Hence, it is very important to build trust in the minds of users, so that they feel convinced to fill up their details, in order to reach the relevant data or information.

Since users are not sure whether the app will be actually relevant to them or not even after spending valuable time in filling up their details, they tend to input wrong account information that might cause a big loss in long run for the app. Hence, do make sure to avoid the below hurdles, for users to put complete faith in your app.

a. A forced upon sign-in form

Do not ask users to sign-up with your app forcefully, by creating an account. It is wise to keep a free tour, or a social login, for freeing users with the pain of filing their details. A free trial is highly advisable, as users can get a glimpse of an app without filling details, letting them know whether the app is worth enough to create an account.

b. Credit card based sign-in form

Asking for credit-card information is the biggest mistake committed by most apps. Even before users have got comfortable with the app, if credit card information asked, it might raise trust issues, resulting in users abandoning the app. Users will fill in their payment information, only if their trust level have moved to 200% with the app. Before building customer base, it is important to build strong relationships based on faith.

c. Sign-in form popping at checkout

Login forms popping right at the checkout, is meant towards collecting customer details, for retaining them on a longer term, by sending them discounts or offers on a regular basis. However, this can have a negative impact, due to users dropping their idea of buying anything, as soon as asked to fill details.

2. Give evenly preference to retention in addition to conversion

Many sites make the same mistake of tracking their success rate based on how many new customers they have registered. However, that is not how things are measured. Many customers only buy a product once, and then never visit the app again. In other cases, a sign up does not necessarily mean that a customer would certainly buy from you. Most businesses face the common problem of high signups but low conversions in this case. Hence, it is wise to divide your focus equally towards retaining existing customer base, rather than just counting on the number of registrations or customers you have acquired. Keeping your existing customers happy surely will bring you more sales, then just new users simply signing up, without any set purpose.

3. Allow users to try before they actually buy

This is something that works most of the time. When users are allowed to try a product or a service, they know exactly whether it is worth the price or not, for using advanced features. This way you get customers, who will keep buying products or services from you for a long duration. Herein, you will get a chance to filter out one-time customers, who just want to experiment with your products or services. By offering the trial version, you also get an opportunity to build full confidence, trust, and faith in the minds of users, which will in turn help you outperform your competitors. One model is offering limited functionalities free for lifetime, and advanced features offered once users switch to paid version. Another model is, offer all the functionalities free for a limited time, and then users can continue with the same if they pay.

What have you learned?

There is just one crux lying behind all three approaches: User Satisfaction. The best way to build a strong customer base is to win user satisfaction on all fronts. Make them as much comfortable as possible with your app, so that they treat you just like their family or friends. Once they arrive in a comfortable zone with you, they will not mind buying anything from you, by providing all possible details. The first approach teaches how to design sign up forms that can lower down user burden largely. The second approach teaches you to set priorities straight between existing and new customers. The third approach allows you to win hearts of people who are completely new to your app.

Guide users with a soft end-to-end process starting with on boarding, and finishing with checkout. Since first impression is highly crucial, let your app do all the work, enabling a smooth ride for users. Make your intentions evident to them upfront and clear, so that they feel free to provide you with their extremely personal and payment details. Remember, you can only have customers, when the users pass through a series of eye-catching events.