Apps are a given for most companies now. Reaching out to your customers through their phones and putting your brand into their pockets should be high on your business priority list.

Designing an app that is useful to them can be a tricky task to take on. The app has to be effective, well designed and able to keep your customers engaged with your brand while gathering critical information for you to analyze. The best way to achieve this has to be with an easy-to-navigate front-end and a secure back-end.

The better designed the app is, and the better the user experience, the more likely your customers are going to come back for more, consistently.

We’ve compiled a list of the most successful business app features from a Toronto app development company and why you should consider them.

Tutorial

No matter how simple an app is, some users will be unable to figure out how it works. Not all users are technically literate; some may need a little help when using the app. Tech-savvy people may overlook a function until it’s pointed out to them.

Engage your audience early in the process by showing them around your app. Use an automatic tutorial telling them what each button does and the best of the functionality. Give them a chance to conduct those functions with dummy data to help it stick in their memory.

At the end of the instructions, show them how to reaccess the tutorial.

Search Options

Providing the app for your customer base is only half of the battle. They must be able to use it, and it must be effective in its function.

However simple the app is, your customers may not be as tech-savvy as your testing team. A search function will make navigating and finding what they’re looking for easier, ensuring your app keeps their attention.

Optimized UI/UX

A strong User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are crucial indicators of whether an app will succeed. 

An intuitive interface with a clear brand identity woven into it will ensure your customers associate the high quality with your company. This clear branding also makes it essential to have a high-quality user experience, therefore, high-quality coding and good security practices. 

It can also be good to leave reminders of the protection you’re giving your customers’ data in privacy policy reminders and notifications. 

A bad customer experience and interface will not bring customers back to your app and could tarnish an otherwise excellent brand reputation. 

Security By Design

Along with UX and UI, security is an absolute necessity when considering app development for your business.

Traditional app development looks at designing the app, then securing it in the aftermath. This style can cause compatibility problems, coding oversights, and a less secure app overall.

Using a Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and considering security at each stage of the process, your application can be secure and fully functional for your customers. This development method can also ensure no obsolete code is hanging around, removing unnecessary loads and improving user experience.

While considering the SDLC is crucial to secure app development, it’s also essential to consider the user-accessed data and how that is secured. If the app requires a login, Developers could consider implementing Multifactor Authentication to protect the login or even integration with a Single-Sign-On service, such as Azure or JumpCloud, to ensure the user data has additional protection.

Scalability

A word with two meanings in this context. 

Firstly, your business application needs to be able to scale to the user’s needs. The ability to deploy additional resources and increase the user load quickly and as required is critical to the app’s usability and consistency. Using clean and effective code that has been optimized to work efficiently with the operating system and an effective change control process will get you on your way to a scalable app design.

Secondly, you need an app that can scale to a device’s size and accessibility requirements. Providing your users with the flexibility to adjust the app from a small phone to a tablet or increase the text size if needed will mean they enjoy the experience a little more (and links back to an earlier point on UX).

Use the device settings to alter the experience of your application and blend it with the user-defined adjustments. The device’s default language, light/dark mode and text size are all set from here. You can include options within the app for further changes, but default device settings will not be far from users’ requirements.

Privacy

Data collection is a large part of app development. Feedback from devices, bug reports and even how the app handles data can give your developers insight into making the app experience even better.

However, collecting information on other sites visited, advertising cookies stored, and additional personal data can feel like an invasion of privacy. 

Give your customers the option to opt out of data collection. With Apple recently allowing users to request an app that doesn’t track them, it’s time to take the initiative and ask your customers within your app if they mind. Not only does it make them feel happier that it’s their choice, but it establishes trust with your brand and can lead to a better relationship with your customer base.

Feedback

Finally, with all these points, the customer experience comes down to feedback. 

Your customers are using your application more frequently than you or your developers and may encounter issues that your testers missed. This issue doesn’t need to be a problem if they have a place to provide feedback and let you fix it. 

Conversely, good feedback is also as important as bad feedback. Knowing what works can keep you on track with the needs of your user base, and, if possible, you can give them more of that.

Provide your users with a clear place to provide feedback, report bugs, and make suggestions for new features. Ensure someone is monitoring this area and that each comment is acknowledged. 

5 Fun Mobile App Ideas for Toronto
Your 5 Step Checklist for First Time Homeowners

Joel Levy