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Top 10 Useful Apps UI/UX Design Case Studies

Interface Market

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The impact for startups have been huge during the the pandemic situation, but some companies are faring better than others. Other startups are catching this opportunity to develop their app product and get ready for the post-pandemic world.

If you are looking to create your first app product for your startup or your client, below are the top 10 of useful app design case studies that you can get inspiration from:

Inhouse Music Festival App

With the world in quarantine, the objective of this project was to make a music festival to enjoy at home, so nobody needs to get outside of their houses. It’s only a UI UX project, this initiative doesn’t exist. View the full case study here

Audiobook App

Listen to your favourite books, browse new, weekly released books. This app offers you to listen to unlimited audiobooks. View the full case study here

Online Learning App

The Online Learning app provides different courses from design, business to photography and cooking. View the full case study here

Home Rental Marketplace App

PAD is a mobile app that allows users to find a flatmate or a room. It matches tenants and landlords based on the geolocation and personal preferences. View the full case study here

Naim Music App

View the full case study here

The event app allows users to discover upcoming events nearby quickly anytime and huge selection of events from all over the world with convenient filtering feature. View the full case study here

EcoBike App

EcoBike is an initiative to make Dhaka eco friendly, also reduce congestion because people can use these bicycles to move around easily inside the city. View the full case study here

English Learning App

The application was created for students of the Green Forest, one of the largest networks of English language school. The app allowing students to work with an interface book, tests ad access to additional special courses and clubs. View the full case study here

Job Finder App

The job finder app is designed to make job searching easier according to your requirement with just one click. View the full case study here

The movies app is an easy-to-use, minimalistic app that helps you spend less time searching and more watching. Based on your ratings and likes, the app is constantly improving to suggest movies and thematic selection that match your preference. View the full case study here

We hope these case studies can inspire you to design better user interface for your app project. If you enjoyed this article, please share it so that other UI designers and startup founders can find it! 🙏

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11 Inspiring UX Case Studies That Every Designer Should Study

A UX case study is a sort of detailed overview of a designer's work. They are often part of a UX designer's portfolio and showcase the designer's skill in managing tasks and problems. From a recruiter's perspective, such a UX portfolio shows the skill, insights, knowledge, and talent of the designer.

Therefore, UX case studies play an important role in the recruitment and demand for designers.

What Makes a Powerful Case Study

Building a UX case study includes showing the design process through compelling stories. They will use plain language to demonstrate how they handled key design issues, offering a comprehensive view of their process. Well done case studies often include:

• A  problem statement and solutions with real applications.
• Relevant numbers, data, or testimonials to demonstrate the work and efforts.
• A story that directly connects the problem to the solution.

Any competent UX professional will know that creating a stunning UX case study is about the little details.

11 Best UX Case Studies for Designers

The best way to understand what a good case study looks like is to go over other examples. Each of these UX case study examples shows a designer's insights, basic skills, and other designers' lessons learned through their experience.

1. Promo.com web editor

For this video-creation platform , UX designer Sascha was brought on to revamp v2.0, adding new features that could work alongside the existing UX design. The point was to work on interface details that would help create a user friendly platform, and that users could find simple enough to use.

User personas mapped by the UX designer revealed the most common confusion to be the process of inserting particular features into the video, such as subtitles. The designer's goal, therefore, was to create a platform with improved editor controls.

The designer then used a common text-editor layout to include top and side navigation bars that made it easy to access and implement text editing.

Key Learnings from Promo.com

This case study focuses on addressing a particular problem that customers were currently facing. Its main theme is to show a problem, and how the product designer addressed this problem. Its strength points include:

• clearly highlighting the problem (i.e. inaccessible and limited video-text editor options)
• conduction research to understand the nature of the problem and the kind of solutions customers want
• implementing research insights into the redesign to create a platform that actively served customer needs

2. Productivity tracker app

The main concept behind this UX case study is to address a pre-existing problem through the design of the app. Immediately from the start, the study highlights a common pain point among users: that of a lack of productivity due to device usage.

This UX case study example addressed some of the main problems within existing productivity apps included:a poor UI and UX that made navigation difficult

• a poorly-built information architecture
• limited functions on the mobile application

Key Learnings from the Productivity app case study

The case study highlights the simple design process that was then used to build the app. Wireframes were created, a moldboard developed, and finally, individual pages of the app were designed in line with the initial goals.

3. Postmates Unlimited

This case study clearly identifies the improvements made to the Postmates app in a simple overview before jumping into greater detail. The redesign goal, which it achieved, was to improve the experience and other interface details of the app.

The problems identified included:

• usability that led to high support ticket volume.
• technical app infrastructure issues that prevented scalability.
• lack of efficient product management, such as batching orders.

A UX research course can help understand the kind of research needed for a case study. The app redesign involved bringing couriers in and running usability testing on improvements. The final model, therefore, had input from real users on what worked and what caused issues.

Key Learnings from Postmates

The Postmates redesign works as a great UX case study for the simple way it approaches problem-solving. Following an overview of the work, it addresses the problems faced by users of the app. It then establishes research processes and highlights how changes were made to reduce these issues.

4. TV Guide

Addressing the fragmentation of content across channels, this case study sought to redesign how people consume media. The key problems identified included:

• the overabundance of content across various TV and streaming platforms
• the difficulty in discovering and managing content across all platforms

To deliver on the key goals of content personalization, smart recommendations, and offering cross-platform content search, the design process included conducting interviews, surveys, and checking customer reviews.

The design of TV Guide enables users to get custom recommendations sourced from friends' and family's watchlists.

Key Learnings from TV Guide

Like previous UX design case studies, this one tackled the issue head-on. Describing the research process, it goes into detail regarding the approach used by the UX designers to create the app. It takes readers on a journey, from identifying pain points, to testing solutions, and implementing the final version.

5. The FlexBox Inspector

Designer Victoria discusses how she developed the investigator tool for the Mozilla Firefox browser. Surveys into understanding the problems with the existing CSS Flexbox tool revealed a need for a user-friendly design. Interviews with a senior designer and other designers helped developers understand the features design-focused tools ought to have. A feature analysis revealed what most users look for in such tools.

The final result of the development process was a design that incorporated several new features, including:

• a new layout
• color-coded design
• multiple entry points to make workflow management efficient

Key Learnings from the Flexbox

This UX design case study starts with a clear goal, then addresses multiple user needs. It clearly defines the design process behind each feature developed by the time, and the reasoning for including that feature. To give a complete picture, it also discusses why certain features or processes were excluded.

6. The Current State of Checkouts

This Baymard UX design case study looks into the checkout process in over 70 e-commerce websites. Through competitive analysis, it isolates problem points in the UX design, which, if addressed, could improve the customer's checkout process.

The study found at least 31 common issues that were easily preventable. The study was designed and conducted on a large scale, over 12 years, to incorporate changing design patterns into the review.

Recommendations based on findings include:

• prominent guest checkout option
• simple password requirements
• specific delivery period
• price comparison tool for shipping vs store pickup

Key Learnings from Checkout Case Study

Each identified issue is backed up by data and research to highlight its importance. Further research backs up each recommendation made within the case study, with usability testing to support the idea. As far as UX case studies go, this one provides practical insight into an existing, widely used e-commerce feature, and offers practical solutions.

7. New York Times App

Using a creative illustration website, the designers proposed a landing page feature "Timely" that could counter the problems faced by the NYT app . Its major issues included too much irrelevant content, low usage, and undesirable coverage of content.

The goal behind Timely was to improve user incentives, build long-term loyalty, and encourage reading. Design mapping for the app covered:

• identifying the problem
• understanding audience needs
• creating wireframes
• designing and prototyping

The end result was an app that could help readers get notifications regarding news of interest at convenient moments (at breakfast, before bed). This encouraged interaction and improved readability with short-form articles.

Key Learnings from NYT App

The UX case study proposes a problem solution that works with an existing information architecture, instead adding custom graphics to the mobile app. It leads from a simple problem statement to discuss the project that could address these issues without changing was customers already loved.

UX case studies focused on redesign include the FitBit redesign, which started off by understanding personas and what users expect from a fitness tracker. Developing use cases and personas, Guerilla usability testing was employed to assess pain points.

These pain points were then ranked based on their importance to users and to app performance. They were addressed through:

• Highlighting essential parts and features of the app
• Changing easily missed icons to more recognizable icons
• relabelling tracking options to guide users better to its usage

Key Learnings from Fitbit

While the case study maps user experiences and offers solutions, it does not begin with an intensive research-based approach. The prototype is successful in testing, but problem factors are not identified with research-based statistics, meaning key factors could have been ignored.

9. Rating System UX

The designer behind the rating system UX redesign sought to solve issues with the 5-star rating system. Highlighted issues included:

• the lack of subjective accuracy of a 5-point rating system
• the issue of calculating the average of a zero-star rating
• average ratings are misleading

Better alternatives include:

• 5-star emoticon rating that relates the user experience
• Like/dislike buttons that make approval/disapproval simple

The final design incorporated both these styles to make full use of the rating system.

Key Learnings from Rating System UX

The UX case study stemmed from insight into the limitations of the existing rating system. The new design addressed old issues and incorporated better efficiencies.

The Intuit redesign was focused on making content readable, more engaging, and accessible. Looking into product personalization, the content was found to be lacking aesthetic value, as well as being hard to find. The goal was to create content that was easy to find, clear, and consistent.

The implemented solutions included:

• increased readability with increased body text and header spacing
• table of contents on the sidebar for easier navigation
• visible and prominent search bar
• illustrations and designs for pretty visuals

Key Learnings from Intuit

The Intuit case study approaches the problem from a practical point of view. It begins with isolating problems with the interface, in particular with the content. This is an example of a case study that breaks down problems into broader categories, and solves each problem with a practical solution.

This UX case study about a social platform tackles a commonly-faced problem from existing platforms. It addresses the issue of recognizing non-monetary user engagement, to help creators identify their user base.

The case study addresses the problem statement and establishes the design process (building wireframes and prototypes) as well as conducting user testing. The final result is to develop "Discover" pages, engaging layouts, and animated interactions to increase usability.

Key Learnings from Jambb

The study goes into detail regarding problem identification, then moves on to propose solutions that take into account the perspective of all stakeholders involved. It then explains why each design decision was made, and proves its efficacy through testing and prototyping.

Key Takeaways

Developing good UX case studies examples is as much about the details you include as the ones you leave out. Going over UX courses can give you a better understanding of what your case study should look like. A good case study should provide an overview of the problem, include numbers and statistics, and offer practical solutions that directly address the problem. The above-discussed UX case studies provide a good example of the dos and don'ts of a well-structured UX design case study that should be part of every UX portfolio .

Additional Resources

Check out these resources to learn more about UX case studies:

8 UX Case Studies to Read

UX Design Case Study

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15 excellent ux case studies every creative should read.

• By Sandra Boicheva
• October 21st, 2021

In a previous article, we talked about UX portfolios and how they carefully craft a story of how designers work. Interestingly enough, recruiters decide if a UX freelance designer or an agency is a good match within 5 minutes into the portfolio . In order to persuade these recruiters, the portfolio needs to present an appealing story that showcases the skill, the thought process, and the choices taken for key parts of the designs. With this in mind, today we’ll talk about UX case studies and give 15 excellent examples of case studies with compelling stories.

The Storytelling Approach in UX Case Studies

An essential part of the portfolio of a UX designer is the case studies that pack a showcase of the designer’s skills, way of thinking, insights in the form of compelling stories. These case studies are often the selling point as recruiters look for freelancers and agencies who can communicate their ideas through design and explain themselves in a clear and appealing way. So how does this work?

Photography by Alvaro Reyes

Just like with every other story, UX case studies also start with an introduction, have a middle, and end with a conclusion .

• Introduction: This UX case study example starts with a design brief and presents the main challenges and requirements. In short, the UX designer presents the problem, their solution, and their role.
• Middle: The actual story of the case study example explains the design process and the techniques used. This usually starts with obstacles, design thinking, research, and unexpected challenges. All these elements lead to the best part of the story: the action part. It is where the story unveils the designer’s insights, ideas, choices, testing, and decisions.
• Conclusion: The final reveal shows the results and gives space for reflection where the designer explains what they’ve learned, and what they’ve achieved.

Now as we gave you the introduction, let’s get to the main storyline and enjoy 15 UX case studies that tell a compelling story.

1. Car Dealer Website for Mercedes-Benz Ukraine by Fulcrum

This case study is a pure pleasure to read. It’s well-structured, easy to read, and still features all the relevant information one needs to understand the project. As the previous client’s website was based on the official Mercedes Benz template, Fulcrum had to develop an appealing and functional website that would require less time to maintain, be more user-friendly, and increase user trust.

• Intro: Starts with a summary of the task.
• Problem: Lists the reasons why the website needs a redesign.
• Project Goals: Lists the 4 main goals with quick summaries.
• Project: Showcases different elements of the website with desktop and mobile comparison.
• Functionality: Explains how the website functionality helps clients to find, and order spare parts within minutes.
• Admin Panel: Lists how the new admin panel helps the client customize without external help.
• Elements: Grid, fonts, colors.
• Tech Stack: Shows the tools used for the backend, mobile, admin panel, and cloud.
• Client review: The case study ends with a 5-star review by the marketing director of Mercedes Benz Ukraine, Olga Belova.

This case study is an example of a detailed but easy to scan and read story from top to bottom, featuring all relevant information and ending on the highest note: the client’s review.

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2. Galaxy Z Flips 5G Website by DFY

This is a big project that covers every aspect of the website, including the UX strategy. The creative studio aimed to fully illustrate and demonstrate the significant upgrades over previous models and to enable two-way communication with the customers through an interactive experience.

• Intro: Summary of the project and roles.
• Interactive Experience: The main project goal.
• Demonstration: Explains the decision to feature 360-degree views and hands-on videos instead of technical terms.
• Screens: Includes high-quality screenshots of significant pages and features.
• Ecosystem: Highlight a page with easy navigation across different products as a marketing decision that makes cross-selling seamless.
• Essentials: Showcases a slider of all products with key features that provide ample information.
• Showroom: Interactive experience that helps the user “play around” with the product.
• Credits: As a conclusion, DFY features the stakeholders involved.

A strong presentation of a very ambitious project. It keeps the case study visual while still providing enough insight into the thought process and the most important decisions.

3. Jambb Social Platform by Finna Wang

Here we have a beautiful case study for a platform that aims to help creators grow their communities by recognizing and rewarding their base of supporters. It tackles a curious problem that 99% of fans who contribute in non-monetary ways don’t get the same content, access, and recognition they deserve. This means the creators need a way to identify their fans across all social platforms to grow their business and give recognition. To get a clear picture of what the design has to accomplish, Finna Wang conducted stakeholder interviews with the majority of the client’s team.

• Intro: Listing roles, dates, team, and used tools.
• Project Overview: The main concept and the reasons behind it.
• Exploration: What problem will the platform solve, preliminary research, and conclusions from the research.  The section includes the project scope and problem statement.
• Design Process: A thorough explanation of the discoveries and the exact steps.
• User Flows:  3 user flows based on common tasks that the target user/fan would do on the site.
• Design Studio: Visualization process with wireframes, sitemap, prototypes.
• Design Iterations: The designer highlights the iterations they were primary behind.
• Style Guide: Typography, colors, visual elements breakdown.
• Usability Testing: Beta site vs Figma prototype; usertesting.com, revised problem statement.
• Prototype: Features an accessible high fidelity prototype in Figma you can view.
• Takeaways: Conclusions.

An extremely detailed professionally made and well-structured UX case study. It goes a step further by listing specific conclusions from the conducted research and featuring an accessible Figma prototype.

4. Memento Media by Masha Keyhani

This case study is dedicated to a very interesting project for saving family stories. It aims to help users capture and record memories from their past. To do so, the design team performed user research and competitive analysis. The entire project took a 6-week sprint.

• Overview: Introducing the client and the purpose of the app.
• My Role: Explaining the roles of the designer and their team.
• Design Process: A brief introduction of the design process and the design toolkit
• Home: The purpose of the Homepage and the thought process behind it.
• Question Selection: The decision behind this screen.
• Recording Process: Building the recording feature and the decisions behind it.
• User research: a thorough guide with the main focuses, strategies, and competitor analysts, including interviews.
• Research Objectives: The designer gives the intent of their research, the demographics, synthesis, and usability testing insights.
• Propositions: Challenges and solutions
• User Flow: Altering the user flow based on testing and feedback.
• Wireframes: Sketches, Lo-Fi wireframing.
• Design System: Typography, colors, iconography, design elements.
• The Prototype: It shows a preview of the final screens.

This UX study case is very valuable for the insights it presents. The design features a detailed explanation of the thinking process, the research phase, analysts, and testing which could help other creatives take some good advice from it for their future research.

5. Perfect Recipes App by Tubik

Here we have a UX case study for designing a simple mobile app for cooking, recipes, and food shopping. It aims to step away from traditional recipe apps by creating something more universal for users who love cooking with extended functionality. The best idea behind it is finding recipes based on what supplies the user currently has at home.

• Intro: Introducing the concept and the team behind it.
•  Project: What they wanted to make and what features would make the app different than the competitors.
• UI design: The decisions behind the design.
• Personalization: Explaining how the app gives the user room for personalization and customizing the features according to their personal preferences.
• Recipe Cards and Engaging Photos: The decisions behind the visuals.
• Cook Now feature: Explaining the feature.
• Shopping List: Explaining the feature.
• Pantry feature:  The idea to sync up the app with AmazonGo services. This case study section features a video.
• Bottom Line: What the team learned.

This UX case study is a good example of how to present your concept if you have your own idea for an app. You could also check the interactive preview of the app here .

6. SAM App by Mike Wilson

The client is the Seattle Art Museum while the challenge is to provide engaging multimedia content for users as well as self-guided tours. Mile Wilson has to create an experience that will encourage repeat visits and increase events and exhibition attendance.

• Intro: Listing time for the project, team members, and roles.
• The Client: A brief introduction of Seattle Art Museum
• The Challenge: What the app needs to accomplish.
• Research and Planning: Explaining the process for gathering insights, distributing surveys, interviews, and identifying specific ways to streamline the museum experience.
• Sloane: Creating the primary persona. This includes age, bio, goals, skills, and frustrations.
• Designing the Solution: Here the case study features the results of their research, information architecture, user flows, early sketching, paper prototypes, and wireframes.
• Conclusion: Explaining the outcome, what the team would have done differently, what’s next, and the key takeaways.

What we can take as a valuable insight aside from the detailed research analysis, is the structure of the conclusion. Usually, most case studies give the outcome and preview screens. However, here we have a showcase of what the designer has learned from the project, what they would do differently, and how they can improve from the experience.

7. Elmenus Case Study

This is a case study by UX designers Marwa Kamaleldin, Mario Maged, Nehal Nehad, and Abanoub Yacoub for redesigning a platform with over 6K restaurants. It aims to help users on the territory of Egypt to find delivery and dine-out restaurants.

• Overview: What is the platform, why the platform is getting redesigned, what is the target audience. This section also includes the 6 steps of the team’s design process.
• User Journey Map: A scheme of user scenarios and expectations with all phases and actions.
• Heuristic Evaluation: Principles, issues, recommendations, and severity of the issues of the old design.
• First Usability Testing: Goals, audience, and tasks with new user scenarios and actions based on the heuristic evaluation. It features a smaller section that lists the most severe issues from usability for the old design.
• Business Strategy: A comprehensive scheme that links problems, objectives, customer segment, measurements of success, and KPIs.
• Solutions: Ideas to solve all 4 issues.
• Wireframes: 4 directions of wireframes.
• Styleguide: Colors, fonts, typeface, components, iconography, spacing method.
• Design: Screens of the different screens and interactions.
• Second Usability Testing: Updated personas, scenarios, and goals. The section also features before-and-after screenshots.
• Outcome: Did the team solve the problem or not.

A highly visual and perfectly structured plan and process for redesigning a website. The case study shows how the team discovers the issues with the old design and what decisions they made to fix these issues.

8. LinkedIn Recruiter Tool by Evelynma

A fresh weekend project exploring the recruiting space of LinkedIn to find a way to help make it easier for recruiters to connect with ideal candidates.

• Background Info: What made the designer do the project.
• Problem and Solution: A good analysis of the problem followed by the designer’s solution.
• Process: This section includes an analysis of interviewing 7 passive candidates, 1 active candidate, 3 recruiters, and 1 hiring manager. The designer also includes their journey map of the recruiting experience, a sketch of creating personas, and the final 3 personas.
• Storyboard and User Flow Diagrams: The winning scenario for Laura’s persona and user flow diagram.
• Sketches and Paper Prototypes: Sticky notes for paper prototypes for the mobile experience.
• Visual Design: Web and mobile final design following the original LinkedIn pattern.
• Outcome: Explaining the opportunity.

This is an excellent UX case study when it comes to personal UX design projects. creating a solution to a client’s problem aside, personal project concepts is definitely something future recruiters would love to see as it showcases the creativity of the designers even further.

9. Turbofan Engine Diagnostics by Havana Nguyen

The UX designer and their team had to redesign some legacy diagnostics software to modernize the software, facilitate data transfers from new hardware, and improve usability. They built the desktop and mobile app for iOS and Android.

• Problem: The case study explain the main problem and what the team had to do to solve it.
• My Role: As a lead UX designer on a complicated 18-month project, Havana Nguyen had a lot of work to do, summarized in a list of 5 main tasks.
• Unique Challenges: This section includes 4 main challenges that made the project so complex. ( Btw, there’s a photo of sketched wireframes literally written on the wall.)
• My Process: The section includes a description of the UX design process highlighted into 5 comprehensive points.
• Final Thoughts: What the designer has learned for 18 months.

The most impressive thing about this case study is that it manages to summarize and explain well an extremely complex project. There are no prototypes and app screens since it’s an exclusive app for the clients to use.

10. Databox by FireArt

A very interesting project for Firearts’s team to solve the real AL & ML challenges across a variety of different industries. The Databox project is about building scalable data pipeline infrastructure & deploy machine learning and artificial intelligence models.

• Overview: The introduction of the case study narrows down the project goal, the great challenge ahead, and the solution.
• How We Start: The necessary phases of the design process to get an understanding of a product.
• User Flow: The entire scheme from the entry point through a set of steps towards the final action of the product.
• Wireframes: A small selection of wireframe previews after testing different scenarios.
• Styleguide: Typography, colors, components.
• Visual Design: Screenshots in light and dark mode.

A short visual case study that summarizes the huge amount of work into a few sections.

11. Travel and Training by Nikitin Team

Here’s another short and sweet case study for an app with a complete and up-to-date directory of fitness organizations in detailed maps of world cities.

• Overview: Explaining the project.
• Map Screen : Outlining the search feature by categories.
• Profiles: Profile customization section.
• Fitness Clubs: Explaining the feature.
• Icons: A preview of the icons for the app.
• App in Action: A video of the user experience.

This case study has fewer sections, however, it’s very easy to read and comprehend.

12. Carna by Ozmo

Ozmo provides a highly visual case study for a mobile application and passing various complexities of courses. The main goal for the UX designer is to develop a design and recognizable visual corporate identity with elaborate illustrations.

• Intro: A visual project preview with a brief description of the goal and role.
• Identity: Colors, fonts, and logo.
• Wireframes: The thinking process.
• Interactions: Showcase of the main interactions with animated visuals.
• Conclusion: Preview of the final screens.

The case study is short and highly visual, easy to scan and comprehend. Even without enough insight and text copy, we can clearly understand the thought process behind and what the designer was working to accomplish.

13. An Approach to Digitization in Education by Moritz Oesterlau

This case study is for an online platform for challenge-based learning. The designer’s role was to create an entire product design from research to conception, visualization, and testing. It’s a very in-depth UX case study extremely valuable for creatives in terms of how to structure the works in their portfolio.

• Intro: Introducing the client, project time, sector, and the designer’s role.
• Competitive Analysis: the case study starts off with the process of creating competitive profiles. It explains the opportunities and challenges of e-learning that were taken into consideration.
• Interviews and Surveys: Listing the goals of these surveys as well as the valuable insights they found.
• Building Empathy: The process and defining the three target profiles and how will the project cater to their needs. This section includes a PDF of the user personas.
• Structure of the Course Curriculum: Again with the attached PDF files, you can see the schemes of the task model and customer experience map.
• Information Architecture: The defined and evaluated sitemap for TINIA
• Wireframing, Prototyping, and Usability Testing :  An exploration of the work process with paper and clickable prototypes.
• Visual Design: Styleguide preview and detailed PDF.
• A/B and Click Tests: Reviewing the usability assumptions.
• Conclusion: A detailed reflection about the importance of the project, what the designer learned, and what the outcome was.

This is a very important case study and there’s a lot to take from it. First, the project was too ambitious and the goal was too big and vague. Although the result is rather an approximation and, above all, at the conceptual level requires further work, the case study is incredibly insightful, informative, and insightful.

14. In-class Review Game by Elizabeth Lin

This project was never realized but the case study remains and it’s worth checking out. Elizabeth Lin takes on how to create an engaging in-class review game with a lot of research, brainstorming, and a well-structured detailed process.

• Intro: What makes the project special.
• Research: Explaining how they approached the research and what they’ve learned.
• Brainstorming: the process and narrowing all How Might We questions to one final question: How might we create an engaging in-class math review game.
• Game Loop and Storyboarding: Sketch of the core game loop and the general flow of the game.
• Prototyping: Outlining basic game mechanics and rounds in detail.
• Future Explorations: The case study goes further with explorations showing how the product could look if we expanded upon the idea even further.
• What Happened?:  The outcome of the project.

This case study tells the story of the project in detail and expands on it with great ideas for future development.

15. Virtual Makeup Studio by Zara Dei

And for our last example, this is a case study that tells the story of an app-free shippable makeover experience integrated with the Covergirl website. The team has to find a way to improve conversion by supporting customers in their purchase decisions as well as to increase basket size by encouraging them to buy complementary products.

• Intro: Introducing the project and the main challenges.
• Discovery and Research: Using existing product information on the website to improve the experience.
• Onboarding and Perceived Performance: Avoiding compatibility issues and the barrier of a user having to download an app. The section explains the ideas for features that will keep users engaged, such as a camera with face scan animation.
• Fallback Experience and Error States: Providing clear error messaging along with troubleshooting instructions.
• Interactions: explaining the main interactions and the decisions behind them.
• Shared Design Language: Explaining the decision to provide links on each product page so users could be directed to their preferred retailer to place their order. Including recommended products to provide users with alternatives.
• Outcome and Learning: The good ending.
• Project Information: Listing all stakeholders, the UX designer’s role in a bullet list, and design tools.

In Conclusion

These were the 15 UX case studies we wanted to share with you as they all tell their story differently. If we can take something valuable about what are the best practices for making an outstanding case study, it will be something like this.

Just like with literature, storytelling isn’t a blueprint: you can write short stories, long in-depth analyses, or create a visual novel to show your story rather than tell. The detailed in-depth UX case studies with lots of insights aren’t superior to the shorter visual ones or vice versa. What’s important is for a case study to give a comprehensive view of the process, challenges, decisions, and design thinking behind the completed project .

In conclusion, a UX case study should always include a summary; the challenges; the personas; roles and responsibilities; the process; as well as the outcomes, and lessons learned.

Video Recap

Take a look at the special video we’ve made to visualize and discuss the most interesting and creative ideas implemented in the case studies.

In the meantime, why not browse through some more related insights on web development and web design?

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Top 6 Mobile app Development Case Studies by Expert App Devs

Table of content

The evolving tech landscape will continue to scale and grow in 2024. In 2022, 255 billion mobile apps were downloaded by the users globally. The global revenue is estimated to reach $613 billion by 2025.

If you are planning a mobile app in 2024, this is the right time to invest in one. Moreover, you must implement the current trends and latest technologies to augment your application.

The emerging trends include:

• AI and ML algorithms to build hyper-personalized solutions for better security.
• AR to improve immersive experiences. You can overlay the digital components in the real environment to create extensive experience in shopping and gaming applications.
• Beacon technology can help create real-time and localized deals personalized the user preferences.

It is crucial to identify the exact trends that can make your application thrive and engaging for the users.

Our team has worked on several experiential solutions that have offered exceptional results to the end clients. We have curated a few case studies aligned with the new-age mobile app development landscape.

These mobile app development case studies will help you realize the importance of new technologies in enhancing mobile applications. It will also help build compelling solutions for the end users.

App Case Study 1: How a Client Enhanced Patient Outcomes By Using AI and Predictive Analytics in Healthcare App Development?

Patients with chronic and complex health conditions require regular monitoring. Doctors and caregivers must maintain historical data to analyse the conditions and offer personalised treatment plans.

The Client’s Requirement

The healthcare client wanted a solution to help them maintain data records and acquire insights from them. They also wanted help with customising the treatment plans. Additionally, they wanted to ensure proper and accessible care to the patients.

The Solution We Offered

After brainstorming and discussions with in-house tech experts and business analysts, we suggested AI in healthcare app development .

We built a solution that used AI algorithms and data analytics to collect, clean and analyse the data. This included sensors, medical records and diverse sensors. We created specific algorithms and data analytics programs that could help create actionable insights using the data.

We used data such as diagnosis, treatment, medication, lifestyle and preferences to offer personalised plans. Moreover, the algorithms also automated the communication and collaboration of the caregivers with family.

The caregivers could make more informed decisions and provide accurate solutions with the data.

The Impact It Created

• The healthcare system became efficient owing to inherent automation and reduced workload.
• With timely and accurate diagnosis and personalised treatment plans, the application managed to enhance patient outcomes.
• Smart allocation of resources, which led to better management and effective care.
• The caregivers could identify the patients at risk of developing a chronic condition with the data. They can take preventive measures and help these patients.
• The app improved industry innovation and competitiveness by leveraging the latest technologies, data, and best practices.

Testimonials

• We were looking for an application that could help us manage our records and personalize treatment plans. Expert App Devs designed the perfect solution for us.
• Our team of doctors were facing issues keeping up with the patient’s history. This impacted their collaborations and delayed the treatment. Expert App Devs helped us implement a solution that helped automate record sharing and information transfer. As a result, we were able to collaborate better and increase the treatment speed.

App Case Study 2: How AR and XR in Game App Developed Levelled Up User Experiences?

The game apps should work on more realistic environments and mechanics to increase the user’s involvement. You must be authentic when recreating specific environments or simulating real-world environments. Acute representation of the real world can improve emotional connection and heighten the user’s response.

The client wanted to add realistic graphics and sound to draw a more immersive and engaging environment. They wanted to make it more authentic for the users and create an emotional connection.

We introduced Augmented Reality with Extended Reality to overlay the digital elements in the real world. We added characters, objects and effects to the real-world environment to create a step by step more immersive and engaging environment.

We increased the authenticity of the solution by allowing the realities to enhance the user’s senses. This will allow the players to explore their surroundings and engage in location-based gaming solutions. The app also leveraged features such as scanning and mapping to enable better interactions.

• By using XR and AR in gaming industry, the client was able to create natural and intuitive interactions. This improved engagement from UI UX design.
• Realities in gaming apps foster shared experiences in multi-user environments. As a result, it augments social interactions and collaborative play.
• The client must use the data produced by AR and XR to create more contextual gameplay. This helped increase the user's experience.
• The client can create more user-centric and cohesive gaming experiences with the latest trends and best practices.
• We wanted to make sure our gamers stay on the app longer and enjoy the game. Expert App Devs built the perfect environment using Augmented Reality. This allowed the user to enjoy location-specific gaming environments, which increased the downloads for us.
• We had a game idea where the real and digital worlds overlapped. When we presented this idea to the team at Expert App Devs, they managed to execute the solution beautifully. They chose the right environments, understood the users and ensured smooth interactions.

App Case Study 3: A Groundbreaking Case Study on Securing Transactions with Blockchain and 5G Innovation

Financial transactions involve sensitive information. It is crucial to keep the data secure and private. The application must prevent unauthorised access to the data. There is a need to build trust and confidence among users using robust security measures.

The client offered financial services to their users. They needed to ensure that the transactions within the app were fast and reliable. A lot of data needs to be stored. It is important to find a more secure and authentic way for users to interact with the app.

We used the latest technologies Blockchain and 5G to enable transparency and security. With Blockchain in finance, we decentralised and distributed the ledgers that handled the records and verified transactions. This technology also helped us establish security and transparency via encryption and smart contracts.

As the client also wanted to ensure fast transactions, we implemented 5G technology. This allowed high-speed and low-latency connectivity. As a result, the transactions were efficient, high-speed and convenient to the users of our client.

• Transactions recorded on the Blockchain technology in finance are linked with the tamper-resistant chain. As a result, they are immutable. It is impossible to manipulate or change them. This improved transparency.
• 5G in finance allowed for high connectivity and speed. This resulted in low latency and quick plus reliable transactions.
• Moreover, the combination enabled more convenient and cost-effective solutions for the users. This also helped in improving the engagement within the application.
• Expert App Devs have made our lives easier with this solution. Now, our users can access the application easily and move through the transactions faster. Moreover, they don’t hesitate to use the app as they know their data is safe. 
• We are so happy with this mobile application that the team built for us. It is the perfect app that solved all our problems.

App Case Study 4: Fostering Innovation in Retail with Beacon and Personalization to Enhance Customer Loyalty

Customers are smarter in the tech-driven era. The “one size fits all” no longer works in retail. Moreover, this approach poses difficulty in product discovery and engagement. As customer loyalty is of utmost importance, retail shopping apps should be more user-centric.

The client wanted an in-depth understanding of their potential customers. They wanted to dig deeper than the demographics to help them with the right product recommendations. Moreover, they were looking for customer loyalty, which results from personalized deals and rewards. They were looking for a solution that could help them build an engaging and enjoyable shopping application.

We use data analytics and beacon technology to help build insights and offer real-time deals. Using data analytics, we could easily seclude unnecessary information. We could build customer profiles and segment them based on their behaviour, patterns, and preferences.

This helped the client personalize the shopping app to meet the profile’s requirements. They could offer more personalized deals and reward systems.

Using Beacon, we helped them build real-time campaigns for the customers. This technology allowed them to communicate with users within proximity and provide them with contextual data.

The location-based recommendations helped the users make quick and effective decisions.

• The personalization element helped the client cross-sell or upsell products that users are more likely to purchase
• As the users received personalized experiences, they could relate to the brand. This helped the client build a strong relationship with their users resulting in loyalty.
• Using the data that they received from the customer’s shopping habits, the brand could manage their inventory. They could also create effective and conversion-driven marketing strategies.
• As the recommendations were timely and relevant to the users, they purchased more often from the brand. This resulted in increased conversions and more profits.
• What we loved about the team was the professionalism. They made sure they understood everything before moving ahead with the application development.
• It was incredible working with Expert App Devs. We just told them how we were facing customer loyalty issues with the application. They suggested some additions to the app. Today, we are blessed with a good amount of retention.

App Case Study 5: Play, Collaborate and Conquer- Unveiling the Magic of Chatbots and Social Features for Game App Development

There should be a return value to every game app that can increase engagement. Moreover, it is important to build a strong player community that can help improve the discoverability of the application. In a competitive environment, game apps should come with a longer life span.

The client was looking to build a social camaraderie and improve their shared experiences with the gaming application. They wanted to ensure that the users were engaged with the content and stayed on the app longer. Moreover, they wanted to offer interactive gaming experiences to people who loved to compete and connect.

They understood the only way to build this would be through multiplayer opportunities and interesting challenges.

We implemented social media features into their gaming application to increase the competition among the players. This allowed us to prepare leaderboards, show them the progress of other people in their social communities.

We also encouraged community building that would help build more communication and engagement among the users. With this community, people could share their game stories, share tricks and offer gaming tips to the people. Social features also allow users to communicate in real-time using voice or text.

We also implemented chatbots in the gaming app. This allowed the users to gain immediate user friendly guidance or support as needed. It also helped the app create challenges personalized to the user’s requirements and performance.

• The players could collaborate on missions using the multi-player mode with social features. It helped improve the gaming experience.
• Leaderboards on social platforms allow healthy competition among individuals. It also helped increase engagement.
• Chat and voice messaging allowed users to communicate with each other. Players began to feel they were playing together in the real world with the communication features.
• Social also allowed them to share the game app with other friends, increasing the virality.
• Chatbots were a game changer as they helped the players with real-time solutions. Moreover, they made the game competitive with personalised challenges.
• Te game app could send notifications relevant to the users using the Chatbots. This increased the engagement and return value for the application.
• The social features were an incredible addition to our multi-player gaming application. Our users love it, and we have built a huge customer base with these features.
• Our game users love the chatbots and the hints they give. It keeps them engaged in the app. We are totally satisfied with the solution Expert App Devs built for us.

App Case Study 6: How AI and Motion Design Combined to Transform Visual Storytelling?

Creativity and personalisation can enable photo and video applications to create beautiful and experiential memories. It will increase the app’s engagement and help users create unique and timeless content.

The users had to go through a tedious editing process before they could make the photo usable. Moreover, finding a particular photo/video from the vast library was difficult. It could make the entire sharing process time-consuming owing to the standard tagging process.

Moreover, every user has a specific style or expression. Most photo video apps use a similar approach theory.

This resulted in lacklustre engagement. the client wanted to ensure users could enjoy speed, unique filters and creative content. This would help them connect better with the app.

We explored AI technology with motion design to improve the content creation process. We implemented AI to understand the user’s preferences, app usage and feedback. It also allowed us to identify the trends.

We could incorporate smart editing and filtering options, unique to the user’s requirements using this technology. We automated the editing tasks and improved photo tagging for quick discoverability and sharing. This allowed us to implement extensive animations to the application.

• With AI, users could experiment with a wide range of creative and artistic expressions. This improved the content creation and sharing process.
• Automating editing and organising the photos allowed users to get polished and professional content. This increased their experiences in the app.
• Diverse options and animations improved the uniqueness of the application.
• We shared our issues with the team at Expert App Devs. They worked on the solution that resolved all the problems and helped us increase the conversions.
• We wanted to increase the user engagement. The team understood what needs to be done and executed it within the timeline. Improved pain points!

These mobile app development case study are a great way to understand how mobile apps have evolved. It also explains how latest technologies can add an element to your application and problems solving.

We have experience implementing trending technologies such as Blockchain, AI, AR and VR to augment your application. Our solutions have helped our clients improve user experiences, resulting in satisfied customers for us.

The team at Expert App Devs is proficient with latest mobile app technologies and trends. Using the best methodologies and development approaches, we translate your ideas into exceptional solutions.

Our team has executed more than 500+ app solutions. Our strength lies in transforming the idea into a unique and innovative app solution.

Whether you want to create an app clone or execute a new idea, our team is by your side. You can connect with our team to convert your idea into an innovative solution. Free Trial Available on Dedicated Hiring!

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Responsible for creating a sales funnel, attracting top-of-the-funnel customers, and converting the target market.

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10 Amazing Case Study Design Examples

March 16, 2023

Words by Jeff Cardello

Wondering how to grow your business? Our favorite case study design examples will definitely spark a few lightbulb moments.

For agencies, one of the most effective ways to communicate your technical expertise, problem-solving skills, and professional knowledge is to show how you’ve put this all into action in real-world examples of your work. For SaaS companies, case studies are your chance to share how your product provides value to successful customers and clients.

Case study designs should be as uniquely bold and creative as the services or products you offer. This is where no-code tools like Vev are invaluable. Using pre-coded design components, interactive case studies are easy to build and publish in as little as two hours. Let’s take a look at the basics of case study design and some stunning examples.

Why is Case Study Design Important?

Think of case studies as the chance to tell stories about how valuable your service or product is. It’s an opportunity to lead prospective clients and customers through a relatable use case, culminating in how you can help them meet— or even exceed—their goals. Case studies give freelancers and agencies the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, and SaaS companies the chance to showcase their product for various use cases. Case studies are proof of the value of your work or product.

As a reflection of your expertise and creative prowess, you’ll want to think careful about your case study design. Good design doesn’t only make for a visually engaging piece of content; it enhances the functionality and can help support your authority. You’ll find that the best case study design examples will have a few things in common:

• They are visually captivating . All good case study designs will include a combination of photo, video, and illustrations or charts to tell a story of their clients’ success. Rather than just relying on text, these visual aids back-up any claims being made as well as visually capturing the attention of readers.
• They are laser focused. With case study design, there’s no room for filler. Copy is clear and concise, offering explanations about the customer’s goals, as well as the tools, techniques, and skills used to achieve these. You’ll notice most case studies follow a fool-proof structure: establish the client problem, present the solution, explore the benefits and value delivered.
• They tell a story. Often, a chronology of the work process that takes people through what happened at each stage. Some case studies even use horizontal scrolling timelines to showcase this in a more imaginative way.
• They hammer home ROI. case studies are full of data on how the project or product succeeded in meeting the client’s goals or objectives. From animated charts to number counters , this is another opportunity to make sure your design pops and draws attention to the core impact of your service or product.
• They drive action. good case studies urge website visitors to take further actions, such as book a call or demo, get in touch, purchase your product, or book your services. These are usually included in the case study design as a button , brightly colored and prominent placed to grab attention and make next steps clear.

10 Case Study Design Examples

There are so many ways to put together a case study — and as a reflection of your brand, you’ll want to get creative with it. We’re going to take you through several case study design examples that manage to capture what went on behind the scenes in ways that is both informative and visually engaging.

Vev - Decimal

Giving real-world examples of how people use your products is a great way to demonstrate their value. We put together this case study on how Decimal uses Vev for interactive prototyping. As a creative agency that utilizes 3D animations and video in their web projects, it’s essential that clients grasp how complex interactivity will work up front. This case study focuses on how important Vev is for Decimal to explore and communicate interactivity internally and with clients in the early stages of a project.

Along with telling the story about how Decimal uses Vev, we also included plenty of action-packed visuals in the form of screen captures, animations, horizontal scrolling, and micro-interactions that make this a lively and engaging case study design.

DFY - Galaxy Z7 FLIP3 5G

Writing a case study lets you go in-depth into the strategy and reasoning that guided your work. In this case study DFY talks about what went into creating a website for the Galaxy Z Flip3 5G phone. It covers the marketing goals and the decisions DFY made for the visuals of this design that would show people why they should buy it.

DFY was tasked with creating a design that showed that the Galaxy Z Flip3 5G wasn’t a throwback to the clunky days of flip phones, but rather a sleek and modern reimagining. Much of this case study goes into the visuals and 360-view animations they created and how they were used to highlight this product’s main features. 

What’s impressive isn’t just the beautiful visuals they created for the Galaxy Z Flip3 5G website, but this case study itself. It echoes the same creative approach with a space full of brilliant effects and interactivity making it one of the most visually compelling case study design examples we’ve come across.

Publicis Norway - Burger King Spicy Whopper

Case study design examples can range from huge and expansive reads covering every bit of minutiae about a project, or they may provide just enough context and background in understanding what was behind it.

The Norwegian arm of international media and tech agency Publicis specializes in PR, marketing, and video production. This case study they made in Vev for the Burger King Spicy Whopper succeeds with minimal text, taking a highly visual approach. They let the video they made speak for itself, demonstrating to potential clients their creative skills with a video that captures the burger’s heat in a way that’s offbeat and ridiculous in just the right ways.

Orizon - LoveTheSales 

When discussing something like a rebrand, you want to explain why it was necessary, show what needed to be changed, and demonstrate how it succeeded. In this case study Orizon gives plenty of background into why the e-commerce website LoveTheSales wanted to change things up. There are numerous examples throughout of problem areas in terms of UI and UX, and what Orizon did to address these issues.

Orizon’s rebranding for LoveTheSales met its objectives, as demonstrated throughout this case study with metrics as well as quantitative insights showing the positive outcomes of Orizon’s work. With fade-in animations and a custom cursor, this colorful case study design example keeps readers scrolling to the end.

Colin Reitz - Marine Data Platform

If you’re a designer, writer, programmer, or in another type of creative field, having a portfolio website is essential in getting your work out there in front of prospective clients and employers. Case studies can be a big part of demonstrating your talents, skills, and knowledge. 

Colin Reitz is a designer with a multidisciplinary skill set that touches UI and UX design, strategy, and technology. In this case study made in Vev, he explains how he created the Marine Data Platform which is a collaborative and interactive web app that collects data gathered from oceanic sensors.

If it sounds like there are a dizzying number of moving parts to this application, you would be right, but Colin doesn’t let the complexities of this project get in the way. With an easy to follow layout and screenshots of the work he completed, it’s immediately easy to see how much work Colin put into the project. The use of image carousels even keeps the page short and relevant visuals grouped together. We love seeing case study design examples like Colin’s that distill a large amount of information in a way that is easy to understand and looks good.

Miracle Next - Prehistoric Chef

We love seeing case study design examples that not only highlight talents and expertise, but capture the creative sensibilities of those behind them. Miracle Next is a game development studio with a focus on 3D modeling. This case study for the game Prehistoric Chef has a nice balance between visuals that demonstrate their skills as artists, as well as text that gives a glimpse into their creative process.

Whether it’s the cast of prehistoric characters or the different types of food you’ll juggle in preparing the dishes that are a part of the gameplay, all of the artwork has a sense of consistency and personality. The rough drawings of the artwork are also a nice touch, showing how they transformed simple renderings into fully fleshed-out three-dimensional characters.

Dragonfly - Natural History Museum

Dragonfly worked with the National History Museum in producing a fun animated short about bugs aimed at kids. This case study showcases the storyboards, illustrations, character designs, and scriptwriting that went into creating it.

Case study design examples like this one aren’t only important in communicating the steps you took in completing a project, but serve an important marketing role. This case study shines due to its navigation. While it could be complicated in some instances to have multiple CTAs, Dragonfly makes sure that each section showcases a service they offer, linking readers directly from that section to the service they are most interested in. When you offer so much, this is a smart way to capture all prospective clients and make it easy for them to learn more about what they want to know, rather than overwhelming them with irrelevant information.

OH Partners - Arizona Lottery

In the advertising industry case studies are essential in showing how an agency’s work helps its clients in meeting their goals. Providing examples from successful marketing campaigns, along with numbers representing their positive results goes far in showing prospective clients the value of what advertising agencies do.

OH Partners , launched a campaign for the Arizona Lottery that went far in building awareness and excitement about it. They hired actor Jon Ennis, known for his work on Better Call Saul and Mr. Show as the bearded old-timey prospector, and produced several hilarious and weird spots.

This case study features images and videos from this marketing campaign, as well as data in the form of big and bold text showing how lottery sales went up, how social media likes increased, the dollar amounts of earned media, as well as numerous awards their work received.

Joy Pepper - Nextdoor

Nextdoor features stylized depictions of people from a diversity of backgrounds that add a sense of warmth and humanity to its website and app. Joy Pepper is the artist responsible for these amazing illustrations, and we love seeing case study design examples like this that go in-depth into the creative process.

Joy Pepper recounts her work in coming up with these illustrations in a case study full of wonderful details and sketches. From finding inspiration in real life, her first drawings, and the concept boards she put together, to the final versions of the icons and other artwork you get a glimpse into every step of her creative process.

Aucadian - GoLoop

It’s no secret that we’re fans of storytelling , and we love seeing case study design examples that take you along a journey from the initial spark of an idea to product launch.

GoLoop is a fleet management app, and this detailed case study begins with scribbles on a whiteboard and ends with screenshots of its sophisticated GPS-based app. From analyzing what problems it should solve and branding ideas to design elements like component libraries, typography style sheets, and color schemes this is a comprehensive look at everything that was involved in building this application.

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Feeling inspired to create your own cutting-edge case study? Vev makes it easy to put one together so that you can broadcast your talents and products with the world. With a host of powerful tools, layout options, immersive effects, and animations all easy to access in Vev’s drag-and-drop interface, creating for the web has never been easier. Publish your creation anywhere when you’re done — including to your existing website.

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From Idea to App Store: A Design Sprint Case Study

Take a look at the process of designing a successful app.

Jonathan Courtney

If you’ve ever worked on an app, you can only dream of that feeling of pure joy when you open the App Store and see your app featured on the homepage. Then you open Product Hunt and it’s featured there too! The app was the brand-new, rebuild from the ground up version of Kevin Rose ’s meditation app ‘ Oak ’, which myself and my colleagues at AJ&Smart were lucky enough to work on. I was personally a little worried about the redesign being taken badly (people often don’t like change) but the response was overwhelmingly positive.

I rarely get a chance to show people exactly how we design products at AJ&Smart because many of the products we work on are under heavy NDA, but Kevin kindly agreed to let me show everything!

Don’t feel like reading? Fine with me! I made a video of the entire process! Probably good to check this out for the nerdy details.

We used Remote Design Sprints

The main process we used to rethink the app and collaborate with Kevin (and his developer) was the Design Sprint by Jake Knapp . As we were on separate continents and time zones, we did this completely remotely.

Since I’m assuming a lot of you already know the step-by-step of a Design Sprint (or if you don’t you can check out our other stuff here ) I’ll not bore you by going into allll the tiny details and exercises, and will focus on the points that made this sprint different.

Total project time: 4 weeks (until passing over to a developer) Original Scope: Redesign the Meditation Select screen of the Oak app (this actually turned into a total redesign) Interesting info: The entire Sprint was run remotely, because Kevin Rose is based in San Francisco, and AJ&Smart are over in Berlin.

So, before I dive into what we did, it makes sense to give some background…

A few of us at AJ&Smart were actually using the original version of Oak as a meditation app, and we took a long-shot and reached out to Kevin Rose because we had a few suggestions about how it could be improved.

I then met Kevin in San Francisco, and was telling him about our ideas for product improvements, and together we decided that AJ&Smart would help him redesign the Meditation Select screen of the app, buuut little did he know that when I returned to Berlin and spoke to the team about it, we were so excited about the project that we decided to surprise Kevin and do a total redesign from scratch, ripping the app apart and building it back together again.

What is the Oak app? Oak is a meditation and breathing app designed for geeky mind-hackers and includes guided meditation sessions, where users can track their progress and goals. It takes difficult-to-quantify practices like meditation that makes the results tangible. An original version was released by Kevin Rose in 2017.

With an excited Sprint team pulled together, we gathered our zen-like focus and dived in, and life at AJ&Smart became all-things Oak for a few weeks…

Step 1: Initial kickoff call & remote expert interview

We kicked off by jumping on a conference call with Kevin Rose, with the aim of getting the team up-to-speed with what Kevin was thinking about the project, getting as much information from him as possible, and for us to really scope out the project. We actually treated this call like we would the ‘expert interview’ part of a Design Sprint — while Kevin was talking we were writing down ‘How Might We notes’ on postits. We made extra effort here to note these as clearly as possible, since we were working remotely with the client and there was less opportunity for explaining the rationale behind things.

We managed this all remotely by using RealtimeBoard — we created little virtual postit notes and filled them in on the board. This made it super easy for us, and Kevin, to see everything in one place and update it in real-time while working on different continents!

Total call-time: 1 hour and 20 minutes

Step 2: Creating the goal & Sprint questions

We then, during the call, created a goal and Sprint questions. We suggested what this should be based on everything we had discussed with Kevin.

Step 3: Create the map

Exactly as we do in a normal, in-person Sprint, we created the map, which really helped us understand the flow of the product. The original scope here was to focus on the on-boarding, as you’ll see highlighted, but we actually expanded past this and did a total redesign.

Note: we wouldn’t normally recommend expanding the scope of the Sprint like this, unless your Sprint team has a lot of experience running large-scale projects and has the capacity to pull something like this off well.

Step 4: Lightning Demos

In a normal Sprint we’d actually physically find examples and then present them to each other, but to optimise this part of the Design Sprint for it being remote, we did a few things differently:

Pinterest : I used Pinterest to find inspiration for the Design. We knew from speaking with Kevin that he was super inspired by all-things Japanese design (which made my Japan-nerd-self really happy) so I did some Pinteresting and found things like Japanese stationary, interiors, and products to show to Kevin. These things actually inspired a lot of the colours and visuals that would later end up in the app. Here’s the board if you want to see it!

Kevin’s inspiration : We asked Kevin before our initial call to find some products that inspired him, and to present these to us on the call, so we can have an understanding of subjectivity when it comes to design and to push us in the right direction. In the usual Design Sprint Lightning Demo-way, we told him it of course didn’t need to be other meditation apps and that he should look for inspiration in other products and industries.

Step 5: Creating the first concepts

So the next step was we went away and we decide we came up with a couple of concepts. At AJ&Smart we always do hand drawn concepts first and then we vote on these. We even did some mood screens, but mostly what the aim was here is, before we went into any effort in design, we wanted to send him these hand-drawn concepts so he could then leave feedback in-line exactly where where he was and tell us what he liked what he didn’t like.

Step 6: Voting on the concepts

We then asked Kevin to vote on the things that he liked in these concepts, so that we had an idea of the direction he liked before we started on the design. We also had him send us videos of him talking about the sketches, with Realtimeboard open, so that we had an idea of what he was liking and not liking.

One piece of feedback we got from Kevin at this stage was that he loved the illustrations we had included, but he was concerned that we wouldn’t be able to find a good illustrator to work with on the project, but luckily we knew someone who could do this really well, a friend called Sarah Kilcoyne (who is also Irish = bonus points). I had her come over to our office showed her the different directions that we were thinking of going in. I showed her the Pinterest board showed the screens and the general concepts and she just started painting some really beautiful hand-painted work.

Side note: You might be wondering, if you’re a traditional designer, why haven’t we talked about the user yet. That’s a whole other topic, but in a lot of the projects we do we are not interested in the user just yet. We’re making our own assumptions right now before we present things to the user to be tested at a later-stage. Yeah…I know that some people find that a little bit controversial.

Step 7: Prototyping

Based on all of this insight and feedback from Kevin, we then moved forward to creating the first prototype. We also decided at this stage that instead of using vector graphics like in the current app, we would replace those vectors with watercolors, and that’s the direction that Kevin wanted to push in as well.

Our screen design tool of choice is Figma . We went from the hand-drawn storyboard step-by-step and started creating it in Figma, then exported the screens to Marvel for prototyping.

Step 8: First feedback from Kevin

At this stage we wanted some initial feedback from Kevin, so we sent over our first-draft prototype. We wanted the app at this stage to feel as realistic as possible, so that we get rich feedback from him, so we were sure that the prototype had things like animations. We sent over a few variations of the prototype, each with a slightly different design, which allowed Kevin to pick his favorite before we went all-in with design.

Time update: At this stage we’re at day 3 in week 1.

Step 9: Alignment

By this stage, the end of week 1, we all had alignment on what the new version of the app would be, and we had full buy-in from Kevin, so we could confidently move forward to create all the screens.

Step 10: Creating the screens

We spent about 2 weeks working away at creating the screens. Fedor, Tim, and Rob, our awesome Designers were heads-down and zen-d out.

Step 11: Handover to developer

At this stage we passed everything over to the developer Kevin was working with (Taylor Robinson, she’s amazing!).

Aaand with a few check-ins here and there, 3–4 months passed and before we knew it, the new Oak app is on the app store and getting loads of love from around the internet!!!

Kevin was super happy with the result…

Let us know what you think of the new Oak app, and tell us if you’re thinking of running a remote Design Sprint — I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about the process!

Check out Oak on the App Store, and if you want more process breakdowns like this then sign up to our product & innovation digest here.

My Remote Design Sprint top tips:

Be extra-specific when making notes and writing the likes of the How Might We postits — these may need to be read by someone on the other side of the world when you’re not there to explain what you meant.

Double-down on alignment check-ins: there’s a lot more scope for misunderstandings and confusion in a remote Design Sprint, so it’s important to make time for extra check-ins to make sure everyone is on the same page

Extra focus on the Lightning Demos: again because there’s scope for confusion, it’s important to realllllly understand the client’s mindset and what they[re envisioning. It’s harder to do this while not in the same room so we’ll always put a lot of emphasis on them showing us what inspires them, and we’ll also do a bit of extra work on this too (like the Pinterest board)

Have the right toolbox: tools become very important when running a remote Sprint. Don’t let technology ruin your Sprint or let important stuff get lost in emails. See below for what we use when running a remote Sprint

Remote Sprint toolbox:

RealtimeBoard — a collaboration tool where you can basically set up a workspace that has everything you need for a Sprint (digital postits, voting dots, storyboarding, etc)

Basecamp — for project management. It’s important to always track clear and transparent notes that all team members can access.

Figma + Marvel — UI Design and Prototyping

Come say hey and learn more about Design Sprints and Product Strategy on my Instagram | Youtube | Podcast

Join myself and Jake Knapp for a free 1.5-hour webclass on how to run and sell Design Sprints !

Written by Jonathan Courtney

Co-Founder of AJ&Smart, a Digital Product Design agency. Nerdy-looking Irish guy.

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Redesign an App!

“ring sizer” — ring band measurement tool. (uniqo lab). ux/ui case study..

Oxana Pravdina

Role:UI Designer Platform:Application Tools: Fig Jam, Figma Scope: 2 weeks

INTRODUCTION

Being associated with a jewelry design , I know some nuances that exist. One of them is determining the appropriate ring size for a customer when it comes to online sales. This leads to errors when ordering and disappointment in buying jewelry online. I took the original application that existed on the market for a long time “Ring sizer” (Uniqo Lab) and proposed my own solutions in the field of usability.

SOLUTION FEELING OF MEASUREMENT

According to the principles of interaction design :

• I revised the UI, editing the user path , transferring the “Measurement results” to the same screen directly, instead of misleading the user to the separate screen, and making them watch the paid adds for a 30 sec, providing the expected result just and only after waiting. That ensure users have a sense of freedom and control using the Product and helps to build trust (Usability Heuristic #3 — User Control and Freedom) .
• I improved the accuracy of the measurements . Now the area inside the circle of the ring is colored in a different color, which allows measurements to be taken regardless of the thickness of the ring and equipped with a center mark, to let the user put it precisly on the measurment place (Usability Heuristic #2 — Match Between the System and the Real World).
• The physical measurement is the most accurate, this is a necessary function, which nevertheless is knocked out the information structure of the Application, therefore was sent to the Hamburger menu. Together with a list of saved data of previous measurements.
• I did not have a solid argument to change blue color. Our subconscious perception of this color is associated with trust, precision, purity, what siuts perfect.
• I created the moodboard to transfer the feeling of phisical measurment tool and jeweller working place with a retro picelized shadow. And tested it afterwards, confirmed the main points, that it looks “precise”, “ditital”, “retro” and “clear”.
• I also updated the logo, providing it in the one the same color system and deliting annesessary, overhelming design elements of it.

KEY LEARNINGS

• Purity of information structure is a guarantee of ease of perception.
• Unfortunately we often see, how user needs are ignored and exploited, overloading the attention with advertising and taking up valuable time.
• I’m sure, there would be many users willing to pay for a convenient and clean UI ,but there is no such function — this is the company’s ideology.
• To develop this “ Tool” as a gift for all of my jewelry friends all around the world, making their online-experience as a web-store clear and transperent
• “Monochrome mode” of the “ Tool” , for those who crave just a measurements and visual relaxation.

Here you can take a look at the original “ Ring-sizer “ from Uniqo Lab.

Written by Oxana Pravdina

Product (UX) Designer || Visual Artist www. oxanapravdina.design

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Mobile App Case Study

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Design of a Daily Task Management App: A UX Research Case Study

Isaac Popoola

Since April 2020, I’ve been stuck at home (due to the covid-19 pandemic) and exploring diverse means to boost my daily productivity. Every Sunday, I create a to-do list for the week and clearly highlight my daily targets. However, one thing I observed was that I barely met those daily targets.

Lest I forget, my laptop got spoilt prior to the lockdown and I was stuck to using my phone to carry out most of my activities — though I sometimes outsource the ones that cannot be effectively carried out with my phone. This eventually cause me to spending nearly one-third of my days (If not more) using my phone — Phew!

Approaching the Challenge

Remote working requires a high level of concentration, dedication and diligence to achieve a considerable level of productivity. There are myriad of hindrances and distractions that could impede productivity when working remotely. However, providing a mobile interactive platform that keep tracks of all daily activities and manage all tasks could significantly enhance productivity.

The aim of this case study is to challenge me and assess my understanding of User Experience Research. I wanted to learn how to apply design thinking approach in solving problems, test Figma for wireframing and tell a compelling story of my experience.

To initiate the case study, I followed the iterative Design Process — Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype & Test.

The Define stage started with an in-depth design research to provide meaningful insights, knowledge and empathy for the users.

I prepared a survey with Google forms and distributed it to different set of people within my network ranging from students to employees and early stage entrepreneurs. The purpose was to determine how a daily task management app would improve remote working experience. Learning directly from identified users is always a great way to be inspired and motivated. The data derived from the survey was a good starting point to help avoid guesswork and under/over estimation.

I got 50 responses within 8 hours (thanks to my personal network) and went on to create a dashboard of the survey result.

I was able to draw out some fascinating insights from the survey:

● 48% of users spend between 8–16 hours on their phone.

● 54% of users complained that poor internet connectivity is a major hindrance to a successful remote working experience.

● 44% of users complained that unsteady power supply and disturbance from family are also hindrances to a successful remote working experience.

● Over 82% of users do not use any app for tracking and monitoring their daily activities progress

● Todoist is common among users that use a daily task management app.

● 72% of users prefer the following features in a daily task management app: Individual Task Assignment, Tasks Notification, Prioritization Grid and Daily Scoreboard.

● Other features with minor votes include Digital Sticky note and Calendar syncing.

Post the survey conducted, I went on further with my design research by conducting interviews and grouping my findings into an affinity map.

Affinity Map

I used the results from the survey conducted to draw out behaviors and patterns observed. Interestingly, the remote working experience could be categorized in 3 groups: Exciting, Challenging and Frustrating.

Following the survey and interviews conducted, I formulated 3 personas that have been identified as the potential users of this product. Understanding the behaviors, nature of daily activities and frustrations of my personas allowed me to focus on the desired users’ outcome.

I went on to create the user story template for the different personas:

Persona 1: As a student, I want to learn something new everyday so that I can achieve my goals and become my best version.

Persona 2: As an employee, I want to complete all my daily tasks so that I can be promoted at work

Persona 3: As an entrepreneur, I want to effectively manage my business daily operations so that I can meet my projected sales target.

Following the UX research conducted, I deduced the following core features for the daily task management app:

· Task Scheduling & Planning

· Collaboration

· Task Notification

· Prioritization Grid

· Progress Bar

· Calendar Syncing

Add-on features would include:

· Digital Sticky Note

· Daily Scorecard

· Project Budgeting

I made paper wireframes, iterated severally and finally digitalized one final version.

To flesh out the app design, I used the palette generator on Coolor and arrived at my preferred option .

The potential users had a great role to play through the research process. I figured that many aspects go un-noticed if the product development process is carried out without involving the users.

Special thanks to the people who participated in the interviews, completed the surveys and shared their feedback.

Tools used for the UX Case Study: Figma for wireframing, Google form for creating survey, Canva for creating personas and affinity map.

Written by Isaac Popoola

Product Manager | UX Researcher

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Australian court rules in landmark case that asked 'what is a woman?'

A transgender woman from Australia has won a discrimination case against a women-only social media app, after she was denied access on the basis of being male.

The Federal Court found that although Roxanne Tickle had not been directly discriminated against, she was a victim of indirect discrimination - which refers to when a decision disadvantages a person with a particular attribute - and ordered the app to pay her A$10,000 ($6,700; £5,100) plus costs.

It’s a landmark ruling when it comes to gender identity, and at the very heart of the case was the ever more contentious question: what is a woman?

In 2021, Tickle downloaded “Giggle for Girls”, an app marketed as an online refuge where women could share their experiences in a safe space, and where men were not allowed.

In order to gain access, she had to upload a selfie to prove she was a woman, which was assessed by gender recognition software designed to screen out men.

However, seven months later - after successfully joining the platform - her membership was revoked.

As someone who identifies as a woman, Tickle claimed she was legally entitled to use services meant for women, and that she was discriminated against based on her gender identity.

She sued the social media platform, as well as its CEO Sall Grover, and sought damages amounting to A$200,000, claiming that “persistent misgendering” by Grover had prompted “constant anxiety and occasional suicidal thoughts”.

“Grover’s public statements about me and this case have been distressing, demoralising, embarrassing, draining and hurtful. This has led to individuals posting hateful comments towards me online and indirectly inciting others to do the same,” Tickle said in an affidavit.

Giggle’s legal team argued throughout the case that sex is a biological concept.

They freely concede that Tickle was discriminated against - but on the grounds of sex, rather than gender identity. Refusing to allow Tickle to use the app constituted lawful sex discrimination, they say. The app is designed to exclude men, and because its founder perceives Tickle to be male - she argues that denying her access to the app was lawful.

But Justice Robert Bromwich said in his decision on Friday that case law has consistently found sex is “changeable and not necessarily binary”, ultimately dismissing Giggle’s argument.

Tickle said the ruling "shows that all women are protected from discrimination" and that she hoped the case would be "healing for trans and gender diverse people".

“Unfortunately, we got the judgement we anticipated. The fight for women’s rights continues,” Grover wrote on X, responding to the decision.

Known as “Tickle vs Giggle”, the case is the first time alleged gender identity discrimination has been heard by the federal court in Australia.

It encapsulates how one of the most acrimonious ideological debates - trans inclusion versus sex-based rights - can play out in court.

‘Everybody has treated me as a woman’

Tickle was born male, but changed her gender and has been living as a woman since 2017.

When giving evidence to the court, she said: “Up until this instance, everybody has treated me as a woman.”

“I do from time to time get frowns and stares and questioning looks which is quite disconcerting…but they’ll let me go about my business.”

But Grover believes no human being has or can change sex - which is the pillar of gender-critical ideology.

When Tickle’s lawyer Georgina Costello KC cross examined Grover, she said:

“Even where a person who was assigned male at birth transitions to a woman by having surgery, hormones, gets rid of facial hair, undergoes facial reconstruction, grows their hair long, wears make up, wears female clothes, describes themselves as a woman, introduces themselves as a woman, uses female changing rooms, changes their birth certificate – you don’t accept that is a woman?”

“No”, Grover replied.

She also said she would refuse to address Tickle as “Ms,” and that “Tickle is a biological male.”

Grover is a self-declared Terf, which stands for "trans-exclusionary radical feminist". Typically used as a derogatory term for those considered hostile to transgender people, it has also been claimed by some to describe their own gender-critical beliefs.

“I’m being taken to federal court by a man who claims to be a woman because he wants to use a woman-only space I created,” she posted on X.

“There isn’t a woman in the world who’d have to take me to court to use this woman only space. It takes a man for this case to exist.”

She says she created her app “Giggle for Girls” in 2020 after receiving a lot of social media abuse by men while she worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter.

“I wanted to create a safe, women-only space in the palm of your hand,” she said.

“It is a legal fiction that Tickle is a woman. His birth certificate has been altered from male to female, but he is a biological man, and always will be.”

“We are taking a stand for the safety of all women’s only spaces, but also for basic reality and truth, which the law should reflect.”

Grover has previously said that she would appeal against the court’s decision and will fight the case all the way to the High Court of Australia.

A legal precedent

The outcome of this case could set a legal precedent for the resolution of conflicts between gender identity rights and sex-based rights in other countries.

Crucial to understanding this is the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This is an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the UN - effectively an international bill of rights for women.

Giggle’s defence argued that Australia’s ratification of CEDAW obliges the State to protect women’s rights, including single-sex spaces.

So today’s ruling in favour of Tickle will be significant for all the 189 countries where CEDAW has been ratified - from Brazil to India to South Africa.

When it comes to interpreting international treaties, national courts often look at how other countries have done it.

Australia’s interpretation of the law in a case that got this level of media attention is likely to have global repercussions.

If over time a growing number of courts rule in favour of gender identity claims - it is more likely that other countries will follow suit.

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Your Ultimate Guide to Mobile App Development in 2024

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“Mobile is the future of everything.” - Forbes

Forbes is right on the money. Mobile is indeed the future of everything, from business and healthcare app development to gaming and all-things good in between. And industry by industry insights and overall usage numbers agree.

Mobile internet access has overtaken desktop internet usage big time. In 2018, more than 70 percent of all web traffic originated from mobile devices, up from 57 percent in 2017. Quartz estimated a jump of 80 percent in 2021.

Not just that, American adults are now spending an average of 3+ hours each day on their mobile gizmos browsing internet, and only 2.2 hours on a desktop computer.

100+ companies trust us with their mobile app development needs. Watch the video below to learn why.

Mobile app development refers to the process of writing software that works on a mobile device (smartphones, tables, wearable). But app development is not only about coding a native, HTML5 or hybrid app. It is about the strategic process of defining, designing, building and launching a successful mobile product.

In this article, based on our experience in building mobile apps for over ten years, you will learn everything we know about mobile app development.

Product development

Create an exceptional digital experience.

We take you through every step of building a great mobile product: from ideation to market validation, persona definition to creating beautiful designs, creating a robust development architecture and writing clean code, followed by how you build a marketing plan to hit the ground running the day your app is published on the App Store.

But most importantly, read this article to learn from the mistakes of many app builders, investors and entrepreneurs. Building a great app isn’t cheap. We’ve seen people waste millions, literally, on building bad products or launching poorly designed apps. Don’t be that person.

Take the time to read this article, beginning to end, to make sure you build the best possible app that will do justice to your amazing idea.

Mobile app usage prove the business case for building a mobile app

In 2019, there were more than 5.11 billion unique mobile users, accounting for over 90 percent of all global internet users.

According to the State of Mobile 2019 report by App Annie, global app downloads reached 194 billion in 2018, with consumers spending a whopping $101 billion on app stores. In fact, companies leveraging mobile capabilities enjoyed a staggering 360 % higher IPO valuation in 2018.

The worldwide mobile app economy hit $6.3 trillion in 2021, and app revenue is expected to experience an uptick of 113 percent to reach $188 billion .

These numbers are loud and clear: it’s time you join the mobile app development train. After all, most likely, your competitors are already doing it.

On the other hand, research from Gartner estimates that fewer than 0.01% of apps were considered a financial success in 2018.

With an average investment of $270,000 to design, build and launch an app, it's not a small project by anyone's standards.

But the stark reality is that most mobile apps fail. So, it is very important to be clear about the strategy, plan and execution before committing time, money and resources to building an app.

The Harsh Reality - Why Mobile Apps Fail

This might be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s true, nonetheless. Out of every 10,000 mobile apps developed, only 1 will triumph while the other 9,999 will go puff into oblivion. As an entrepreneur, this means that the odds are greatly stacked against you.

But don’t let this big number bog you down. It is only ill-planned and ill-executed apps that are set to fail from the first day. That’s why you need to learn why apps fail in the first place. After all, why not learn from failures of others so you do not repeat the same mistakes?

No matter how you look at it, mobile app development is all about arming yourself with industry knowledge and having a solid go-to-market plan & strategy. It’s a prudent way to safeguard your app from becoming part of the 99.99 percent.

With that being said, here are the four key areas that make mobile apps fail. As a forward-thinking entrepreneur, it is critical to consider these pitfall areas as a wake-up call. And, more importantly, you need to find ways to turn them into positives.

1) You must have a robust mobile app strategy

Every successful product - no matter what it does, whom it is designed for or who created it - begins with a great strategy.

The same goes for a mobile app.

Mobile App Strategy refers to the creative effort required to translate consumers’ needs into an app that can be used seamlessly to accomplish a specific task. The goal of a mobile strategy is simple: to help a user 'do something', quickly and effectively, every time a mobile app can fulfill that user's need.  

Without a well-designed, researched and implemented strategy at every level of development, your app is poised to go down the drain. This is especially true if you are trying to get your feet wet in a new or an upcoming niche/industry.

That’s why it comes as no big surprise that a poor move at the strategy level is one of the key areas where most apps fail. Of course, there are more specific reasons why mobile apps fail at this planning phase:

     a. Bad or lack of market research

How much do you know about your target market and the end user of your mobile app?

If your app does not address a market need or problem, then it will not get downloaded and, if it does end up on a user’s phone, it might not be used.

According to a report by SAP , close to 80 percent of mobile apps end up being abandoned just after their first use. Why? You guessed it right: they aren’t a good fit for the user, and lack a stellar mobile app strategy.

Considering the big bets everyone is placing on mobile, poor market research can quickly turn into a nightmare and lead to disappointment.

That’s why you need to kick off your app development journey with a thorough user/market research.

In other words, what solution will your app provide that your specific target audience needs?

Market research makes it imperative that you clearly define your target audience, and investigate further about them. What’s their core problems, needs, interests, and pain-points? By learning the ins and outs of the market, as well as getting an in-depth understanding of your specific users, you will most likely create an app that is tailored to what they are actually looking for.

But your market research doesn’t have to stop there.

Due diligence on your closest rivals can also come in handy. Do a win-loss juxtapositioning, and comprehensive competitor analysis to better inform your mobile strategy.

When all is said and done, your market research should act as a means of connecting your app idea with your target audience. And this should be your step #1 and an overarching aspect of your mobile app development at all stages.

     b. Improper planning of app marketing activities

This one is a no-brainer, and yet it is still one of the most common reasons why mobile apps fail at the strategy level. If you don’t plan the execution stages in detail, your app will most likely flop.

For instance, how are you planning to let your target users know about your new app? Do you have plans in place for app-install campaigns?

Proper planning includes marketing and ranking factors like ASO, SEO, PR push, and so forth.

If you neglect them until the last minute, you will be caught in the motions of trying to execute an app that has low to zero buzz.

Even worse, you’ll have no avenue of getting preliminary user feedback and therefore can’t get your app truly ready for the market.

We’ve actually written the playbook on adequate app launching techniques.

Read: The 2021 Mobile App Marketing Guide with 25 Pro Tips

     c. Lack of clearly defined goals

Goal-setting is a paramount step in the strategy and planning phase of your app creation. If you don’t hammer out clearly defined objectives, your app is set up to fail right from the outset. They are important in the grand scheme of things, especially when it comes to marketing your mobile.

With clearly defined goals on hand, you will easily map out your strategy on how to get there. When working on defining your goals, you need to ask yourself the following tough and important questions:

• What issue(s) will my app hope to solve for target market?
• What will be my app’s selling point or appeal?
• What features should I incorporate into my app?
• What benefits should my app offer the user?

2) You must invest in breath-taking designs

App developers are also faced with myriads of pitfalls during the design and software development phase. These failures and design issues can stall your mobile strategy even before your app makes it to launch date. They include but not limited to:

     a. Bad design = bad business

Mobile app design refers to the process of ideating, defining, planning and building the user experience seen by a smartphone user while interacting with a mobile app. Mobile app design combines visual (colors, photography, animations) and graphical elements (topography, font, writing) into a unified user experience.

When executed correctly, a user will NEVER thing of the mobile design of an app. They would only think about how easy it is to accomplish a certain task on a specific app. Great design = happy customers.

When done poorly, users have only jarring things to say about apps with bad design. They will ditch your poorly designed app in the first crucial 8 seconds, and you’ll never see them again. That’s the harsh reality of app design.

While there are many elements that make for a pleasant user experience, at the very minimum, your app should be easy and intuitive to use. If users have a hard time finding or using some of the fundamental features/functions of your app, you have little to no chance of keeping them.

The design is what the user sees when interacting with your app. But overall poor app usability can result from a number of other things like tediously long and complex sign-up process; lagging, slow or buggy features that affect the overall performance of the app; inaccessible features, and painfully long load times. When one or more of these issues come together, your mobile app will fail.

You need to take care of user experience issues during the design and software development stage. Another trick is to have the app tested for usability right from its infancy so that you can go back to the drawing board as many times as you can, make necessary refinements, and by the launch date, your app will optimally user-friendly.

     b. Bad technology or improperly implemented technology will lead to epic failures

Not all mobile app development agencies are created equal. If your team isn’t up to date with the latest development standards, your app might not see the light of the day, or worse, it may be launched and never get any active users.

The same goes for developers who use substandard coding methods. The bottom line is that bad technology  has no room in app creation. That’s why you need to work with a team that stays on top of the latest app development best practices.

     c. Lack of proper QA will ruin your app

Conducting several QA tests throughout the creation of your app will help you deliver a product that’s bug-free and user-friendly. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell right from day 1 how much time you will require to test your app for quality, and what the QA test itself will entail.

Smart mobile developers usually take plenty of time to thoroughly QA test the app, which might end up costing more and consuming more time. However, not QA-testing your mobile app comes with dire consequences. And skipping the testing altogether is often the reason why some apps go to rack and ruin.

3) How to execute correctly on building a great mobile app

So you have come up with a great mobile app strategy and plan. It’s now time to execute the plan. Before we show you how to do it successfully,  there are still some potential app-killing problems and failures lurking around the corner. These include:

     a. Too much competition or many similar products

There are over 2.2 million app s in the App Store alone, with another 2.6 million  populating Google Play. There are thousands more entering the fray on a daily basis, not to mention that some apps are not listed on these two app marketplaces.

No matter how you look at it, you have some serious competition up ahead. If you don’t have an original idea or offer something appealing to your target audience, your app won’t cut it.

And so we are clear, a mobile app can succeed even if there’s a lot of other players in the field. You just need to have a unique value proposition, even if the core functionality of your digital product is similar to others.

Here's an example:

LivingSocial was launched in 2007 and became the biggest deals website in the world, once worth 6 billion dollars and considering an IPO. In November 2008, Groupon was launched with an identical business model. Even the two competitor websites did not truly differentiate themselves that much, outside of basic visual elements like colors and topography.

Yet, what Groupon understood better than anyone else was the power of compelling content.

They double-down and invested heavily in professional copywriters, recruiting every gifted writer they could find to provide deals listings that were compelling, funny, and long.

They were the first e-commerce site to understand, even before Amazon, the power of long-form copy. Fast forward to 2016 - Groupon buys LivingSocial for pennies on the dollar. Today, Groupon leads the market despite competing with other 600 daily deals sites .

Moral of the story. You can absolutely disrupt a crowded market. But you need to do one thing better than everyone else. And that comes from thoroughly studying your competitors.

     b. Team issues & conflicting priorities

There’s a good chance that you are building your app with a partner or with the help of a team. Either, you should expect some sort of conflicting priorities from some key members. If your team of developers breaks down, the road ahead will be a tough one and your will app will likely flop.

When you move forward with building a mobile app, you need to make sure you do it with people you can trust. Because there will be conflicts. And you need to be able to work well with those you choose to build an app with.

At Digital Authority Partners, the most successful app we’ve ever worked was led by two brothers with incredibly complementary personalities. There were many issues along the way, by they sorted them all out and the app is now worth a bit over $50 million (and we continue to work with them!).

This isn’t to say you should only build an app with members of your family. It simply means you need to build it with people you can trust and who will be there when times are tough or when you’re dealing with a lot of uncertainty.

     c. No idea how to monetize your app

Monetization woes cause most apps to fail.

After all, if you don’t have a well-defined road to profitability, your mobile app will sooner or later fail. Good thing, there are plenty of ways to monetize your creation.

You can run paid ads, offer paid subscriptions, provide in-app purchases/features or drive users to your e-commerce store/website.

Whatever it is, make sure to have a definite road-to-profitability strategy right from the outset. This will make your execution-level progress without any hitch.

     d. Cash shortages to take the app to the next stage

Your app will cost money to plan, design, develop, launch, market … the whole shebang.

If you run out of cash at the beginning, in the middle or even near the end, you are in for a big surprise.

Even after building and launching your app, you still need some money to tide your company over until profitability. That’s why it is important to have a conservative budget that’s well planned and generously funded.

Here’s a real life example. A client of ours spend 1 million on building an app. Then they came to us to market it. But they completely missed the market. He tried riding on the hype of mobile app development, without proper market research. In his industry, the majority of people using an app, did so to research the topic at hand, NOT to buy. The client went against our advice and launched the app. It tanked.

He then scrambled to find money to build a website. Eventually he did. But then he ran out of money to market the product.

The rule of thumb any investor will tell you is this: whatever your budget is, reserve 30% of it to marketing and growing your app. I would say 90% of our clients fail to do that and then they launch a great product but fail to market it adequately. The lucky ones secure funding from investors and they course correct the ship. The unlucky ones abandon the project. Always plan for a robust marketing budget or you won’t be able to take an app to the next stage.

4) Let’s talk about mobile app marketing

You have built an incredible app that’s capable of raking in money.

That’s all good and dandy, but if you don’t market it rigorously and offer effective support, it might still fail.

Typical app marketing failures that you need to avoid include:

      a. No clear cut marketing message

You should have a crystal-clear marketing message for your app.

Your marketing message, most notably the description copy, should tell your app story, highlight its best features, and how it stands out from the crowd.

If your marketing message isn’t clear enough, users will move on to the next app, leaving you high and dry. How to keep your marketing message on the up-and-up?

• Aim the message directly at your target customers
• Keep your message clear, concise and to the point
• Focus on the solution that your app offers.
• What’s in it for the target user?

If you are interested in mobile app marketing, you may also want to check out our comprehensive guide titled: A Step by Step Guide for Driving Android App Downloads

     b. Lack of reviews and ratings

It is customary for users to dig into reviews and check out user ratings before downloading a mobile app.

It makes sense because why would you want to download an app that hasn’t been tried, tested, and rated?

This can be particularly painful if your app is competing with other apps with lots of ratings and reviews.

Having many poor reviews and bad ratings can do you more harm than good.

It is not even uncommon for some apps to fail just because they could not garner enough ratings quick enough. To avoid this, start your app-install campaigns on a high gear and don’t be afraid to ask for reviews/ratings and make sure you have features that encourage users to share the app with their friends and family, rate your app in the app store and more.

      c. Unclear branding and differentiation from competitors

Your app needs to pop up in a crowd. It needs to differentiate itself from those of your rivals. If it is just another run-of-the-mill app on the market, you will be put in the back burner.

The same is true for unclear branding.

If you don’t have a well-defined and stand-out brand, your app will be at risk of failure. As such, you need to polish your app’s brand by defining your core values and principles that differentiate you from your rivals.

Why Build An App? - Top Reasons

Now that we’ve walked you through the main reasons why mobile apps fail, you may even be inclined to ask yourself: should I even build an app?

If you just look at the high costs and low success rates you may feel discouraged. So, why even build an app? There are plenty of reasons. Here are some of the top ones:

1) Improve & increase sales through mobile app development

In the digital age and era of instant-everything, the case for developing an app for your business is strong, but knowing that it will help you increase sales makes it even more appealing.

Developing a well-designed and user-friendly mobile app allows businesses to digitize their services and make them readily available on any mobile device.

If you own a brick-and-mortar or e-commerce store, for instance; it is a no-brainer to build a mobile store app. The app will provide you with yet another direct marketing channel. It would allows allow you to run geo-location based campaigns. Check out Sephora for example. They’ve built a companion app which users can take advantage off while inside the store. The app shows them past purchase history, provides product recommendations, limited offers only available on the mobile app and a lot more.

Other companies use mobile apps to show in-store price information, product descriptions, user accounts, feedback functionality, search filters, and so much more. However, nothing beats the fact that you can make your app a great place for users to find sales, promos, discounts, and other exciting offers. They’ll all be right there at their fingertips.

When it comes to using a mobile app to improve sales, numbers don’t lie: a mobile app is a great sales tool.

The number of unique mobile users has increased from 122.9 million in 2013 to close to 200 million at the end of 2018. Even better, mobile apps enjoy a 3x and 1.5x higher conversion rates than mobile websites and desktop respectively.

Mobile app users tend to view 4.6x more products than browsers of mobile websites. Talking of sales value, the average order value of mobile apps is 140 percent higher than mobile sites and 130 percent higher than desktop websites.

That being said, not having a mobile app could be hurting your sales. Given that mobile app users spend 2x as shoppers who make their shopping on mobile or desktop websites, this provides you with yet another chance to make more sales.

And you don't want to ignore the fact that 19 percent of all online retail sales in the United States are made on a mobile device.

2) Improve customer experience

Customers are now interested in immersive experiences more than ever before, especially when they are shopping.

They want to feel valued and appreciated. More importantly, they want to know that the brand behind a service or product is worthy of their money and attention. That’s where a well-defined mobile app strategy can come into the picture.

There are a ton of reasons why mobile apps do a bang-up job when it comes to enhancing overall customer experience. Let’s look at a few ways mobile redefines how brands provide added-value to their users through amazing mobile app strategies.

A mobile app makes it possible to provide the customer with a seamless shopping experience . The purchasing process can be made effortless by using one-click payment options, SMS confirmations, push notifications, and other mobile elements that will deliver a best-in-class customer experience.

Mobile apps allow for next-level personalization . Delivering a top-notch customer experience is all about personalization. This can be achieved by engaging the user throughout the purchasing process.

Loyalty perks : loyalty benefits like cash back, discounts, freebies, special promo codes, and flash sales are what make for great customer experience. All of these can be achieved with greater outcomes on a mobile app, encouraging the customer to keep coming back. Running a loyalty program easy and hassle-free on an app.

Leverage p ush notifications to the fullest extent allowed : this is the little-known secret to boosting user and customer experience using mobile apps.

However, you don’t want to bombard the user with constant pop-ups and push notifications. They can be annoying and might coerce the user to uninstall your app. Relevant push notifications can revolutionize how engaged users are with your brand. And don’t forget - push notifications are clicked on (technically tapped on) more than ANY other channel. The click through rate for push notifications is 7.9% according to a recent study based on notifications sent to 900 million users.

3) Become competitive in the market

65% of all small businesses (including your competitors) have already built a mobile app.

Why would you want to be left behind in an increasingly competitive business environment?

Mobile app development gives you a chance to either stay ahead of the curve (read: your slow-to-mobile competitors) or catch up with those who already have an app.

4) Create a direct marketing channel

It is always an excellent idea to have every potential strategy in your marketing toolkit - and having a mobile app is a good addition.

The odds are that you are struggling to show ROI for your email marketing, paid ads, TV ads, print, and other digital marketing channels.

Building an app helps you create a direct marketing channel. It’s, therefore, a strategy that will pay for itself sooner than later.

5) Engage customers better

Having a mobile-ready site used to be enough to keep mobile users engaged.

That’s no longer the case.

You need a mobile app to provide users with better engagement and communication avenues.

It doesn’t matter what you are products or services are, your customers must have an effective way of getting in touch with you. That’s exactly what a mobile app can offer.

Incorporate a help desk, feedback or live chat feature within your mobile app.

These features can make a huge difference in the way your business interacts, connects and communicates with the customer.

A customer-centric mobile app is a phone, text messaging app, email, and chat box, all rolled into one.

6) Boost brand awareness and recognition

If done right, an app can do wonders for your company’s brand awareness.

Remember that your app is much akin to an empty billboard sign. You can perk it up with educative content, make it stylish or engaging.

Whatever the case, you want your app to be something that users will love and cherish. But, more crucially, make sure that your mobile app is superbly designed, stunning-looking, and well branded.

A good app can also take your recognition to a whole new and exciting level.

The more your app gets used and downloaded, the more familiar your brand/products/services will become among your ideal customers. In the ad world, this what is known as “effective frequency.” As a rule of thumb, if the users can see your product or interact with your brand more than 20x, they will become easily recognizable to them.

How To Build a Successful App. A 12-step Process

So far in this article, we’ve talked about why apps fail and why you should build a mobile app. We chose this structure because I am a firm believer that this is how you should approach building an app.

First - understand why others have failed. When the knowledge on what causes failure, you are more likely to avoid it. I’ve built Digital Authority Partners from scratch with only two people around the dinner table. Along the way, I’ve made a lot of mistakes. Many of these mistakes would have been avoidable if I had known the pitfalls of running an agency. I didn’t know them - very few agency owners talk about lessons learned - so i had to make these mistakes on my own and then learn from it.

The first section of this article is nothing more than a collection of failures we have seen first-hand with many of our clients. Learn from them - and avoid them if you can.

Second - I walked you through the benefits of building an app. How an app can improve your bottom line is critical to your success. You don’t build an app just because everyone else does it. You build an app because mobile is a channel that can attract new customers, improve your relationship with your current customers  or it improves your operational efficiency.

Before you build an app - you need to answer that for yourself: which customer-centric key performance indicator will my app address? What is my desired reach in terms of current and potential customers? And will my app be better than the apps of all my competitors?

Armed with this knowledge, you can now begin the process of really immersing yourself in the twelve steps outlined below which all successful apps have in common!

Let’s get to them.

Section A: The fundamentals of an expert mobile app strategy

Step 1: Value proposition

Your app shouldn’t be an exact copy of your website or e-commerce store.

It should offer much more than information and run-of-the-mill features to the user. That’s because of a simple reality. Downloading an app is, dare I say, an intimate act. As a user, you take the time to download an app on your most personal device in hopes it can produce value to yourself in the long term. There’s nothing more personal than that!

Because getting an app download isn’t easy, you need to create a unique, simple and compelling value proposition for your new digital product.

A well-executed value proposition is what makes your app stand out in a sea of choice.

How is your app different from other similar apps?

What are the benefits that your app will bring to users?

How will the app make the lives of the user better, more enjoyable, etc?

You need to hold a brainstorming session with your partners or strategic consulting team to come up with your unique value proposition.

Not just that, you should write down exactly how your app will solve a specific problem, then move on to brainstorm about what makes your brand unique, who your target market is, and how you will position your app in the market to maximize downloads and engagement rates. Your value proposition statement should also touch on your niche and how you stack up against competitors.

While it might sound like it, your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is not a statement, a catchphrase or a catchy slogan for your app.

The UVP must clearly and concisely describe what customers get out of using your app that they won’t get through any other channels. There are 4 core attributes of an amazing unique value proposition:

• Clear - it should be free of corporate jargon
• Benefits-focused - it should tell your app’s benefits
• Unique - clearly lay out what makes your app different from your competitors’
• Concise - a user should understand your app’s value prop in an explanation that takes no more than 10-15 seconds to present.

Still a little hazy? Here are some of the UVPs that will drive the point and truly inspire yours:

Let’s start with coffeeshop giant, Starbucks.

Their customers can use the Starbucks app to pay in the store, earn stars or even order ahead of getting to the store. This way, they can skip the line (phew! Have you seen Starbucks line in the morning?) This is an incredible value to the customer because the app helps them save at least 15  minutes of their busy mornings. Wouldn’t you install such a time-saving app? The benefit to Starbucks is two-prong : (1) it encourages more app installs, and (2) increases foot traffic to their locations.

Another wonderful example is Uber.

“Tap the app, get a ride”. The value proposition here is providing customers with extreme convenience. The name of the app -  uber - in and of itself communicates much of their value proposition. Why does it win? First, the app makes it possible for a user to get a rideshare with one tap. Second, payment for the ride is cashless and only takes one tap. And, thirdly, the driver already knows where you are heading two. That’s like killing three birds with one stone!

"On Bumble, ladies always go first"  is a real class act. Why? It proposes a fresh approach to online dating, away from the popular “swipe right” or “swipe left.” Secondly, the app empowers its target customer, the millennial lady. Most importantly, it touches on the app user’s pain point, which in this case, is an online dating world that’s dominated by men.

Step 2: Market research and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) analysis to determine viability

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning session designed to help any company or entrepreneur identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats tied to a specific business idea. The goal of a SWOT analysis is to uncover “unexpected” surprises tied to a project before you invest lots of time and money in it.

Performing a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) before creating a mobile app is a crucial step. Unfortunately, 99% of app makers never bother with this.

SWOT helps you validate the concept first - before you spend money, effort and time on it. As such it is the most important step to prevent that big ‘Only if I had known earlier’ moment later.

How does SWOT analysis help you achieve better mobile app development outcomes?

It should be noted that a SWOT analysis doesn’t actually offer a true solution to what app exactly you should build. Nonetheless, it helps you find and analyze the overarching problems affecting your mobile strategy or idea.

Strengths - By understanding the strengths of your mobile app idea, you can answer important questions about your strategy. What are the key benefits that your app will deliver to your ideal users? Will it eventually lead to a sale or an action that will improve your bottom-line? How is your app better than your competitors? What your app’s unique appeal?

Weaknesses - This encompasses limitations and hurdles that put your app at a disadvantage on the market. However, the analysis should help you identify these weak points so you can devise ways of turning them into advantages. By engaging in this step, you can anticipate failures and plan how to avoid them accordingly.

Opportunities - Take a close look and your strengths and weaknesses, and think how you can transform them into improvements and new opportunities. The good news is that opportunities in the mobile app development are a dime a dozen.

Think about: what are your competitor's weaknesses that you can exploit? What's trending in another niche that you can duplicate the success in your own niche?

Threats - When developing a successful app, you must be able to deter any threat. That’s why this phase of the SWOT analysis is all-important. To identify your potential threats, ask yourself these crucial questions: How do your rivals deter their threats? Is your app prepared to take on challenges brought about by technology changes, market shifts, and changes in consumer behavior?

You must also invest in market research before spending a large amount of time and money in building an app. Is the market ready? Who are the top competitors? What are the threats?

Great market research not only educates one about the state of the market but also sheds light on hidden opportunities that others may not have looked at. Once the market data is in, start planning a course of action

Step 3: Outlining the goals of your mobile app

Setting well-defined goals is an indispensable part of the mobile app development journey.

It is at this point that you will set your priorities and determine a clear course of action for the next several weeks or months. These goals will tell you where you are currently, where you want to be and how to get there.

What are the primary goals of your mobile app? How do you know if the goals you are setting are the right ones?

Here are a few tips that might come in handy when outlining your mobile app development goals.

First, list the three or four most important ways your ideal users will interact with your app. Make sure these goals are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) and in line with your overall  business objectives.

Second, spend half a day brainstorming the actions that users will perform within the app at launch. Through this exercise, your goal is to map out what the user journey is within the app, the primary use-cases and what you want your ideal users to achieve when they interact with your product.

Examples of these actions would be defining the registration process (or lack of!), the primary action you want the user to take within the app, high level notifications strategy, whether a user will use a geolocation feature or not etc.

Next up, you have to define the KPIs to measure the success of these goals.

I n simple terms, what actions will users take within the app that you will consider a success? This could be things like making a purchase, completing a task, returning to the app X times during a specific time period, engage with your content. Here’s a simple formula to follow: ‘My ideal customer will do this task, so many times during the week. If that happens, this app is a success.”

In addition, you need to define specific metrics you need to track. Let’s take a specific example. Say you are an online shop and have launched a mobile app. Yes, you’ll want to track conversion rates (how many purchases are made through the app).

But there’s a LOT of other metrics out there you should also track.

Things like:

How often do people use the app?

How many app visits until a purchase is made?

When do people abandon your app?

How many people download the app but don’t register?

What’s my app churn rate (people who don’t use the app over a period of time)?

There’s an endless supply of questions - and analytics - you need to track users’ actions and collect data about their behavior inside your app.

Other standard KPIs include app open rate, uninstalls, session rates, monthly active users (MAU), daily active users (DAU), number of unique new users, daily/monthly downloads, session length, and so forth.

Lastly but not least, take a peek over the fence. Take a closer look at the great mobile app in the market (preferably within your niche), and learn what and how they do things well.

Here’s a simple example of a task we do during the discovery process at Digital Authority Partners when we get a new customer who wants to build an app.

We simply identify the main competitors and then have an analysts review 50-100 app reviews for each competitor.

We then create a report which shows what competitors do well, what they don’t do at all and what they can improve on. That report is then used to define the set of features our client should include in their new app.

Step 4: Brainstorm the primary app use cases and ideal user types

Once you have documented the primary goals of your app, start defining the primary use cases for your new app. Use cases are great for user engagement and overall usability.

Don’t try to define EVERY single use case imaginable. Start with the primary goals only.

Let’s take the Starbucks mobile app as an example. The primary use cases for the Starbucks app are the following:

• Starbucks users can quickly pay using their app in store.
• Starbucks users can order on their app and pick up in store.
• Starbucks users can monitor & redeem rewards using the app.
• Starbucks users can be notified of upcoming deals and discounts via the app.

Of course, the Starbucks app does a LOT more than this (see purchase history, listen to Spotify playlists curated by Starbucks, see rewards history, learn about new Starbucks drinks, add money to their app, manage gift cards, find stores, receive/ buy Starbucks cards as gifts etc).

But what’s important to realize is that the primary use cases outlined above are clear, actionable, easy to understand. And all other features are built to support the primary purchasing experience.

That said, do not clutter the app with everything for everyone. Rather, build it for a specific set of use cases meant for a specific group of people and perfect those.

Here’s the holy grail behind expert mobile app development initiatives. You build an app which your ideal users can make a mental connection to, a connection that is simple and memorable. Practically, you want a user to think this: ‘I go to this app to do this one thing, any time I need it.’  

The most successful apps ALL do this. I go to Candy Crash to decompress for a few minutes. I go to Uber to get a ride. I go to Amazon to buy stuff. I go to Snapseed to quickly edit my photos. I go to Grubhub to order good. I go to Facebook to see what my friends are up to. I go to TikTok to see some super short videos and have fun.

Do you see how a mental connection is made, in my mind, in relation to the apps mentioned above? And guess what - all these apps have tens of millions of users. Because they’ve successfully created a mental association between one task and their app. And everything else builds on top of that primary use case!

So, apply this recipe to your own mobile app. Determine which users will be your primary audience and solve one primary problem they may have.

Additionally, invest time in creating app user segmentation. In other words, various users will do different things within your app based on their motivation, frequency of using the app and a LOT of other factors.  

How To Segment Your App Users (High Level Ideas)

A unique article can be created only on the topic of app user segmentation. That’s not the point of the current article. So look at the various user app segmentation as being just a quick way to look at users and by no means, a comprehensive list.

App segmentation is one of the primary strategies tied to mobile app analytics. If you are interested in the topic of app analytics, you can also check out the other resources we’ve put together over time.

User Experience Optimization Through A/B and Multivariate Testing The 2021 Mobile App Marketing Guide with 25 Pro Tips

And you can also check out the Analytics Services Page from Digital Authority Partners . It must also be noted that app segmentation is not something that can ‘happen’ overnight or something that is typically an out of the box functionality. Instead, companies and entrepreneurs need to leverage analytics solutions that can collect and report on these metrics. Digital Authority Partners is a certified partner for analytics solutions like Mixpanel (see our joint press release here ) and Amplitude.

In the meantime, here are four standard metrics tied to app user segmentation you should keep a close eye on:

1. By device info

You can segment users based on device details such as the type (tablet, smartphone, etc), OS version (iOS, Android or Windows), and the type of hardware (Samsung S10, iPhone XS, etc.) This is a crucial segmentation criteria because user experience and app engagement rates typically vary from device to device.

2. By geographical location

This is a no-brainer segmentation approach.

You’d want to drill down on your users’ behavior based on their geographical information like country, city, town, zip code area, state, and so forth. This is will be especially useful if you intend to offer location-specific features and functionalities.

3. By user info

Who's your app's audience?  How'd you categorize them on available information?  Are they attendees, visitors, employees, consumers, members, fans, leads, partners, B2B clients, B2C customers, etc.

Don't just stop there.

Specific app usage information like language setting, use frequency, if they have enable push notification, etc can come in handy when segmenting  global audience.

4. By user behavior

How users interact with your app should be at the core of your mobile app strategy.

What is the average session duration for your users?

How many days does the user take between opening, making a purchase, etc.?

What do users tap on within your app?

How long does it take until a user converts?

How do users react when you release updates to your app?

Better user segmentation translates into a better app and better marketing strategy. Think of this section as planning how to engage users. There will be another section on how to actually engage them.

The questions above, by no means exhaustive when it comes to app analytics, related to specific tangible behaviors user can exhibit within an app. Asking these - and many other questions - upfront and setting us the right tracking to turn data into insights is absolutely mandatory if you want your app to succeed.

Step 5: Have a clear grasp on your app’s monetization model

An app cannot succeed unless it becomes self-sustaining. And to become self-sustaining, it needs to make money.

So, the bigger question is: how will you monetize your app when most users are used to free apps?

A proper monetization model is critical to ensure the long term longevity of the app.

When all is said and done, however, your monetization strategy should take two things into consideration:

• User intent
• Your users' journey using your app

Here at Digital Authority Partners, we rarely advise clients to force users to pay to download the app. This model MAY work for some games, but it rarely works for everyone else.

Creating a sound monetization strategy is a fine balancing act to ensure the app makes optimal revenue while not pushing away potential users by becoming too expensive.

With that said, there  are several different monetization models you can adopt. The most common and revenue-generating models include:

Model #1. Pay per download

Let’s face it; paid downloads is a monetization approach that only works for highly sought-after mobile apps.

The idea behind this model is pretty simple and straightforward: whenever a user downloads your app, they will part with a fee which is often upfront or paid after a free trial period ends.

This is the easiest and the least complicated way to earn from your sweat.

After all, the higher the fee and the more the paid downloads made, the more your app revenue.

Needless to say, pricing the app wrongly can impact negatively on the number of downloads and hence revenue.

Check out this report regarding revenue from Candy Crush ,  one of the top freemium apps in the world. Candy Crush is free for all to play but they charge for upgrades and special powers. They made $2.16 billion in 2020.

To put this in perspective, in the paid app report above, all Android developers in 2013 made a combined 900 million in revenue. Last year, one single app, Candy Crush, made more money through a freemium model than ALL Android developers.

Freemium model is ALWAYS preferred.

Model #2. Ad revenue

This is the go-to monetization model for most app developers, and with good reason.

In-app ad revenue is a great way to keep your app free for the users and still remain afloat.

You just to be careful about what types of ads you run in your app. Generally, there are 3 types of in-app ads for generating revenue: (1) Cost per Action (CPA), Cost per Click (CPC) and Cost per Thousand Impression (CPM).

If you are looking for UX-friendly ad type, go for CPM.

While the revenue tends to be on the lower end, CPM ads are usually less intrusive and not annoying, offering a better user experience.

You can choose to run native ads, banner ads, interstitials or list ads. Whatever your choice, stay away from lewd, irrelevant or low-quality ads that will paint your app in a bad light.

Here’s an example of an app which has implemented an ad revenue model BETTER than any app I currently use.

It is a puzzle game called Two Dots . Two dots, in many ways is similar to Candy Crush and all Candy Crush wannabes. Occasionally (definitely not every time!) before the beginning of a specific level I get this message: I’m referring to the message which says: ‘watch a video for a free Booster Box!’

If I tap on that button, I have to watch an annoying ad, usually less than 30 seconds, but I get a power-up. I’ve probably watch hundreds of these short ads so far. As a user, I get something tangible out of this. As a company, Two Dots likely makes 5-10 cents of me. It’s not huge revenue, but they are making money. According to one estimate , Two Dots makes ~700k / month through this model and through the in-app purchase options.

Model #3. Freemium features - upgrade to use premium feature or to remove ads

An ad seen on the app called Browser which allows users to surf the internet in private mode and download any video from youtube and other video storage websites. Every time a user returns to the app, an ad is played as seen in this screenshot.

This monetization model usually goes hand in hand with the in-app ad model.

The freemium model is simple.

A user can download a mobile app for free but the user would see ads interrupting their experience from time to time. You can happily get rid of the ads in their apps for a small fee. If you intend to go down this road, you will have to create at least two versions of your app. First one will feature ads and free to use. The other one will be a paid version that’s free of ads (this is what developers call a premium app).

Model #4. In-app purchases

Above, a screenshot of in-app purchase options for Candy Crush Saga

In-app purchases account for the biggest portion of app revenue.  In fact, it accounts for around 47 percent of the worldwide revenue generated from apps.

The good thing is that the in-app purchase feature can be incorporated with other monetization models like paid downloads, in-app ads, etc.

Model #5. Affiliate programs

Joining an affiliate program to promote network products, services or solutions is yet another great way to monetize your app.

There are plenty of credible app affiliate programs run by companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google.

These are usually the ones that’ll pay you handsome money to promote an array of apps, but there are smaller affiliate programs you can join and rake in some income too.

The idea behind this monetization model is that you’ll earn a recurring commission when the user takes an action.

Model #6. Hybrid

If one or more monetization approaches deliver good results, why not combine the best of their worlds?

That’s right; you can create a hybrid monetization strategy that may bring revenue- generating ways like in-app purchases, mobile marketing automation, freemium features, affiliation and so forth under one roof.

Parting Shot: building a free app might be an amazing idea because the long-term ROI would be incredibly high. That said, you need to plan to stay afloat before the app becomes profitable and it is equally  important that you have a strong marketing strategy and budget right from day one.

Section B: Getting to business - planning

Once you’ve decided your ideal target audience, outlined the overall mobile app strategy and decided on a robust monetization model and analytics framework, the real fun is about to begin. You are now in a position to make tactical yet incredibly powerful decisions around actually building the app.

Step 6: Determine the framework of the app

When you are ready to get down to business, you ought to plan for the quickest turnaround possible.

That’s why determining the framework and planning your app make for the most important steps in the mobile app development process. There are several basic steps to doing so:

     a. Decide which platform is right for you

Right from the start, you have to decide if you are going to build an Android app only, iOS app only, Windows app only, two or all three. Hint, virtually no one build a Windows app anymore.

The kind of platform you are building the app for will determine several elements of your final product, including features to include, how to optimize user experiences, how to monetize, and how to structure your pre-launch marketing campaigns.

Your use cases will also determine which kind of app you will need to build.

For example, what if you are an e-commerce store?

It’s a smart move to build apps for at least iOS and Android to cater to the largest percentage of the smartphone user population.

     b. Native or hybrid?

You’ll also have to decide if your app will be native, 3rd-party, carrier-specific or hybrid. This decision will have a huge bearing on the number and the type of functionality you will eventually incorporate into your app.

Hybrid versus native is a discussion for another time and it fully deserves its own article. However, high level, here’s the main differences.

Native apps are faster (better performance) and easier to discover in the app store. They can fully leverage a smartphone’s native features (geo-location, camera, address book etc) and easily work in an offline mode (when you lose reception). That said, they’re more expensive because they have completely different code bases between iOS and Android. They have better security and better user experience.

Hybrid apps are cheaper to build, leverage one code base across iOS and Android but continue to have difficulties fully leveraging native components on a smartphone. On the other hand, the time to market is significantly faster to make.

There’s a lot of pros and cons to both approaches and it all comes down to one thing: what’s the most important key performance indicator when you’re launching the app to market. That should drive the decision on what kind of app to build.

     c. Plan your technology stack

At this stage, you should brainstorm with your team on the array of mobile app development technologies that will be leveraged to build your app.

This way, you can plan the technology stack that will ensure maximum return on investment while an eye on the future.

While SDK tools offered by app stores might come in handy, they can be a little restrictive which is why you need to think about a set of scalable technology that will allow you to build a seamless app for all target devices and platforms.

How will they help integrate your app with both public and private cloud servers?

But most importantly, the technology stack is the backbone of your entire app because everything else you will build for this app will fall on the decisions made when choosing the tech stack.

Having a great team here cannot be underestimated. This is actually where we see most issues with clients who come to us asking for a ‘quick fix’ for their app. Code codes that look like spaghetti code, complex and unsustainable APIs. Great technology stacks and app architectures are neatly organized, well built and modular. Horrible tech stacks are convoluted, make no sense and have no documentation you can reference when trying to make sense of it.

So take the time and work with a development team that understand app architecture well. Trust me, if you don’t, you will pay tenfold later.  

     d. Plan your app data strategy

What sets of data do you plan to collect when the app hits the App Store?

Remember, no app can be a do-all solution.

That’s why you need to know which data will be made available through your app right off the bat.

After all, including too much data into a single app can be a huge mistake in terms of sustenance, functionality, and user experience. They can be especially hard to navigate and security a diversity of user-provided data can also become quite tricky.

In addition, it’s not enough to know which data will be available on your app, you will have to decide how you will protect and leverage this information in your crucial business decisions and app improvement.

Have a data handling strategy planned right out of the block.

Step 7: Working with the right team

When it comes to mobile app development, you are only  as good as the team around you. That’s why it is very important to round up a team of top-notch app designers, developers, strategists, and other key experts who will ensure your product will not only stand out but also take the market by storm.

The right team can make, while the wrong team will break it.

Remember that people are key to mobile app development.

Most importantly, you need to collaborate and hire people who know what they are doing.

Who to include in your team?

There are some positions that are indispensable when it comes to developing a killer app.

At a minimum, your team should include talented mobile developers to code, product managers to lead the way for the team and drive the vision/strategy of the app into reality, and designers to create the app's UI and spruce up the UX.

That being said, here are some factors that will help you zero in on team members who will certainly do a bang-up job:

Start with the skill set that’s right for your app and target market

Choose the people with the right skills that will position the app for a long time success.

While there are myriads of skills that make for a great app development team, here are the topmost ones to keep in mind:

UX/UI - User experience and user interface are two key elements will wow and amaze your users or disappoint them - usually, there’s very little in between.

If the UI and UX of your app are shoddy, you will definitely have a tough time finding or retaining users.

That's why you need team members who are UX/UI-focused. The people who know what it takes to craft a truly user-friendly app.

Product management - This is a skill that will help transform your ideas into an incredibly lovable app. This member will act as a liaison between all the stakeholders involved in building the app, the proverbial jack of all traders. A development team without a product manager will falter along the way when issues like conflicts of interest, changing priorities, lack of direction and strategy.

Scrum management - any agile team needs a scrum manager. This is especially important for situations where there's a lot of back and forth between various team members and the development team. The scrum master also acts as your default project manager, shepherding the project along the way and making sure everything is done on time and on budget.

Design - Your app will be going up against remarkable beautiful and easy to use apps on the app market. That's why you need A-level designers to take care of the feel and look of the app.

Business analysis - Creating an actionable mobile app strategy requires great business analysis skills. This person will put the app vision into perspective and help map your objectives into development roadmap for the development team. This team member will also spend a lot of his or her time on market research, competitive analysis, feature set documentation and much more.

QA testing - Testing your app several times during the development and final phase will help deliver a truly market-ready product. That's why you need experts who are conversant with industry standards of QA testing.

Technical app development skills - these are the most important ones to take into consideration. After all, it is a team of developers/coders who will actually hammer out the app. Good developers are well versed in modern coding languages, cloud infrastructure, cross-platform skills, data integration, cloud integration, security integration, and much more.

Who will build your app?

Decide if the app is to be built in-house or by working with an external vendor. Whichever road you choose, be sure to do due diligence before putting together your team or contracting an external vendor.

Step 8: Define the product roadmap and detailed requirements

A strategically built product lasts forever.

And a mobile app will only be successful if it has a well-planned product roadmap.

This is a plan which maps out both the short term and long term goals of your app.

More specifically, your product roadmap will help define your app vision, as well as act as a blueprint for the execution of your mobile app development strategy.

In most cases, the roadmap will help clarify the overall app development strategy to vendors, investors, clients, and other key stakeholders.

Once you have your goals set, you can easily create a product roadmap. Ensure that your goals are clearly defined and easily measurable, which means that you need to have some metrics and KPIs in place.

Let’s quickly talk about minimum viable product

What is the minimum viable product (MVP)? Is it good enough to pique users’ interest? That’s exactly what a good product would help you achieve.

A minimum viable product refers to a set of features and functionalities that are enough to make your app successful at launch. An MVP is manageable, realistic and only covers features you simply cannot go to production without.

In other words, the MVP should be structured in such a way that it helps you build only the app features most closely aligned with your primary objectives and goals.

In addition, your definition of MVP should be data-centric.

An app-driven MVP roadmap delivers better outcomes. Implementing the right data analytics will help you establish your team’s success right from the outset.

For your MVP, it would be wise to focus on a small set of essential metrics.

Your final product, however, should encompass metrics like UX, featured usage, customer churn, user retention, UX, adoption rates, and product quality, just to mention a few.

Section C: Bringing the concept to life - and executing it

If you have reached this point, and done everything we covered in this article so far, then you’re in an amazing shape.

I will let you in on a little secret.

The eight steps above are the single most difficult and nerve-wrenching part of building an app. And by default, the most important.

Everything else we talk about below is a breeze to execute if the previous eight steps were done correctly.

Let’s carry on with the ‘fun part’ of building an app

Step 9: Mobile app designs that wow users

The usability and design of the app will either make users come back to your app or make them uninstall the app right after the first use.

There are many things to keep in mind when designing an app that’ll resonate well with the end user.

Great apps are not complex to use. In fact, far from it.

They are easy and simple to use.

But simple design is the toughest form of design. Nonetheless, that should be your goal first and foremost.

Try to imagine why you want to design the app and why you are looking to achieve.

What exactly do you want your app to look like and do?

How will you ensure that your app will pique the user's interest?

What's the solution do you want to offer with your app?

How will your app stand out in terms of design?

Determine the style of your app. Work with your creative team on the design guidelines that fully align with goal of your app.  Go for a style that will help your app set itself apart from the rest.

In addition, keep cognitive loads to a minimum. Remember that the user’s brain has a limited processing power and you shouldn’t subject them to cognitive or information overload (by which you mean your users will become easily frustrated if they can’t figure out, at a glance, how to use your app).

This is an area of design that you need to get a handle on to prevent users from being overwhelmed. If they do, they will most likely abandon your app.

Create and test multiple design ideas until there is one that is the right concept. Then build on it. The design process should be all about feedback, refining, and repeat. If you leave your users hanging, you will likely design an app that will be a pain to use.

Step 10: Develop the app

Your app designs is looking great and you’re rocking that invision prototype. Now what? Of course, the next step is to build the actual app.

Start with a prototype to ensure that the app is indeed what was planned. Build the flow that will be most used and test it. Ensure that it is an embodiment of the concept. Once the prototype is successfully tested, move ahead with the full development process.

Be ready to make adjustments quickly as the app starts taking shape.

The later in the development stage, the more complex it becomes to make changes. So, design an app architecture that is flexible, while still being scalable (this goes back to the point above regarding choosing the right technology stack).

Of course, there are a few key mistakes that you need to avoid at all costs to ensure that your app building process is hitch-free:

     a. Not keeping security top of mind

In today's digital world plagued with data security breaches, you need to build your app with security at the heart of everything. It is a fact of life that hackers and other ill-reputed cyber-criminals will go above and beyond to crack your app.

Does your app have the necessary security framework to be impenetrable? Have TLS, SSL and AES encryption technology in place to keep your mobile app hacker-proof.

     b. Not building your app with expansion top of mind

The chances are that you are building your app with specific users in mind.

That's all good, but the actual architecture of your app should be crafted with global audiences in mind. Remember that your app should be built in a way that it easy to scale in order to accommodate growth and expansion.

Step 11: Test, test, then test your app again

Test, test, and test should be your mobile app development mantra.

And let’s be candid - after putting in countless hours of effort and hard work into building a great app, the last thing you want to see is a barrage of negative user reviews and ratings.

You need to come up with a proper app testing strategy and follow it to the dot.

What makes a solid app testing strategy?

Your QA testing strategy should align with a number of your goals, including customer expectations, business goals, the user experience, as well as industry best practices.

It should take care of all aspects of the app, including data requirements battery usage, app speed, memory usage and so forth.

Be religious about testing the app at every opportunity.

Bugs are one of the top reasons why customers choose to delete apps, or not use them any longer.

In addition, consider all target user personas. Drill your app tests down to the last user. There are several different app user personas, and you need to test for all of them. You will also have to think about technical users, those who speak different languages, different age groups, those with accessibility issues, and so forth.

Keep your tests fresh and data-driven. More importantly, keep updating the text plan to include new test cases and modify older ones as the app keeps evolving.

Furthermore,  as a rule of thumb, a great app test should take into account every possible way the user will use the app.

It should also consider unusual use cases. What happens when they swipe with two fingers instead of one, or vice versa? What if a user exits the app by mistake? It is crucial to map your entire mobile app to test every use case/scenario.

In addition, conduct tests on every relevant device.

Once the app is launched, start with alpha and beta testing to ensure the expert users are good with the end product, before launching to the masses.

By the way, there are at least two approaches to after-launch app testing: manual or automated.

Automated app testing is ideal when your app is still in development. However, it can be costly. If that’s an issue for you, manual testing might appeal to your lean budget.

Usability testing - The fundamental functionalities of your app are tested at this point. Usability tests include UI testing, compatibility testing, external factors testing, and ADA compliance testing.

Performance testing is another crucial component of the QA process that you need to conduct to establish how your app stacks in terms of power management, memory use, and scalability.

Finally, don't forget to perform compliance and security testing. If you are building a telehealth app, for instance; you need to be compliant with a series of industry regulations like HIPAA, HITRUST , ISO, etc. You should also test the security readiness of your app.

Once all the tests are over, you should have a comprehensive and highly detailed report that entails:

• Quality of testing report
• Important info revealed by the tests
• App quality
• Incident report stats
• All types of testing done and time each took

At this point, you should have plenty of insights and information to leverage to improve your app before launch or for the next iteration.

Step 12: Launch, learn and optimize. Have proper support in place

The final step of the mobile app development process is finally here. You are finally ready to deploy it.

This  step will ensure that your launch will be a breeze and hassle-free.

Your launch date is not just for building buzz and getting your app on the store. It should provide you with an opportunity to carry out user a plethora of interviews, collect feedback, and get ready for the next step: iteration.

You’ll need a good post-launch strategy and plan. Yes, life after launching your app should be bliss, but that isn’t always the case.

Here’s a checklist for creating an awesome post-launch plan:

     a. Obtain user feedback

The user is king. So, listen carefully to what users are saying, especially about the first impression and use of your app. At this stage, you should ramp up your user ratings and reviews - they are the most valuable and reliable sources of user feedback to help inform your next step.

     b. Gather app data

Churn rate, user satisfaction rate, sales, revenue, the average duration of a user session, daily active users, monthly active users, and the number of installs are some of the data metrics that you need to analyze to get a better understanding of your app usage and acceptance.

     c. Invest in a comprehensive analytics tool

Great analytics tools will allow for the complete monitoring of your app and give a clear picture of how well the app is doing with the target audiences. More crucially, look at and understand the numbers and then take the right steps to optimize the app.

     d. Market, market, market your mobile app

Let everyone know that you have launched a fantastic app. Use all marketing channels and resources your marketing dollars can afford. Strategies like content, SEO, and ASO will cost you virtually nothing yet they deliver great results. If you got to this point, read out comprehensive article on The 2021 Mobile App Marketing Guide with 25 Pro Tips .

     e. Get award-worthy mobile app support

Another pitfall of many apps is minimal or zero support.

Invest in mobile app support.

The better the experience users have after they download your app, the more likely they will be to recommend the app to others.

And support plays a big role in that experience. You should provide users will great support 24/7. This way, you can get your app off the ground on the right foot with the users.

Round Up: Why Quality App Building Matters

It is not an impossible task to translate a great idea into a great app. There’s a ton to be said about developing a great app. It’s a very precise job.

There are several pitfalls between an initial concept and when an app becoming successful. But with a proper strategy, the right people, the correct processes, and a clear plan to grow, these pitfalls can be avoided.

These pitfalls that can happen at any stage or level of mobile app development, including these top four:

Strategy level: bad/lack of market research, improper planning of execution stages, and lack of clearly defined goals are a few reasons why your app is set to fail right from the strategy level.

Design and software development level: Lack of a robust QA testing strategy, bad app design, back tech stack or improperly implemented technology, and poor execution could kill your app before it is built.

Execution level: You mobile app can fail at the stage due to a number of reasons, including teams issues when there are conflicting priorities, too much competition/heat from similar apps on the app, cash shortages that make it hard to take your app to the next level, and if you have no clue on how to monetize your app.

Support and marketing level - Having no crystal-clear marketing message, lack or no user ratings/reviews, unclear branding, and lack of differentiation from competitors can plague your app at the support and marketing level.

So, why build an app when the above reasons can be so deterrent? As we have seen in this guide, there are plenty of reasons to build a mobile app. These include the following:

An app can help you increase sales - with 19 percent of retail sales coming from

mobile, an app can help you tap into this increasingly important consumer base. After all, mobile apps deliver 3x more conversions than mobile sites.

Improve customer experiences (UX) - a well-defined app can help you meet your customers where they need you most: mobile. Building a user-friendly app will also improve your customers shopping and purchasing experiences.

Become competitive on the market - 65 percent of SMEs and all big companies already have (or are in the process of building) an app. Build one to stay competitive.

Deliver excellence through another amazing channel - an app is a marketing and sales tool that can do wonders for your customer acquisition, pleasing, loyalty and retainment.

Better customer engagement - an app with a feedback mechanism, live chat feature or a help desk, as well as interactive features like push notification can do wonders for your customer engagement.

Boost recognition and brand awareness - the more users open your app, the more recognizable your app will be. Ensure that your app is stylish and loaded with engaging content to promote your brand and boost credibility and trust.

Building the actual app is no easy walk in the park. As we’ve mentioned above, you need to follow 12 key steps to make the whole process easy and successful.

Summary for App Building Essentials

Step #1. Value proposition - Create a unique value proposition for the app. How is it different from other similar apps, the benefits it will bring to users, how it will make their lives better, etc.

Step #2. Market Research and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) Analysis To Determine the viability of your product.

Validate the concept first, then invest in market research before spending a large amount of time and money on building an app. Is the market ready? Who are the top competitors? What are the threats? Once the market data is in, start planning a course of action.

Step #3. Outline your app goals. List the 3-4 most important goals of the app that will determine how users will interact with the app. Next, brainstorm the actions that users will perform within the app. Don’t forget to define the right key performance indicators to measure success, and look at the great apps in the market to learn how they do things well.

Step #4. Brainstorm the primary use cases of your app and which users to target. In doing so, do not clutter the app with everything for everyone. Rather, launch with a specific set of use cases meant for a clearly-defined group of people.

Step #5. Create a monetization model. A proper monetization model is critical to ensure the long term longevity of the app.

Step #6. Determine the framework of the app. At this stage, you need to decide if the app is going to be on iOS, on Android, or both. Also, plan your technology stack to ensure maximum return on investment while keeping an eye on the future.

Step #7. Build the perfect development team. The right team can make the make, the wrong team will break it. Choose product managers, designers, developers, amazing developers and gifted QA analysts.

Step #8. Define the product roadmap of your app. Don’t forget to define a detailed set of requirements for your app. What is the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? Is it good enough to pique users’ interest?

Step #9. Design the app. Set proper design goals and keep it easy to use. Apps with great UX design are most likely to get used often.

Step #10. Build the app. Start with a prototype, then build the user flow that will be most used and test it. Once the prototype is successfully tested, move ahead with the full development process. Be ready to make adjustments quickly as the app starts taking shape,

Step #11. Test, test, test. Build a proper app testing strategy and follow it to the dot. More crucially, keep updating the text plan to include new test cases and modify older ones as the app keeps evolving.

Finally … Step #12. Launch the app. Start off by creating a scalable and robust deployment process. Not just that, learn from user feedback and data analytics to optimize your app for usability, performance, etc.

Talk to the App Development Experts

In a nutshell, know your users and cater to their needs. That should be the driving philosophy every app maker adopts.

An app should be built around a user, not the other way round. With the ultimate guide, it is our endeavor to educate people and organizations on how to build an app geared for success.

Not sure if you can do this on your own? No worries. That’s why we are here to help.

Digital Authority Partners has worked on hundreds of amazing mobile apps. Feel free to drop us a note at [email protected] or call us at 312-820-9893. Let’s build a great app together!

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Hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of every American. Here’s how to protect yourself

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About four months after a notorious hacking group claimed to have stolen an extraordinary amount of sensitive personal information from a major data broker, a member of the group has reportedly released most of it for free on an online marketplace for stolen personal data.

The breach, which includes Social Security numbers and other sensitive data, could power a raft of identity theft, fraud and other crimes, said Teresa Murray, consumer watchdog director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

For the record:

2:39 p.m. Aug. 15, 2024 A previous version of this article identified Teresa Murray as the consumer watchdog director for the U.S. Public Information Research Group. She works for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

“If this in fact is pretty much the whole dossier on all of us, it certainly is much more concerning” than prior breaches, Murray said in an interview. “And if people weren’t taking precautions in the past, which they should have been doing, this should be a five-alarm wake-up call for them.”

According to a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the hacking group USDoD claimed in April to have stolen personal records of 2.9 billion people from National Public Data, which offers personal information to employers, private investigators, staffing agencies and others doing background checks. The group offered in a forum for hackers to sell the data, which included records from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, for $3.5 million , a cybersecurity expert said in a post on X.

The lawsuit was reported by Bloomberg Law .

Last week, a purported member of USDoD identified only as Felice told the hacking forum that they were offering “ the full NPD database ,” according to a screenshot taken by BleepingComputer. The information consists of about 2.7 billion records, each of which includes a person’s full name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and phone number, along with alternate names and birth dates, Felice claimed.

Data of nearly all AT&T customers downloaded in security breach

Information on nearly all customers of the telecommunications giant AT&T was downloaded to a third-party platform in a 2022 security breach.

July 12, 2024

National Public Data didn’t respond to a request for comment, nor has it formally notified people about the alleged breach. It has, however, been telling people who contacted it via email that “we are aware of certain third-party claims about consumer data and are investigating these issues.”

In that email, the company also said that it had “purged the entire database, as a whole, of any and all entries, essentially opting everyone out.” As a result, it said, it has deleted any “non-public personal information” about people, although it added, “We may be required to retain certain records to comply with legal obligations.”

Several news outlets that focus on cybersecurity have looked at portions of the data Felice offered and said they appear to be real people’s actual information. If the leaked material is what it’s claimed to be, here are some of the risks posed and the steps you can take to protect yourself.

The threat of ID theft

The leak purports to provide much of the information that banks, insurance companies and service providers seek when creating accounts — and when granting a request to change the password on an existing account.

A few key pieces appeared to be missing from the hackers’ haul. One is email addresses, which many people use to log on to services. Another is driver’s license or passport photos, which some governmental agencies rely on to verify identities.

Still, Murray of PIRG said that bad actors could do “all kinds of things” with the leaked information, the most worrisome probably being to try to take over someone’s accounts — including those associated with their bank, investments, insurance policies and email. With your name, Social Security number, date of birth and mailing address, a fraudster could create fake accounts in your name or try to talk someone into resetting the password on one of your existing accounts.

“For somebody who’s really suave at it,” Murray said, “the possibilities are really endless.”

It’s also possible that criminals could use information from previous data breaches to add email addresses to the data from the reported National Public Data leak. Armed with all that, Murray said, “you can cause all kinds of chaos, commit all kinds of crimes, steal all kinds of money.”

Phishing attack hits L.A. County public health agency, jeopardizing 200,000-plus residents’ personal info

The personal information of more than 200,000 people in Los Angeles County was potentially exposed after a hacker used a phishing email to steal login credentials.

June 14, 2024

How to protect yourself

Data breaches have been so common over the years, some security experts say sensitive information about you is almost certainly available in the dark corners of the internet. And there are a lot of people capable of finding it; VPNRanks, a website that rates virtual private network services, estimates that 5 million people a day will access the dark web through the anonymizing TOR browser, although only a portion of them will be up to no good.

If you suspect that your Social Security number or other important identifying information about you has been leaked, experts say you should put a freeze on your credit files at the three major credit bureaus, Experian , Equifax and TransUnion . You can do so for free, and it will prevent criminals from taking out loans, signing up for credit cards and opening financial accounts under your name. The catch is that you’ll need to remember to lift the freeze temporarily if you are obtaining or applying for something that requires a credit check.

Technology and the Internet

Are you the victim of identity theft? Here’s what to do

If you’re a victim of identity thieves or a data hack, you need to act quickly. Here’s what to do to protect yourself.

Oct. 26, 2022

Placing a freeze can be done online or by phone, working with each credit bureau individually. PIRG cautions never to do so in response to an unsolicited email or text purporting to be from one of the credit agencies — such a message is probably the work of a scammer trying to dupe you into revealing sensitive personal information.

For more details, check out PIRG’s step-by-step guide to credit freezes .

You can also sign up for a service that monitors your accounts and the dark web to guard against identity theft, typically for a fee. If your data is exposed in a breach, the company whose network was breached will often provide one of these services for free for a year or more.

If you want to know whether you have something to worry about, multiple websites and service providers such as Google and Experian can scan the dark web for your information to see whether it’s out there. But those aren’t specific to the reported National Public Data breach. For that information, try a free tool from the cybersecurity company Pentester that offers to search for your information in the breached National Public Data files . Along with the search results, Pentester displays links to the sites where you can freeze your credit reports.

Atlas Privacy, a company that helps people remove their personal information from data brokers, also offers a way to check whether your info was breached in the National Public Data hack.

As important as these steps are to stop people from opening new accounts in your name, they aren’t much help protecting your existing accounts. Oddly enough, those accounts are especially vulnerable to identity thieves if you haven’t signed up for online access to them, Murray said — that’s because it’s easier for thieves to create a login and password while pretending to be you than it is for them to crack your existing login and password.

World & Nation

Trump campaign says its emails were hacked

Former President Trump’s campaign says it has been hacked and is blaming Iranian actors, saying they stole and distributed sensitive internal documents.

Aug. 10, 2024

Of course, having strong passwords that are different for every service and changed periodically helps. Password manager apps offer a simple way to create and keep track of passwords by storing them in the cloud, essentially requiring you to remember one master password instead of dozens of long and unpronounceable ones. These are available both for free (such as Apple’s iCloud Keychain) and for a fee .

Beyond that, experts say it’s extremely important to sign up for two-factor authentication. That adds another layer of security on top of your login and password. The second factor is usually something sent or linked to your phone, such as a text message; a more secure approach is to use an authenticator app, which will keep you secure even if your phone number is hijacked by scammers .

Yes, scammers can hijack your phone number through techniques called SIM swaps and port-out fraud , causing more identity-theft nightmares. To protect you on that front, AT&T allows you to create a passcode restricting access to your account; T-Mobile offers optional protection against your phone number being switched to a new device, and Verizon automatically blocks SIM swaps by shutting down both the new device and the existing one until the account holder weighs in with the existing device.

Your worst enemy may be you

As much or more than hacked data, scammers also rely on people to reveal sensitive information about themselves. One common tactic is to pose as your bank, employer, phone company or other service provider with whom you’ve done business and then try to hook you with a text or email message.

Banks, for example, routinely tell customers that they will not ask for their account information by phone. Nevertheless, scammers have coaxed victims into providing their account numbers, logins and passwords by posing as bank security officers trying to stop an unauthorized withdrawal or some other supposedly urgent threat.

People may even get an official-looking email purportedly from National Public Data, offering to help them deal with the reported leak, Murray said. “It’s not going to be NPD trying to help. It’s going to be some bad guy overseas” trying to con them out of sensitive information, she said.

It’s a good rule of thumb never to click on a link or call a phone number in an unsolicited text or email. If the message warns about fraud on your account and you don’t want to simply ignore it, look up the phone number for that company’s fraud department (it’s on the back of your debit and credit cards) and call for guidance.

“These bad guys, this is what they do for a living,” Murray said. They might send out tens of thousands of queries and get only one response, but that response could net them $10,000 from an unwitting victim. “Ten thousand dollars in one day for having one hit with one victim, that’s a pretty good return on investment,” she said. “That’s what motivates them.”

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Jon Healey writes and edits stories for the Los Angeles Times’ Fast Break Desk, the team that dives into the biggest news of the moment. In his previous stints, he wrote and edited for the Utility Journalism team and The Times editorial board. He covered technology news for The Times from 2000 to mid-2005.

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