Boost your App's ratings and bridge iOS and Android customer satisfaction
A UX strategy for bridging Android and iOS by considering their key differences and delivering apps that consider these in their design. In my experience, these core differences often drive your app ratings disparity.
Have you been monitoring your app ratings and wondering why they are so different, especially when you designed them the same way? That might be your first clue…
In the ever-competitive digital landscape, achieving consistently high customer satisfaction ratings is the ultimate aspiration for every product owner and designer. These ratings directly influence customer adoption and active usage of our products, making it imperative that our apps are useful and usable and resonate with users on Android and iOS platforms.
However, the differences inherent in Android and iOS can pose challenges in achieving this goal. As an experienced UX strategist, I'm here to unveil a strategy that harmonises customer experiences, optimises performance, and addresses platform-specific nuances to elevate app ratings on both Android and iOS.
Let's delve into understanding these differences and explore strategies to bridge the gap, ensuring a seamless and satisfying journey for your audience.
Understanding the landscape and your customers
Android and iOS cater to distinct user personas, making it crucial for organisations to comprehend and cater to these differences when building mobile apps. First, let's grasp the differences in audience targeting and the characteristics of Android and iOS.
Android commands a larger market share globally, accounting for about 70%, while iOS holds around 28% as of August 2022. In Europe, the percentage of iPhone users vs. Android users is closer, with iOS at 32.1% and Android at 67.2% as of 2021.
Google Play offers Android customers a whopping 3.55 million apps, making it the app store with the most available mobile apps as of Q3 2022. On the other hand, iOS users can access approximately 1.6 million apps in the Apple App Store.
Despite Android's dominance in users and apps, iOS leads in mobile app revenue globally. In 2021, consumer spending on apps from the Apple App Store reached $85.1 billion, surpassing the $47.9 billion spent on the Google Play Store.
Customers
Android appeals to price-sensitive customers due to a more competitive mobile device market. They also tend to have greater reach in Asian and developing countries and offer greater language support than iOS. Android also allows for more personalisation.
iOS customers generally have great buying power; statistically, it’s been suggested at around five times higher. There is also a perception among its users that iOS is a more secure platform.
When it comes to loyalty, they are around the same. I know as a long-time user of Apple products, the chance of getting me to move could be higher, and in fact, when I have had to use Android devices for work, I have had a lot of challenges across setup, system personalisation and use.
Android customers also tend to respond better to push notifications at a rate of 4.6 and opt-in at 85% compared to iOS at 3.4 and 51% opt-in, which you need to consider in how you target and engage the two.
Designing
Designers must understand the different guidelines, principles, and navigation between the two operating systems (OS) and consider the hardware differences, especially for Android. Check out the last section on Design System considerations to understand these in more detail, and there are also plenty of online resources to support designers.
It is good to remember that we can repeat something we already know—good design is the design that respects users’ habits in each OS. Just a little polish at the end might make the difference between an average and a great app.
Your app will often need more unique features to win users over with content alone. Most people will describe their decision to choose one product over another with “a gut feeling.” This category of users base their choices primarily on how they feel when using the app by implicitly evaluating the responsiveness, general style choice, use of your brand colour palette and individual visual components they see on the screen.
Therefore, try to make sure your product stands out not only by its amazing features but with high-grade packaging to match the quality of the services it provides.
Developing
Android app development can take more time — and money. The reason behind this is simple: Java is the programming language that uses more words for coding than Objective-C and Swift for iOS. With Android, the number of potential bugs is also greater, and the high fragmentation level calls for testing an app on more devices. So, access to a wider audience will still have its cost, which greatly contributes to the differences in the experience.
I suggest going for native elements where possible. Even if you are using a cross-platform framework, most of the components are based on pure native views, so unless you really need something custom—stick to the basics. People like using what they are used to, and you will save some developing time for more important features (and code reviews!). If your project is based on a cross-platform solution (like React Native, Flutter, Xamarin, etc.), you should consider what would be the primary platform you want to focus on and start from there.
Time to market
Regarding project duration, it ultimately depends on your requirements, with the only exception being that you need to invest in more testing for Android. Businesses should consider cross-platform development approaches, which have proven to cut costs, speed up delivery, and simplify overall development.
For most organisations that I work with, it is about ensuring that their products and services can be used by all customers no matter their choice of device, so let's get to the core differences and ways to approach them.
Understanding platform-specific expectations
Design Guidelines that allow you to tailor the look and feel
Design plays a pivotal role in user satisfaction. Android users appreciate Material Design, while iOS uses the Human Interface Guidelines. By aligning your app's design with each OS's design principles, you ensure a familiar interface for your customers. Plenty of online resources support you in gaining a better understanding of these.
Feature expectations and catering to user habits
Customers develop habits and expectations based on interacting with apps on their platforms. Understand and implement platform-specific interactions and gestures to create an intuitive and seamless customer experience that resonates with each user base.
Optimise for performance and pleasure
Addressing hardware variations
Android's diverse hardware landscape necessitates thorough performance testing across various devices. Optimise your app to deliver smooth performance and a consistent user experience, regardless of the device specifications.
OS Optimisation for fine-tuning and fluidity
Each platform demands a unique approach to app optimisation. Customise your app's codebase to align with the intricacies of each operating system, ensuring a snappy and efficient experience that delights users.
Tailoring the interface and experience
UI preferences, remember aesthetic appeal matters
Users have distinct visual preferences on Android and iOS. Tailor your app's aesthetics, including colour schemes, fonts, and iconography, to align with each platform's design trends, enhancing visual appeal and user engagement, if possible; this can be a challenge for larger organisations where the brand guidelines challenge this. This is why your marketing and design teams must collaborate in this area.
Navigation styles that support guiding customer interactions
Efficient navigation is critical for a positive user experience. Adapt your app's navigation patterns and styles to match the platform conventions, providing users with an intuitive and satisfying journey through your app. Being cognisant of this in the design process is essential, quite often, interaction designs don’t tailor to adopting these different principles.
Navigating device and OS fragmentation
Catering to diverse device capabilities
The array of Android devices available presents a challenge for optimisation. Conduct thorough testing on various devices to ensure your app performs optimally and consistently across various hardware configurations.
OS version optimisation to reach every customer
Account for the fragmentation of Android OS versions by optimising your app to function well across a spectrum of versions. This ensures a broader reach and user satisfaction across the Android user base.
In conclusion, by strategically embracing the unique traits of each platform and aligning your app to meet diverse user expectations, you can achieve an elevated user experience that transcends platforms. With a harmonised approach, your app can bridge the gap in ratings between Android and iOS, achieving higher customer satisfaction and positioning your app for success in today's competitive market.
Design System considerations
Designing a unified user experience across both OS requires understanding each OS's unique guidelines, principles, and conventions. Here are key aspects to consider in your design system:
Design Guidelines and Principles
iOS: iOS follows the Human Interface Guidelines (HIG), emphasising clarity, deference, and flat design depth.
Android: Android adheres to Material Design guidelines, focusing on metaphoric nature (note you can still choose a flat design to gain alignment between the two), bold graphical design, meaningful animation, and adaptive design.
Visual Design
iOS and Android have distinct design styles, including differences in colour schemes, fonts, iconography, and overall aesthetics. These differences should be reflected in your design system and align with your brand guidelines.
Navigation and Interaction Patterns
Consider platform-specific navigation styles and gestures to simplify customer interactions. For instance, iOS often uses a bottom tab bar, while Android frequently employs a navigation drawer. Doing so will simplify many of the considerations for designers and engineers.
Components and Controls
Tailor your design system to include components and controls that align with each platform's conventions.
Layout and Spacing
Implement appropriate layout guidelines and spacing based on the platform.
Device Fragmentation
Consider the fragmentation of devices and screen sizes, particularly for Android. Ensure that your design system accommodates this diversity and allows for responsive designs.
Optimising for Performance
Consider optimisation for each platform to ensure smooth performance and a consistent user experience.
Consistency with your Branding
While adapting to platform-specific guidelines, maintain consistency with your brand's identity across both platforms.
Acknowledging and integrating these differences into your design system can create a more cohesive and intuitive user experience for your app, regardless of the platform. A well-designed design system that accounts for platform differences will lead to higher user satisfaction and better adoption of your application.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Embark on the journey to unify your app's customer experience and boost ratings on both Android and iOS. Implement the strategies discussed here and witness the transformation in customer satisfaction and app performance.
Let's create a seamless and delightful journey for your users, bridging the OS divide and propelling your app towards higher success. If you want to discuss this in more detail or would like my support, reach out.