2/5 stars, the app is still trash

5 product issues to fix right now.
Why do some mobile apps end up being less than stellar? How can they improve? We’ve read through hundreds of angry mobile app reviews to uncover the most common issues that make mobile app users unhappy.

In this two part series we list the 9 deadly sins app owners make that infuriate their users. To help you do better, we accompany each issue with useful comments. Read them and you will have a shot at reaching that sweet 5-star rating.

While poor UX reigns supreme as the most-cited reason for users leaving angry reviews, there are more profound (and less obvious) issues that make users sigh in disbelief. These combined form the remaining 60% of the most common reasons why users opt to express their frustrations in the reviews section. Learn to avoid them, and you are well-positioned to bring a successful and functional mobile product to the market.

01.
Useless App

Let’s say you have a web-based service already and figure you could also use a mobile app. Hold your horses! Having an app requires reasons beyond just having the same thing you already have just in… well, an app. On numerous instances the users simply flooded the poor author’s review page with disappointed reviews once they saw no actual benefit in the app.

Let’s do better together. Below, we provide a list of several sound reasons for building a mobile application. You might have yours – and they might be just as legitimate. But if there are none, you should probably get back to the drawing board and find a way to produce actual added value to your customers.

Common sound reasons for building a mobile application:

• Practical while offline – Having selected features available in the offline is a considerable improvement over the version that requires a stable connection for all actions.

• Used a lot – Users use your services so frequently that they look for a smoother and faster experience. Something so good that the browser can’t provide it to them.

• Location-aware – There are useful features that only work with location services allowed. Those still feel much more natural when in an app compared to the browser. When in an application, they can run in the background, too.

• Better with sensors – You found a way to enhance your product’s value with intelligent features that leverage touch gestures, NFC, gyroscopes, camera, Bluetooth, etc.

• Push notifications – You want to notify users about essential things, let them jump directly where their attention is needed, or even let them take action from the notification bar. Although there is a web version of push notifications, too, they will honestly never provide the same experience as they do in a mobile app.

• Seamless biometry – You wish to provide more security to your users by using face/fingerprint recognition capabilities.

02.
Lackluster app

Developing an app can be the best decision your business makes this year, so if you’re going to do it, do it right. For example, if you’re building an e-commerce app, make sure all the filters and categories available in the web version are also there when you open up the app. After all, an app should be all about convenience, so why should your customers feel like they’re browsing through a watered-down version of your shop? If you decide to treat your app like an unwanted child, the customers will notice and will not be happy.

“If you’re going to do it, do it right.“

A good idea is to also consider how the rollout of future updates will look like. Are you going to launch updates in sync with your web version? Will updating be an automated process, or will you leave it to the users and juggle supporting dozens of legacy app versions? How will local data migrate between app versions without breaking things?

Web and mobile worlds simply have their unique needs one has to consider. Needless to say, doing an app is a lot safer when you partner with someone who has the experience and foresight that can save you a lot of sighs in the long run.

03.
Big hype – big disappointment

“Do it properly, and you might even get featured on the App Store / Google Play front page, which is the promotion of a lifetime.” 

Marketing and advertising are great and helpful in increasing the number of downloads and general hype. But they can burn you badly just as easily. 

We’re not trying to discourage you from the big launch – quite the contrary. Do it properly, and you might even get featured on the App Store/Google Play front page, which is the promotion of a lifetime. 

The following three tips will help you live up to the hype of your marketing efforts. Just make sure you do them before your app’s marketing hits the news:

• Test for load – stress-testing is a technique that simulates traffic. Marketing campaigns tend to generate spikes in usage: the bigger the campaign and audience, the bigger the traffic. Make sure to test for the expected highest number of users doing “typical things” before it happens. Highest and typical are the crucial parameters here, but a carefully designed stress test is precisely the right tool that will give you a good night’s sleep on launch day.

• Give early access to real users – we partially discussed the importance of this in a previous post. People are eager to try new things and generally give valuable feedback that helps you pinpoint the biggest issues. Another sophisticated approach you can use is to roll your app out gradually either by predefined percentages, regions, platforms or OS versions. When done correctly, a gradual rollout not only provides additional control to you, but it can even boost the hype.

• Get approval from Apple/Google first – the number one rookie mistake is to submit an application for review days before your ad is scheduled to run on national TV. Even if everything was correctly engineered, you are playing a lottery here. Not only do store review times vary throughout the year, but more importantly, some apps get rejected for the smallest of reasons at times. There are hundreds of things to get right before an app gets approved, and some room should always be reserved to let the review process unfold. Have it reviewed early and you will know that the publish button will be waiting for you once the big day arrives.

04.
Poor service

“Users don’t separate your service from your app - your app is their service!“

It’s essential to keep in mind that a well-developed and bug-free app is not the only factor in ensuring your ratings reach those 5 stars.

Let’s say you run an online grocery store and you’ve just launched the perfect shopping app. Everything is easily searchable, the app runs smoothly on all devices, with no lag, the authentication email reaches your new customers in seconds, and the code fills itself in automatically. However, the produce your customers receive is not always fresh, sometimes instead of lactose-free milk, regular milk arrives. Definitely not an issue caused by the app, but an angry customer doesn’t care.

Users don’t separate your service from your app - your app is their service! Provide a poor service offline, and your app’s store page will get flooded with 1-star reviews, too. Unfortunately, not even the best UX designer can make rotten tomatoes tasty again.

05.
Automatized response to bad reviews

“Making sure you provide a friendly, helpful and constructive service across your customer channels is what makes customers come back the next time.“

Coming in last is not an app issue per se but more of a best practice tip. If you start getting a few poor reviews now and then, replying with an automatised response will not make things much better. On the contrary, messages like “Hi Josh, we appreciate your feedback, please send us an email at support@support.com to talk about your issue.” feel like a spit in the face. 

What’s even worse is when brands argue with their reviewers that the app is in fact fine, they’re just using it wrong. It may be the case, of course, but rather than arguing with every single bad review, it’s better to make sure the users start using your app correctly by making it just a bit more user friendly. Listening to constructive feedback and filtering out the blatant hate might just be the way of growing into the love brand you strive to become.

This issue, of course, goes beyond just nourishing your customers in the application store. Customer care is a chapter in and of itself, and making sure you provide a friendly, helpful and constructive service across your customer channels is what makes customers come back the next time.

Conclusion

Not all low-rated reviews need to stem from technical or design issues. Sometimes the problem lies in the service side of things. Unfortunately, no development magic and no perfect user flow will fix the issues addressed by these reviews. On the other hand, however, your approach towards the app may be enough to make a difference.

Why does your app exist in the first place? Does it have a purpose, and if it does, how does it help make your customers' lives easier? Ask yourself such questions, and perhaps you’ll uncover the hidden potential your app has always had. Or even better - get acquainted with experts who will help you navigate all the subtleties of building and running a truly remarkable mobile product.

👋🏻 Best of luck!

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