Best Practices for Evaluating App Performance

Nothing bursts an app developer’s blissful bubble like a landfall of negative feedback. Even worse, nearly 23% of applications don’t make it past first use. Many app developers will prioritize user feedback over heuristic evaluation or A/B testing—after all, the customer is always right, aren’t they? Not necessarily!

Mobile app development is a balance between what users think and other, more technical assessment methods. Below are the best practices for incorporating feedback into your development strategy.

How Much Feedback Should You Consider?

While some innovators believe feedback stifles creativity due to the specificity of focus groups, there is always a place for an opinion regarding evaluating your app’s strengths and weaknesses. Unless you’re developing a revolutionary app without initial demand, prototyping according to user feedback can provide incremental improvements to its functionality.

For most developers, the question isn’t whether the feedback is necessary—it’s how much of what you hear is useful. You want your service to be user-focused, not user-led. Regardless of the sample size you survey regarding customer satisfaction, results won’t represent all users’ needs.

The Right Way to Gather Feedback

There is no one way to solicit user feedback. However, there are a few habits you’ll want to avoid.

• Don’t Ask Them What They Want
  Asking users what they want is often too generic a line of questioning and will typically result in overly-specific or unrelated responses. Instead, ask what moves them emotionally and what features they’d rather do without. What qualities do they enjoy most? What unique problem does your app solve or fail to satisfy?

• Avoid Closed Questions
  As much as possible, avoid questions that will implore overly-simplistic yes or no answers. They won’t provide meaningful insight, much less start a conversation.

• One Opinion Isn’t Enough
  It should go without saying that one opinion is hardly enough to make a dent in your development process. Cluster data samples to pinpoint where users are struggling and succeeding most.

• Review Behavioral Patterns
  As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. Consider which parts of your app lack attention and examine how users interact with them.

Alternatives to User Feedback

What users think isn’t the end-all-be-all of app development. Identify areas for change with these alternative strategies.

• Heuristic Evaluation
  Otherwise known as trial-and-error, heuristic evaluations involve dissecting the app interface to determine usability issues. Evaluators must be knowledgeable in end-user needs and goals and assess the app from a user’s perspective.

Heuristic evaluation allows decision-makers to craft a more accurate user persona to turn to for future assessments.

• A/B Testing
  A/B testing is a goldmine opportunity for improving technical and design choices based on data. Through A/B testing, you can observe how users react to anything from layouts to interfaces. You never know when your choice of color palette or typography can lead to additional revenue!

Conclusion

Different evaluation methods will deliver distinct feedback regarding various aspects of your mobile application. When solicited the right way, a marriage between user feedback, heuristic evaluation, and A/B testing can provide a complete picture of your user’s overall experience.

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