The trend of search engines is to assign a higher rating to those sites that provide services using mobile applications. In the coming years, owning an application will become a prerequisite for getting site content indexed in search engines. If you have a website provides services via the Internet and you want to stay in business for the next three to five years, then you need to start thinking about how to conduct your services using a mobile application.
Relying on the expert opinion from Dworkz below we answer the questions: what it needs to start, how much does the ui ux design services and development firm cost and how long does it take to launch a mobile service, as how not to make standard mistakes. This information will be useful for internet business owners, executives, and project managers.
Table of Contents
What you have to start
This is introductory information about what business problem the future application is intended to solve. You must answer the question – what user issue will your mobile service solve? A clear answer to this question will help you think through the business logic for the product. It will also determine the budget you will have to develop the applications features and the technology you will use. It will also determine how much time you have to work on the project.
Another question for the product itself, but an important one for the project: by what time should the application achieve the specified parameters – for example, attract users, provide the number of services, and how much money your mobile service will bring to you. One more issue is the budget. Because, if the description of the tasks of the service helps to determine these functions and technologies, then the budget helps to abandon non-critically necessary functions and technologies.
Preliminary work
Your already existing business or just this idea contains answers to most questions. You have to structure them. The following framework will help you do this.
1.Determine the audience for which your product solves problems.
For clients, this is a B2C application, it is aimed at users who buy services and goods, or use personal accounts. For business, this is a B2B application that automates business processes, for example, CRM systems. There are applications focused on both clients and companies. For example, the DOC+ application. Depending on the role of the user, the client can contact the doctor directly, and the doctors, on behalf of the company, can distribute calls among all the doctors providing services and schedule client visits.
2.Select an application development technology.
The technical director is responsible for choosing the development technology and for hiring contractors. He also manages the process. Having an understanding of the different types of applications will help you make your own decision about which development technology to use.
- Native (or custom) applications are developed at the level of program code. Such applications are oriented to work on a specific – Android or iOS – platform. Such applications are expensive and take a long time to develop. Advantages of native applications: they are unique and fast, and you can quickly launch new services and products in them. And they can be scaled up quickly.
- Cross-platform (the out-of-the-box solution) applications are created from ready-made templates. They can work on different platforms. A boxed solution helps quickly to launch the product. Among the shortcomings: the structure of the interface of native applications looks the same, there are minimal opportunities to personalize them, not all invented functions can be implemented, and innovations are introduced for a long time, if at all.
- Webviews are applications that, like a browser, open a web page of an Internet resource. This solution is used as an online resource for developing interfaces. The advantages are a minimal budget and a quick launch of the product. There are hybrid applications built using different technologies: some functions are implemented using cross-platform tools, some are native, and some functions become available in the webview format. Applications become hybrid as the product evolves.
3.Determine the project budget.
This cost depends on two factors: 1) whether the application is native or cross-platform, 2) the number and complexity of the application’s functions. Implement only the functions that are most necessary for the provision of services. This will save both money and development time. Developer work costs about $40 an hour.
4.Calculate the cost.
- Native application
Each element of the application (at least 10 of them) – from designing the application interface to testing, collecting analytics, debugging it, as well as publishing and moderating it in stores – takes 10 working days. The minimum number of functions in the application are 3 – registration, sale of goods, or provision of services and feedback. Average cost – 90 to 120,000 dollars.
- Out-of-the-box application
Such an application can be built by a freelance student in a maximum of two weeks. The cost of such a solution will be the same as this reliability on a ten-point scale: $ 10-15,000 and 2-3 points out of 10.
2 mistakes
1.Economize on quality
Building mobile and web applications is a complex and multi-stage process that requires a manager to be successful. According to the experience of our partners, Dworkz, it is not recommended to save on the quality of the product, which means saving on the comfort of the application users. You can save on the fact that before you launch a full-fledged product (costing from $150,000), you create a minimum viable product (costing about $10,000). This will help you understand what minimum features the application needs to have to satisfy the user’s needs.
2.Not taking criticism
It will also help you gather feedback from app users. Critical reviews, comments, and ratings are your guiding star, following which you can gradually introduce new features according to the priorities of your business customers.
Note
MVP – this seems to be a raw product. But this immediacy appeals to the honesty of users. It’s about the honesty of newcomers to the market, who strive to get better with each review. The advantages of a raw product are the cost of the service (low, if not free) and quick response to user needs, as well as the rapid implementation of new features. Go for it! It can take up to 3 months to develop and test a product, from defining the functionality and compiling the TOR for the application, but this is only the beginning of an endless improvement story of your success.
