Why Great Mobile Apps Are Like Great Cocktails

6 great recipes to deliver top-shelf apps

Great mobile apps are like great cocktails.

They should be easy to make, delicious to consume, and have your customers coming back for more.

Bad apps are like a weak cocktail …

… boring, watered-down imitations of current websites and applications.

Building an app is like mixing a cocktail.

We need to quickly and expertly mix great apps, but have the smarts to change our ‘recipes’ to adapt to market or business conditions

There are six essential ingredients for creating a great mobile app

experience

Ingredient 1: Get the base ingredients right.

Just a skilled bartender knows that correct proportions of tequila, Cointreau, and fresh lime equate to a great margarita, make sure you get the basics right in mobile app development.

The best apps are “experience-centric.”

Users want to get in, get done, move on, right now.

Combine equal parts: • great design • ultra simplicity • ease-of-use

A great example is Hailo:

Uses GPS smarts to match taxi drivers to passengers,

Delivers super usability (two taps to book a taxi).

Ingredient 2: Do the taste test, but do it quickly.

Mobile app development is like serving drinks in a crowded bar.

Spend too much time assembling infrastructure and testing apps, and your customers will go elsewhere.

But serve no wine before its time…

If you server apps too soon, and compromise quality, people won’t come back for another round.

Testing should simulate real-world conditions …

… with the goal of continuously delivering quality apps.

Ingredient 3: Complexity leaves a bitter aftertaste.

People want a crisp clean taste …

… where each flavor balances the others.

Make sure your mobile app experience is “well blended” with other essential back-end ingredients… … especially secure system integration and across your call center service desk.

Word gets around quickly about a cool new cocktail lounge …

… and the bar can get pretty crowded. The same applies to mobile apps …

So, plan for success …

Ensure your staff, systems, and infrastructure are well prepared to handle an explosion in transaction volumes and business activity.

A classic mobile #FAIL …

A leading UK bank, after experiencing mobile app glitches and online failures during the busiest online shopping day of 2013, admitted the problem was failure to invest properly in systems and infrastructure.

Ingredient 4: Deliver the right app cocktails for every occasion.

Most people don’t drink beer for Sunday brunch. They prefer Mimosas or Bloody Marys.

The app should be driven by the need.

If you need a rich user experience, distribution via an app store, and advanced security features, then native apps could have the edge. But if cross-platform support, agility, and available programming expertise are considerations, HTML5 and a mobile website might be a better choice.

Ingredient 5: Always strive for quality before quantity.

Bars don’t serve another drink to an intoxicated patron … … so why assume customers want “just one more app for the road”?

“Less is more” when it comes to apps …

Always make sure mobility is driven from an unified business strategy and never from piecemeal projects.

Ingredient 6: The experience is more than just the cocktail.

People dream of sipping a Mai Tai on a tropical beach … … even when they are sitting at their desk at work.

UI ≠ UX (user interface is not user experience)

The user experience is more than just the app. It’s about getting the job done. That includes basics such as performance, availability, accuracy, and privacy. And intangibles such as coolness, loyalty, and social proof.

To learn more about the keys to a great mobile experience, download

the eBooklet Seven Ways to Create an Unbeatable

Enterprise Mobility Strategy

Download now

(And like great cocktails, mobile apps don’t mix well with driving.)