Don't Let Your App Offer a DMV Like Experience

I’ve yet to meet anyone who looks forward to going to the DMV. I just renewed my driver’s license and could not do so online so I trudged down to the DMV office and did the DMV dance. You know the routine - sign in and wait, then talk to someone and wait - repeat that process until you finally reach your goal.

I bring this up because I want to point out that, while I have to accept the bad DMV experience, I don’t have to do the same for your app. I have to go to the DMV if I want to drive – they know that so they have no incentive to make it a good experience. However, I don’t have to use your app and if your app experience is like the DMV experience, I will delete it immediately.

Rarely is an app DMV bad, however how your app works for your users is going to make or break its usage, so you need to ensure that you do everything possible to make it a great experience. Including making sure the app works. 

To maximize your users’ lifetime value, you have to protect their customer experience. Things like app crashes, bugs, outages, request volume overload, network latency and more all are potential performance bottlenecks. These are just a few of a loaded minefield of user turnoffs that if you don’t stay on top of, you’ll lose customers.

And that’s just making sure your app functions properly. How well your app does what it supposed to do, how you communicate with your users, and how you ultimately engage users on an ongoing basis is another big piece of the user satisfaction puzzle. For example, for new users, you need to be able to convey your app’s value, showcase notable features and engage these new customers immediately. If it takes 10 minutes to download, register, read the instructions, etc. you’re probably going to see a high volume of bailouts.

To help app publishers provide a better user experience, Localytics has created an ebook, 10 Ways to Better Engage App Users in 10 Seconds, which looks at today’s app users’ high expectations and explains how app publishers can create an approach that makes sure these expectations are met – quickly and effectively.

And as the title suggests, the publication examines ten app analytics & mobile marketing strategies you can use to better engage your users right away. However, it also provides information on how to work to continuously evolve your app and ensure that it meets users needs today as well as in the future as the technology surrounding your customers evolves.

The book is available on the Localytics website as a free download.