The average user spends around 5 hours and 24 minutes on their mobile devices and checks them out around 96 times every day.
As a result, mobile apps can bring huge business opportunities! However, although rewarding, designing mobile products is extremely challenging.
Around 49% of mobile apps are uninstalled within a single month, and around 80% of mobile users tend to avoid apps rated with four stars or less.
That's where mobile app User Experience comes in to create mobile apps that resonate with your target audience.
Let's dive deeper into the best practices of User Experience Design for mobile apps!
What is Mobile User Experience (UX) Design?
Mobile UX Design involves creating exceptional User Experiences and User Interfaces that target the needs of mobile users.
The Mobile App Design process can involve optimizing visual elements for different screen sizes, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.
According to the Interaction Design Foundation (IDF), Mobile App Designers should make informed decisions to fulfill users' expectations.
A great example of informed decisions involves the fact that accessibility can be even more important for mobile apps compared to desktop or Web Apps.
Yet, they should also consider mobile devices' specific limitations, which add one more layer of complexity.
Note that the IDF's definition includes "all hand-held" devices. As a result, Mobile App UX Design involves smartphones, tablets and wearable devices.
6 Best Practices For UX Mobile Design
First of all, stop thinking of mobile apps as reduced versions of digital products for desktop devices!
While you can offer the same features or possibilities, you should present them in a way that targets the specific constraints of mobile devices.
1. UX Consistency
Following design patterns that already work will make it much easier for real users to use your product.
For example, both Apple and Google have design guidelines, including Human Interface Guidelines and Material Design, to ensure consistency among iOS and Android devices.
Also, it's important to consider how similar apps work. App gestures, such as swiping, dragging, scrolling, or tapping, can provide additional insight into how your app should work to ensure intuitive navigation.
You can certainly add specific elements of your brand's voice to your app design. But, regarding usability, you may want to stick to familiar and user-friendly interfaces. Otherwise, you risk creating a confusing app with lower user satisfaction.
2. UX Simplicity
From a rush to the subway station to a loud club full of people, the context in which users interact with mobile apps can be hectic.
It's crucial to prioritize simplicity to deliver seamless mobile experiences, especially when considering that mobile screens are small compared to other devices.
A key element here for designers is to carefully choose the number of interactive elements included in every section of an app.
If your app requires many features, you can implement Progressive Disclosure techniques, showing only essential design elements in main sections and allowing users to access advanced features when needed.
A well-thought design decision will aim to allow only one primary action per screen, which will help you give users everything they need without overwhelming them.
3. UX Navigation
Following our last listed edge, make it easy for users to access all your app's sections, including help and support pages!
To create a decluttered User Interface for a mobile app, a great choice is to limit the number of words in labels and make them as clear as possible.
A great example of making labels clear in mobile-driven products is navigation menus, where hamburger buttons are a common way to offer access to multiple pages.
Mobile users' gestures are also important. For iOS users, swipe and back swipe are common navigation patterns.
However, for Android users, common actions include using back buttons to return to previous screens.
Mobile App Design teams should consider the widest possible array of possibilities, devices and screens to deliver outstanding User Experiences!
4. UX Accessibility
There are over 310 million smartphone users in the US and around 13% of its population has at least one type of disability.
Accessibility greatly influences UX Design, and as mentioned, it's especially important for UX Mobile Design.
Prioritizing Accessibility will help you ensure an enjoyable User Experience as they use your product.
Apart from being an ethical and legal obligation, Accessibility will help you reach a much broader range of users.
5. UX Performance
Speed is one of the most important factors in guaranteeing user engagement— and this factor is particularly important in mobile apps.
Slow loading times are one of the main reasons why users uninstall mobile apps.
Waiting too long for screens to load will lead to user frustration. Be sure to optimize loading times to provide positive User Experiences and reduce bounce rates.
6. UX Responsiveness
Given the vast number of screen sizes for mobile devices, Responsive Design is crucial to providing a seamless User Experience.
Mobile screens are very limited compared to bigger screen sizes like computers and laptops, so it's important to make every pixel count.
In addition, it's important to consider both vertical and landscape orientations and even larger screen devices, like tablets.
Prioritizing elements with a clear visual hierarchy will help you make your mobile app responsive.
Design teams must also consider other factors, such as usability, credibility and desirability, that help create user-centric designs.
By leveraging user feedback and understanding user behavior, companies can design intuitive experiences that meet or exceed user expectations.
Why is Mobile User Experience Design Important?
Easy-to-use mobile interfaces with intuitive designs promote positive experiences that have a huge impact on reviews and customer satisfaction.
For instance, product reviews for mobile apps are crucial, as users don't want to download apps with bad reputation.
That's why Mobile UX Design can largely determine a product's success and ability to achieve business goals.
Mobile UX Design can also help attract loyal customers and improve active user retention rates.
Last but not least, studies show that companies that prioritize UX Design have up to 32% higher revenue and 56% higher Return On investment (ROI).
Conclusion
UX Design is clearly important to the success of mobile apps.
Having in mind the factors that can influence the design process of mobile apps can help to avoid failure.
As a UX-driven Agency with over 14 years of experience, we know first-hand how important UX is and, most importantly, how to design successful apps.
Feel free to reach out to learn more about our unique approach to bringing even the most disruptive business ideas to life.
