If you’re a small business trying to stay ahead in the digital world, chances are you’ve already considered creating an app. Aside from the fact that having an app is proven to boost sales, there are a lot of other reasons your small business needs a mobile app.

It allows you to stay connected to customers at all times, as they’ll be carrying your business in their pocket. It allows you to collect detailed data and analytics on customer behaviour. It allows you to effectively communicate with all of your customers. Put simply, it improves the customer experience.

The hardest part of the whole process is app design, which can seem bafflingly complicated to first-timers. Not to worry, here’s everything you need to know about designing an app for your small business.

App Design 101: It’s All About the UX, Baby

The most important principle of mobile app design is user experience or UX for short. This essentially means making the process of using your app as easy as possible for a customer.

UX is a process that needs to be embedded in every step of your design. You’ll need to ensure the interface is very easy to use, and that nothing about the experience creates unnecessary “friction”.

Designing an app means there should be a few pages and stages as possible. A user should be able to complete a process in seconds, and nothing should put them off using it.

Boosting Your SEO With a Mobile App

Did you know that your mobile app can boost your SEO if done right? Loading time is intrinsically linked to SEO and rankings, so your mobile app is a chance to push your website’s loading time down to a minimum.

You want as low a “bounce rate” as possible, and mobile app design can help you get there. If your app has instant load times, or load times between one and three seconds, your typical bounce rate is about 80% lower.

How to Plan Your App

If you want to know the fundamentals of how to design a business app, the screen count is your first place to start. You need to map out how many “screens” the user will see when using your app.

Take Twitter; a typical user will see over a dozen screens, including the DM screen, trending screen, like screen, and feed screen. And that’s a short number. Draw a diagram with all of the screens you’ll need in order for your app to serve customers.

If it’s clearly too many screens, it’s time for a re-do.

Security is Key

If you want to design an app for your business, you need to know security. Your app will likely be used for processing customers’ payments. This means financial details are in your hands.

Even if they aren’t buying anything through the app, you will be collecting their data, so it needs to be safe. Consult all of the appropriate security measures and platforms before even starting design.

Learn More

To learn more about app design for your small business, or how we can boost your digital profile, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today!