I believe you’re reading this article to discover a UX strategy that would improve your mobile app’s user experience and increase engagement.

And we are going to do exactly that.

A UX strategy for your mobile app will boost engagement rates and help increase conversions.

You might be able to score some quick wins by sticking to what’s tested and true. You might have heard of usual things like adopting a sharp and clean design so that all elements are visible and also about using brighter colors.

Things like that can help but with this post, you will get even more specific ideas. The article is choke-full of case studies and practical examples that are readily applicable.

Having read this post you will be one step closer to executing your own UX strategy that actually works.

Shall we go ahead?

Design user interface (UI) really well

User interface (UI) is a matter worth stressing because it’s what lets your mobile app appear appealing, usable and user-friendly. How does the app’s screen resize to a different size on different phones to fit each device’s available on-screen space?

It’s due to UI.

Considering the fact that Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store keep changing their interfaces and adding new features; lagging behind can prove detrimental to your success.

A minimal design can work wonders for your app.

For example, this app called “Simple” follows a minimal UI design

It’s a very clear cut and simple UI with options that are clear and visible. It takes just a second to understand what the app does.

Another thing you could do is reduce the number of steps needed to use the app. People hate signing up to something on mobile devices. Keying away a perfect username and password combo on the tiny keyboard is difficult. The problem gets exacerbated if the registration process is longer than usual.

The best way to counter this is by giving an easy way out. With a Facebook sign up option, many apps make registration a breeze. For example, the BumbleBoost app for dating takes this major difficulty (registration) out of the way by their Facebook login.

Additionally, design bigger UI elements. Fitt’s law states that it’s harder to hit smaller targets than it is to hit larger targets.

So going by that, if elements in your app are smaller users/visitors may find it hard to hit them and go through the onboarding process. Make things easy for them. On a small screen, unlike a laptop with big touch pad and large screen, finger dexterity is limited and things need to be dumbed down for users to be able to use the app with ease.

Go for progressive onboarding

If your app requires users to follow through many steps to make the best use of the app then progressive onboarding should serve the purpose well. Progressive onboarding makes use of small walk-through screens that educate the user on how to best use the app. These screens can be replaced by a silent video in the background. Bumbleboost app discussed above has a video in the background that introduces users to the app.

There are many ways to go about this in order that users find onboarding as easy as possible. You could begin by sharing the benefits of the app with the users. Or you could describe the core functionalities of the app in short quick bursts.

As always, don’t try to do too much or fill the screens with information. For visitors reading through that will seem a lot of work and they will rather abandon the visit than doing that.

Use the right colors

The colors you choose for the app can impact conversions in a big manner. Colors can make people react in a certain way. For example, orange color denotes enthusiasm. Research points towards the fact that orange color may be associated with cheapness.

Ring a bell? Amazon and a number of booking sites all have an orange colored call to action buttons. It’s highly visible, immediately catching user attention and ideal for call to actions.

You might have heard of case studies where a big orange button or a red color button made all the difference to conversions. If the CTA button stands out with the color you chose, then it can dramatically improve user engagement.

Use personalization and app analytics

If you and your friend both visit Amazon and sign in, the homepage that each of you sees will be different based on your past purchases and browsing history. Amazon customizes each visitor session using data collected earlier.

With data available to us with respect to which user spent how much time doing what and where the clicks went we can understand user behavior deeply. With in-app analytics and user data being recorded, there’s a lot that can be done for personalization.

Analytics can help you identify the weaker points of the app. A lot of people coming to the registration page but choosing not to proceed may indicate a problem there. Maybe the signup process is too long. What if there’s a glitch? Should you test adding social media login?

Analytics makes it easy to test several hypotheses and arrive at an ideal solution.

Choose the right keywords for people to be able to find you

Promising something and delivering something entirely else can be a big turn off. Especially when a goldfish has a longer attention span than a human.

With apps, you couldn’t be more wrong with optimizing your site for the wrong keywords. Think really hard about what your app does and use keywords that describe it. Neither oversell nor undersell.

Nothing is more annoying for someone to land on your app page only to find that the app does nothing that the keywords that it ranks for indicate.

Stick with the familiar

For example, selecting/rejecting potential dates has been popularized by the Tinder left and right swipes.

BumbleBoost takes that familiar approach and adds that into its roster.

It’s possible that at least some people will find it familiar and hence easier to use. Also if one of the biggest dating apps does that it should be good for UX.

Concluding thoughts

So there you have it. An entire UX strategy laid with a step by step instructions on how to optimize mobile UX for bigger rewards.

Sometimes changing colors can improve engagement. Other times the registration process is the culprit. Identifying kinks in your armor and rectifying them is the way to move forward.

Do let us know what you think in the comment section below.