How to Increase Conversion Rate With an App Redesign

Redesign of an existing app is an essential step for each product owner. Let us walk you through the benefits you'll get if you decide to take this step.

When you are creating an app, you may not know your future users very well. It happens that you may have expected to attract young teenagers but business people liked your app even more. And your initial design can be inappropriate for a particular audience. After a year or two, you should have a clear vision of your audience. If your marketing strategy was built correctly and you communicated with your users all this time, you can see what changes should be done to improve your product and make it better for customers.

And if you redesign your app taking into account all the needs of your customers, you can increase your mobile app conversion significantly. Let's take a look at one of the brightest examples when the UI redesign led to the great results.

To understand what benefits an app redesign can bring, we offer you to take a look at the Instagram design makeover. We chose the Instagram redesign, probably because it is one of our favourite apps (hope that yours too) and because their redesign was even more than just successful. Maybe you like it so much that even wondered about the cost to make an app like instagram. Here what they did:

You can see very similar icons in many apps and Instagram decided to adopt this technique as well. Icons are usually very basic and they are familiar to users so they feel it very easy to use them from the very beginning. It is all a part of the intuitive interface which we like so much. They help a user to navigate through an app easily. These unified icons make a new app very familiar.

Tip. When you are working on your UI and add icons to it, make sure that they all are easy to recognize and that each represents exactly the action it has to perform. If you use icons which do not perform any action, you also need to make them differ from the 'actionable' icons.

With a touchscreen, the UIs of mobile apps become more and more interactive. Before, we couldn't even identify what elements are active and which ones are not. Now, the elements change when we interact with them. They change colours, they can move and so on. Instagram used it as well. When you open the app you see whose stories you've already seen and whose not.

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Tip. When you think of what reaction an element in your app should have, think about something natural. How would a real object react if you touched it? Would it be a slight shake or colour change it's up to you, but test it before the implementation and make sure that it doesn't frighten people off.

The Animation is one of the latest trends in UI design and it is not going to lose it's position in the upcoming year. One of the most common options for animation use is a sign for loading. Animation also works great when you close a picture or a video without opening someone's profile. It brings lots of joy and also saves users' time.

Tip. When you add motion to your elements don't overdo it. Too much motion would make the whole screen shake and would only annoy a user. The elements should move the way they would if they were real. Think about the forces that influence our world like gravity or acceleration. It will make your app interface more lifelike.

The way you arrange content in your app is crucial. If there're too many elements it looks messy. If there are only a few elements on a screen, a user doesn't have everything he needs. Before the redesign, Instagram had less content on one screen. Now, they added more. The problem here is not only to find this golden mean but also arrange in a way which would be the most convenient for a user.

Tip. If you have difficulties with content placement you can either open a similar app which you like (not as much as yours, of course) or you can read the comments and feedback your own users left in an app store to understand what improvements you can add.

First of all, remember, it is only you to decide whether it is time to make a redesign or not. However, There are some attributes which you can recognize as a sign to make a step forward. You can read them below:

1. Users ask for changes. If you keep in touch with your customers and read their feedback, you can notice that they complain about inconvenient buttons placement or that the UI looks plain and so on. Pay attention to the similar comments. If several users have the same complaints, you should start from these things.

2. You don't like it. What do you feel when you see the competitors' apps? Do you like them? Do you think that they are better than your app? If the answers are yes, and you do realize that your product is worse, you need to create a new design for your app.

3. It doesn't convert. Think about all the efforts you've put to create your application. I can only imagine how frustrating it is when your app doesn't convert and doesn't bring you any money. But don't think about it as a failure, it is your experience which is needed to improve an app. So, if your product isn't that profitable as it should be, it is a time to redesign!

4. The idea of an app changed. It happens quite often. If your app is pretty old and you made changes to it, for example, you added new features or products or services, the general idea of an app has shifted. And your new users don't get it from the very beginning. Of course, you want to work not only with some old users of yours but with some new too. So, why don't you make your app convenient and clear to them as well?

There are still several tips and rules, which we haven't mentioned yet, which can work very well if you decide to redesign your app right now.

A mobile app redesign is an essential step. Some product owners do not understand the importance of it and ignore it. In the end, they get a product without any conversion. It happens because of thousands of competitors who appear every day. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are the most popular apps in the world. And we see that they redesign their apps and sites quite often. There is a reason for that! If they believe redesign can help them to increase conversion, so should you. Contact us to create a design which will make you rich!