Everyone has a website and now the next thing is to have an app. Apps are useful for all kinds of reasons but mainly because they are much faster than mobile websites and can be designed specifically with mobile users in mind.

If you don’t already have an app, it is a good idea to give it some thought. If you are running an ecommerce business, you could see some serious returns from an app that your mobile website simply can’t deliver. Though an app is not the be all and end all of business, it is an opportunity to do something different and get on the radar of different customers too.

So how do you make a decent app?

What Does Your App Need to Do

The first question to ask is what you want your app to do. Ecommerce businesses are likely to use an app to make shopping and viewing products much easier. In this case, the app is likely to look a lot like a website design but it may have more intuitive menus or make the conversion process much easier. An app is also a good way to encourage users to shop more with your business as they will see your logo on their home screen all the time.

Other apps are more dedicated to presenting users with interesting content. For example, a hotel might create an app to give its holidaymakers ideas of what they can do and information about the local area. This app might also include a map, a few keywords or phrases and all kinds of other useful information.

Deciding what you want your app to do is important because you don’t want to try and do everything all at once. Bear in mind that users will have to open the app and the bigger it is the longer this will take. If you aren’t sure which direction to go in or you think you may have overdone it, a bit of market research could help you refine your ideas based on what users want. Ask your current client base as well as people you would like to target in the future to find out what they really need from your app.

How to Make Your App Intuitive

Intuition is a keyword for this year and every new technology, website or service must now be intuitive. People are easily frustrated when they can’t work an app or get stuck going in loops because the menu isn’t obvious so the more you can do to help them the better.

Unlike a website, you can design an app in almost any way you like to ensure that the user is always able to see what they are doing and navigate to the next section. This gives you a huge amount of freedom to set your creativity free and do something different. However, don’t go too far off the rails – people will still want to be able to liken their experience to previous experiences so that they can find their way around.

As the app developer, you may find that you think the app you have made is intuitive because you have spent a lot of time working on it. Unfortunately, you are not the best person to say that the app is intuitive and you should use an application testing service to find out whether users really can use your app.

xoxo, Karmen K

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