5 Common Reasons Why Mobile Apps Fail

Too many mobile applications fail and disappear. This article summarizes five major reasons for this and describes how to avoid them.

Despite the high financial and time costs of developing an app, 2 out of 3 apps in leading consumer app stores struggle to hit 1,000 downloads, and many never get any at all!

So why do so many mobile apps fail? What can you do to ensure your app succeeds?

In today’s post, we want to ensure that your app do not get buried in a sea of competition or remain invisible!

Why Do So Many Mobile Apps Fail? Top 5 Mistakes To Avoid

Poor App Idea

The foundation of any app is its concept and idea. If it is not a solid idea, nothing else will matter – the whole project will be a waste of time and money.

A poor app idea can be likened to planting a seed in a desert. You need to make sure that your app idea is unique, useful, and solves a problem for the target audience. The most important aspect of an app is its purpose or utility – if people do not find it useful or necessary, they will not download it.

If you want your app to be successful, it is good practice to validate your app idea, i.e. determine whether people need help with this particular problem and whether they are willing to pay for the solution or not. You can do this by creating surveys, conducting polls on social media, looking at how many downloads your competitors have had, or even contacting potential customers directly.

Failing To Properly Research The Target Market

An app will not exist in a vacuum. It needs to be able to cater to a specific niche or audience and would be competing in a fierce and unforgiven mobile app market space.

Therefore, mobile app creators need to research and understand their target users to design a user-friendly experience that makes them want to keep coming back for more.

Secondly, a mobile application would constantly compete with other applications in its category.

It is therefore important that your app is unique and provides something new and exciting for users. It is especially true if your app is based on an existing product or service where customers have already formed certain expectations about what they should expect from the experience.

Hence the need to research competitors to discover how they are positioning themselves in the market and what kind of features they offer so that you can stay ahead of them by offering something better than what they currently have on offer.

Finally, consider this research as intelligence gathering. It will help you determine what most important features and which ones can be left out altogether (or at least put off until later). This approach will make it easier for you to prioritize what needs to be addressed first before moving on with development work and testing processes.

Bottom line: Your goal is to learn everything you can about your target market so that when you begin developing an application for them, you can create something that meets all of their needs and wants. Anything short of this will likely fail due to users’ low adoption rates and poor reviews/ratings because it does not meet customer expectations!

Poor App Design Or Development From The Ground Up

Now unto the actual product itself:

According to Bilue, a well-built app is more than just good looks; it is also functional and intuitive for users.

A poorly designed app can make users feel frustrated or confused and turn them away from using it altogether. The most important thing is to ensure that the user experience is smooth, seamless, and easy to use so that users feel confident enough to explore more features within the app as time goes on (and hopefully become a paying customers).

Many apps fail because they are not designed or developed properly. It is not always the case, but it often is!

There are a few reasons why this happens:

The developers do not have any experience designing or developing mobile applications, which can be a problem because they simply do not know what to do and how to do it well. They may have some experience but not enough to create a successful app that people want to use every day.

The developers fail to understand how people use their phones and interact with apps. Failure to understand users’ behaviour can be detrimental because if they do not understand how people use their phones, then they will not know how to design an interface that makes sense and is easy to use for everyone, including those who are new to smartphones/tablets or individuals with one form of disability or the other.

Some app design and development considerations that can help you avoid this issue:

  • UX/UI designers are critical to your success. They should be involved from day one of development — not after you have built an initial version of your app.
  • Do not blindly follow trends or try to “reinvent” user interface elements unnecessarily. UX/UI designers know what works best for users, so listen to them!
  • Make sure your app’s design complements its purpose (e.g., a FinTech should not have an overly cartoonish design with lots of bright colours)
  • Testing with real people before launch to see how they interact with your app and make changes accordingly.
  • Follow best practices. For example, keep the design simple.
  • Post-launch maintenance, regular updates, and responding to users’ feedback should not be treated as a tagalong. Since mobile apps are digital products, it is crucial to keep them fresh and relevant by continually improving them based on user feedback.
  • Other important considerations include feature development, platform compatibility (mobile vs. web), integration with other apps and devices (such as wearables), and security concerns.

Lack Of A Strong Marketing Strategy

Apps are just like any other products; proper marketing is required to succeed. There is no point in making an app if you do not know how to get it in front of your target audience. And it does not matter whether you are an indie developer or a large company; marketing is still essential for every app that wants to succeed in this competitive world.

Marketing a mobile app includes but is not limited to Social media marketing, PR, Ad campaigns, App Store Optimization (ASO), and Word of mouth.

With proper marketing, you can build a strong customer base and increase downloads, ultimately leading to more revenue. So if you are planning on launching an app soon, make sure that you have a strong marketing strategy before you do so.

Underfunding or Under-Resourcing

A lack of resources is one of the most common reasons mobile apps fail.

Funds underpin everything – from research to app design, development costs, and even marketing budgets. If you are not investing enough into your app’s development or marketing, it is unlikely that your app will succeed.

Resources also include skills. If you do not have the right people with the right skills working on your app, it is likely that it will never be built. And even if it is built, the quality would be subpar.

One mistake people make is money pinching. In many cases, they are looking to save money on their app by hiring a cheap developer.

The problem with this approach is that you get what you pay for, and when it comes to mobile apps, you need a developer who knows what they are doing and has experience in the field. You do not want someone who will give you a half-baked app that does not do what it should or looks like garbage. You also do not want someone who will take months (or years) to build your app because they do not have enough resources to do it quickly.

The best way to avoid this problem is to plan ahead and make sure that you allocate enough funds for building an app in your budget from day one.

And if you are looking for venture capital funding, make sure that it is not just about the money but the strategy behind it. You should be able to provide a well-developed business plan and have a clear idea of what you want to do with the money.

Conclusion

As you can see, bringing an app to market is not a walk in the park. However, with some careful planning, perseverance and above all, partnership with the right app development team, you can bring a new mobile app to market and make it a success.