5 Best Practices to Enhance Your Mobile App User Experience
The effect mobile phones have had on the internet is truly outstanding when you stop to think about it. At first, the only access the average person had to the internet was on a computer, but today you’d be hard-pressed to find someone without a mobile device in hand, browsing the web. Because of this, eCommerce is now booming. Could you have imagined, just 15 years ago, that you would be able to have almost anything imaginable delivered to your door with a simple click on a phone that you unlock with your face?
Recent technologies, coupled with the sheer number of mobile device users, have fueled the advance of eCommerce, and the numbers paint a very interesting picture. Global eCommerce sales are expected to reach $3.5 trillion by the end of 2021, with sales made on mobile devices accounting for 73% of the overall eCommerce market.
Today, it has become widely accepted that eCommerce businesses that do not use best practices for mobile eCommerce will be left behind, standing to lose billions of dollars cohesively. Modern consumers expect an eCommerce website or app to not only be attractive — they expect it to be fast, reliable and work seamlessly, all while adapting to their shopping behaviors. This means that there are special requirements for a great mobile eCommerce UX (short for user experience).
We’ve listed below the 5 best practices to enhance your mobile app user experience.
1. Support image zooming
When a potential customer visits your eCommerce gallery, what gestures are supported? Online shoppers today want the ability to pinch to zoom or double-tap to zoom product photos. This is because they want to take a closer look at the item they are considering for purchase. More often than not, the photo will be the deciding factor. It’s important that you provide this feature so that your eCommerce customers can view and examine products in better detail, leading to better sales and return customers.
2. Wish lists and “save for later”
Chances are that at some point, you’ve been in a brick and mortar store, saw something that you wanted to buy, but for whatever reason you didn’t purchase it at the moment. You probably kept that item in mind to return and purchase it later. This exact scenario can be facilitated within your eCommerce app with a wish list or “save for later” option.
An eCommerce store is full of enticing items that your customer may not be able to buy at this exact moment. The next best option is to save the item for purchase at a later time. By giving consumers this option, the cart abandonment rate will also be greatly reduced.
3. Search feature
When a customer walks into a physical location to purchase an item but doesn’t know where that item is located, they will most likely ask a store employee to help them find it instead of aimlessly walking around the store. The same is true for online shoppers, which is why a search feature is so important. Some visitors to your eCommerce store may be there to just browse around, but many others are there to purchase a specific product. The search option is a vital feature for every eCommerce website or app and should be prioritized by placing it at the top of the screen.
4. Microinteractions
The foremost function of UX is to increase and utilize the experience and satisfaction of customers who are using your mobile app. The use of micro-interactions further improves their experience. Microinteractions are small details used to improve a single-screen interface. This can mean simply adding small colored boxes to a product available in multiple color options, or a clothing item available in a variety of sizes and colors. This simplifies and enhances the consumer experience by allowing them to select the desired product options on the product screen only, rather than completing the process on different screens.
5. Don’t overload product information and CTA’s
When a person is shopping for an item online, the last thing they want to do is spend unnecessary time reading endless product descriptions. It is essential that any and all information related to the product be specific, clear, and to the point. Knowing your audience is important to determine what aspects of your eCommerce app are attracting customers, and which ones are driving them away.
This includes adding clear and compelling calls to action. An experienced and reputable mobile app development company can help you determine and understand all the factors involved in offering clear and understandable information for your audience.
Conclusion
As a business, your eCommerce app is only as good as the features it offers. You may have a store stocked with great products, but the only way to ensure that consumers actually use your app is by making their shopping experience as easy and useful as possible. Today’s online shoppers expect convenience, or they wouldn’t be shopping online in the first place.
Businesses rely on mobile apps now more than ever. From iOS to Android, users are accessing apps through a variety of devices including phones, tablets, and wearable tech. And the use of these devices is only going to increase. As users’ methods of doing business and managing their lives evolve, so must your business. The demand for mobile application development services is at an all-time high.
Animink is a Charlotte, NC-based mobile web design company and mobile app development company that creates apps in-house from the ground up based specifically on your needs and ideas. As a mobile app development company with years of experience, Animink’s dedicated team of expert developers will not only help you turn your idea into reality but will help you improve on that idea as well. The company provides mobile app development services specifically for Apple iOS and Android devices.
