The Importance of User-Centered Apps in a Digitalized World

Since the mid-twentieth century, the world has rapidly transformed from the industrial to the digital age. Transferring information is more convenient, innovative, and diverse. Look around and you will see almost everyone using their internet-connected gadgets. Nowadays, you can’t go anywhere without needing your smartphone, for instance – that is how convenient they are. All of this convenience can be traced back to the fact that we now live in a world dominated by digital devices.

Mobile application developers are aware of this reality and upgrade features and functions in apps according to user preferences. This is the primary goal of every mobile app developer in Singapore, Japan, and other technology-driven countries around the world. The implementation of user-centred design (UCD) is just one of the methods that companies utilise to create applications and products that line up with what users expect and hope to experience. In this article, we will know why this is important for them and for every user as well.

It Increases User Satisfaction: A Mobile App that Works for You

User satisfaction is probably the most important reason why companies should continue making user-centred apps. A satisfied customer is more likely to purchase or continue using digital products. However, this is not only about customer retention, but also about helping the company improve in other ways.

The rise of social media provided an avenue for every mobile app development company to exhibit and execute its ideas. At present, everyone has at least one social media app on their phone because it is an effective communication and media-sharing platform for them. These apps offer convenience and instant gratification to the users.

An example of this convenience is in instant messaging and browsing. When you are meeting someone and they are late, what are you going to do? Most of the time it is to get your phone and open a social media app to pass time or a messenger app to contact them. It is now common for people to spend hours scrolling on their “newsfeed” because it captures and keeps their mind – a fine example of how UCD can direct attention. These apps give users the most relevant content to them, thus, their needs are met and ensure continued use of the social media app.

Boosting User Productivity: A Mobile App that Serves You

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a paradigm shift in many sectors of society. It changed the education setup for most countries and prompted mobile app development to enhance remote setups. Many universities and even companies relied on applications such as MS Teams, Google Meet, and other collaboration apps as a platform to hold online classes and meetings.

Students nowadays are familiar with technology since the majority of them are born with it, with their generation called “digital natives”. However, some still encountered difficulties in using them at first, affecting their productivity. Thankfully, with developers quickly working on improving cloud-based classrooms and conferences, based on user feedback, it became easier for students, teachers, school personnel, entrepreneurs and employees to use and maximise the features of the apps.

Prioritising the User over the Innovation Itself: A Mobile App that Promotes Humanity

Technology is sometimes a double-edged sword – it can be used for or against humanity. Fortunately, UCD presented a way for us to be more humane by prioritising the user over the invention or innovation. It proves that despite the issues against digital technology, mobile app developers can still provide products with genuine competitive advantages without sacrificing ethical considerations in the process. An example of this is the ever-expanding role of AI in human life: some fear excessive automation through AI would remove people from their jobs. However, recent developments prove that AI is doing the opposite – helping humans instead of replacing them.

Knowing and understanding the user is one way to deliver the app they need and successfully execute mobile app development. Singapore is just one of the countries that utilise UCD as more than a design method because UCD is an “investment” as well. It becomes an investment in terms of banking on what users are saying they want in a product and reaping the gains upon successful delivery when users purchase or use the app as projected. This is a continuous cycle of responding to users’ feedback to boost satisfaction in using the app. During this process, developers and users participate in exchanges of change and feedback in order to deliver the best upgrades necessary.

Conclusion

We are all users of technology, so it is important that devices and software revolve around satisfying human needs and preferences. Digital technology is for people, and that is why companies spend time, money, and effort in getting to know their users better. One way to do that is through direct communication, while others, through more passive means of feedback. At the end of every feedback mechanism, there are humans looking for ways to improve how we live in a digital world, so let us use technology to our advantage and make it work for us, and not the other way around.

Choose the right mobile app developer that prioritises users as much as you do – a company with a reputation for employing professional expertise in developing and designing a mobile app. Singapore’s pioneer mobile app development agency, Frontline Mobile Pte. Ltd., has been designing user-centred products with cutting-edge technology. Should you need more information about us and our services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at https://www.frontline.com.sg/contact/.