When it comes to apps, flow is key to the success of your app. If your app doesn’t flow, users will not be able to learn how to use your app and will quickly get frustrated and leave (a term referred to as bounce rate). When an app flows well, users can quickly and easily complete their tasks within the app and then easily move on to the next task or find what they are looking for. For this reason, it’s important that you think through how you want your app to flow before putting it into development so that the end result will be successful. 7 Ways to Make Your App Flow
1) Optimize the Sign Up Process
New app users may be hesitant about using your app if they have to go through a lot of steps just to sign up. A smooth sign-up process can significantly boost adoption and user retention. An effective way of doing so is by asking for minimal information at first and then requesting additional details later on, once people start getting comfortable with your product.
2) Eliminate Log-in Overhead
One of my favorite tricks for mobile apps is to eliminate log-in overhead by asking for an email address, not a username and password. That way, if you ever have to shut down or rebuild your app, you don’t have to worry about losing access or having all those user credentials lost in a system migration. The best way around log-in? If they’re on your website now, collect their email address.
3) Speed up App Navigation
When you have an app on your phone, it’s important that you can navigate quickly through it without encountering glitches or freezing. If people don’t like using your app and get frustrated easily, they may delete it or turn their nose up at using it in future.
4) Give Users Leeway with Personalization
Personalization is more than just having a user’s name, photo and other information on their profile—it also entails letting users personalize how they use your app. Personalizing user experience on an app creates a feeling of ownership and freedom for your customers, allowing them to customize how they use your app with minimal effort.
5) Use Gestures as Shortcuts
Gestures are a great way to speed up how you interact with your app. It’s not as intuitive as a button, but once you’ve become familiar with a gesture it’s easier and faster than tapping or clicking. To get started, make sure your app allows for gestures by checking out its documentation and seeing what users have reported in their reviews. Then, try using gestures throughout your app—anywhere you can come up with something simpler than a traditional button or input box will be worthwhile.
6) Be Smart about Push Notifications
The best apps strike a balance between push notifications and user experience. If your app is one of those let’s send you push notifications every day type of applications, you’re doing it wrong. Every single one of your users will begin to ignore your push notifications in under a week, if not sooner.
7) Build in Brief Gaps
A good app, like a good website, needs proper spacing. If you fill your app with animated transitions, and you go from screen to screen without giving users a chance to regroup or reflect on what they’ve seen so far, your app will feel too sticky and annoying. So design in at least one brief moment of calm between every element—even if it’s just an extra half-second of blackness before going on to the next page.