App Redesign: How to Know It’s the Right Time

Mobile and web applications have greatly changed the lifestyle of a modern person. We are surrounded by a huge variety of applications that help us communicate with friends, learn the news, and much more.

In this article, we will tell you all about app redesign and the right time to do it.

Why Is the User Interface Important?

By redesigning your app you will get the benefits of an improved user interface:

• Convenient search within the application. Clear and consistent navigation is a basic requirement for a user interface. If it turns out too difficult, most users will not want to spend their time on figuring it out
• Well designed or complex app navigation that can increase your bounce rate
• Form and function are at the core of everything. In our experience, the simplicity and convenience of the user interface are equal to the quality of customer service.

Why Is UI Redesign Important to Your Marketing?

Can it be enough to make a quality design once and for all? To answer this, let’s look at the reasons why app interfaces may need to be redesigned.

• The app is the face of your company. The user judges your success by it. An outdated interface will negatively affect user’s trust level and push them towards competitor sites that have embraced a more “modern” design;
• Correction of errors in the previous interface. This includes simplifying the navigation, optimizing the graphics, and other elements that affect app traffic;
• Implementation of new technologies and functionality. The field of UI design is developing rapidly, constantly providing new opportunities for retaining and attracting customers. It is a good idea to use them to keep up with the times;
• Making the application stand out against the competition. A redesign allows you to differentiate yourself and make your app more attractive as opposed to those clinging to outdated interfaces;
• Increased income. This point follows from the previous ones. The more effort you put into updating the UI, the more inbound traffic and, ultimately, the more profit you will receive.

In the world of rapidly changing technologies, people form new expectations of how the UI of a convenient web app should work. Therefore, it is important not only to meet but to exceed their expectations. Taking these steps early will lead to faster and smoother transfer processes.

Right Time to Redesign an App

If you are already thinking that it would be good to change something, there are some signs that a redesign is in order. So when to redesign your app?

• The support is overloaded, and you want to reduce the costs and the load on the support
• Obsolete development. Different product modules were created by different developers in different languages, now it is difficult to maintain the product technically
• There is no visual consistency in terms of design. You don’t have a design system, the rules of interaction are not spelled out
• It’s hard to implement new features. Every time, you have to make new design solutions
• Users have a bad experience because there is no system in the product and they constantly have to learn how to navigate it
• It is becoming difficult to compete in the market
• It’s hard to enter a new market and attract new users with an old product
• The product is not flexible compared to new products in the market.

What Are the Benefits of a Business Redesign?

A redesign doesn’t mean your app has been a failure. It just shows that it is modern enough to meet the current needs of a new customer who is not yet familiar with your business. Web app redesign will give you:

• The ability to reduce the load on the support service
• Reduced design and development costs, cheaper technical support and cheaper implementation of new features
• The ability to enter a new market with a consistent design
• More loyal users, better statistics in terms of satisfaction, time on site, etc.
• Staying on top of design trends and user expectations
• With the right approach, all design elements will reinforce and complement each other.

Step-by-Step Process of App Redesign at Our Agency

In redesigning an application, our team already has something to build on. There are analytics, user reviews, and business feedback. We can connect tools for conducting a usability audit and, based on the data obtained, optimize the design of the mobile application to increase conversion. The whole process consists of a number of steps:

Research

In our agency, we begin our mobile app redesign by collecting information, requirements, niche trends, product aspects, and user needs. We get the target user’s image of our client and analyze the best solutions and practices used in interfaces in their industry.

Audit

Next, we analyze all the design elements used in the client’s company to ensure that branding is consistent across all communication channels. This includes analyzing the elements of visual design, but also the written and verbal components of the user experience.

Stakeholder interview

At this stage, we need additional information to help build the mobile application. We will learn how the client sees the product, what functions it should perform, and how, in the client’s opinion, users should perceive the application. A representative of our team also discusses with the client how we see everything on our side and explains why we made this or that decision. The goal is to find an option that sounds good to both our developers and the client.

User interview

A user interview is a quick and easy way to understand how users feel, how they think, and what they believe to be true. We learn about the problems the users face and how they solve these problems. Next, we analyze potential users, find out if they like the application and what elements they want to see in the interface.

Competitors’ research

Our experts analyze the competitors in the client’s business niche to find out which technological and design solutions they use, what they are known for, which functionality their application has, and much more. This is done to offer the client a modern and competitive design.

User journey creation

At this stage, we sketch out the UX and predict the potential experience your shoppers will have before creating the actual web app redesign. It’s important to see the big picture before we start.

User flow

User flow is simply the steps of a specific process, from the moment the user logs into the application to the moment they complete their task or tasks.

As soon as we figure out what the user wants, what their desire is, we look where the person came from (the source) and where they will go to next in the application. A user who responds to email marketing and goes to the site from a newsletter is likely to land on a different page than a person who found you organically through a regular search.

IA

Information architecture means creating a product structure that allows you to understand the location of the user and the information they need. Using IA, we create sitemaps, hierarchies, navigation, classifications, and metadata.

Prototyping and testing

After collecting and analyzing all the information we need for the redesign, we start working on the prototype and testing it.

UI design and development

Then, after testing the product, our specialists start working with UI design and its development.

How to Properly Implement a Redesign If You Already Have a Large User Base?

It all depends on the business strategy and the situation\. You can simply direct all users to the new interface. However, in our agency, we usually do not mix versions. We allow those who do not want a new design to stay temporarily on the old version, as long as it is supported technically. It all depends on how old the version is, and whether it was web or software.

In general, this is a decision that largely depends on the specific situation and resources at your disposal.

Use Case

A client turned to us for help in developing a new user interface to replace their outdated software for the healthcare industry. We created a new framework for the application with various elements and components, improved the navigation, simplified the interface for users and our client both.

As a result, we created a comprehensive and consistent user interface. This allowed the users — healthcare workers — to free up their time that would have been otherwise spent on navigating the software and use this time to help more patients.

Conclusion

Mobile app design is an integral step in the development of modern eCommerce. Therefore, if you want to improve your business, you need simple, high-quality, and useful software. We hope that our tips will help you reach this goal.

Originally published at https://angle2.agency on April 30, 2021.