For several months you have been working on the app. Now it's time to release it. But before you do, make sure that you haven't missed any of the seven points below. This will help you minimize errors and problems in the first phase, as well as communicate more effectively with your users and get feedback.
1. Hard/soft update
There are two modes of updating the mobile app:
- hard-update, in which a single "Update" button appears on the display. In this mode, you can neither close the window, nor use the application.
- soft (soft-update), when two buttons appear on the screen: "Update" and "Skip". In this case, we notify the user that a new version has been published. In this case, you can use the application without any restrictions.
Informing users about new versions of a product is just as important as maintaining earlier versions. Users of older smartphones will not be able to update the app, so hard-update is always a last resort. This may be necessary when, for example, a serious security or functionality problem is discovered after the app has been published.
There is another approach, FeatureToggle. This is where you cover all the features of the app with conditional toggles (on/off) and can add a minimal version for any of the features. This approach makes hard-update less likely. It allows you to disable only the feature that had problems, and only for certain versions.
2. Push notifications
Push-notifications are suitable for motivating both regular and inactive app users. According to statistics, notifications increase the likelihood of purchases in a mobile app by more than 9 times. And also have a high percentage of openings due to the annual increase in customer screen time.
Mobile notifications can be used to inform users about discounts and promotions, give announcements, send reminders and more. Unlike email newsletters, push notifications are customizable based on geolocation and user characteristics of the target audience. This allows you to personalize notifications and create the most relevant offer.
A cross-platform tool, Firebase Cloud Messaging, can be used to customize push notifications. It allows you to send notifications to multiple devices and transfer information up to 4,000 bytes for free.
3. Caching
The cache is an intermediate buffer of information stored on the device. Consequently, retrieving information from the cache is faster than from a remote source.
Caching ensures that the application works offline.
First, the main resources are cached, then the application page template is opened. The page will be displayed after updating if the content has been loaded into the cache.
In addition to providing offline performance, caching improves the performance of the mobile app and reduces the load on the server. Accessing cached data, unlike accessing the primary storage location, takes fractions of a millisecond. Caching noticeably reduces the load on the server and reduces the client's Internet traffic usage.
4. Bugtrackers
Bugtrackers find all bugs in a mobile app and report them: even those that the user doesn't notice. This is the only way to localize and fix bugs in the next app build.
5. Advertising blocks
Advertising is an effective tool for monetizing a mobile app. But to make it work for engagement rather than user churn, the following parameters need to be taken into account:
- time (you need to understand the CJM of the client in the application, ads should not interfere with the targeted action);
- advertising should not be too intrusive, it irritates users;
- ads must not be misleading. It's strictly prohibited to substitute interactive elements in the app with ads. For example, imitating a button that is supposed to open a certain section in the application, but actually opens an advertising site, can get your Google Play or App Store account blocked;
- space (ads should not interfere with the main content).
A popular and effective solution for integrating ads at launch is gamification or playable ads.
6. Collecting feedback
Feedback on the application can be collected from quantitative indicators, such as ratings, and qualitative indicators, such as feedback.
Evaluations and feedback from users help identify existing problems. By fine-tuning the product based on targeted requests, you can prevent user churn.
In order to set up passive and active feedback:
- add a "contact us" button to the menu;
- set up an active problem report form;
- make a pop-up window asking users to rate the app on a scale of one to five. For customers who give a low rating, give them the option to quickly post their issue within the app. For high scorers, take them to the app store where they can write detailed feedback.
7. Analytics
Basic analytics is an important tool for tracking user behavior and application performance.
The basic metrics that can be tracked include:
- the number of new users;
- the number of active users.
- total number of sessions;
- average session length per user;
- number of sessions per user;
- number of screen views;
- immersion depth.
In addition, there are metrics that will have to be calculated manually. These are:
- DAU - the number of daily audience;
- conversion into the target action - registration, purchase, etc;
- retention rate - the frequency of audience return;
- activation - the action performed by the user after installing the application.
Once an application is released, the work on it does not end. Product development is a continuous cycle. Statistics will make it possible to improve usability, expand functionality, and create new ways of monetization. And the evaluation of effectiveness will show whether the business goals set before the app was published are being achieved.
