6 Questions To Ask Before Developing an App
Many individuals and businesses are looking to build and launch applications for mobile devices, making it tempting to develop one of your own. Before you start, however, you will want to research and know the answers to some essential questions.
Why Do You Want An App?
As easy as they make communicating with your customers, increasing online sales and marketing to customer journeys, there are some downsides to developing, launching and maintaining a mobile app. The biggest downside can be the cost of development, licensing and monitoring the app, plus the costs of working with app stores and handling payments. If your business model can sustain these costs or minimize them, then the pros will probably outweigh the cons. If a website-based shop is more sustainable for you, it might be a good idea to hold off on the app for now.
How Can You Track App Metrics?
One big issue with having an app for your company is that it will need to be monitored and updated to be effective. To benefit most from your updates, you will want specific data types to be observed and have easy access to your metrics. There are a couple of different ways to do this, with the most popular ones being cloud-based databases like M3DB and Prometheus. Tools for these databases can track the frequency of crashes, numbers and types of bugs, how customers use the app, and much more.
Do You Have Enough Time for All the Steps?
Development of applications takes time, often much more than is planned. You should plan extra and have time to test and debug before launch. You will also need time to register the app with the mobile stores and platforms, leaving spare time to make any necessary changes to optimize it for that platform. Another aspect of timing you need to consider is when is the most suitable time to launch your app. If you are coming up on an anniversary or significant marketing event that you can tie the launch with, you will have more initial downloads than if you launch it on its own.
What Platforms Will the App Be On?
In addition to deciding whether your app will be available through the Apple or Google stores, you will need to determine whether you want it to be compatible with tablets, mobile phones or both. Optimizing your app for multiple stores and devices can add to the time it takes to develop and the total costs you face.
Who Will Build It?
The question of who builds your app is a big one. You can go with professional development companies, hire an in-house dev team or even do it all yourself with the help of online tools, platforms and collaboration sites. One of the benefits of hiring an outside company is that your contract will usually include monitoring, troubleshooting and maintenance for the application, meaning that you will not have to worry about performance or updates outside of team meetings. Hiring an in-house team is an ongoing expense that may outlive the usefulness of your app but can give you more input and make it easier to develop another one or make extensive changes without modifying a contract.
What Will the Costs Be?
Up to this point, you will already have considered the costs of developing and launching an application. Still, it is crucial to also consider costs to yourself and the customer going forward. Will you charge customers for the app or allow in-app purchases? If so, what percentage does each store and platform receive, how much are your payment processing fees, and can your budget survive those hits?
Once you have asked all these questions of yourself and determined positive answers, you can develop your business app with more confidence in a positive outcome. You will know what types of companies and information to research before getting started and set aside enough time for each step in the process.
In addition to deciding whether your app will be available through the Apple or Google stores, you will need to determine whether you want it to be compatible with tablets, mobile phones or both. Optimizing your app for multiple stores and devices can add to the time it takes to develop and the total costs you face.