Inspiration From Mobile Dating Apps: How To Improve Your Designs
Making improvements to your mobile app’s design isn’t necessarily the easiest of tasks. After all, how much can really be accomplished within such a limited space? You recognize that mobile users’ attention spans are waning and that, consequently, they expect a speedy, convenient and engaging experience when using apps.
Inspiration From Mobile Dating Apps: How To Improve Your Designs
Let’s take mobile dating apps. I know, I know. They often get a bad rap for turning the dating scene into something superficial, mechanical and https://www.datingranking.net/nl/bristlr-overzicht/ impersonal.
While it’s easy to write off these apps as fun little diversions for people trying to find love, they’re actually quite successful. And I’m not just talking about how they help singletons play the numbers game. Developers of mobile dating apps have done a great job of creating an engaging and almost addictive experience that keep users coming back not just on more than one occasion, but daily.
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In the following rundown on mobile dating apps, I’ll discuss how developers effectively use what they know about their audience to shape a valuable experience through design. If you’ve been spending your time side-eyeing your competition’s mobile apps for tips and tricks for improvement, it might be time to give it a rest and check out what mobile dating app developers are doing.
The Real Value Of Mobile Dating Apps
If you’ve ever built a mobile app before, then you know how difficult it is to get people to download it to their phone, keep it installed and use it regularly.
Localytics conducted a study in 2016 on mobile app abandonment. Two statistics came out of this research that app developers should find worrisome:
- 23% of mobile app users will only use an app once before abandoning it.
- Only 38% of mobile app users will use an app more than 11 times.
Let’s face it: Some mobile app concepts just make more sense than others and will be better received by users. That being said, it’s not as simple as chalking it up to one type of business faring better than another in the mobile app space (for instance, restaurant loyalty apps versus productivity apps).
What it really boils down to is the value you deliver and how well your app’s design and functionality add to that value.
Take mobile dating apps. The concept is similar to what traditional dating websites aim to accomplish: helping people find a mate. While some developers of dating apps have mistakenly tried to put the full experience of a website into mobile app form, others have instead focused on the users’ needs in the context of a mobile device.
This is likely why dating apps continue to be so popular, nearly half a decade after the introduction of Tinder to the mainstream.
On its own, Tinder garners 1.6 billion swipes every day. Its users each spend an average of 35 minutes on the platform every daypare that to Bumble, one of the newer yet very popular kids on the block. This app’s users swipe about 220 million times, and each spends around 100 minutes on it every day.
So, what’s the secret to the success of mobile dating apps? In other words, why do so many people flock to and engage so heavily with them?
It’s because developers understand that the value of these apps stems not just from the quality of matches (of course, that matters a lot, too). What differentiates the website experience from the now superior app experience is the speed and convenience with which users can find a match. And this wouldn’t be possible without smart design choices.
