The Reason So Many Apps Fail Right After Launch

Businesses can spend insane amounts of time, money, and resources on app development.

11:28 29 November 2019

Naturally, nobody wants that much effort to go to waste. However, most do. According to a 2019 report by Gartner, less than 0.01% of all consumer mobile apps achieve financial and commercial success. A scary figure, to say the least.

But what makes it so easy for an app to fail? And what can businesses do to prevent it? Well, there are tons of reasons which would be impossible to cover in this article, so we are going to focus on one of the main ones: Quality Assurance. Whether it is handled by an in-house team or supported through software QA outsourcing services, the lack of proper Quality Assurance processes could be responsible for so many apps failing —especially right after launch. Let’s see why.

What is Quality Assurance?

Quality Assurance is all about guaranteeing your customers with access to the best possible final product. The role of a QA engineer is to continuously test and monitor the software product throughout the entire development process. This way, an application can be pushed to its furthest limits and lead to higher-quality results.

In other words, QA is a synonym for testing, testing, and some more testing. But, unlike the code-based testing that most developers undertake (which is basically making sure that everything runs as intended), a QA process introduces the “human factor” in the mix. It creatively anticipates the user’s actions, even if it goes beyond the purposes of the app.

After heavy investments in development, why wouldn’t you want your app to perform beyond what’s expected? Not only that, but QA is actually the best way to reduce downtime and mitigate errors in the final product, which translates into a lot of savings in emergency spendings.

Still, many businesses choose to ignore testing plans or even do testing themselves as a way to cut costs. Ironically, doing this could produce the exact opposite outcome. Whether you accept it or not, there is a reason why so many people dedicate exclusively to testing software products.

Don’t lose the battle before it begins

Yes, it is utopian to think that an app could launch without any single bug or inconvenience. Unwanted behaviors and bugs will almost inevitably make it to the end stages of production. What we need to focus on are the major issues, which will determine the birth of great software of its burial on the 200th page of the AppStore.

If you want to launch a product with confidence so it doesn’t fail right after launch, then you need to test it. After that, you need to test it a few more times. First impressions matter—consumers don’t have time nor patience to deal with apps that will not work as expected. They want a smooth and enjoyable experience from the get-go!

Nonetheless, it could be hard for many businesses to adequately estimate the time and resources required to drive a proper QA process. The reason for this is that it is simply impossible to predict how long a QA process would take before the first version of the final product is ready. If you don’t know where your app standing, you can’t know where it could go wrong.

Try to think of testing as a separate process from development, with its own challenges, teams, and objectives. A good way to do this is by reaching out to companies that provide QA & testing services, who will often have hundreds of readily-available engineers for your project.

Making the most of QA

To make the most out of QA, you need to do it the right way. A proper QA process will have the following characteristics:

• Always present: QA should begin as soon as the first version of the product is ready, and integrate with the development team’s workflow throughout the entire product’s lifecycle.
  
  
• Value Testing: Testing matters heavily in both quantity and quality. However, all testing should always be done with specific goals. This is perhaps the best way to introduce high-quality insights into the project.
  
  
• Smart: A proper QA process will inevitably include long lists of manual tasks. Therefore, anything that can be automated, should be automated as soon as possible.
  
  
• Creatively anticipative: Users will do unimaginable things with apps—just ask any UX developer. QA engineers should be prepared to push an app’s limits beyond what any user would expect.
  
  
• Measured: Quality insights are the heart of a proper QA. Identifying key metrics and using them strategically will shape the final version of the product. What is measured can be improved.
  
  

Final Thoughts

Making an app is not easy. If it were, a lot more people would succeed at it. If you are up to the challenge, back up your work with solid research, planning, and do everything you can to deliver a great final product. Testing is just one of the ways to do so—but it is definitely not the only one. Best of luck to you!