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Mobile Applications are ruling the technological arena across the world. Traffic reached the app faster and much more than to the website of a brand. It has quickly become the foremost selling point for any business. Customers are able to yield information on their fingertips even while they are busy or traveling. From online shopping to ordering food, everything is available on the mobile apps.
Earlier mobile friendly websites were the norm for business mobile users. Gradually, those websites took a back seat and Mobile Apps became the forerunner and are now leading they way. From large organization to small businesses and even start-ups, mobile apps have become an essential part of the marketing as well as sales.
With the increase in the usage of smartphones, there has been a considerable increase of about 50% in the use of applications as well. With the onset of 4G, the growth is ever increasing and will witness a bright future in the coming years. Irrespective of the business you are in, a mobile application can attract more traffic to your site and products. This increases your sales tremendously.
Here are some of the biggest advantages of mobile apps for businesses. You can:
- Build customer loyalty
- Reinstate your brand
- Visibility & Accessibility
- Increased visitor to buyer conversion
- Available across mobile platforms
- Always available
However, good applications and quality do not come free or cheap. The main reason for small businesses to be hesitant to take this initiative is the cost associated with development. Many perceive that it is a huge investment and ongoing effort is required to manage and maintain it.
The average cost of the development also varies due to many factors such as the platform and the type of app you want to build.
Though it is partially true, yet here are few ways you can reduce you application cost before you finalize a company to get it done:
The foremost thing to remember is to not compromise on the quality of your product to save money. Cutting the cost will not make your project technically sound. There are plenty of other ways to cut the cost. Here are some ways you can adopt while making the corners cut:
Research and Develop Requirements
Before you finalize the company to handle your project, use your personal time in research and gather as much information about the application you want to build. Brainstorm with your team and get all the requirement in one place. A good idea is to utilize user stories for putting logic into your requirements and goals of the application. This will not only help you save time but also give you the benefit of the following:
• Understand User requirements • Clear understanding of the features of the application • Avoid numerous changes during development • On-time completion • Reduce errors due to detailed requirement documentation
Look for Open Source Frameworks
To save cost you can also look for open source frameworks that provide you free of cost platforms to build your applications. With this, you can initially save a lot of money which goes into building an app from scratch.
These platforms are available on the internet and are readily available for use. Check online to see if any one of these fits your projects before you move ahead with other options.
Also, you can opt to use ready solutions available. Why reinvent the wheel when you already have one that requires only updates and some tweaking. Use ready to use solution as MVP and when you see revenues coming in, then get it customized
Hire Expert Developers
If you want to cut corners while building your application, save on development rather than developers. Instead of hiring the cheapest company to develop for you, pay attention to the quality of developers the company has.
Most of the times, companies who offer highly cheap rates do not have experienced staff to get the work done. Either they are trying to land their first client to start their business of they do not have enough manpower to do so. However, it’s not the case every time as every company starts from somewhere. Checking the details of their past projects or talking to their team directly might give you some insight into what you can expect from them.
On the flip side, they might put more efforts in getting your work done as their first client. Keep the timelines clear before starting.
Focus on important features
Although you must have all your requirements in one place before you start the development, yet start with the most important features first. You don’t have to put all the features in the beginning. This will help you get an estimation of time and budget. Also, it will eliminate the risk of putting the features which actually won’t be used in the real scenarios as much as you anticipated during your brainstorming session.
Use it initially to determine the audience and the release MVP to adjust to the market. Rely on the expert advice from the developers to improve on your product as they know the technology and the response to it by the audience.
Iterations
The traditional methodology may prove expensive in this case and therefore you need to be agile. With several iterations, you will be involved until the end and will get a fair idea of the estimations, risks, and response to your application.
With iterations, the budget will also be divided, starting low at the beginning and going up in the middle when the team involvement is maximum and then again diving down at the end of the project. This will be easy on your pocket thus saving your money from being shelled out in one go.
Keep It Simple
Giving a distinctive look to your application will surely make it stand out and attract more customers. But if the application effectively does what it intends to do, then keeping it simple is not a bad idea after all. This will save you the development cost for custom processes and graphics. Application platforms like iOS have set guidelines to comply with if you wish to build an iOS app. This saves a lot of time and money as you can use pre-built buttons and features.
Customize your app but do it economically and understand where to draw the line before you go overboard. Keeping the app simple will enable you to use it across various platforms which are cost effective in the long run.
Stick To Your Requirements
If you remain consistent with your initial requirements without major changes, chances are that iterations will go as planned. Without sudden changes, the project will get completed within defined time frame without incurring extra cost on you. The efforts put in initial requirement gathering proves beneficial here.
Supervise and Provide Feedback
Keep a close watch on the development to keep the cost under control. Also, it is imperative to provide feedback to your team to keep them from making similar mistakes. If you outsource the project, communicate regularly with them to understand the progress and see if the requirements are being met as desired.
With these factors in mind, you can certainly reduce the cost of the development of any mobile application. With proper leg work in place, you can approach the company with more confidence and get what you actually want from the app.
