UX — Mobile Wiki

UX (User experience) – experience / impression of the user from working with the interface of the mobile application / website.

The main goal of UX-design is to make it so that the user can seamlessly and quickly solve the tasks he has set by visiting the website / installing the application

Conversion rates are not only directly affected by the quality of product promotion, but also by the quality of the product itself. When forwarding the audience to the application store, you need to make it a comfortable and convenient place in which to make purchases / specific actions. The same rule works for online services.

UX of a MOBILE WEBSITE

DESIGN

Minimalistic design;
Reduce the color palette to the minimum number of colors. Google advises you to use 2 contrasting colors and their respective hues;
Use the minimum number of fonts. Ideally, a single one.

NAVIGATION

The size of the buttons and links must be adapted for the finger;
The most important fields (including search buttons and menus) should be easily found;
Readability of all text fields: the presence of indentation, a fairly large font and line spacing;
Controls based on the location of the hand: meaningful and clickable elements must be on the area of the screen that can be pressed with your thumb.

Phone number

The phone number should be clickable. Do not irritate the user by having to perform unnecessary actions: allocate a number, copy it and insert it into the number entry field. This is inconvenient.

Location

Be sure to embed the online map next to the address information so that the user can quickly construct a route to the desired location.

Registration

Enable authorization and / or registration through social networks. The more are present, the better;
Applications must contain a minimum number of fields;
Use autocomplete option wherever possible;
Correct inputs for different fields (email, date of birth, phone, etc.). The presence of alphabetic characters is unnecessary where there is only a need to enter numbers;
Users receive instant notifications when filling out a form, so that he does not have to scroll to the top of the page to check the incorrectly filled-in fields.

MEDIA FILES

Check if the video, audio, and dynamic images are correctly displayed on every device.

NOTIFICATIONS

A request to provide information on the location should be shown upon the visit of the website. After replying “yes”, the user should see where and / or at what distance the nearest store / restaurant / office is located;
Send push notifications. Let users receive messages about the start of special offers, discounts, reminders of goods in the shopping cartthat weren’t paid for yet, order information, etc;
Be honest with the user. Explain why you need this or that information (if it’s not obvious)

PAYMENT

Provide several payment options;
Possibility to confirm a purchase using Touch ID.

Search

Ensure that searches are stored in the database so that users can optimize them without having to re-type them each time.

LINK TO THE APP

The link to the mobile application should lead directly to the store.

UX MOBILE APPLICATIONS

DESIGN

Create a minimalistic interface design;
Do not get carried away by the variety of colors. One bright color is enough, the other should be calm and non-irritating;
The design should be adopted to the target audience of the product. For example, if your application is intended for children, you can afford to use brighter shades, whereas in case it’s for the elderly people, it’s worth making sure that the font is large enough even for people with poor eyesight;
If you also run a website, try to have the design of the mobile site and the application developed using the same pattern.” Thus the audience can use both media more effectively based on their experience with one of the platforms.

NAVIGATION

Navigation must match the content. In most cases, symbols and icons are more preferabl than buttons with text;
Controls should be intuitive and based on the position of the hand;
Important clickable elements should be placed in the area of the screen that can be tapped with your thumb. The “undo”, “exit” and “delete” functions should be located in hard-to-reach areas of the screen so that the user does not accidentally click on them;
Do not complicate the interface with additional sections and transitions. Do not force the user to perform extra actions to find the necessary information. It is not necessary to distribute information into various sections of the app if it can be placed on one screen;
Use swipe to change screens with different information (within the same section) or to perform actions inside applications (delete, cancel the previous action, archiving, etc.);
Discreet animated elements improve the user’s interactive experience with the application when navigating between screens or semantic blocks.

ONBOARDING

A simple and concise onboarding (instructions for using the application). Its primary goalai to quickly and effectively demonstrate the key benefits of the application;
Try not to include actions that are too obvious into onboarding;
Onboarding is only mandatory for the first launch only. A help section with recommendations and tips on navigation should be available for users who have questions about working with the application.

REGISTRATION

Give up registration if it is not required;
If it is still needed, try to make it as short as possible;
Enable authorization and / or registration through social networks. The more are present, the better;
Use hints and provide autocomplete function wherever possible;
Implement the appropriate inputs for different fields (email, date of birth, phone, etc.). The presence of alphabetic characters is unnecessary where there is only a need to enter numbers;
Provide instant messages when completing a form, so that the user returns to the fields that were incorrectly filled-in;
Ensure that the completed registration fields are saved.

Search

Ensure that searches are saved so that users can optimize them without having to re-type them each time.

NOTIFICATIONS

If your application has push notifications, allow users to adjust their receipt. For example, choose the time of receipt or reject them altogether;
Include a request to determine the location of the user if it helps you to provide him with useful information (the location of the nearest restaurants, points of sale, etc.);
Be honest with the user. Explain why you need this or that information (if it’s not obvious)

UX, without a doubt, has a direct impact on the performance of advertising activities.
UX is not only vital for retaining the user and increasing his loyalty to the product (retention, etc.), it is vital for the formation and retention of the image of the application and the brand.
We live in a reality where users are in the habit of sharing their impressions of what they are using, especially when it comes to fresh mobile applications. It comes as no surprise that agencies (such as ours)))))) have a online reputation management service, when all the forces rush to fix the low rating of the application. After all, users quite actively post ratings and leave comments quite actively, either in the hope of correcting the workflow, or simply to complain and warn future users. Often what they write is negative. Therefore, the better the application is worked out and the more user-friendly it is, then there is less of a reason to get a low rating and fall deep on search results page, thus losing a large part of organic traffic.
I think that it is not necessary to talk distinctly about how the position on the store affects the results of “paid” traffic.

One of the first items which we always draw our customers’ attention to is registration. It should not be complicated and / or long. If you cannot do without registration, then the ability to enter through a social network is the most ideal. This will increase conversion rate into registration and will definitely please potential users. But you do not need to bind accounts, as you should let people decide for themselves. If your application contains an agreement on data transfer, confidentiality privacy policy and so on, simplify the these items either by having a single consent button or by adding a pre-checked box if there is an entire list of conditions.
Do not ask for too much personal information about a person. And if authorization is through social networks, collect the data from there automatically, just specify if this is OK with our new friend.
You definitely should not hide the settings button in a remote place. The user will feel much more comfortable if he realizes that he can manage the settings in the app in a convenient format at any time.
To sum up all of the above, UX is one of the most important components of the success of large-scale and high-quality promotions of mobile applications and the rolling out of the application into the stores. You must make sure that it is reasonably convenient and pleasant to use.

Galina Drogaytseva

Head of Mobile Department at MGcom

UX helps create the best environment for solving specific user tasks. If you do not feel the “user experience,” then only speculation and, at best, beautiful pictures will remain. This is identical to communicating with a person and not taking into account his opinion. You are making the product, first of all, for the users. You need to put on their shoes. Today, there is a fierce struggle for user attention, and the time needed to study our interface should be as close to zero as possible. This is about intuitively comprehensible interfaces and “embedding paths”. UX is the context.

When speaking about important UX parameters, you can come across things like cognitive resistance, etc. But it’s much clearer and closer to reality than simple metrics:

– The number of steps to achieve the goal;

– Time spent on completing the action from start to finish (for example, placing an order);

– The number of steps that allow you to go back.

After the launch, real data and statistics will help you to improve UX. Number of inquiries for support also serve as an excellent metric.

Philip Filchenko

Art-Director MobileUp