Let’s get into something less technical. I have an economic background and my actual business is: developing mobile applications – either for my own sales or for third parties. Before that I was running a Micro-ISV to develop Microsoft Office related software add-ons as well as more complex solutions for financial institutions.

I have decided to write down a few tips (mostly based on my own experience) for those of you who are here to do business and thus need ways to sell the most apps possible.

If you are a developer who has never tried to sell your own product, you may make a mistake of focusing too much on “features” and their technical implementation. First, and the most important, thing that you should remember from this article is: looks matter most. If you had to prioritize the different aspects of B2C software, they should usually look like this:

1. Looks (50%)
2. Usability (30%)
3. Features and Releases (20%)

With the permission of Reshep Ltd., for some tips I have used as an example the the Storm Radio Recorder (one of my favorite bada apps at this moment )

Looks

I have personally experienced the power of good-looking UI a few years ago, when I tried to sell my “very special” Excel add-in.  After spending a few months with its development and a big launch (together with a rather costly AdWords campaign) I expected the sales to pour in. Unfortunately, after six month of further development and improvement, the sales were still very few.

Nevertheless, I had the luck of receiving a few tips from an experienced Micro-ISV. The most important one was to get a professional designer for the User Interface. I have invested almost $700 to get a professional designer to do the job. It was rather an experiment – at that point I wasn’t convinced anymore of ever selling a noteworthy amount of my add-in. Imagine my surprise, when the sales exploded almost by a factor of 30 directly after the new eye-cookie release !

Those were the days when I have learned the the looks are the single most important thing to sell software. The Internet is full of similar stories. It’s natural! We judge everything by looks first! Food, clothes, people, software…! Here lies the first and most important way to influence a buying decision.

Get a Professional Designer

A professional designer may cost you, depending on the volume, from a hundred USD to a few thousands. If you initially lack the necessary money, I would suggest looking for a partnership instead and splitting the earnings accordingly. There are a lot of good designers out there who don’t have enough work to cover their free time. Many of them may be happy to have a long-term relationship of this kind and earn a sales dependent amount for their work! Furthermore, it is an additional motivation for them to do a great job (because the earned amount may depend on how good their work is).

Customize your UI controls or create your own Custom Controls

Bada API is the same for everyone. The controls are identical. A similar functionality that your app has, can be achieved fast by your concurrents. If you truly want to convince a customer that your app is unique, you have to have a unique UI. Don’t go for the easy solution: go for a unique solution! Even if it means a week or two of extra work.

This means: customize your UI controls as much as possible. Or even better: create your own custom controls. Here is an example of two custom controls from the Storm Radio Recorder:

Look at the first image. The developers decided to go through the trouble of creating a circular progress bar, instead of using the standard progress bar available in the bada API.

The second one shows a fun sliding control: to stop radio playback you slide it to the left, to start recording you slide it to the right. They could have used three buttons instead, huh?

The advantage is obvious: the app looks unique. You would have a hard time to beat that.  Furthermore, now the developers have complete control over how the app looks like and how it behaves. Increase transparency? No problem! Reduce the speed of the sliding control? Piece of cake!

Less Text, More (Better) Graphics

Get into your head that, when it comes to software, people don’t read manuals, even if they have one. In fact, people don’t read anything. An additional complication appears when you try to sell your app to an international public.

Get rid of unnecessary text as much as possible! Try to create good-looking and meaningful icons instead. No matter what font you are using, a clean red “X” icon will always look better than the word “Delete”.

Usability

When you design the user flow and UI logic of your app, keep in mind that most of your users might be brain-dead idiots . This will help you with the right approach.

I remember a simple Android app – the only thing it did was downloading the latest music from an artist’s website. Basically a button and a progress bar. Still, the developer received a few pretty dumb questions on a daily basis. The point is this: no matter how simple your app looks or is, there will always be a lot of people who have a problem of some sort. But it is much easier to handle one or two help requests a day than a few hundred.

Thus the main rules of usability are:

• Simplicity and
• Less Is More

Give Less Choices

Many developers think that they must offer many options and features in order to be successful. This is wrong. Although people like a reasonable amount of choice, they get overwhelmed faster than you think. I recommend Berry Schwartz’s book: The Paradox Of Choice on this subject. The conclusion of Schwart’s research is that many choices don’t make us happier – they rather erode our psychical well-being.

Drawing a parallel to apps: don’t aks the user to make too many decisions. Think in a minimalist way! Minimalism was the driving force behind Apple’s success, so why can’t it help you?

• It is better to have one button instead of three
• It is better to delete an item directly, instead of asking the user a hundred times if he/she is sure about it
• It is better to take the phone’s language settings instead of asking the user what language he/she would prefer
• etc.

Give Less Information

As I said earlier: people don’t read. Don’t distract nor stress them unnecessarily with information!

The design should be intuitive enough for the user to understand what is going on without a lengthy description from your part.

• Instead of a message “Loading… This could take up to 15 seconds”, you could simply use a loading clock animation – the user will experience himself how long it takes
• Don’t notify the user that the photo has been successfully deleted. Simply remove it from the list, the user will see himself what happened.
• etc.

Put Less “Things” On Forms

Screen area is virtually your most precious asset – so keep it clean of clutter. Don’t show anything that is not absolutely vital at any particular moment. For example, in the Storm Radio Recorder, the button used to cut tracks appears only when you stop the playback. When you are listening to a track, you don’t need to see that button!

• In custom lists, instead of having a “Delete” and “Edit” buttons on each item – use a context menu with “Delete” and “Edit” options instead! Don’t overwhelm the user with unnecessary elements, that he/she may not need at all at that particular moment!
• Use one single form/popup for one principal task only
• When requiring extensive input from a user, consider multiple pages/forms instead
• etc.

Promote “Quick Use”

Make it easy for the user to get his “problem” solved fast. The rule of the thumb is: the faster your app is used, the more times it will be used.

• Provide direct quick access to the essential parts of your app (e.g. with a tab control)
• Optimize your app for speed. Every second counts.
• Consider running batch tasks in the background while giving the user a possibility to do something else meanwhile
• etc.

Features and Releases

When it comes to the planning of features and releases, I use to say: “Provide less features, but release often improvements of existing features“. This has the same “less is more” argumentation.

On the other hand, what users value most about mobile apps is their constant improvement. When a user buys an app he/she likes to think that instead of buying a final product he/she invests in something that will become better and better in the future. Give your users a feeling that you are constantly improving their app!

When releasing updates of your app, make sure that you put a short note of what has been improved in the new version. People like good surprises – it’s good to see how something your bought improves gradually.

Finally, when you release your app – concentrate on making meaningful and beautiful screenshots, instead of writing endless lists of your app’s features. Remember: people don’t read! When the description gets too long, most customers will simply scroll down to the images, without reading. If they don’t see what they like, they won’t bother reading the rest.

Furthermore, too many features (or a long description) may make the app look complex. Complex apps is something most users will try to avoid.

Final Words

There you have it! Remember that all of this is my personal experience/opinion. Don’t take it all as the ultimate truth

by the way, you may like these sites:

• Joel On Software
• 47 Hats

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