App redesign is no joke. If you run a mobile-powered business then you are virtually on life-support while indulging in a UI UX overhaul. And if you do not realize that already, then there is all the more need for someone to point you in the right direction.
We assume you want a word by word, validated guide on an app redesign process and we wish there were simple answers. But a mobile app redesign is like your first proposal, you expect everything to fall in place, but there is always that big IF.
So as we share some of our partner experience (without violating the NDAs) you can expect it to be a little bit of both, fact-of-the-matter dope garnished with the necessary do-it-yourself stuff.
Define Your Approach (Please!)
Sequence your design thinking to find the answer to the question “what is a good app design practice?”. A UI/UX redesign is preceded by brainstorming sessions held on rendering structural changes in an app. Whatever your reasons, the re-development process must stay malleable. For this reason alone, we’ll repeat ourselves for the umpteenth time, that Agile development is the way forward. It gives everybody a few extra inches to maneuver ideas and ad-hoc requirements that pleasantly come along. We’ll let the imagery do the talking.
Bring Everyone On-board
Collective decision making will make the process easier. Organizational heads should own up the responsibility to communicate clearly the what, why, and how of everything. You will have to sift through opinionated answers and earnest comments to find common ground between expectations and reality. The process will be tiresome, but will also let you discover the pain points of the app, its backlogs, and key development areas to concentrate on. Answers must address questions like:
- What are the plus points of your app?
- Why is it lagging, if at all?
- Where are the functionalities that need the most damage-repair?
Set Out Tasks
Setting S.M.A.R.T goals is an inexorable step for apps that need redesign. Be specific in what you want from the new look. Set a measurable aim, the accomplishment of which can be weighed by numbers. This would keep you motivated. Do not exceed the time you commit to each parallel task for developing new functionalities. It’s for such days (and nights) that the vending machine had stalked up extra cans of caffeine.
Recycle Your App Design
Mobile app design best practices run high on the recycling quotient. Just because you are revisioning the design doesn’t mean it has to begin afresh. The current app was developed with considerable thought and effort. The idea is to preserve the features that offer the most value and disregard the outdated ones.
Base Your Decisions on Analytics
High-level stakeholders won’t approve of anything unless they sense a concrete reason. Your arguments for change should be objectively backed and statistically proven. Some of the metrics that should be on your tips are app downloads, screen tracking, page views, event tracking, user sessions, in-app referrals, the list goes on. Read about the tools you can use to track app analytics for mobile apps that need to be redesigned. Embedded analytics will always be crucial for apps whether you redesign them or not.
Read Competitor Like a Book
This is where most people begin, mistakenly skipping the aforementioned steps. Now that you’ve come here it should be clear why (if at all) your competition is proving your nemesis. This has to do with a feature vs feature account that tabulates similarities and differences between multiple apps. Create a checklist to track and accord points for each feature. The scoring system will give you a realistic impression of your market standing.
Think Outside the Box
There is no affiliated gospel for mobile UI best practices. That said the mobile app industry is generally amuck with creativity. No harm in xeroxing a feature or two you like in an app from another domain.
Diagnose Problematic Areas
Having infiltrated the ranks of your opponents, you can narrowly point to the areas that require more work than others. The nature of the problems could be anything, from a genuinely bad user experience, non up-to-date onboarding practices evident in customer reviews, to hidden bugs and unnecessary pop ups. As you quest forward to redesign your app, begin leveraging this intel and fast track development by prioritizing job lists.
Act on Priority
After identifying the most erring details it is time for remedying. One way to do so would be to pen down what’s going for you in a SWOT, Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat graph. This would enable sequential stacking for development cycles, focusing on the most pressing needs foremost. It is vital you ponder judiciously on this aspect while redesigning apps to avoid painstaking efforts later.
Create Wireframes
Be it your in-house developers or an app design company partnering with you, creating wireframes comes naturally to all developers. Ink the ideas built up in your mind with hand sketches and share with all project collaborators.
Make no mistake, you are sharing the foundation of your renewed app architecture and encouraging improvements. Ideation must be clinical in nature and put the spotlight on newly adopted characteristics while preserving the best ones from the previous version.
Be Open to (Further) Change
There has been a barrage of introductions to the wireframe already, but wait there can be more. Re-engineering a product will have its ups and downs and to be honest, it is your call to decide how much is enough. Mature leaders are thick-skinned which helps them accommodate productive advice from peers.
But be careful, don’t let inaccurate feedback get the better of you emotionally. Whenever in doubt, roll the dice back to the storyboard and self-introspect if the steps being proposed will lead to positive change. If not, put your foot down and move over.
Test Aggressively
At Anteelo, it is our staple schedule to act as an app design agency for one client or the other. Rushing into releasing a spanking new version of the app proves self-destructive. As soon as an MVP is ready we open it to a closed group for user feedback. We do not follow randomization and neither encourage it. Rather, the users are handpicked as per the target audience of the app. As soon as they provide a nod of approval we move forward.
Remarket Your App
Taking a new version of your app to the market is like the launch of a new one. It is all about storytelling and giving users an excuse to look forward to rather than just updating their current versions without advance notice. What if some people liked the previous design? Apple could give any brand food for thought on reinventing the wheel. With minimal feature edits, each year, they throw a keynote event that is the most anticipated globally. No, we’re not asking you to break the bank for a national campaign, but have a look at this promo of iPhone SE. You’ll get the point.
Gather Feedback
If you’ve outsourced the redesigning project for your app, demand that the mobile app design company submit user feedback reports on the new version regularly. Why should you care for user feedback?
Because these very people fuse capital into your business and if they don’t take a liking to the so-called “improvements” you’ll face customer churn. But don’t jump to conclusions. Supervise your app downloads, page traffic, sentiment analysis, app store comments to tap the immediate customer pulse. Sooner or later, they’ll come to terms with the design, so our experience says as a mobile design agency.
There is no PERFECT Design
We don’t intend to sound like a monk, but yes, everything is transient. As time fades, you’d have to repeat this cyclical process all over and do your thing. Never rest on your laurels, even if you receive critical acclaim for your work. We never let success get to our head despite having been acknowledged globally for innovation as a mobile app design agency. You can learn more about us as an app design firm reading over our collaboration with Domino’s. We revamped their UX strategy which led to a 23% increase in lead conversions.
Let’s Catch Up
Ever since our inception as a mobile application design company, we have delivered industry-standard value for our clientele. Our technology stack is the latest you’ll find and for any deals on redesigning your UI/UX, we’d be happy to demonstrate what we can do for you.
