This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
On A Tight Budget? Here Is How You Can Still Build A Fantastic App
This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
Fairly good things don’t come cheap and cheap things don’t feel good. Often this saying has been proven true for the most part throughout life. How true it actually is when talking about enterprise mobile app development services?
Is it possible to develop an app with a teeny-tiny budget? Should you approach a cheap mobile app development company?
To answer the question, yes it is possible to act smart on a low budget as long as you know it is absolutely necessary to stay frugal. Only if you know it is necessary to stay prudent for a project and know when to spend lavishly on another.
Let’s see how you can minimize your mobile app development budget without sabotaging the success of the app.
Do thorough research
No one knows your app better than you. Hence, in order to bring out the best results, carry out a comprehensive research based on the target audience, demographics, geographical location etc.
Narrowing down on these aspects as much as possible saves you from unnecessarily flushing out the money. Here are pointers to keep in mind:
- Research which smartphone devices or operating system your target audience is acquainted to.
- Jot down the keywords they search for the most.
- Make your marketing more organic.
How many app downloads you want to achieve? Who is your competition and how successful they are? Research religiously on all these parameters before heading out for the journey.
Recognize what influences the app prize
The price for mobile app development services is largely affected by multitude of factors. A mobile app development company may have different pricing models based on the services they offer.
Understand and analyze the requirements of your app before aligning it with the services an app development company or an agency has to offer.
For the most part, the features influencing app prizes are:
- Platform type- Mobile, web, wearables, TV etc
- Supported device range
- Key features of the product
- Full-featured product
- Text and video features
- GPS location and Payment processing
These are some of the most critical features which makes the app prizes fluctuate.
Create an MVP first
Building an MVP or Minimum Viable Product means you create the basic structure of the app without going all-in with the features and money. An MVP app is like creating an app with abridged functionality.
It gives you a lot of time to gather user feedback, validate initial assumptions correctly, analyze the market demand, and pitch for solutions to potential investors.
Creating an MVP is vital, especially if this is your first app or if you are wetting your feet into mobile app development. This saves a lot of money and time. A mobile app MVP has approx 1-3 key features present.
Decide on key factors with the mobile app development company
As discussed above, certain aspects of mobile app development services are expensive, a few are mildly expensive and some are low-cost. List down all the features that you will need in your app.
Once done, segment those features into various categories like crucial features, important features, and additional features.
Let us say for example you need to make an app targeted at fashion industry. What will be the most crucial features you will need for such an app?
- Online shopping cart-- Expensive
- Wishlist and product images-- Mildly expensive
- Product descriptions, app theme, content-- low-cost
These features are enough for an MVP.
What are some of the important features?
- Account creation/Social login-- Mildly expensive
- Customer reviews and comment integration-- Mildly expensive
- Product videos-- Expensive
These features can be integrated once the app gains a certain momentum among the users.
What can be the additional features?
- Social sharing of products-- Expensive
- Inbuilt chat and call-- Expensive
These are the features that can be added later on once you get potential investment for the app to make it scalable.
Final Words
Not spending money and working around tightly forever is not a good idea for an app to make is highly successful or even gain the desired ROI. However, there are always potential workarounds to start with.
Look for different price models when working with a mobile app development company. They often have fixed-price model, waterfall model or agile app development model that can suit your needs.
Once your MVP or the initial app gains the required momentum, you can raise capital or put in the money gained from initial app success to make it scalable.