3… 2… 1… Launch. You worked on your app for a long time and it is finally released in the App Store. Millions of users, fame, interviews with prominent bloggers, lots of money, lunch with Jony Ive – all dreams will come true in a moment.
You are waiting a day, two, three, week, month but none of this happened? Your app gets weak reviews, monetization methods is not working as predicted. A failure. Lots of developers, designers and startup founder know this feeling. Why this happened? What is wrong with my app? How other apps become so popular? What is the secret behind their success? This is a first article of the successful-apps.com blog that will help you to find the answers this questions.
What is your definition of success?
Everyone who is interested in creating application has to define success. Many people may have different answers. The shortest official definition of success is „The accomplishment of an aim or purpose”. So If you would like to succeed with your product you have to set your goal.
You can define success of a solution by:
- Income generated by your product
- Number of app downloads
- Knowledge you get while creating a product
- Experience you get by developing a solution
- Fame and buzz on the product you’ve made
When you will define your goal, that means that your are ready to go forward.
The secret ingredient of every successful app
Every popular product is loved by their users. Why this apps arouse such positive emotions? Their secret is in their’s great User Experience. You can use all the most effective marketing techniques to promote you product. You may include all possibly needed features in the app and use the most modern technology. However, if your product is poorly designed- it will fail. Remember, good UX is never done by accident, it is designed in a long but interesting process. To succeed with your solution you should know how to create it.
What is user experience design?
Well to be honest, there is no simple definition. I would like you to think of UX design as of iterative process of solving problems for human needs. It requires ability to look at the solution from three perspectives: technology, business and of course user. Don Norman and Jacob Nielsen defines it this way: „User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.”
UX Design is often confused with UI (or visual) Design. That is a common mistake. UX is not how product looks like, it is how it works, how it communicates with users. It is how it feels. Great User Interface is just one element to be designed to build positive UX. Other key elements to implement correctly are Content Strategy (Copywriting), Information Architecture, Usability Engineering, Interaction Design and Prototype Engineering. UX covers all aspects of your product that influences and interacts with user. It is said that one picture is worth thousand words. Image below perfectly illustrates most of User Experience Design elements.
Note – this blog will not focus on UX Design theory. There are hundreds of blogs & articles that cover this topic. Here you will find posts with practical tips, how-tis and use cases that may improve your solution.
So, here is the answer for the question from the article’s title. Nowadays key to success is to deliver great User Experience. If you would like to know to make this happen, I will be glad to tell you about this a bit more. I hope you enjoy this blog and we will together work to design your great app.
What’s next?
Continue to read this blog. 🙂 But before next articles will be published you may want to improve skills needed to succeed with your product on your own. You may find this books useful to begin:
3 essential positions:
