Connected Home App Development: A Survival Guide

Don’t get eaten alive in the Connected Home IoT market. Here are 3 ways to build a winning app.

It’s a tough world out there in Connected Home products land. Deliver a user experience that falls short and you might not get a second chance. So how do you develop apps that survive — even thrive — in a market with no patience for a sub-par user experience?

At Blue Rocket, we specialize in designing and engineering great apps and experiences for the Connected Home. Here are three rules for survival.

Make your first moment count.

When product and app sync for the first time, it should feel like magic. Show your user that their product is awake and synced with the app — all systems working as intended. Delight them! Maybe with a simple but beautiful animation and a few carefully chosen words. This is your first chance to prove to your users that, when they bought your product, they made a good decision.

Don’t make them think.

After the initial handshake, keep the magic alive. Setup should be effortless. They should never feel like they’re waiting, because waiting very quickly turns into, “Is this thing working?” And whatever you do, don’t make them read instructions. Show, don’t tell. If setup begins by serving up a text block, re-evaluate.

Give them innovation, not novelty.

Take a good look at your features. Are you delivering innovation or novelty? Novelty may dazzle but it burns out. Whereas innovation changes the way people live. Your job is to deliver innovation. Aim to change something simple, but significant in your user’s daily life. Once that innovation becomes habit, show them how they might go further. If someone buys a smart plug to control Christmas lights, you will need to show them, over time, what else they can do with it. But it all starts with that killer app. What’s yours?

Blue Rocket is a mobile product development company based in San Francisco. Through strategy, design, and engineering, we help great companies build powerful digital experiences — the right way. Find us at www.bluerocket.us.