App failure is something we all know. The most striking statistic about app success is its rarity. Recent research shows that 0.5% and 13% respectively of app apps for consumers are successful.

Does this mean that creating an app for your company is futile?

It’s not.

People use smartphones primarily through apps. App development is a smart business decision, as smartphones are now ubiquitous.

Understanding the reasons why apps fail can help you to understand how and what it takes for success in the app marketplace. Let’s first understand the characteristics of app success before we dive into the reasons apps fail.

What is success?

An earlier report indicated that only one in 10,000 apps succeed on the market.

This is a good place to ask: What is the app’s success or failure? Are you merely evaluating whether the app is a success or failure? Or are there other factors involved?

An app venture is not defined by any criteria. Let’s suppose that you launch an app and get 500 downloads within the first two months. The average daily and weekly active users are approximately 100 and 250, respectively.

How successful is this app? It may seem like a failure because of the low downloads. The active user ratios are quite solid. The download volume can be understood even if the app company doesn’t have a large acquisition budget.

You could argue that the data of active users is quite impressive and that it shows that the app has potential and is well-built.

Success is determined by many factors. Two ways to measure app success are available:

• Compare your app to other similar listings. If your app is not up to par, you might need to look at a different approach to improving and promoting it.

• Set benchmarks: Before you launch your app, set benchmarks for key app KPIs such as downloads, traffic, and screen time. These benchmarks should be embedded in your plans for promoting your app and improving its functionality.

What causes apps to fail?

Apps fail because of this. What are the biggest mistakes that businesses make when running an app?

Although the list is lengthy, we have distilled it into five main reasons why apps are failing in app stores.

#1: Stuck in a wrong development cycle

The most important part of any app’s development life cycle is its app development. Your app’s design is the foundation of your business.

It is important to understand that you have two options for getting an app developed for your business: DIY and custom.

App development is the process of developing a mobile app using coding. To build an app for their business, businesses hire developers and agencies.

DIY app development is development without code. Automated platforms allow users to create mobile apps automatically without the need for coding.

Custom vs no-code app development

Let’s look at two scenarios to better understand each of these options.

One is a large company that has a well-established technology team. Because the company has the resources and the ability to create a functional app from scratch, custom development is a good choice.

A technology team is essential to ensure that the app can be managed seamlessly by the company after launch. There’s always a team available to help with any urgent improvements. 

Two is a small startup that has a very limited tech team. Let’s say that the company has enough capital to build an app from scratch.

After the app has been built, the challenge lies in improving it based on the reactions of your customers and users. Here is where the problems begin. A small tech team is unable to make the app more useful.

Remember that many startups and small businesses don’t have tech staff.

What makes DIY app builders so useful?

Two: A bad development decision can make it difficult to modify an app based on user behavior and preferences.

The way the app was built means that the app cannot be optimized by the business.

This is a simple solution: build apps using DIY mobile app builders to bypass all the complications of custom development.

This is the best option for small businesses because of many reasons.

• With DIY mobile app builders, it takes very little time to create a mobile application.

• This process does not require any programming. The app can be created without the involvement of a team of developers, or outside agencies.

• You don’t have to spend a lot of money to build an app. Instead, you can pay a small monthly fee or a one-time fee to access any mobile app builder platform.

• Once your app is live, it’s easy to make changes or update the app. Many platforms that don’t require code allow you to manage your apps from a dedicated control panel.

DIY platforms are constantly improving with new features. Big companies will soon find it more practical to use no-code platforms for creating apps.

#2: The wrong approach to optimizing app stores

App Store Optimization (ASO) This is the process of optimizing an app shop listing to increase its organic visibility.

It works in this way: Let’s suppose you have an app selling running shoes. It makes sense to include keywords and phrases in your app store listing that your target audience might search for. This could be words such as “buy running shoes”, or “running shoes”.

To find the most relevant keywords, you can use a keyword search tool.

Bad ASO simply means that your app listing does not meet your target keywords.

Your app’s ASO may not be working for many reasons. These are some reasons your app may not be receiving downloads through organic app store searches. Here’s what you can do about it.

• Use bad keywords Take a look at the keyword list. Are your keywords high in volume? Are they relevant to your niche? How can you rank higher on this keyword? It is easy to find keywords that are relevant by looking at other apps that do better.

• Poor positioning: The title, subtitle, description, and description of your app must be optimized for the keywords that you have selected. Your app listing’s title must contain your target keyword. You are not performing ASO correctly. Your high-volume keywords should be used in the app title. Then, rejig all the other words in the description and subtitle.

• Unseen app name: The industry your app is targeting doesn’t necessarily have to be in the app’s name. Netflix, for example, doesn’t call its app a “content streaming platform”. The name of your app should be a combination of the features it offers. Bad app names can be confusing and not relatable.

• Bad design: A listing for an app is your brand’s landing page in busy app stores. Visitors won’t be converted if it doesn’t look professional. Low conversions can be a negative signal and negatively impact app store rankings. Your screenshots and icons should reflect the best version of your app.

• Unmanaged reviews and ratings: Every online business should learn from the effects of reviews and ratings on sales and traffic. You will see a drop in rankings if you don’t engage with customers who leave negative reviews. Engage with unhappy customers and remind happy users to leave reviews.

Keywords are the most important factor in ASO. While the rest of the factors can still be managed, a bad selection of keywords could stop any positive ASO momentum.

#3: Inadequacy in Features

Some apps lack features. Have you ever seen an app with fewer features than the competition?

This app is not something you want to create. Customers and users should not feel the app isn’t well-built or unable to fulfill its core function.

Adding too many features can also make your app seem complicated. Consider how it feels if you have too many options in an app once it is opened.

The app may have more features, but that doesn’t mean it is better. If you sacrifice user experience in exchange for functionality, it can lead to customers and users being turned away.

Where is the line? What are the limits of features?

It is best to research your current and potential users to find out. The feature threshold for some markets would be higher if there were tech-savvy users. If the audience needs a lot of technical guidance, it is lower.

Make sure you do your market research before adding features to your app. You can come up with creative ways to add powerful features that don’t overwhelm your users as your user base grows.

#4: Insufficient resources for marketing or improving the app

Apps are expensive. Every small step, regardless of how it is done on various platforms, requires capital.

It can be hard to scale up downloads and user experience when you have a small budget.

This is an easy reason to grasp. If you don’t have enough capital, your app will crash. How can you avoid financial problems and grow your business sustainably?

These are just a few of the many ways you can accomplish this:

• Learn more about monetization: Capital is not an issue. Your app could be the solution. Compare different monetization strategies for apps and find the one that works best for you.

• Optimize your organic channels: Find out if your organic marketing channels are performing well. Check your app listing to see if it conforms to ASO standards. To channel more traffic to your site, you can also use organic web traffic.

• Check your marketing budget: Determine if you are getting the most traffic and downloads from your marketing efforts. You may be spending too much on channels that don’t promise, and not enough on the more promising ones.

#5: Don’t measure essential app KPIs

Analytics is 9/10 of the success rate.

You need to understand how users use your app to improve it.

What screens are most popular? What time are users most likely to open the app? What screen is slow to load?

This data is essential for improving your app. This data is crucial for improving your app. If you don’t take the time to look at it and continue working on your app you will be disconnected from customers who bring you business.

This eventually leads to app failure. Your app users will abandon you because they don’t know what their preferences are.

The problem is the solution. Take a look at the app data to see how users view your app. To get a basic understanding of your users’ preferences, you don’t need to be a data analyst.

Firebase makes it simple to access all the critical data for your app from one location using tools like this. As you scale up, you’ll be able to get more powerful analytics tools and create a separate analytics team.

Final words

It’s wrong to think about failure when you start a mobile app.

This is perfectly normal. The goal is always a success. Knowing how apps fail in the market is the best way to strategize for success.

Five main reasons apps fail are covered in this article. Knowing the top mistakes that businesses make when developing, launching, and managing apps can help you prepare your strategy. If you are looking for one, check out our mobile app development agencies in the USA or mobile application companies in the UK directories.