Developing an app is one thing. The problem is that App Stores are flooded with miscellaneous apps and cutting through the noise can be very hard. That is why we offer you only the most relevant and important content to help you with an app promotion.
With almost every aspect of our lives turning to the small screen to set up inventive presence, success in the field is taking on numerous new implications, understandings, and interpretations.
But, how is it possible that mobile app developers are making record profits while, at the same time, the number of free apps on the market continues to grow? The answer’s simple. Most app developers don’t make very much money.
But when we are talking about startup beginners, they are considering themselves as extremely ambitious personalities on their first steps in this field. My tip is to layout your startup on the business model canvas first.
This is what business people naturally do, and a unique idea will take more time to be developed into something tangible, something that will have definite value for future users.
So, what does success look like in the mobile space? Sadly, there’s no distinct answer. Above all else, it depends on who’s inquiring. In case, you’re a startup, displaying a new application or a worldwide brand hoping to build up an overwhelming mobile presence. Your goals will be distinctive, and as a direct result, so will your meaning of success.
Though years, prior speculators looked for after applications with a substantial client volume and neglected those with a moderately little after, today’s existence is an alternate story. Industry insiders know the force of an in number client base, paying little respect to its volume – a dynamic group with intriguing practices and examples demonstrates that the item is promising. Engagement is critical, not the amount.
It’s all about realizing what your product requires. It is a picture of the product, and how the startup will function. You can figure out your ways of mobile application monetization, the value of the product, the target audience, and the value of the product, to exude it during marketing campaigns.
Or there is another view, if your product is a transportation application, it doesn’t help when clients download your application but don’t book rides. A quality client for you would mean one that connects into their credit card information and orders a cab. That’s what success looks like for you.
The main truth is that for apps, tons of installations may not be as successful as the numbers lead people to persuade. A strong base of users who are dynamic, contribute to the community, and make in-app purchases, ought to be your main purpose, and harnessing more of those users is your new understanding of mobile prosperity.
But then again, if you’re a traditional, non-digital brand, your definition of success and achieving goals may differ. It shouldn’t be a challenge for you to make a name in the marketing field when you have already a consumer base.
For brands, succeeding in the mobile sphere means applying an improved experience:
by using everything that mobile devices have to offer.
by providing customers an alternative platform to cooperate with the brand in a way that will hold them coming back for more and more.
In a recent discussion with a partner, she mentioned that she uses an app for an American food chain that doesn’t have an affiliate in her country. She explained, that this source recommends not only food products, but also offers free music and other entertaining content.
It is a perfect example of a label that succeeded in creating a strong mobile experience that provides consumers demand for value-added tax.
Whether you’re a mobile startup or a well-established brand, accurately defining your goals is a significant step on your way to mobile success. Start testing them with upcoming customers. You have a team. But have no strategy? That is a serious question.
Just having a team without a clear understanding of its strengths and weaknesses doesn’t mean much. Don’t rush into creating a mobile strategy without first taking the time to understand clearly where you should go.
It usually requires a lot of hard work to create an app, but nobody can say if it will be successful or not. Even with ample money and time invested, app developers cannot guarantee a successful mobile app. The reason is that app developers just can’t know exactly what their potential clients want to have in their mobile app.
Don’t try to create something you think people will like to use, you need to create an app you know people will like and use for sure. Actually, your idea doesn’t have to be perfect from the very beginning, but you have to be open to any further improvements and fixes in your app, if necessary.
But how to know what to improve and what has to be fixed or what do your customers want now? The only answer here is getting feedback.
Feedback is crucial. It will help you build an outstanding mobile app.
Why Feedback is Important?
It might be challenging to know what your customers will need from a mobile app. But no matter what your customers need now, the only way to know it for sure is to listen to their personal opinion.
And that’s true: only an active user can tell you what doesn’t work and what could be better in the app. Companies that ignore their customers’ feedbacks usually lose. Feedbacks left by your customers help drive your product roadmap to apply changes that are the most important for your customers. Everything related to mobile moves fasts and limiting the number of guesses you benefit from into a better product’s development.
Asking and replying to feedback is another great way to build a strong relationship between you and your app’s users and develop a community. When users see that their feedback is taken seriously, they are more interested in providing it and feeling more connected to your app.
Finally, always try to provide value. Show your customers that you’re listening to them. They should realize that you are attuned to their requirements and needs and will do your best for them.
How to Get Feedback for your Mobile App
There are various tools and ways you can use them for feedback inside your app. The first one is to include an easily accessible function inside the app that users can find and use anytime.
Another awesome way to ask your customers to leave feedback for you is to let them know that you want to hear it. Those guys who are really interested in your app will definitely read the release notes of each version. Include a message in your release notes that encourages the users to reach out and talk to you.
Your customers should know where they can leave feedback for you. You may consider the pointing method inside your app if you have it available. If not, point them to all the places where you are ready and listen.
Both of the above tips are great but they are more likely to work for a small group of your customer base, which is actively searching for release notes or just like to get in touch. Whether your option is to reach a bigger part of your users’ base, you should become really proactive and encourage your clients for leaving feedback.
But before discussing the best tools for reaching out to your clients, you should remember that there are places and times that are always better than others when it comes to asking for feedback for your application. Understanding the right time and place for promotion will help you to avoid the bad experience of using the app for any niche (community app, for instance).
You should realize that it’s not a good idea to prompt a new user to leave feedback after he’s just launched the app or he is in the middle of using it (i.e. checking out, playing level, writing a message). Otherwise, finding moments of possible confusion or moments of success can be the best times to encourage your customers to share their thoughts with you.
Once you’ve found the confusing moments, you can promptly fix them and if your customers are already happy with the product, you can enjoy more positive reviews in the app store as well. A win-win situation, isn’t it? Asking general feedback is good, but sometimes you might need your clients to answer specific questions, which can build more structured feedback for you. Explore surveys, as this is the best tool for getting structured feedback.
Surveys are very popular because they help you to analyze the market as well as drive customers’ insight. Have ever noticed that many auto shops and restaurants have such surveys as “Did you find everything you were looking for?” or “How did we do today?”
These questions may seem very simple for a consumer, but for businesses, they are extremely important for understanding what to do to improve.
Speaking about mobile apps, the possible questions are:
What’s your opinion about the new feature we’ve just released? (include a few possible answers).
What new feature would you like us to include in the next update? (include a few possible answers).
How likely are you to recommend this product to a friend? (include a few possible answers).
The above suggestions can become a super way to receive reviews for your app, but that’s just the beginning. Think about going further by replying to the feedback and adding it to your product roadmap.
Responding to Feedback
Remember that all customers who leave a review drive your business forward and you should value any feedback, even if it’s full of criticism. It’s crucial to let your users know that they’ve been heard and their time and suggestion have been appreciated. Aim for turning your customers into loving fans.
When there are any changes or updates made in your app, give a credit. A credit may be thanking your clients in the update notes. You can even go further by reaching out to those who shared their opinion and thank them privately. Always leave your conversation open and encourage your users to share feedback at any time.
The main difference between successful and mediocre mobile app marketing is the correct goal setting. If your aim is getting downloads, you will hardly enjoy significant success. On the other hand, if you are looking for returning users, you are on the right path.
Experts say that notifications boost retention by several times. In this article, we are going to provide a few tips on how to make your push notifications amazing.
Push Notifications Best Practices
1. Permissions
If you ask your users for permission to send them to push notifications, you are trying to manipulate them. However, most apps fail here. Most users do not want to allow any apps to get access to their personal data. For example, Android’s permission system has some permission requests and clients feel uncomfortable about confirming personal data sharing.
How it works: to make privacy concerns less problematic, marketers should address the value of notifications they send making their push notification mobile strategy more user friendly. Ask your users what updates they are interested in to send them only relevant information and ensure their compelling experience.
Some marketers decide to send a request later. For example, if you have a messaging application, ask your users whether they want to receive notifications when their friends respond.
2. Clear Marketing Strategy
A marketing effort without a clear strategy is going around in circles. Mobile is the most performance-based platform, so you don’t have to speculate, but everything starts with creating a good plan. Mobile app marketers know that, but more often they fail to create a thoughtful push notification strategy for your app and, therefore, miss an opportunity to boost retention.
How it works:
think about various push triggers
user-behavior types you are looking for
the goal you aim to achieve with push notification marketing and more
The smarter triggers you create, the more chances you get to receive user’s responsibility.
For example, if your app helps users register for contests and events, make a notification that reminds a user when the registration period is nearly over to let him/her have a chance to be on time.
3. Types of Push Notifications
Text notifications are things of the past because you can get to a brand new level today. Modern technology allows you to use more eye-catching messages including images to view in one single tap. It is a great possibility to turn a call-to-action into an action using interactive notifications that attract attention to what are willing to say, and the retention level will grow. Isn’t it great to create interactive and funny apps to ensure entertainment for users?
How it works: you can produce a stronger social aspect and increase user engagement by informing users that their friends use the application. A push notification that informs users of their friends’ moves and offers a further action such as “like” or “share.” It gives your push notification more value and creates a better engagement.
4. Timing
Time is everything. The right timing of your push ensures your app to have delighted users and less annoyed ones. Choose the most comfortable time for your notifications. That is, you have to avoid sending notifications at times when your users are probably busy or asleep.
Avoid disturbing your users, but also chooses the best time to connect them. To do that, you have to know who your audience is and what you are going to send them.
How it works: some experts say that the best time to send notifications is the afternoon. Thus, as has been mentioned above, the effectiveness of your push timing depends on your goal, the industry you are in, and your target audience.
5. A/B Testing
In the mobile app world, you have to test out and develop some options to every parameter described in this article. Obviously, to learn which method is the most effective, you should experiment and measure results. It is a never-ending process to become a regular part of your notification strategy.
How it works: it is crucial to test different approaches to push notifications and try different content, tones, and timing to understand what interests your audience the most. Realizing what makes your users respond to your offers may help you to develop the most effective communication strategy.
6. Content. How to write best push notifications texts
A simple fact is that the content of your notification should be engaging and very specific.
Follow this advice:
Make sure to keep your text short and informative
Include a clear call to action in your push messages
Try to spark the interest of your users with a catchy joke or phrase.
Use an element of entertainment, it holds the attention and remains in the memory.
In addition, one of the most important things to include in the message is personalization. Send personal messages that catch attention.
How it works: take a personal approach by using names and including details about the last activity user performed in the application. If you sell merchandise, and your audience is interested in specific items, note when they are going on sale.
For instance, the text of your notification can say the following: “Hi, Susan! The bag you have added to your wish list is on sale! Buy it now at a discount!” It is important to be soft. Be personal, but avoid treating them with scant courtesy.
7. Push Notification Segmentation
If you are going to provide personalized communication to your users, this is where you should start. Dividing your audience into groups, focus on certain characteristics and types of people you are appealing to groups can be focused on gender, age, interests, location, and any other personal data.
If you are going to take it to a higher level, you should address user behavior. Specific push notifications are used to learn the way users react, interact, and respond to them to find out how frequently and actively they use your application.
How it works: inert and engaged users should receive different messages. If you want to draw the attention of the inert users to your app again, you should send them notifications that include special deals to evoke their interest.
8. Frequency
Some marketers find push notifications very effective and, therefore, become too enthusiastic. Sometimes, it leads to sending an oversize amount of notifications in a short span of time. Unfortunately, this may irritate users and bring negative results.
A good strategy helps you to discover a perfect balance that will allow you to connect users without becoming an “overly attached girlfriend.”
How it works: you have to divide push notifications into 2 groups. The first group should contain messages that inform users about the action of other users (“Your friend Judy liked your photo”).
The second group should contain messages that information directly about the deals within the app (“Check out the new special offer!”). Users like to receive the messages of the first type, so you should be careful about how often you send the messages of the second type.
9. Prioritizing
If you have too many similar push notifications you want to send to the same user in a short period of time, and you try to avoid over-spamming your user, make sure to prioritize them and choose the most important ones. When creating a push strategy, a segmentation process could help you in this process and detect the issue in advance.
How it works: begin with separating specific notifications from the general ones and choose those messages that adhere to the users’ needs to the maximum extent. In case if you cannot decide which of them are of higher priority, try creating several seasonal versions of the general strategy.
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Obviously, the main aim of sending notifications is to get maximum users’ attention and engagement. For that reason, it makes sense to take your time and produce some creative and entertaining content. Come up with something unique and you will be more likely to amaze your audience. Don’t make your message very long, but try to make it memorable.
How it works: the ideas are endless. Make your content funny or rhyme to generate retention and communication.
This list is a checklist for beginners in the world of push notifications. To make sure that you are on the right way, we recommend you review this article from time to time. Keep on adjusting, testing, and measuring your results!
In conclusion
Push notification marketing is still growing and can bring significant benefits to your business. Try our best practices to gain the desired results!
If, in your opinion, mobile applications are exclusively for worldwide corporations and big-name brands such as Bank of America or Walmart, you’re totally mistaken. Nowadays, more and more midsize, and even small, companies are following mobile application development trends. Market conditions make the businesses think that an efficient mobile strategy requires more than just a user-friendly website.
Today you can mark that the biggest part of small companies you cooperate with in your day-to-day routine and have their personal mobile application. Be it a beauty salon downtown or a cozy corner coffee shop. These businesses hold leading positions in a particular field when it comes to getting their marketing strategy to the next level.
If you’re still confused about why building your own mobile platforms for business became so popular, here’re TOP 9 benefits of joining this club sooner rather than later.
1. Be visible to the clients constantly
Recent statistics say that the average American spends more than 2 hours using his/ her mobile device every day. In fact, only a handful of all mobile apps constitutes the main part of total usage. On the other hand, to find the application the user is looking for, he/she still needs to unlock, scroll, and glance over the device.
As humans mind record unconsciously every text, image, or catchy app icon, such simple scrolling down and up can be an advantage for your business. It works – even if this process happens unnoticed.
2. It provides you with a more direct connection
It’s simple. The application always displays on the device desktop. Moreover, in contrast with the website, the app can be opened with one easy tap. To find your page in the net, the user needs to open the browser and find the appropriate URL to bookmark it.
The app makes it much easier for clients to leave feedback or call you. Furthermore, all negative comments left on the site are visible to everyone. What about negative feedbacks submitted with the help of an app, they give you a chance to deal with client dissatisfaction before his/her opinion goes public.
3. Connect with on-the-go clients
The smartphone is one of the most personal technology tools we can have. Sometimes we keep it close to ourselves twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Statistics show that approximately 80% of the time spent on the phone is spent using applications.
4. Create a useful marketing channel
An application wears many hats: it can give general information about your company, show prices, provide users with booking forms, personal accounts, search features, news feeds, messengers, etc. And, what is the biggest benefit of creating an app, all this info is right at clients’ fingertips. With the help of push notifications, you have an opportunity to advance even closer to direct cooperation by reminding customers about your special sales, new products, and services.
5. Show customers that you appreciate them
When it comes to on-hand data and digitalization, in place of old-fashioned point-collection cards, provide your clients with the possibility to collect loyalty program bonuses via the mobile app. The result won’t take long, and you’ll get more downloads and more regular clients.
6. Increase your brand recognition
A device application for your company can contribute to your brand recognition. A created app is like a billboard sign: you can do with it everything that you want. You have all the needed tools to make it functional, user-friendly, stylish, and informative. But what your primary goal should be is to build an application that has all the necessary features your client will love. At the same time, it has to be well-designed and branded.
The more often users get involved with your application, the sooner they will decide to order your service. It’s called “effective frequency” in the advertising field: hearing and seeing your business brand about 20 times is what will get you really notable.
7. Improve your connection with clients
All the same, whether you’re selling a spa service or flowers, your customers need a resource to reach you without effort. Having a help desk or messenger in the application can change the way you communicate with the clients. For example, if you create a mobile app for your restaurant, the users have a chance to book the table with 5 clicks on your platform. No doubt, instead of phone connection the majority will choose communication via text. Building your business model around this principle – your key to success.
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It’s hard to believe, but today device applications at the small business level are still infrequent. Because of this, you can stay one jump ahead of your competitors. Be one of the first in your area to offer an application to your clients. Be sure, they’ll be amazed by your wise and farsighted approach.
9. Cultivate loyalty of customers
One more significant reason to create your own mobile application is customer loyalty. With all this information noise around like billboards, roadside banners, magazines ads, flashing signs, coupons, flyers, website banners, email marketing, and Facebook advertising we, as businessmen, slowly lose our influence on clients because there is a huge amount of commercial on every corner. On the other hand, it’s an auspicious time to make a true connection with customers. It leads them to become loyal users of your service.
And last, but not least, I don’t mean that a device application will save your company. However, it can be an excellent tool that helps you stay close to the users and be a “fingertip” away all along. I hope, with all these weighty reasons, you’ll look at your phone as a perspective for successful business management and effective client experience.
Not so long ago, app developers were all about deciding the success of apps based on analytics. The statistics were assessed to determine just how good an app was doing in terms of user appeal and feedback. At one time, developers measured the app’s overall success based on its ratings and the download count (or sales). These were key mobile marketing metrics.
However, these days there are better ways to assess the overall success of any mobile application. These marketing metrics are something every developer needs to know about if they are to decide the success of an application.
Every measurement shared here consists of a formula or a way of getting information that you can use to draw insights about the app and how well it is doing. You can figure out how much revenue an app is generating per user, the costs per loyal user, and the costs per install and compare it with mobile application development costs.
The latter figures will reveal how successful you’re marketing is and if users are finding your app useful or enjoyable. You can also find out how people are engaging with the app, the parts of the app that are most enticing, and if your application requires changes or improvements.
1. Know Your ARPU
ARPU is an acronym for Average Revenue per User. The ARPU is broken down into a formula consisting of the amount of money the app generates within the framework of a set period over the number of active app users within the same timeframe.
Bear in mind that ARPU will be different for every mobile app category as well as for every revenue model. However, there are some comparisons that can be made that can prove useful in determining app success. ARPU by revenue model can help you take another look at the revenue brought in through advertising; fee-based downloads in-app purchases, freemium apps, and subscriptions for ease of comparison.
The ARPU can help you in finding out the average revenue the app is generating per user. The latter figure is important because you can use it in other metrics. First, in CPLU (Cost per Loyal User), you can compare the ARPU to the CPLU and if the latter is less than the former, you’re using your marketing methods correctly.
Essentially, it reveals you are generating more income than it costs to acquire the attention of the consumer. Next, in the Retention metric, the ARPU is part of finding out the lifetime value of those consumers you have as loyal users. Therefore, if you have an app that makes $0.50 a month and you retain a consumer for about 5 months on average, the lifetime value is $2.50.
2. Know Your CPLU & CPI
CPI is an acronym for Cost per Install. CPLU is also an acronym standing for Cost per Loyal User. The CPI is a formula that equals the advertising dollars you spend divided by the number of new installations you get within a given advertising campaign. The CPLU however, is the number of advertising dollars you spend divided by the amount of new and loyal application uses you get from the ad campaign.
These two figures can be used along with your ARPU to find out the return on investment you are getting from all of your advertising and marketing. For your marketing to prove successful, your CPLU needs to be less than your ARPU.
3. How Are Your Users Engaging?
Engagement is not something you can figure out by a formula, and it requires an assessment of how your users are making use of the mobile app in question. In understanding a user’s behaviors, you can get an inside view of what is most appealing to your users and what features may be unnecessary.
Engagement is an umbrella term covering a variety of user actions including an assessment of app screens viewed per session, the conversion rates, interactions, opt-ins, opt-outs, and session intervals and lengths. Let’s look at each of these analytics a bit more in-depth.
Customer loyalty measures how often your users return to the app and use it. Your customer’s engagement is vital to the success of the app, as engaged users are being called the bread and butter of an application’s overall success. If you have users that are remaining engaged with the app, it means they like what the app has to offer and are therefore more likely to spread the good word about the app to others – word of mouth advertising goes a long way in the mobile app industry.
What’s more, you can track the usage of loyal users over a longer time to see if trends in application development crop up or if the users repeat actions that may offer insight into how you can improve the application or enhance user engagement.
4. Know Your Love Ratio
The love ratio is a mobile marketing metric that’s been in use for a while and a broad assessment of statistics reveal that the answer is yes, just over 57.70% of the time. The measurement gives you a good idea just how much your users are enjoying the app and if the numbers are low it suggests you’ll need to make some changes to the app to make it more loveable.
Bear in mind, this figure can also vary if a person is not giving an honest answer to the survey and is just clicking on whatever answer will dismiss the survey question quickly. Despite potential biased answers and incomplete assessment values due to lack of user response, the Love Ratio formula still reveals vital information to the app developer, especially over the course of version histories and time.
5. Monitoring Retention Rate
There’s a formula for determining your retention rate, which is a metric marking the number of users you have returning to your mobile app on a weekly basis. Aggregate retention is the number of actives you have during a month divided by the install amounts during the same period. To determine what the retention rate for a specified time is, you need to note the number of app users you’ve retained by the end of a specified time and divide it by the installs during that period.
Broad statistics suggest that as many as 40% of mobile UX apps continue to use the app following the first 30 after the installation, but this number dramatically declines to a little as 4% within the year following the date of install.
The retention rate will allow you to define, not just how many downloads you have, but how many users you have. Even better, you can figure out active users over the course of time. Even if you have 100,000 downloads, 50% of that may have retained users over the course of time, and only by knowing your retention will you know how many downloaders actually remained active users.
When you know the monthly active users, you can use the figure to multiply it against the monthly average revenue you’re making per user to determine your overall revenue.
In essence, there are plenty of ways to measure what is happening with your mobile app. There are formulas you can use to find out user behavior, actions, and if they like using the application you‘ve created. A developer can then use the insights gained to improve the application and subsequently increase revenue.
Do you have some troubles with sales in the iOS and Android App stores? Other sellers just get their success right away from the very start, but you still sold a minimum after a year of business? Well, you came to the right place to solve the problem. We have some interesting and helpful tips for you to help. These are the 5 main reasons why you have poor app sales.
1. No app marketing
The common and very often mistaken for fresh app producers is the conviction that their app is fantastic, and people will find it immediately after sharing it online. However, in a real-life everything is much more complicated. You should realize that there are billions of new apps and other stuff rolling in every new day.
Thus, the customer will never find, like, and pick up your app among thousands of others. Without a marketing strategy, you are just a drop in the ocean. So, you should find some effective way to present your product to the world and get the needed attention. For example, you can cooperate with other companies to start promoting your product and let people know and talk about it. Then, you can start a big sale to bring heat to the sales.
Not using proper mobile analytics tools is also a big mistake.
2. Not enough social media promotion for your app
Nowadays social media is a huge part of our everyday life. Everyone knows that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and dozens of other social networks can hit big when it comes to your business promotion. They can be also a perfect way to build your communion with customers all over the world. You can find here some new clients, devoted fans, and regular clients too.
So, try to build some serious community with your social network page to turn these people into your regular customers and fans. Do not forget that these guys will bring their friends to your app shop too. Using Twitter, for example, you will learn how to communicate with modern customers and make your business grow like mushrooms after the rain.
So, if you know something about the world of the app business, you as an IOS developer, probably, dream about featuring your app by Apple. While you are looking for some special magic formula to make it happen, we should tell you that there is no formula. You should realize that Apple will get interested in your product only if there are a lot of positive reviews and feedback on your app.
No magic, business only. You can find a lot of various websites that can write great reviews on your product. Even if their review is not very positive, you will get the attention you desire and it is the most important thing.
4. No design attention
You might invent a really great and useful app that can be very popular around the world. However, what’s about its design and usability? If your app is difficult to navigate with the pale interface, it is likely to be a flop. People don’t want to use programs that are not clear and simple enough. Everything should be done fast and easily.
Moreover, the look of the app should be really beautiful, stylish, and useful. If your design skills are too poor to make your app perfect, you should hire an expert. A professional designer or even a team of designers is the solution to your problem. Do not try to save your money with that, just make everything possible for your app to start selling as quickly as it is possible.
5. Your app is simply a bad app
There is no guarantee that your app is perfect and useful. You could spend weeks or months to develop it. However, it can turn out to be a failure. Yes, there are thousands of apps released every day. Most of them are just nothing special. And a typical customer will always see that something is wrong.
So, to avoid such situations, you should ask yourself a few important questions. Ask yourself about the problem your app is designed to solve. Are there any other apps that can do the same job? Is your app better than others? For example, you can invent a cool calculator. It is great. However, there are thousands of such apps on the market. Thus, your app needs to be unique to be a success. You should make something really revolutionary new in this field to get the deal.
“How much does it cost to make an app?” is the first question the development team gets from startups and established businesses willing to build mobile projects. Knowing the cost of app development is essential for estimating an adequate budget and planning to spend.
Mobile application development costs may vary from $30,000 to $500,000, depending on the business functionality. But functionality is not the only price-forming factor.
This article will explain what mobile app development costs consist of and how you can impact your app costs. We’ll also explain the difference between Managed Services, Dedicated and Extended Team, and the concept of project management triangle, which is essential to understand what lies behind the estimation of mobile app development costs.
Some people think that mobile app development costs equal the number of hours one developer spends on coding. Such an approach is far from reality.
Apart from code, mobile app development project requires the following specialists:
Business analysts and project managers create the project backlog with tasks
Solution architect designs the overall architecture of the project’s back end components
Quality assurance managers make the checklists for the project functionality to ensure the functionality works without error
Designers work on the project layout, prototype, and complete design
All of the described roles require qualified specialists who charge a reasonable price for their work. Moreover, your project might require more than one developer. Therefore, work hours constitute a big part of your mobile app cost.
One example is in developing a logistics mobile app with several integrations, such as a warehouse database, online payment gateway, and booking functionality. Let’s imagine your development team has two months to complete a working project’s functionality.
To meet your deadlines, the project manager will dedicate a team of three back-end developers and two front-end developers to your project under a managed service model, which will increase the cost of your project. Thus, the cooperation model is another factor that impacts the final project app costs.
Let’s look at the three cooperation models we use at The APP Solutions and try to find out which of them will suit your project and bode well for future app costs.
What Affects Mobile Application Costs: The Cooperation Model
The cooperation model in software development defines the client and the team’s responsibilities. At The APP Solutions, we cooperate with the client under the following models:
Extended Team
An extended team means we provide you with professionals while you manage all processes. This will suit when you need to augment your existing team with our professionals. This working model works best for projects with established management and app development process.
The extended team will inherit the existing structure and report directly to you or your responsible manager.
Dedicated Team
A dedicated team business model includes shared responsibilities between the client and the development team. It works best for outsourcing business functions such as Development and Quality Assurance.
The dedicated team includes a Project Manager who is taking care of the Systems development life cycle (SDLC) Methodology and process, facilitating the dedicated team’s integration with your in-house development teams.
Under this model, The APP Solutions team manages all product development processes while giving you the freedom to develop your business. We are responsible for hiring extra specialists for creating complex projects and providing technical support after the product launch.
Apart from a Development and QA specialist, your project may require a Product Manager, UI/UX designers, Business Analytics, and System Analytics.
But how do cooperation models impact app development costs?
The more responsibilities you give to your developers and the more extensive the project scope you need to implement, the more developers will work on your project. Thus, the higher the app cost to create your app.
The app development cost also depends on three constraints that form a project management triangle. Let’s see what those constraints are.
If you need to finish a job in a shorter time you can throw more people at the problem, which will raise the project’s cost, unless by doing this task quicker, we will reduce costs elsewhere in the project by an equal amount.
Developers can complete a project faster if you increase the app development budget or cut scope. Similarly, if you increase the scope, the development team will require equivalent increases in funding and schedule.
In this way, if you cut the budget without adjusting the schedule or scope it will lead to lower quality, illustrating the proverb “Good, fast, cheap. Choose two.”
But if you need to launch a project within tight deadlines and minimal
app development
budget, consider building its MVP, which means Minimum Viable Project. The project’s MVP comes with minimum functionality to validate your business idea without ballooning app development costs.
To receive a precise cost estimate for your mobile project, you need to follow these steps:
Step 1. Ask a mobile app development team for a quote
Get in touch with the mobile app development team, describe the app idea, its functionality, and your business goal.
Step 2. Select the number of mobile platforms
Choose the mobile platform you want to target. Remember that developing a separate app for iOS and Android will double the app development cost. Thus, target one platform for MVP.
Step 3. Create the list with app functionality
Build up a list of your mobile app’s functionality that would be enough to validate your business idea.
Step 4. Prioritize mobile app features to implement in MVP
Send the list to your development team, so a business analyst can add other features if needed and prioritize functions for the first project scope.
Step 5. Ask the mobile app development team to estimate your main app features
Ask mobile app developers to evaluate the list with must-have features they will implement first, and get a precise mobile app development estimated cost.
But how much time do developers need to implement core functionality for the app’s MVP?
What Affects Mobile Application Costs: Core Features
A table with mobile app essential features, tech stack, and estimated number of hours will give you an idea about the time and money required to develop a fully-fledged mobile application:
User login
Most mobile apps provide users with registration via email or phone number to identify the user. But the most convenient way to access an app automatically creates a user profile and collects all public data about a person is through sign-in social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Tech stack
Number of hours
Facebook SDK
Log In with Twitter
Instagram Basic Display API
4+ hours for UI/UX design
8+ hours to develop the app back-end using NodeJS
8+ hours for feature integration per each platform (iOS, Android)
Push notification
Mobile apps use push notifications to inform users about the real-time updates in the app, such as changes in order status, new content, new messages received, etc.
Tech stack
Number of hours
Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) for Android mobile apps
Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) for iOS
24+ hours for iOS
24+ hours for Android
Navigation bar
In order to allow the user to flow through your app features and content, you will need a navigation bar. This feature also defines how the user switches from one screen to another, returns to the main menu, closes an app, takes actions, etc. Thus, your app must include swiping and scrolling features, icons, buttons, arrows, and other UI architecture.
Tech stack
Number of hours
Human Interface Guidelines
24+ hours for the app back-end
16+ hours for Android or iOS development
Media content sharing
If you develop a social media app like Tik-Tok, or messaging app like WhatsApp, you need to allow users to share media files such as images, short videos, or audio files. You may also need to empower your app with editing capabilities, including adding emoticons, filters, effects, or even animated masks.
Tech stack
Number of hours
Android NDK Native APIs for Android apps
Core Audio Kit for audio exchange, PhotoKit for photo editing, and AVKit for media playback on iOS devices
8+ hours for the design
16+ hours for the front-end
40+ hours for the back-end
40+ to develop this function on each mobile platform
What Affects Mobile Application Costs: App Complexity
To show you how mobile app features and app development costs vary regarding app complexity, we split mobile apps into the following categories and added the estimated time in hours to evaluate the cost to make a solution.
Type
Simple apps
Moderate apps
Complex apps
Description
No API integration
No back-end
Basic UI components
Simple features (email subscription, social login, calendar, etc.)
Custom UI/UX features
Build-in payment gateway
API integration
Back-end server
Multi-language support
3rd-party integrations
Custom animations
Complicated back-end
Custom UI/UX design
Real-time features via database integration
Time
400+ hours
500-800+ hours
800-1500+ hours
What is not included in app development services?
A development team with a solid approach for product development does not mean your application will be famous among users. But what can you give such guarantees?
A good marketing plan, financial models, and a pitch deck:
Marketing plan. A marketing plan is the foundation of a well-written marketing plan to achieve your business goals.
Financial model. Financial modeling is the process of creating a summary of a company’s expenses and earnings in the form of a spreadsheet that you can use to calculate the impact of a future event or decision.
Pitch deck. A pitch deck is a brief presentation you can use to provide your investors or potential partners with a quick overview of your business plan.
While the team develops your project’s MVP, you need to spend two or three months on marketing activities, such as app store optimization, with your app marketing team.
After the team launches your mobile app, it is vital to continue your cooperation because the app’s code can perform unstable in a live environment with real users. Such conditions may cause downtime and errors, which developers must fix as soon as possible. To make this possible, at The APP Solutions we provide IT support services for recently launched projects.
While the tech support team will fix errors, the development team creates and implements new business functionality to your app to make a fully-fledged product.
In this way, for the first two months after the app’s release, the development team will be busy with your mobile app development.
How Much Does It Cost to Create an App: Total Cost
So, how much does it cost to make an app? When hiring a team for mobile app development you do not pay for features implemented, nor for technologies used. Your app development budget cover project development services the app development company provides and responsibilities you share with the team of developers:
When working under a managed service model, you receive the freedom to develop your business and get in touch with the team to see the team’s progress.
A dedicated team costs less than a Managed service model, but you’ll need to face more responsibilities for a project’s success.
An extended team will suit you only if you have established management and processes and need to augment your in-house development team with developers to build an app.
The app development cost also depends on the number of functions, the app’s overall complexity, and the team composition your project requires. Don’t forget about the Project Management Triangle and its contrast – time, cost, and scope.
Customers always wonder how much does it cost to create an app. Some vendors say $50 000. The others say $500 000.
Indeed, many companies claim: “We are the best application developers. Work with us.” That’s why choosing an outsourcing app development company may be challenging for you.
In fact, an expensive service is not a guarantee that your app will be great. High prices do not always mean good quality. At the same time, lower costs don’t always mean poor results.
Let’s discuss the key factors that determine the cost of mobile application development.
Design approach
There are companies that suggest a mobile application project requires months of research, including research trends in application development, journey creation, concept testing, visual design including interactions design and mock-ups, UX design, and mobile app prototypingcreation to test the mobile UX with real users.
Others work on assumption that the instructions received from a customer are enough, that the details could be clarified as they go along, and apply minimum effort in creating the designs. The cost can vary from low to high depending on the approach developers take.
Effort and time
Effort and the amount of days it will take to create a solution is one of the biggest reasons that determine the price. As a rule, more experienced teams go into details and make an exact estimation for every case.
They have vast experience in developing the same solutions or apps and can provide an accurate estimate including potential risks and errors. The effort can vary from one company to another based on the method used to evaluate the effort and time.
The type of application
It is true that the price can vary accordingly to the type of app you need. A standard application with basic functions will cost you less than a custom developed solution with difficult processes and advanced tools. We have already discussed the number of hours needed for the implementation.
It is obvious that custom solutions need to be scrutinized, and the developer will spend more time working on them. Just like any other product or service. One needs time to make research unless he is a real expert.
Location
It is obvious that an agency from New York, London or San Francisco will be a great choice. On the contrary, a team based in China, India, or Mexico, therefore, will perform your task for a lower charge. The prices can vary from $200 per hour to $15 per hour.
The location issue is also connected with choosing between local companies and outsourcing. Of course, it makes sense to find local app developers. At least, this is how you can avoid communication problems because face-to-face communication is a chance to understand what you are going to pay for.
On the other hand, you can always find application development outsourcing. As it was mentioned, the communication with the foreign team may be more challenging. There are experienced teams and proficient developers across the ocean costing less and able to perform even better than a local agency. All you have to do is to find outsourcing that you can trust.
Change management
Once the company overcomes the first challenge of landing customers, it faces the other challenge of making a profit on them. The most common method of agencies is to do everything to underprice the project and minimize the scope. Later they will offer a change request to make a customer pay more for the extra functions they originally suggested were included.
The other way is to base the estimate on the suggestion that there will be a necessity to change something (redesign functionality, add something, etc.) based on the final user feedback. Sometimes change requests can double a price.
Be attentive if you might need to include some changes as the creation of an app goes. Make sure that a planned budget you have includes extra expenses coverage. In some cases, the initial rates can grow higher than you expected but if the agency is reliable it will prove its value.
Size of the company
This is not a key aspect. However, as a rule, bigger companies with 200+ of team members have higher rates while small ones with 10-20 people set lower prices. However, agencies of a certain size sometimes have some scale advantages that give them a lower quote.
The code quality and the ability to hand it over
Over the past years, we have reviewed the code quality for more than 100 developers. Some of them are really good, but most are poorly structured and developed. Sometimes it is about the quality of the developers, but this could happen simply because of stress or other factors that don’t depend on them.
Sometimes the reason is that there is no proficient technical lead of the development process or because they are trying to make it more difficult to take a hand over the code. Other companies solve this problem with the help of internal developers who review the code or even performing an outsource code review to avoid any issues connected with the code quality and make sure that it is well-structured.
Proficiency of the developers
It is quite obvious that the difference in the effectiveness and productivity between a professional and a poor developer is significant. A professional developer can simply cope with a task in a couple of days while a poor one needs weeks to resolve everything. For that reason, the number of people you get for your budget is not a guarantee. A small team of 5 people can produce much more than a large team of 20 people in the same amount of time.
So, which agency you should choose as your application developer? Focus on the one that fits your needs in all terms including quality, prices, location, timelines, guidance, and experience.
It is already well-known that trends in app development are forever changing. However, it is up to you to explore how they are changing if you are truly interested in app development. There are plenty of trends that can be found by reading through the information published in the State of the Developer Nation report from the research firm VisionMobile.
With all that can be discovered there, as an app developer or even as a user of apps, you should pay special attention to these four popular trends in app development. These were reported for the first quarter of the year 2015.
Number One: Using Swift
As an app developer or user, you know that even the newest and hottest trends can take a while to catch on. Very rarely will consumers bite onto a new idea just because it is there to be used. A rise in Apple’s Swift language is one that should be noted.
The researchers from VisionMobile surveyed 8,000 different top mobile game developers as part of their investigation. One out of five of these developers were using the Swift program after it being on the market for only four short months.
Objective-C had a jump on Swift in relation to iOS devices, and it only has a 39% usage among developers. This type of use is considered to be extraordinary as far as app development trends go.
As many as 25% of Swift developers are considered to be new to the iOS platform. This is considered to be a substantial amount. Even with this large amount of users, VisionMobile states that Objective-C is not going away.
It is predicted that most developers will have both tools available for their program. Experts say that in order to be the most successful on the iOS platform it will be necessary to understand how to properly use both tools in app development.
Number Two: The Growing Popularity of Cross-Platform Tools
It was discovered in the evaluation of app development trends that the use of third-party tools is at the highest rate ever. Among mobile app developers, 83% of those that responded to the investigation are using at least one third-party tool. These tools can be used for a plethora of developments including analytics, crash reporting, and other testing.
One of the biggest jumps of the use of cross-platform tools has occurred within the last six months. During this time, the usage went from 23% all the way up to 30%. The question for app developers is always how to choose the right tools for the successful creation of their app.
The best answer given by those that have accomplished their goals is finding a provider that is well-known and stable. This gives the confidence that they are going to be around to benefit from for a long time to come.
Number Three: Increasing Profits with Enterprise Apps versus Consumer Apps
No matter how popular smartphones and tablets are, there is never any guarantee that any one application is going to make money. Just because users are downloading apps faster than they are being created does not mean that just because one is available that it is going to be purchased by those looking to add to their app collection.
Trends of the first quarter of 2015 show that apps that make moneymuch better are enterprise apps compared to consumer apps. The difference between consumer apps and enterprise apps is not even close.
Research shows that 43% of the app developers that are working on enterprise apps reach or go beyond the $10,000 profit mark each month. Those that are making consumer apps are only in the 19% range when it comes to this type of revenue.
Most individual smartphone and tablet users would rather get their consumer applications for free instead of paying even a small amount for them. However, businesses are willing to spend a little bit of money to make money. That is why they will spend a few dollars on the enterprise application that is going to help them be more productive and profitable.
Number Four: The Popularity of the Internet of Things and its Slow but Sure Payoff
Many developers are now investing their time and resources into the Internet of Things (IoT). This is something that does not have the quick payoff that many people are usually looking for. Over half of the developers that took part in this research project have reported that they are using the IoT on some level in their developments.
One interesting factor is that many are doing so on a side project or hobby level rather than on their actual project. The areas that have created the largest interest include the mobile platforms iOS and Android. This comes as no surprise because the popularity and sure return that these are going to bring. Areas like smart building and wearable computing markets are among the areas being used.
Even though IoT is still in the early stages, experts from VisionMobile say that there are huge advantages of the IoT for the developers that are utilizing it. The products that are considered to be in the highest demand have the best software. Through the process of creation, the developers involved are going to be creating more competitive products over time.
After reviewing this information, taking into account what you already know about app development, and doing a complete evaluation, it is easy to see how the mobile development market is going to continue to change and grow at a rapid rate for a long time to come.
Also see infographic on this topic: Trends in mobile industry 2015.
Infographic
The development is going to occur in all different areas including the tools available to developers, the languages, the various device platforms offered, and finally the economics related to the applications. It is essential as a developer to stay up-to-date on all the changes in developments.
Even though this can be almost as time-consuming and difficult as doing your real job, it is a must. That is why the mobile market continues to be an exciting one to be a part of.
The United States is known worldwide for being a country that spends huge amounts of money on healthcare. This is not just a stereotype of the country but something that is based in fact with the highest GDP on healthcare in the world.
With so much more being spent, surely there would be better outcomes for patients? Sadly this is not exactly the case. The reason for the high costs and seemingly normal outcomes as related to the rest of the medical world are the direct results of high insurance costs, high staff salaries, poor access to all of the right procedures and supplies as well as poor lifestyle choices. Though these are not the only factors, but ones that play a major role.
How Do We Remedy This Problem?
Hospitals and healthcare centers are independently trying to improve their care and keep their own costs down, hoping to pass the savings onto their patients. Some facilities have been quite successful while others have remained the same or have even failed.
These varied results have made it difficult to know what aspects of each facility were helping keep costs down until modern technology was introduced. Using technology, patients and healthcare professionals are able to interact in a more effective way that benefits everyone involved.
The Benefits Of Modern Devices In Hospitals
Devices like the iPhone and iPad, in particular, have had a huge impact on how doctors and patients interact, how information is stored, how forms are filled out, how labs are accessed and so much more.
These devices hold all of the information that it would have previously taken hours to write and then sort through later. This has increased productivity all around, from the medical professionals to the administrators.
Size
Not only are these mobile devices able to hold all of the information needed, but they are also easy to slip into a pocket or lab coat. Rather than having hundreds of bulky folders, the provider will have just one device to worry about.
Access
The electronic information held within the device on a medical server can more easily be accessed and compared against normal ranges of health. This helps to eliminate human error and will also help health professionals to assess patients quickly.
When the provider has access to the information immediately, it means that in case of emergency they are able to quickly review medical history and treat the patient accordingly. This is a great example of technology changing healthcare in a totally beneficial way.
Wait Time
The lab results that would have taken hours to receive are now sent directly to the device of the provider in the patient’s file and can be immediately analyzed. Patients and providers getting results quicker is always a good thing.
Data Entry
These devices not only hold the information, but they are also extremely effective when it comes to information input. Rather than complicated forms, these devices have forms that will auto-fill pre-known information and provide drop-down menus. The information is then immediately stored for the provider to access. This electronic data storage also means that no files will be lost in the daily activity of a hospital.
Time-Saving
The main thing that mobile technology in healthcare has helped to cut down on is the time wasted by patients, administration employees, and providers. There is no time wasted filling out forms, waiting for results or reviewing a patient’s file. In cutting down on the time wasted in these aspects, providers are better able to focus on their patients, dedicating more time to each. This also cuts down on the need for such extensive administration staff, therefore cutting costs there.
Mobile Healthcare Apps For Doctors
Healthcare providers are using applications to access patient information. This makes doing routine checks, such as rounds, much faster. Apps like Epocrates and UpToDate keep the information well within reach of the health professionals on their mobile devices. EMR systems like Epic also make having patient information easy with a mobile application.
Doctors are not only able to access the patient’s current information and history more easily, but they are able to have access to entire medical journals and resources that will assist them in making a diagnosis. This combination has led and will lead in the future to there being fewer mistakes in terms of care.
Using mobile devices can also give doctors access to one another to share information, ask questions, and workshop particularly difficult cases. This also allows them to request patient information as well as scheduled appointments.
The Changes And What Is To Come
That’s basically how technology has changed healthcare so far and this is only the beginning. While the market for creating healthcare applications and programs has been lacking due to unclear regulations for information sharing through applications, more developers are discovering what medical professionals need to make their services more effective and how to work with the privacy laws and regulations to make that happen.
These apps can help with anything from information storage to diagnosis assistance. Mobile application development cost is nothing compared to benefits. Using these apps to gather information and teach doctors more about the patients will only result in better care, less time wasted, and less money spent.
