Congrats on finally deciding to make an app for your business! Now that you have decided to get yourself an app, you must also think about making an affordable app. Building a standard app can cost a heavy toll on the money. You must first think if that app is necessary for your business. If an app brings more profits to your business, then definitely go for it. But before finalising the app development service, look at the tips listed below to get an affordable app!
Table of Contents
1. Know your requirements
The foremost step in app development is identifying your business ideas and objectives. You might come up with hundreds of ideas, but you must choose the ideas carefully. Based on the following three basic ideas, you can proceed with the app development project.
- Think carefully about what you want to do
- Judge the people’s requirements
- Know your monetary constraints.
If you can answer this, the next step is to choose the developer.
2. Keep your mobile app simple
If building an app with less budget is your key objective, you have to keep your app simple. Especially for your first app, you might be tempted to incorporate many features, but are they essential? An application with too many features could complicate things and consume your money like a casino. To save money, settle for a simple application. By keeping your app simple, the complexity of development, testing and usage decreases tremendously.
3. Choose the developer wisely
The developer might be a freelancer or a small business, or a large business that makes apps. The benefit of having a freelancer is the cheap rate. As compared to a business firm, the freelancer will charge less. But they can’t be preferred just because they charge less. You might never know the actual performance and behaviour of the freelancer. They might fool you with a fake profile! But when you reach out to professional companies, they will provide excellent service with good credibility and reliability. On the other hand, large firms might not care more about your project because what you see as a major project is just a minor project to them. Hence it will be wise to choose the developer judiciously.
4. Choose the right pricing model
After doing enough market research, now comes the expensive part of app pricing. Various pricing models are available, like paid premium purchases, one-time payment apps, in-app purchases, freemium models, and ad apps. In a broad sense, there are paid apps and then free apps. If you want a customer to pay to use your app, it is a paid app as it is like a direct reward system.
- In free apps, the payment is indirect. For example, based on the number of installations, the app store might pay you some. Most of the features are made available to free users in paid premium apps, but to access the additional features, one might have to pay. This is beneficial as it creates a good customer base and elevates the class of the app.
- In a one-time purchase app, the user must pay once to use the features. This might sound cheap to a user but might be pretty challenging for the business as they must always attract new users.
- In a freemium app, users can access all the features, but they might have to watch ads to speed up the rewards. Many games are freemium only. In an ad app, the app can advertise other businesses’ products. The in-app purchase applications are also quite common as several other products could be sold and brought through the app. You can choose suitable models based on your market demand and what you feel is suitable for your business.
5. Decide the suitable platform
Once you have selected a proper developer based on the business requirements, the next step is to select a suitable platform. The app could be built to run suitably on Android or iPhone. Both platforms have several pros and cons, and hence, you must choose the platform that best suits your business.
Android apps may be preferred for their versatility, customisability, multiple platform usability and enhanced security. iOS is popularly preferred because of its high-security standard features, less development time and ease of testing. What might be advantageous to one might be disadvantageous to another. Hence you should choose the platform based on your needs and budget limits.
6. Try cross-platform applications
Cross-platform applications are apps that can run on all operating systems and other appliances like laptops, smartphones, Smart TVs, and tabs. There are several advantages of using cross-platform applications over native apps.
Based on your requirements, you can choose to try cross-platform applications. The apps built on cross platforms have better reach and hit the market comparatively earlier. The apps are easy to maintain and update. But still, native apps are preferred by the majority as they are highly efficient and user-friendly.
7. Go for a prebuilt app with minimum customisations
If you are building an app for your business for the first time, you might be thrilled to add all the available features in the market, intending to make your app stand out. But that is not recommended. Adding all the features can cost you a lot. So try going out for prebuilt apps that are designed on some templates. These apps generally provide minimal customisation, but it is highly suited and beneficial if you develop an app for the first time.
8. Opt for an MVP first
MVP stands for Minimal Viable Product, and it is the first workable version of the app. This could be launched, the people’s opinions could be easily collected, and the actual app can be implemented. MVP acts as a prototype of the actual app.
MVP is highly opted because it can be easily created, the creation cost is low, and the testing part is also easy. The changes could be easily incorporated in MVP than a conventional app. If you suggest changes in a native app, the developer might charge twice the amount because of the double work. But with MVP, the cost is considerably saved.
9. Think about the post-launch strategy
The average app development might cost around Rs. 3,00,000 and if the app fails, it will cause a considerable loss for your business. No one can guarantee the success of the application. But with some post-launch strategy, one can promote their app so that people are aware of your app.
Only if someone knows an app exists for so and so purposes will they install it. It would be wise if you could develop some strategies that create a massive buzz for your app before it is being launched.
10. Set budget for app maintenance
While allocating funds for the application development, people tend to forget the app maintenance part. They set limits for all other factors like models, platforms, play store promotions, but they tend to forget the most critical factor, app maintenance. The applications require constant updates to exist in the fast-growing technical world, just like how we spend some amount on maintenance for our house; the same applies to apps as well.
To wrap it up
Application development can cost a lot, and there are more hidden costs as well. So before deciding to develop an app for your business, understand all the making charges and hidden charges.
You might want your app to be viral, engaging and user friendly but remember, with all these terms comes up a fancy bill as well. It would be best to find a good balance between the features and the cost. Following are some suggestions that you might consider before building your ideal application.
- Understand your needs and set a clear goal
- Keep your app simple
- Choose the developer carefully
- Choose the appropriate pricing model
- Choose the platform based on your requirements
- Try and see if cross platforms work for your business
- Go for a prebuilt app that offers features and requires minor customisation
- Try the MVP of the application first
- Strategise the post-launch ideas of the app
- Be prepared for extra charges like maintenance charges.
Try using the above ideas to build a cost-efficient, robust and high-performance mobile application
We are Team EMB the voice behind this insightful blog.
