Top 3 Reasons Why Your Member App is Missing the Mark
Written by Regina Woodard
“If you build it, they will come”
That popular quote may have worked in Field of Dreams, but it probably won’t work with your app.
In a world full of mobile apps – over 7 billion smartphone users specifically and nearly 310 million within the US – ensuring that your organization’s members are using your app isn’t as straightforward as just creating it.
Your members want easy access to organizational news, resources, and events in an efficient and reliable way. However missteps in design, poor user experiences, and lack of marketing can turn your member app from helpful to frustrating.
Here are the top 3 reasons why member app is missing its mark.
Top 3 Reasons Why Your Member App is Missing the Mark
#1. Your App is Poorly Designed
Your member app should provide information and resources which are easily accessible.
That starts with design.
Social media apps have long been known for having simple, straightforward, and intuitive design elements. These platforms put relevant information right in front of users without them having to search for it.
Most organizational apps are cookie cutter – apps that are built for everyone else but aren’t necessarily built for your organization. These apps are general in nature, which focus on features rather than the specific needs of your organization and members.
Your app design should be straightforward, simple to navigate, and attenuated to the needs of your members.
#2. Poor User Experience
One of the most common complaints from mobile app users is poor experience.
While this is an umbrella-like term, it covers things from badly designed elements (as mentioned above), overwhelming features, complicated navigation, and worst of all, buried information.
Complexity kills an otherwise successful app.
Put yourself in your members’ shoes – they’re busy people and probably only have five minutes at their disposal. They don’t have time to figure out complicated features.
Your members need to see your most important items, easily and clearly, in an organized fashion. Think of your member app as the Cliff Notes version of your website.
#3. Ignoring Your Marketing
You have built the greatest app in the world – simple, easy, and chock full of information.
But if your members don’t know about it, how will it help them?
Some of the best app and software ideas have floundered in the face of bad marketing.
One famous example is Rdio, one of the first streaming music services. However, many people would be hard pressed to remember it after Spotify came out. Rdio beat Spotify to the market by over a year, but thanks to Spotify’s catchy marketing campaign, it’s Spotify we’re all using.
So build that great app!
But don’t be shy about telling your members about it.
Give Your Members An App They’ll Love
Your members deserve a dedicated mobile app that delivers all of the news, events, and resources their membership provides at the click of a button.
Bulletin was built for organizations like yours to:
- increase member engagement
- drive home the value of membership
- serve as a centralized resource
- simply app management and launch
Your organization is unique.
Your members are unique.
You need an app that’s unique to you both. Click here to learn more about Bulletin.