Why you need user centred design to keep your user on your app

Designing for user engagement is paramount. By putting users at the forefront, designers and developers understand their needs, leading to intuitive interfaces and exceptional experiences. This drives higher engagement and boosts app retention rates, fostering lasting user satisfaction and loyalty.

Read on to discover how adopting design and a user-centred mindset can transform your digital products, delight your users and help you stay ahead of the game.

What we mean by designing for user engagement

Considering users' needs, expectations and experiences is at the core of the design process. Designers gather insights about their target audience, empathising with and understanding their goals and using these insights to inform design decisions. By adopting design, businesses ensure that their apps provide a seamless, distinctive, memorable and enjoyable experience for all users.

Why identifying your user’s needs & wants is vital for user retention and optimising engagement

It helps you understand if your business requirements match your audience’s expectations. By addressing your users' pain points, providing intuitive navigation and offering value-lead features, you create an app that users find indispensable.

It helps you create intuitive user interfaces: People love apps that are easy to use and require minimal effort to navigate. By conducting user research and user testing, you can identify areas where your web app's interface can be optimised for a better experience. An intuitive interface reduces friction and enhances the overall user experience, making users more likely to stick around and recommend your app to others.

You keep abreast of user trends and technology advancements: Prioritising user experience helps businesses stay connected with evolving user trends and new tech and tools. This ensures your digital products remain relevant and ahead of the curve.

How to implement design to prioritise user engagement

Now it’s time to look at how to tap into your user’s core needs and desires:

• Conduct user research: The best place to start is to get a deep understanding of your target audience. Methods such as surveys, interviews and collating user observations will help you uncover user needs, preferences and pain points.

• Prototype and test: Build prototypes of your app's interface and functionalities and test them with different user groups. At Miyagami we always prioritise gathering feedback early in the design process to identify usability issues, pain points and areas for improvement. It also enables you to iterate and refine the design before investing heavily in development.

• Continuously collect and analyse user feedback: Once your app is live, establish channels for users to provide feedback and actively encourage their input. Then collect and analyse this feedback to identify recurring patterns, spot areas for improvement and prioritise enhancements that will have the most significant impact on user engagement.

• Iterate and improve: Now’s the time to harness the insights gained from user feedback to iteratively improve your app. Aim to regularly release updates that address user needs, fix bugs and introduce new features based on feedback. This iterative approach ensures that your app remains relevant, user-friendly and engaging over time.

Want to see great design in action? Check out our case studies.

Putting user experience at the heart of your digital products

To outshine your competitors and create products your audience loves, it’s all about prioritising user needs. By making design the core of your digital product development process, you ensure that every feature, every interaction and every aspect of your app or platform is tailored to meet and exceed your users' expectations. When your users feel understood, valued and delighted by their app experience, they are more likely to remain loyal, spread positive word-of-mouth and choose your apps and platforms over others.

If you're looking to create an exceptional app experience that keeps users coming back for more, then it's time to partner with a team that understands the intricacies of user needs and has a proven track record of success. Contact the team at Miyagami today to turn your digital product vision into a reality.