If you want to boost your business and you have an app—or are thinking about developing one—you’re on the right track. The market is clearly growing: more and more people are spending most of their time in apps. In fact, 8 out of 10 users have more than one app on their mobile phone and over 50% use them to search for a product or make a purchase from the comfort of their home.
However, it’s not enough just to have an app to translate this growth into commercial success. Did you know that 20% of users won’t download an app if they perceive it as unreliable, and that 40% delete it if they have a bad experience? Therefore, to bring this digital boom to your business and ensure user engagement, it’s important that the app is secure, fast, and provides a good user experience (UX) at every stage of the journey, from the discovery phase to the final conversion.
Together with the consulting firm Nodus Company, we conducted a study on app usability. We interviewed real users and carried out tests with UX specialists, who interacted with the apps of the most recognized retail, telecommunications, and travel brands in Latin America. After recording their actions, emotions, and thoughts over 7 months (from August 2022 to March 2023), we identified that most of the apps analyzed contained 8 usability problems that occurred frequently. Below, we invite you to discover them and take a test to see if your app presents any of them. Put yourself to the test!
What are the most common UX problems in apps?
1. Lengthy descriptions in Google Play
Long, vague, or poorly structured paragraphs (without titles, subtitles, or bullet points) in the download page make users overlook relevant information about the app and, therefore, not download it. The same happens when the short description is repeated in the full description, or when it includes the app’s ranking in Google Play, prices, or promotions (for example, “app of the year,” “No. 1,” “10% discount,” “free for a limited time”).
2. Unrepresentative screenshots in Google Play
Did you know users decide whether to download an app in just a few seconds? That’s why the screenshots on the download page must grab attention instantly. If they use only one format (ignoring different devices and possible orientations), don’t mention the value proposition, or highlight the app’s main features, they won’t make a good first impression. Nor will they if they are overloaded with text. Besides screenshots, consider including a preview of the app in a short YouTube video, with autoplay only in the first 30 seconds. Check the best practices for the Play Store listing for more information.
3. Offering onboarding that doesn’t guide new users
Onboarding helps new users understand an app and increases their engagement and retention. If it doesn’t communicate the app’s value or main benefits, doesn’t provide instructions to get started (or does, but they can’t be skipped), or requests unnecessary permissions, users may abandon it within minutes. Remember: first impressions are key to avoiding early uninstalls.
4. Not showing password creation requirements in advance during registration
When users have to create an account and password requirements aren’t communicated in advance, they have to discover them (or worse, guess them!) by trial and error. They’re also likely to forget them quickly: so if requirements aren’t visible while users are creating their password and it’s not clear which ones are missing via a dynamic list, they won’t be able to create a valid password on the first try. Avoid causing frustration and unnecessary delays during registration.
5. Ignoring user preferences and not personalizing their experience
Imagine a user enters their location in a delivery app, but it offers restaurants from another area. Or they select technology as their topic of interest in a news app, but only sports news appears. How would they feel? When you don’t take advantage of the start of the journey to ask users about their individual preferences, you miss an excellent opportunity to make them feel welcome and engaged from the beginning. If, after entering preferences, users don’t see tailored content or can’t modify them later, the app will lose relevance and they’ll stop using it.
6. Lack of personalization in cross-selling promotions
Cross-selling consists of offering a product related to the current purchase before the user completes the transaction (for example, suggesting a screen protector for the mobile phone they’re buying). If these suggestions are generic, unrelated to the shopping cart, or don’t complement the current order, users will stop considering them relevant and future offers will be ignored—even when they are meaningful!
7. Omitting real-time validation in forms
If users are at the last step, fill in their personal and shipping information, click “next,” and discover there were errors in many fields, they’ll experience unnecessary delays before completing the conversion. To avoid abandonment at this stage, real-time validation is essential: it helps users identify errors as they occur and edit incorrect fields immediately.
8. Generic error messages in forms
Although real-time validation helps users correct wrong fields, it doesn’t assist if they’ve missed one. That’s why it’s also important to communicate error messages clearly, especially when users are so close to the final conversion. If the app requires them to navigate the form and search for the fields themselves, or doesn’t highlight them in any color, users won’t be able to recognize that an error has occurred or which data caused it. Also, if the messages are generic, they won’t understand the specific problem—let alone fix it.
To find out if your app has any of these 8 usability problems, you can take this UX Challenge easily, quickly, and for free. This self-test will give you a score on your app’s UX, a list of personalized recommendations, and access to best practices in other important areas such as performance, measurement, and design in our Learning Center. You can start making a difference in your app’s usability today!
Also remember that 69% of users combine the use of apps with websites to research and shop. This means that websites haven’t lost relevance, but the consumer journey has changed. Take on the double challenge: also take the UX Challenge for websites and analyze whether your e-commerce has the most frequent UX problems in online shopping sites in Latin America. Don’t miss the opportunity to offer the best user experience across all your platforms.
