Application design also called User interface (UI) has the power to craft an amazing & friendly customer experience or one that is full of confusion and obstacles.

The objective of every business is to create a product that gives value to its customers, increases conversions and profits. Once the core objective behind an app is defined, the next integral step is to decide how the customers can make the best use of it.

A smooth and assistive design carries the user to their end objective and helps them navigate easily throughout the app.

Top 5 reasons why app design is critical for business success

The following reasons highlight the importance of investing time & resources in an efficient app interface for richer user experience.

#1 Acquiring new customers

A seamless high performing user interface directly relates to a positive experience which is a very big competitive edge.

Happy customers give happy reviews and good reviews translate to more users. When people talk about their experience with an application on play store or other external review sites like Yelp, Foursquare, trip advisor, etc, it clubs together to increase brand reach and grants legitimacy to the brand.

Benefits of positive customer feedback:

a) More visibility ~ Customer reviews on different platforms expand the horizon for brand visibility and even help in SEO.

People talking about a brand on Yelp, Quora or any other external site significantly increases the chances of people getting familiarized with the brand.

b) Grants credibility ~ Brands with no reviews seem like a brand no one uses. Consider online reviews & feedback as a digital “word of mouth”. If there are no reviews, it seems untested and customers might not want to take a risk with it.

Having a few personalized reviews grants credibility to the brand and helps in building trust.

c) Essential in decision making ~ 82% of customers read online reviews before purchase, according to a bright local survey.

d) Sales impact ~ More reviews there are, more the chance of a sale. Consumers first want to know whether the product is popular. Do people even use it? Then they look for people’s views on the product and then they make a purchase.

A prominent study indicated that even 1 product review can increase sales by 10%. Products with more than 200 reviews see a 44% hike in sales.

#2 More revenue

Apart from the user review and feedback effect. There are other direct ways a good design interface leads to more revenue.

Easy use makes easy purchases ~ A user-friendly interface with clear meaning and intent increases sales. Here user friendly means simple icons & design patterns, smooth navigation & fast onboarding.

Reduced steps to product purchases ~ More steps to the end objective means more options for a user to abort and skip to something else.

Decreasing the number of steps to purchase has a very big impact on conversions. With an efficient design, a user interface can be built to guide customers to their end goals.

Effective Call to action (CTA’s) ~ Effective design with more visible colors and an inviting tag line can push the user from a “maybe” to a “Yes”.

According to CTA statistics, adding CTA’s to a Facebook page increases the CTR (Click-through rate) by 285%, and adding a CTA to a video increases clicks by a whopping 380%.

#3 Increased customer retention

An effective UX design is the single most important reason for increased customer retention and customer loyalty.

When the application design is in sync with the CJM or customer journey map then all things fall into place.

Good UX designers understand the need for creating a design that complements the customer’s journey throughout the app & guides them to all features & purchase.

Approaching application design from a customer journey’s perspective makes the app more customer-centric and hence more relevant. How to make the most of it?

Understand customer’s expectations from the brand ~ It is essential to know what the customer needs, what their emotional state is at different steps of the journey.

Identify Pain points ~ Find the main obstacles for the user on the application and how it can be improved upon to give the customer what they need.

Increasing retention rate ~ Reading into app analytics can give an idea about successful and unsuccessful features of the app interface.

Making changes in the app design to solve the bottlenecks will improve user experience and retention rate.

#4 Design systems make the brand’s image

A tailor-made, user-friendly UI becomes a defining brand differentiator. Customers consciously or subconsciously favor applications with interactive and unique designs.

What is a design system? A design system is a unique brand-specific classification of components and interactive design that is consistent, predictable, and inferential.

Benefits of creating a new design system for an app-

• Easier functional understanding
• Saves Time
• Unique & Refreshing UX
• More brand recall

#5 Saves effort and cost on app updates

A beautiful and interactive application design that is well received by customers doesn’t need to be updated that often.

This minimizes application updates and design modifications, saving substantial cost and effort for the company.

Businesses Can Benefit From Apps because mobile applications give more control over user experience, gives insightful user data, and has a big impact on conversions.

Mobile application design trends in 2020

Mobile Design trends keep changing based on new innovations and data collected from successful and unsuccessful application interfaces. Some examples of modern mobile application design trends-

Simple & minimalist design

A very popular and go-to design trend of having simple icons, uncomplicated animations, and minimalistic elements. Simple use of fonts with common colors and “to the point” text constitutes a minimalist design.

Content + design

Similar to banner design, application design is also focused on attracting the user’s attention and making an impression. Combining content with design equals to clear understanding that is impossible to miss.

Creating content & design simultaneously makes the whole user interface a lot more engaging and interactive.

Gesture animation

Most gadgets come with various motion sensing and gesture recognition sensors that are improving each year.

They are an integral part of improving user experience and should be executed carefully. It is essential to maintain design and interface consistency with gesture animation.

More importantly, it should be easy to grasp and operate.

Material design

Google created a design system of its own – “Material Design”.It is a complex design concept based on the actual behavior of paper and ink.

It carries a very big scope of innovation & is a multi-layered interactive design system that conveys intent & meaning with simple visuals.

Personalized design

Personalized design is data-oriented and makes the application experience more intimate for the user.

As per the personalized design- a single dashboard on the home screen showing the user’s purchases, notifications, wish list, saved items etc. This is a very effective way of increasing app usage, customer loyalty and forming a connection with the user.

Conclusion

Application design defines user experience that in turn decides the app success. There is a direct relation between a seamless app design interface and an increase in the acquisition, revenue, and retention, key factors for a lucrative business.
Implementing the latest design trends helps in creating a new and refreshing experience for customers. Observing user behavior on the app & giving heed to customer feedback is a great way of identifying the success & failure of UI. Making relevant changes based on this feedback can constantly improve the application & revenue.