Mobile app redesign process: reasons, guidelines & best practices to follow in 2019

Across the globe, businesses in diverse industries are growing at a good rate with the help of their mobile apps. Most of the e-commerce businesses that functioned through websites now have their mobile apps available in the app stores.

Also, app development technologies are developing very rapidly. The possibility of new features, functions, and design inside an app makes the business owners think about redesigning their mobile apps.

What was relevant for mobile app designing a few years back in time is considered outdated in the contemporary world. It is more related to user behavior while using apps.

Expert mobile app creators observe how targeted users respond to the app design with time.

Do you own a business that runs digitally through a mobile application and is facing a lack of user engagement?

Your business app may need to be redesigned with the help of experts.

To meet users’ expectations, mobile app redesign is a must amidst changing trends. Since getting the app redesigned is not a small task, you need to first confirm if your app really needs to be redesigned.

To help you get started on the right foot, let’s begin to identify why you need your mobile app redesign before we discuss how to redesign your mobile app:

When do you really need to get your mobile app redesigned?

If you got your business app designed several years ago, the chances are high that it is not bringing in the same revenue as it did in the initial years post its launch.

This can be because the end users’ expectations from your app are changing. They want all the latest design elements and features available in your competitor’s apps.  

But, a question may arise in your minds: Is it necessary to redesign the mobile app?

To get the best answer, you need to know when a mobile application really needs design updates, as detailed below–

Increasing competition in terms of features

The ideas to improve a business app in terms of its design and features can be competitor-oriented.

The competition calls for product improvement. You must be looking at things that your business competitors are doing to increase their ROI.

If your competitor’s apps are getting redesigned with better features that are essential to make their business thrive, your app may need those features too.

Not making the required updates can make you lose some customers to your rivals.

So, you should be open to learn even from your competitors, observe how they are redesigning their apps, and why.

This will guide you towards the right steps to be taken for mobile app redesign.

Lack of user engagement followed by negative reviews

This can happen to just any business app. An app can lose popularity as more and more users are finding faults and bugs in it.

The worst part – they won’t stop at finding faults, but leave negative feedback on the app stores with low ratings. Hence, the risk of losing prospective customers grow even more.

Lack of user engagement in the app than what is expected followed by negative comments is a clear sign that your app needs to be redesigned with better features.

If this happens to your app, it is best not to delay commencing the app redesign process.

Technical bugs in the app

This reason usually takes place when a business owner has ignored the importance of right features and code testing before making an app live.

Depending upon the requirements, the UI and features of a business app get designed. If someone wishes to add more features and functions in his mobile application than required, the resultant is most likely to be bugged in the time ahead.

Finding technical, code-related bugs in an app is a continuous process. If you find some flaws in your live app, do not try to hide or ignore them. Redesigning the app can help a lot.

Plan to scale up

App redesigning is not only done to improve or fix bugs, but also to grow business and scale it up to newer heights.

If your plan of business growth includes adding up more product categories or targeting a new audience for better ROI, your app should reflect it too. You can achieve this with the help of app redesign experts.

Uniformity in the design of a business app and the related business website is what the targeted audience expects. If newer design updates have been made to your business website, make sure you get similar updates to the app design as well.

Rebranding

Most of the big brands do rebranding to give a new, fresh look to their brand. They want the end customers to recognize their brand with the new color scheme, new logo, and similar other elements.

If you are running a successful business and are planning to rebrand it, your business app will undoubtedly need a redesign.

Rebranding takes place with either just graphical updates or along with functional additions too, depending upon your brand’s vision.

6 unavoidable mobile app redesign best practices

Now that you know when a mobile app generally needs to be redesigned, you need to identify which one relates to your business requirements. Based on that, you can sit with your mobile app designing and development company to discuss the entire mobile app redesign process.

Make sure you follow the below-mentioned mobile app redesign best practices to ensure you see a hockey-stick growth in the number of your downloads-

1. Identify the actual redesign needs

You need to understand that there is a difference between possible reasons for app redesigning and the real ones.

In your case, not all of them may be applicable, but just a few ones. You may also find that some of the reasons for redesigning your mobile app as defined above do not fit well in your situation.

It is recommended to find the crucial reasons why you want to redesign your entire mobile app. You can also consult our experts that can assist you in identifying your actual mobile app redesigning needs.

2. Ask about the end user’s feedback

Before making any significant updates to your app’s functionality and design, it is imperative that you ask the end users about their feedback about using your app. That’s the reason why this way is said to be one of the key best practices to be followed before redesigning a mobile app.

You can do this by analyzing comments on the app stores or carrying out surveys to find out more facts related to the real user experience.

It will help you learn what is not working in the way you expect your business to grow. Similarly, it will also let you know what your user expects from you.

CTAs, font size, navigation, mailers, checkout, and more, your brand’s loyal customers will tell you what they want to get changed within your app.

Welcome genuine feedback and process them up to get the app redesigned accordingly.

3. Learn from your competitors

As said above, you need to learn from your competitors in order to grow your business.

If you find that some of your competitors are having an excellent download rating than yours, you need to learn and understand what makes them stay ahead.

The simplest way to do this is to download your competitors’ apps, use it, and see what makes the users stick to them and buy. Find out their winning features and if possible, get them replicated within your app.

Also, you can look for the impactful, visually appealing design elements that you can also add to your app.

One of the ways to redesign a mobile app is not trying to copy other’s work and design ideas but taking inspiration from them.

4. Simplify the interface as per priority functions

As per the business requirements, certain mobile apps get developed with extensive features and complex UI. As time passes and targeted users start using the app, the business owners get to find faults and bugs in delivering the seamless user experience.

In any app, there are just a few essential yet unique functions that it has been designed for. Everything else is merely additional and may cause the end users to feel overwhelmed.

So, keep in mind that your app should have a simplified UI. One main aspect is its navigation. Limit the number of main menus and submenus to the minimum.

Keep text minimum and use more icons and images.

The end users should be able to use the main functions of your app in just a few clicks, rather than searching a lot about how to use it.

Even the size of fonts and CTA buttons matters while redesigning your mobile app.

5. Choose color combinations wisely

To make your brand and your app succeed, the choice of the right color combinations is essential. Experts say specific colors evoke emotions in the user’s mind and can make them buy from you.

Like we shared an in-depth guide on how to develop a mobile app for kids In the guide, our first point is to focus on attractive UI/UX design. Why? Because the target audience is the kids, who love bright and attractive colors.

We shared an example of iColourIt and Candy Crush-

If you want to get the app redesigned because of rebranding needs, you need to work with the designers to choose an optimal color scheme.

Your brand’s logo, your app screens, etc., every element should be in sync with the scheme of colors you choose.

Plus, it should connect with your brand’s concept somehow.

6. Consider UX guidelines

Now, another vital way to redesign a mobile app is considering UX guidelines. If you want your mobile app to be successful just like the on-demand mobile apps such as Uber, Swiggy, and more, you need to make sure you follow this user-experience (UX) guidelines-

To inculcate these UX guidelines, you can talk to our mobile app redesign experts. They can help understand these UX factors in quite a detail.

Now, to see your mobile app redesign in action, you need prototyping tools. Here are a few prototyping tools to improve the UI/UX which you can suggest your mobile app development company to use which is easy for you to understand-

Now, let’s check out how successful mobile apps are generating huge business after redesigning their mobile apps:

Examples of successful mobile app redesign projects

Uber

Uber, a leading cab booking application all over the world, has got its app redesigned. The redesigned elements include its logo, feature to display available cars nearby and similar others.

Instagram

Being popular across the globe for its unique features of sharing photos and videos, Instagram’s founders did all they need to support its popularity. Its app has been redesigned quite a few times to ensure the best user experience.

Yelp

Yelp’s mobile application is popular to help people find services near to them. The app has been redesigned creatively to improve the user experience. As a part of the app redesign process, the navigation, color scheme, and the logo became refreshing.

Make your mobile app redesign work

Several small and big brands have achieved better results in their businesses by redesigning their mobile app at the right time. If you feel your business app needs to be modified as per user requirements and current trends, now is the right time to talk to our expert app developers.

Being in the industry for years now, we help you identify the right areas that need redesigning and even help you with the entire mobile app redesign process. Make sure you talk to us before taking any random decisions.