How to Develop WeChat Mini Programs that Rock

2018 has been a fantastic year for WeChat Mini Programs. All the figures show impressive growth in usage and popularity among Chinese audience. Just consider that;

• The average time spent on WeChat has raised from 1.6 minutes to 9.8 minutes a day in only one year
• Every month about 87% of users spend over 200RMB through WeChat mini Programs
• At the moment, females are the majority (51%) of Mini Program users (from Jisu App's survey of 50,000 Mini Programs)

These figures say a lot about the potential a WeChat Mini Program can have on your business. Many companies are already using it for marketing, to engage or entertain the audience, and to acquire popularity. For most of these companies, the results have been more than satisfying.

However, merely launching your WeChat Mini Program is not a recipe for success. The way you design and develop your Mini Program is critical, considering the fact that WeChat Mini Programs are somewhat different from other mobile apps you usually install on your smartphone and web apps that you can get access through any browser (WeChat included).

What Is a WeChat Mini Program

For those not familiar with this technology, a WeChat Mini Program is an app accessible only through WeChat. However, the Mini Program is a light version of the apps we usually download on our mobile devices.

In fact, one of the significant differences between a native app and WeChat Mini Program is that the latest doesn’t need to be downloaded to your mobile device. Mini Programs are embedded in WeChat, and you can access them anywhere and anytime.

That makes them very easy and convenient to use. No memory consumed on your device and if you do not want to use it anymore, you just delete it from WeChat.

Most important, WeChat Mini Programs have opened up new opportunities for businesses to connect with their users.

How To Develop a WeChat Mini Program

WeChat Mini Program is a relatively new technology and needs to be handled as it is. A WeChat Mini Program developer needs to know the nitty-gritty of coding such an app. Moreover, the Mini Program developer on WeChat must have a deep insight into the customer’s audience too, which for the majority will be Chinese.

Design and Development

WeChat has set some specific guidelines to design and develop user-friendly Mini Programs. Since Mini Programs are embedded in WeChat, to be efficient and meet the users’ expectations the developer needs to create a consistent user experience within the WeChat environment.

One of the most significant challenges faced by many developers is that most of the technical material available to understand how to develop a Mini Program is in Chinese. Not many resources are available in English. For this reason, it may be easy to miss essential instructions and hints, therefore, hindering the overall result. Just the process to register with WeChat and to go through the necessary steps to prepare the development of Mini Programs can be a roadblock itself.

QPSoftware has been developing WeChat solutions since the creation of this social media platform, and we understand how challenging it is to develop and code a product in this environment. Thanks to our experience, we have established the know-how needed to approach these kinds of projects the right way.

Two of the key factors in designing and developing a WeChat mini Program that rocks are simplicity and corresponding to the users’ needs. Therefore, our experienced WeChat Mini Program developers will pay the utmost attention to the tiniest of details that can contribute to the superlative user experience.

Several functions within your application are default by WeChat and cannot be modified, but there are several elements like menu, buttons, fonts, colors, and others that can be customized to reflect your branding and achieve your marketing goals. It is, however, important to integrate them in the overall WeChat design so as not to confuse your user.

For this reason, we usually choose the Scrum Approach for our project. This allows us to have the overall progress of our work remain continually in check. At every stage, we can test how the Mini Program performs, the design, the functionalities, and other details. This approach allows us to determine if WeChat guidelines are followed and to assess if we are creating a user experience consistent with the WeChat environment. If any part of the project doesn’t comply with the requirements, we can easily and quickly adjust it without wasting time or money.

Of course, during the developing process, extra attention must be given to the code. A Mini Program will be successful only if it runs smoothly and, most important loads super-fast. These two features will help a great deal in avoiding negative user reactions.

It is important to have a good master of specific WeChat code to keep it clean and simple enough to boost its performance. Even in this case, we always test the code at each step of the project to make sure it works according to our expectations.

Keep your Audience in Mind

Designing a web app with the specific audience in mind is basic development knowledge. However, when it comes to a Mini Program, having a deep knowledge of your audience is more critical than ever.

The vast majority of users will be Chinese, and unless you understand the local culture and habits, you may provide them with the wrong solution. As you will quickly discover, the web engagement rules in this part of the world are different than anywhere else. The way people interact with mobile devices and buying habits are unique.

All these factors will affect the way you have to design the Mini Program. Local developers, like QPSoftware, are in the best position to create WeChat Mini Programs that will rock the market. We are involved in the local culture, and we have over 10 years of experience in marketing products in Asia. Our WeChat Mini Program developers know how to combine technical features and local culture to create products that are entirely in line with domestic demand.

Develop the Best WeChat Mini Program for your Business

Our experience in the Chinese market gives us an advantage in helping you to create a successful Mini Program.

We can combine our technical skills and local knowledge to advise you on the best Mini Program for your business. WeChat has created a versatile tool that opens up to you countless ways to promote your business. You can create Mini Programs to inform your audience, to engage it, to build brand awareness, to promote your products, to entertain with games, and a lot more.

All you have to do is to get in contact with us. We will advise you on the best WeChat Mini Program for your marketing goals, and our WeChat developers will create a Mini Program that rock your audience.