8 Annoying Features Healthcare Mobile App Developers Should Stop Building

Did you know that first and second impressions of a new app are everything for a user and 57 percent of them will use an app once or twice before deciding to delete it? This means an app has just one shot to make a lasting impression. That’s some pressure!

The number of downloads or app installs doesn’t portray the real picture. The actual success of the app is evaluated through the app engagement and retention rate – how many monthly active users or MAU do you have?

We’ve compiled a list of 8 of the most common reasons why users uninstall a healthcare mobile app – so that every healthcare mobile app developer can ensure their app stays.

#1 Too Many Notifications

In the case of healthcare apps, push notifications are essential to remind patients about their medications, appointments, refills, or diet. However, constant notifications about app updates or resources can get under the patients’ skin.

Nothing irritates the users more than irrelevant push notifications. Push notifications are important for healthcare app engagement but if done in bulk, they can be simply annoying.

Studies have shown that annoying push messaging is among the top reasons for app uninstalls

– Robi Ganguly, Apptentive

mHealth apps can offer the option to patients/users to turn off notifications completely. Even then, sending too many notifications shouldn’t be the default setting of your healthcare app. Your app should have a feature to filter the notifications based on importance and personal choices.

#2 Tedious Registration Process

Registration is a good way to access patients’ personal information for future customization needs. This data is also transferred to patients’ physicians. Asking for needful details during the registration process is understood but sometimes healthcare mobile app developers ask for details that aren’t directly related to the mHealth app’s main functionality.

This will simply irritate the user and can result in an instant uninstall.

Social logins do bypass the long registration process but they can be used only for fitness and wellness apps that don’t collect/store/exchange ePHI. A healthcare app that manages crucial ePHI needs a robust user authentication protocol to protect the privacy and security of patients.

So, the registration process should depend on the type of healthcare app being developed: fitness apps, patient portal apps, diet and nutrition apps, or mHealth apps. Depending on the application collect only as much information as is necessary to deliver an experience to the patients.

#3 Persistent Bugs

If your healthcare app is too slow to launch or freezes often, there are chances your app won’t sustain on a patient’s or user’s phone for long. Similarly, healthcare apps that use too much of the phone’s memory or consume a lot of battery, prompt patients to uninstall the app. According to a survey by Airship, 32 percent of the users uninstalled an app to free up their phone’s storage space.

Encountering numerous bugs frustrates patients and erodes their trust in a mHealth app for a very long time. Moreover, consistent bugs in a healthcare app can be problematic for physicians because it can result in issues such as misinterpretation of ePHI, which in turn leads to misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment. So, it is recommended that healthcare app developers put the app under rigorous testing before releasing it in the market.

#4 Bad User Experience and Interface Design

If you tell your healthcare mobile app developer “Don’t stress on app design- it’s the core functionality that counts”, you are living under a rock.

Developers often tend to discount the design or user experience while creating a healthcare app, but bad design can be a major reason why people delete your healthcare app. Crappy fonts, mismatch of colors, and unreadable icons make a mobile user look for alternatives and subsequently uninstall the mHealth app.

Small detailing such as alignment of text, text wrap, and not enough white space can make or break a user’s experience. Build a user experience so amazing that people WANT to download and engage with your healthcare app.

Tip: Healthcare mobile app design includes cool colors (blue, green, and sometimes pink), audio script and a readable font is a must-have feature if you wish to attract differently-abled people to your healthcare app.

#5 Intrusive Ads

The healthcare app user is in the middle of a task and a full-screen ad pops up. It’s worse if it is a video ad without a skip button. Even if these ads have a close (x) button, either they are too small or the thumb-tap is not so receptive.

So, most of the time, the user accidentally clicks on the ad and is redirected to the app store or Safari. The user gets held up in the middle of the task and the ad kills the efficiency.

Result?

An annoyed user! Your purpose of putting that ad to get some extra revenue is solved (albeit momentarily) but at the cost of losing a user.

#6 Free Apps Which Ask Money for Everything

Your healthcare app was free when the patient downloaded it, but then every feature inside the app was paid. Too many in-app purchases without enough value in the free mHealth app can be harmful.

Patients might be willing to pay an additional fee for premium services, but they expect the essential functionality of the app to work without a purchase.

Healthcare mobile app developers shouldn’t get too greedy and mislead the users by giving the app for free and then doubling up on the in-app purchases. Greed isn’t always good, and certainly not in this context.

Some of the effective healthcare app monetization models that you can use are the freemium model, subscription model, in-app advertisements, content monetization, etc.

#7 Desperate Appeals

Users can get annoyed when asked to follow the healthcare app development company on Twitter or ‘like’ it on Facebook several times. Similarly, prompting users to give positive ratings for the healthcare app can help push downloads. However, pushing the envelope too hard can result in losing valuable users.

Some mHealth apps even force users to rate their app before they can continue using it. Popping ‘rate this app’ or ‘follow us’ requests randomly can be annoying for users.

For example, Uber prompts for a rating when the user has completed a trip. Or a gaming app can thoughtfully place the rating or follow us request when a user has unlocked a new level. There are best practices in asking for reviews and ratings that can help build traction for your healthcare mobile app.

#8 Frequent Updates or No Updates

Constant updates of a healthcare app are what patients may not like because they’ll have to free up the phone for storage or connect to a stronger network for it. Moreover, if the updates pop up during a tedious task on the app and you simply can’t go ahead without updating the healthcare app, then it becomes more annoying for the users.

Conversely, no updates mean that the app is simply out of date and users may turn to new healthcare apps with innovative features to fulfill their needs. So, maintain a decorum where updates are shared quarterly or biannually.

If you’re seeking to update your healthcare mobile application or want to develop a healthcare mobile app from scratch then connect with Arkenea, a healthcare software development company based in North Carolina, USA. With over 13 years of experience in the healthcare sector, we understand the prerequisites of a healthcare application and strive to deliver product that matches industry standards and your too. Connect with us for a quote.