Over the last decade, many corporations have made huge investments in mobile experience for their users. They have, however, paid less attention to content. In fact, they have not successfully implemented a content management strategy to give them a competitive advantage over their peers.
Companies that neglect content strategy and maintenance find it very difficult to retain their users.
The importance of knowing how to engage your users on the mobile, especially now that people are more interested in consuming digital content on their mobile devices than on desktops, cannot be over-emphasized. Your promotional strategy can attract people to your app but what will make them stay is the content of your app. Hence, we can say that the most critical aspect of mobile application design is content development.
Below are the tips for an effective mobile app content strategy everyone interested in mobile app development should know.
The fact is mobile devices have smaller screens compared to desktops; and mobile app developers are faced with the challenge of fitting as much information into a smaller screen. Instead of just copying web contents onto the app, content should be tailored for mobile and condensed to fit the size of the screen.
Do not include too much information in your mobile app because doing so will negatively affect the user experience.
Most importantly, your content should be legible. So that your users can read without straining their eyes, the font size should not be less than 11 pts. The size is too small if they have to zoom in to read your content. To enable users to consume content from a comfortable distance, the lines and letters should be properly spaced.
Because there is less information to consume on mobile devices as opposed to desktops, comprehension is often impaired. Using contrasting colors will help users see, understand, and ultimately use your content with greater ease.
Visibility must be your top priority since users often consume your content when they are outdoors or on the go.
Users' attention span is shorter when consuming content on their mobile devices. Therefore, you must identify and cut out everything (clusters) that will distract them from carrying out what is really important- the call-to-action. The result of cluttering the app is lower conversion rates. Remember, for that every additional button, icon, or image; the screen becomes more complex. So whether you want them to buy a product or sign-up for a newsletter, you should adhere to one call-to-action per screen, as this will give rise to a better user comprehension.
As you develop mobile applications, you need to ensure that the User Experience is optimized for touch. The users should be able to complete a goal or navigate through your app with as few hand gestures, screens, or tabs as possible.
Bearing in mind that users often use just one hand to navigate when they are using a mobile device, you must ensure that buttons are placed in line with the patterns and physiological behaviors in mind. For example, buttons should be placed in the areas of the screen where the thumb can easily reach. Above all, user app must be user-friendly. People should be able to navigate through your app easily and naturally within a short time. With “hamburger menus” and navigation tools, users can quickly find what they are looking for. A complex navigation process will do you no good.
Even though the content is an important piece of the discovery phase of a project, it can often be overlooked at the beginning of the project. You must know what your client already has (content and data) because it will have direct impact on your design decisions and kick-start content management discussions. Rather than with lorem ipsum, using realistic dummy data to begin your designs can open up a conversation to potential oversights sooner than later.
Work with the client to develop a content plan that caters to the needs and aspirations of the target users. The content plan must take into considering the ‘call-to-action.’ Your development team can discuss possible technical solutions to handling complicated data, error management, and messaging.
As your content development team goes about discovery and creating content, it is necessary to set boundaries and limits for copy and input fields. The writers should know the min and max character lengths.
If for any reason you are using user-created content, set sufficient rules and make suggestions to guide the user in inputting good content.
With content guides, the already established limitations can be communicated and implemented in the CMS and the app. You must thoroughly test your content on multiple rotations, mobile devices, and screen sizes to ensure it is displaying as it should on all of them. Be sure that all offline, default, or empty-state copy is useful. For user-created content, seek out cases of wrongly formatted content.
For sundry reasons, allowing user-created content is not always the best. With user-created content, you can only hope for the best, but always expect the worse anytime users input content that will be displayed on your product. Aside the fact that you have little or no control over what they input, some users can take advantage of this freedom to input content capable of pushing your product to unexpected lows. We advise that you as much as possible to be wary of such a content development strategy.
Closing Thoughts
As a mobile app developer, who intends to remain relevant in the market, your content must be tailored for your target audience. You must be able to identify them and their needs. After identifying the core needs of your users, you should ensure that your app directly meets those needs as quickly as possible.
Some apps are only useful for short-term purposes but are unable to meet the long-term needs of users. The content of your app must be relevant over time. Developing an app that will only meet a user’s one-time need is a waste of resources. Users love apps that deliver continuous value. Your goal should be to keep your app installed in the mobile devices of all the users that downloaded it.
One sure way of doing so is to deliver user-specific content.
A strategic content plan will keep your mobile application relevant in the competitive app market.
Good content has a direct and positive impact on user experience, so it should be a priority as you go about the process of mobile app development.
