Why you should let apps “live”
Keep your apps alive and your customers happy.
There’s something special about apps that have a life to them. They feel organic, and healthy. Keep it relevant, fresh, you will retain users and make new users happy.
No design is perfect
You can focus on the bigger picture and strategic improvements, or focus on the little details. Plan big changes thoroughly. Implications of your changes may not be immediately apparent. Sketch or prototype the full flow so you have a coherent understanding of the big picture. You have to adapt if you want to stay relevant. Keep in mind that people are naturally resistant to change, so adopt changes slowly. Make transitions to new interfaces smooth and incremental.
Digital is forever
I still have some board games that no one ever plays, and have since been updated and replaced with better versions of itself. Something that you put online stays there forever. Often what happens is that users will experience many things online that are outdated and they will begin to lose confidence as soon as they see any hints of outdated-ness.
Keeping up with paradigm shifts
If your app is rocking an iOS6 look when your users are using iOS7, its going to feel out of place. It will make you look like you don’t care enough to update your app. Perception is reality. If you care, make it look like you do.
Existing customer confidence
You’ve heard that its much easier to retain old users than to obtain new ones. Once users lose confidence, it’s very difficult to get back. If you’ve ever downloaded a plugin or a piece of software that was no longer being updated, you’ll understand. Its difficult to trust software that hasn’t been touched for a few years.
Evolving experience
Getting new users is more difficult than retaining old ones. If you want users to keep coming back, keep giving them good content that will benefit them. Show that you are responding and addressing customer needs and requests. This doesn’t mean listen to every customer command but being straight-forward and honest with your intentions will earn you respect.
Have patience
At raresloth our opinion is that the best apps will eventually float to the top. It will be the quality of our games that sets us apart.
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