A few days ago, we showed you how you can actually make an empathy app. We also discussed how humans think from emotions and what are some of the problems that you want to solve
mobile app development journey.
In this article, we will focus on what are the steps that you can actually take to create a mobile app that really can understand about humans. Along with that, we will also showcase what are some of the most common mistakes the self-help apps can do.
Mistakes That You Make In Your App Development Journey
1) Forcing Positivity
This is a big one. Just like we explained in the other article, forced positivity does no one any good. From making people feel bad about feeling bad, which just exacerbates the problems, to creating false values, forcing positivity is toxic positivity.
Every day, these types of apps just force-feed motivational quotes that in the end do nothing. At best they provide a dopamine rush. At worse the person will just keep on scrolling through the app making no real improvement in his/her life.
For the benefit of the doubt, this is now changing. The “forced happiness trend” had its height in the early 2010’s era where everyone was chasing happiness as if it was some elusive goal. You can now find a picture of why these things aren’t good for you. So, what can you do instead?
Solutions:
Your app must be capable of informing the viewer that it’s okay to feel sad. There is no weakness in feeling sad. Sometimes, there is no reason for sadness other than mood swings. It’s okay. The more we think about avoiding sadness, the sadder we will end up.
This is like the classic case of the “pink elephant” problem. If I tell you to not think about the pink elephant, well, what comes to your mind?
Pink elephant.
Now imagine if instead of a pink elephant, I tell you to not think about any negative stuff. What do you think it will lead to?
Exactly.
So, there is no way anyone can avoid feeling sad. That’s just how humans are. But your app must be able to showcase to them that it’s okay. And accepting the negative things will itself make them feel a bit better.
2) Making Pre-determined Assumptions
You remember back when you were in school, and there were at least one of your relatives who would gift you some book that was super boring. But they thought you liked reading so they would gift you a book that their grandparents thought was good so now you’re stuck as you have to go through God knows what type of language.
A lot of apps do that.
They already assume that you’re having a good day, or that a smile will change your mood. Ever had someone tell you to smile more? You want to punch them in the face too, right? Now imagine a digital application that doesn’t even comprehend what emotion is, and now that is saying you all this stuff.
Yes, it isn’t pretty.
All it does is make people even angrier and delete the app. There is a reason why 80-90% of the users leave their apps within a short span of time. You don’t want that to happen to your app, right? So how do you fix this?
Solution:
Self-awareness is actually a very crucial thing to have. It’s basically our ability to be aware of our own emotions. But that can only happen if we are willing to question ourselves.
Your app can develop awareness if it’s just asking questions to the user.
Instead of saying “Hey___ Smile and seize your day!”
You can say “Hey___ If your day isn’t going your way, then I am here for you.”
Which sentence connects more with you? The second one, right? This is because the second one is far, far more open and understanding about human emotions than the first one. Instead, just dogpiling on the positivity train, create an app that focuses on showing more vulnerability and your customers will love it.
Think about it. If you can actually create an app that can ask genuine questions or evoke a feeling of a friend, then how many people will fall in love with it? Ka-Ching.
3) Feeding Their Insecurity
This one isn’t pretty. Many apps, instead of focusing on helping their users, just feed them even more insecurity by showing them how happy others are. Either by taking steps or by buying a product. This is their way of doing affiliate marketing.
And hey, this isn’t a bad business model. This can be very, very lucrative. But at what cost?
A lot of motivational apps by android and
iPhone developers that come into this category where instead of exploring the problems of their users, they just feed them their own problems to make a quick buck.
“Oh, you feel that no one loves you? The world is full of shallow people anyway.”
“You think you’re too short? Oh, tall people are weird anyway. Here, do this workout and be tall in just 5 weeks.”
Thinking like this can create a lot of biases towards the world and it doesn’t end nicely. So what should your app do instead?
Solution:
Let the user explore his or her own biases and then try to help them. It will be great if your app could connect the user with a professional who can help them because by doing this you will create tangible results and help those who need it.
Conclusion:
Empathy apps and self-help apps are dime a dozen. So how will you stand out? By actually providing real value, and by making sure that or users are taken care of. The moment you start with this goal in mind, you will win the online battlefield at the start of your mobile app development journey.
Do you know why?
Because no one else is thinking like this.
