A seamless user experience is everything, users need to have a quality process that navigates them effortlessly throughout the onboarding and checkout process in a mobile app.

This is where the usability aspect comes in! It is a big part of the user experience that allows users to enjoy a pleasant, user-friendly activity. While neglecting the navigation element can seriously endanger your mobile app’s success, and tempt users to abandon or delete the app never to be used again.

What is mobile app usability?

Many people often mistakenly talk about user experience and mobile usability under the same context. Putting it simply, app usability is the ease of access for a user to complete a specific activity in the tool.

App usability comes with a number of prerequisites in order to qualify including ease with the familiarity of UI, achieving in-app objectives, and an error-free performance.

Unsurprisingly, with ever increasing demand of a quality user experience through any digital medium, app usability plays an equally important role in defining the interaction and engagement aspect for the target audience.

It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to find an app developer for your startup, or have an existing app requiring some bug fixes, mobile app usability issues need some serious addressing if your brand is to retain your customer base and lure new prospects as well.

As for this article, we’re discussing the best practices you could use to counter major usability issues.

#1. Platform usability

The sight of not having a mobile app compatible with a particular smartphone is a big turn off for any user. Both iOS and Android have their own UI requirements, programming minutiae, and other specs, and you can’t simply duplicate an app and expect it to run on other platform, and vice versa.

For instance, iOS doesn’t include the “back” button navigation like Android.

Hence, creating an app to work as a native Android experience is necessary to allow the users to interact in an intuitive manner. In doing so, you need to flex your budget to make an app that is compatible across all major smartphone devices and platforms.

#2. Instant value delivery

Given the consistently declining attention span of users on mobile devices, it is important to engage them early on during the onboarding process if you’re to retain existing users and attract new ones.

The entire point is to convince them to return regularly, otherwise, risk losing them forever. Remember, app stores are populated with millions of apps competing to capture your target audience, and you need to be really great at delivering value early on to acquire an early advantage.

A great onboarding experience will not only lower the bounce rates, but will also improve other key metrics like user retention and eventual lead generation and conversions.

#3. Easy navigation

Easily, poor navigation is one of the major complaints that businesses, especially ecommerce stores, hear from users regarding their mobile tools. As an online store contains numerous product categories and items that take some time for users to browse through and find their desired product, a seamless navigation is a must.

Therefore, it is up to the developer to create as easy navigation as possible in order to minimize the user’s navigation journey steps.

When a user first visits your app or website, they need to know what steps to take to accomplish their goal, let it be adding a product to a cart, checking out after making a purchase, comparing different brands side by side, or simply inquiring an item.

In other words, the navigation aspect should come with as little obstacles as possible. Often, apps with great ideas and unique features struggle with the activity of making all the features work in tandem. Hence, every feature should work to guide the user without them getting lost to some other page.

Speaking of usability, your products, add-ons, upsell bundles, and other offers should be quite easy to find.

#4. Clear, concise content

Creating simple and concise, yet powerful content for your website or mobile application goes without saying.

Moreover, the content should be relevant for the user to complete his/her goal, mainly applicable in the buying process. The purpose is display a transparent information that helps them make a convincingly informed decision, while withholding some information will not only result in a lower conversion rate, but also make them question your brand’s credibility.

More importantly, your content should cater the mobile platform, and not those salesy, lengthy liners we have the margin to add in a website. Stuffing too much information will clutter your app pages, apparently, resulting in a poor user experience you’ll regret later.

As it is often said, “the less, the better”, the same concept applies for in-app content as well. Your content should be clear and concise, deliver the complete message, and easily fit on any mobile screen without disturbing the user experience.

#5. Least number of steps

It could be said as a continuity of our 3^rdpointer, but needs a separate explanation of its own. The less steps and pages, buttons, and fields for data input, the happier the user will be.

Every time a user checks in your app for a particular action, see if the activity could be simplified any further for a quick, convenient experience. Take each action a user will go through as an added hindrance.

For instance, users could save their invoice preferences and shipping details automatically in their orders—they don’t need to check every field all over again the next time they visit your app to make a purchase.

Furthermore, also add the edit option at the checkout stage to assist them in quickly changing their billing and related information without having to navigate to the payments page.

Author Bio. :- Sami is a Digital Marketing Strategist at CMOLDS, a mobile app design agency in US. Having worked on multiple online brands throughout his career with an expertise in content marketing, email marketing, lead generation, and conversion rate optimization.