You have started a business in Dubai and invested in a dedicated mobile app. You developed a marketing plan to create pre-launch hype to get your target audience interested. Even your launch event received a roaring response and the early app downloaded and installed numbers are promising. A few weeks later, all the excitement surrounding your mobile app evaporates into thin air. The app user retention rate graph shows a sharp dip.

What seemed to be a great start for your app is now looking like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Does all this seem familiar? Can you relate? If you have ever launched a mobile app before, you can easily draw parallels, as this is a common scenario. According to Quettra data, an average app loses 77% of its daily active users in the first three days after its installs and it will lose 90% of its user base within a month. In short, your app will lose its entire user base within the first few months. Frightening isn’t it?

Have you ever wondered why does this happen? In this article, you will find out the answer to this question as we have highlighted seven common mistakes that can wreak havoc on user retention rate of your mobile app. Read on to find out more.

1.     Trying Too Many Things

Mobile users are becoming more and more demanding with every passing day. They expect mobile apps to perform many tasks with a few taps. Due to this, mobile app developers are packing their mobile apps with too many features. This makes the mobile app “jack of all trade and master of none”.

You end up with a mobile app that is trying too many things at the same time but could not do one thing well. Instead of going overboard with features, it is important to focus on one thing and do it well. Uber and Yelp are the best examples in this regard. Yelp app does a wonderful job of providing restaurant recommendations while Uber offers a convenient and quick way to go from one place to another.

2.     Neglecting Onboarding Process

You came across an app and tapped its icon in the app store. The app page opens with the descriptions, screenshots, reviews and more. This grows your piqued interest even further, so you end up installing the app. Once the app is installed, you expect a smoother transition with an onboarding process. Unfortunately, you did not find it. What would you do? You stop using the app or worst delete the app and install a competitor app.

This happens with most apps that do not have a strong onboarding process. That is why mobile app onboarding process should be an integral part of mobile app development. Keep the onboarding process simple and short. Ask for information that you really need. Give users an easy passage and tell them about the core benefits your app offers during the onboarding process.

3.     Complicated Interface

Why would you install an app in the first place? You want to perform a task conveniently in the least number of taps possible. What you get instead is a mobile app that has a complicated interface and takes half a dozen screens to complete a single task. You might be thinking it would be better if you performed the same task manually.

You start questioning your decision of downloading such a pathetic mobile app. A complex user interface can ruin the user experience of your app and deter even the most loyal fans. Make your mobile interfaces simpler and let users perform tasks within a few taps of screen possible.WeatherBug Elite app is one of the best examples of what a complex app interface looks like.

4.     Not Prioritizing Performance

In the quest of making your mobile app stand out, you load it with all the visual bells and whistles and features that it becomes bloated. Although, it might succeed in attracting new users due to its extensive feature set and great looks it will fail in terms of performance. If you do not prioritize performance, you get apps such as Tumblr app, which keep crashing and perform poorly.

Stutter, lag, hiccups in-app transitions, ever loading screens can put off your mobile app users and force them to look elsewhere. As a result, your user retention rate takes a hit. Get rid of the excess baggage and make your mobile app nimble so it can run flawlessly even on the aging mobile devices.

5.     Testing Superficially

Mobile app developers are under pressure to deliver mobile apps as quickly as possible. They need frameworks and tools that can help them create mobile apps faster. To make this possible, they have to cut time from one of the phases or skip it all together. Unfortunately, testing becomes a scapegoat in most cases. Even if they do test the app, they do it superficially thus leaving some bugs and errors here and there. The result is a buggy app that is available for download on respective app stores.

When that app reaches your target audience’s phone, they quickly find out that it is half-baked and immediately start to search for alternatives. As a result, the user retention rate of your mobile app falls sharply. The best way to prevent these issues is to test your mobile app thoroughly and make sure that all the bugs are fixed before uploading it to app stores. The Weather Channel app for iOS keeps on crashing and has many bugs, which dented their reputation badly as no one expected a buggy app from a big name like The Weather Channel.

6.     Lack of Updates

No one likes to use the same app again and again. People get bored if you keep showing them the same stuff repeatedly. That is why it is important to release new updates of your mobile app. Social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram and instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp leads the way in this regard by constantly updating their apps.  You do not need to introduce something out of the ordinary in newer versions. Minor tweaks, bug fixes and steps to enhance the user experience can go a long way in making your mobile app great. A fresh new look can also be considered.

7.     Loading Your Apps with Ads

As a business, you want users to pay for apps. If you are launching a free app, you will have to rely on ads as your revenue stream. Some businesses try too hard to make money from their apps and in turn, end up filling their mobile with pesky advertisements. This move will prove to be counterproductive, as users will get frustrated with those ads as it degrades the user experience of the app by interrupting the users, forcing them to look for better alternatives.

Which is the biggest app development mistakes you have ever made that has sent your user retention rate nosedive? Feel free to share it with us in the comments section below.