How Much Does It Cost to Build an App?

The most basic question every client have is ‘How Much to Make an App?’. The cost of building an app depends on multiple features. To address the most basic question, we are hereby providing a comprehensive guide which according to our experience in the industry elaborates each factor and the cost that each factor influence.

The major factor that affects the mobile app development cost estimate or breakdown are:-

Let’s dive in deep and explore each of the factors individually to get better understanding how these factors influence the cost of app development.

1. Type of app

There are several kinds of technologies available with their own set of features and they fall in different price ranges. To mention individually, we have the option to get the app developed in native, hybrid/cross-platform, or progressive web apps.

a) Native mobile app

In brief, these apps are coded in the language of the platform for which they are designed. Basically, for iOS, swift is used and for Android, Java is used.

Pros:

– Apps are relatively faster and reliable.

– Apps have access to phone’s features like address book and camera.

Cons:

– Relatively expensive in comparison to other alternatives.

b) Cross-platform apps/ Hybrid apps

These apps are built with the combination of web and native technologies.

Pros:

– Apps run on both the platforms- iOS and Android

– Relatively economic

Cons:

– Apps can’t access phone features

– Apps are quite problematic to design

c) Progressive web-apps

These are web apps that can be accessed through any browser and have the look and feel of the native app.

Pros:

– Extremely easy to install

Cons:

– Not supported by iOS

2. App Functionality

mobile apps are majorly bifurcated into four primary groups on the basis of app complexity and work involved in developing and designing them.

a) Simple apps

Simple native and hybrid apps are meant to serve a single basic purpose and do not store data, for example, an app for alarms or calculator. Given that they are least complex, cost to develop an app is very low.

b) Database or API apps

The apps which are programmed to store user data on the user’s device or some distant located server are called database apps. These apps are little more complex than the simple apps.

The features that represent this category are:-

i. The app requires users to sign up and login

ii. The app syncs the data between multiple devices

iii. The app is content rich

c) Enterprise Apps or Multi-Featured

These apps have several functional features and are custom made to fit users’ needs. Usually characterized by the complex structure as they have multiple features integrated which directly entail a relatively higher budget.

d) Games

Games vary a lot in functionality and complexity and the time and budget vary to a great extent. Apart from the basic complexity, games are expected to deliver the high-quality user experience that engages the users which adds up to cost.

3. Additional Features

Additional features play a crucial role in deciding the average app development cost. Basically, these features serve as ancillaries to the main function.

Most common examples of additional features are:

a) Email login.

b) Social login

c) Social integration

d) Rating system

e) In-app purchases

f) User profiles

g) Geolocation

h) Sync data across devices

4. Ways to get the app developed

There are several ways to bring life to your app. There is a talented workforce out there working with different operational models which are listed below:-

a) Offshore teams

Assigning the development task to the offshore team is the cheapest alternative amongst all. You probably will work remotely with a team beyond European frontiers most probably with Indian mobile app development company.

Average app development cost is very low in these regions but the risk is high as you don’t get to meet developers in person and the risk of deviation from the desired output is high.

b) Freelancers

Freelancing model is similar to offshore firm model except that it isn’t necessary that the freelancers have adequate experience. They may lack experience and the development process may slow down.

c) Technical co-founder

Technical co-founders are paid in equity and usually are eager to work with an established entrepreneur who can promise a career. They are usually approached by people who can ideate and envision the next generation necessities and are looking for techies to bring life to their ideas. Given that they are paid in equity along with their remuneration, consider them as a luxury.

d) Established app development company

The most expensive option with the lowest possible risk is an established mobile app development company, with a considerably vast portfolio to bank upon.

They hold records in building and shipping the greatest apps of the generation, so nothing to doubt upon here. Still, one must perform all the necessary due diligence to avoid a sour experience.

5. Cost of design

The design has a major role to play in the ballparking the success of an app. The USP of any app is the concept behind it and its design. App design is bifurcated in following phases:

a) Visual design/ UI

The look and feel of your app is the visual design of your app.

b) UX design

The functioning of the app falls under UX design. To understand the major differences between UI and UX, click here.

c) Icon, logo, and branding

Solid icon and logo design will command the user’s attention and should be given due importance.

d) Copywriting

The best user experiences have an exciting and compelling copy. The major task is to identify the tone and voice style that suits your brand. One will need a powerful copy to motivate users for exploring the app. It must clearly enlist the benefits and assist users in comprehending the value that features of the app can provide.

6. Startup Costs

It is implied that you will have to make a substantial investment in sales and marketing. The reason behind all these investments is to get enough footage for your app on the App Store which will drive a considerable number of users in a short period to your app. Organic marketing doesn’t make such wonders possible so your best bet will be paid marketing.

We hope that this one cleared major cobwebs, if you have any further queries, drop comments in the comment box and we will get back to you.

Consagous also offers high end blockchain development solutions.

Courtesy:-

https://www.consagous.com/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-an-app/

Tips to Create a Better ‘Mobile App Logout’ Experience

Usability and navigation define a mobile application on any operating software. Access to all important features should be clear and lucid for every user belonging to any demography.

But many a times the most obvious and simplest of action, the ‘Logout’ link/button is simply untraceable because of a complex interface that makes it tough for users to manage their account often leading to app churn.

Consagous’ experienced native and hybrid mobile app developers with an eye for clutter breaking approach give some advice on how to implement the best LOGOUT practice:

The ‘Logout’ functionality on a mobile app or web app should not take more than 15 seconds to be found ideally. The design pattern for logging-out should be the most well-defined convention of a mobile app.

It can be situated in a drop-down located at the top left or top right, the popular location pattern that is, more like a convention.

In order to make the mobile app user think twice before signing out for fear of increased churn rate, don’t force them to remain signed in. Logout doesn’t necessarily mean that the user is done with your app. Forcing the user to remain logged-in by making the logout feature difficult to find, you are only driving him/her further away.

Don’t conceal the logout option in complex and multiple menus or dropdowns.

And if you feel that your app will be used less frequently then make the logout feature conform to a commonly used location, one which the user won’t have to remember.

Instead of making the function difficult to locate, put in a confirmation for sign-out

Make sure that the logout feature which is a core functionality is accessible via touch and not through hovering on your mobile app (mostly ‘hover’ interaction doesn’t exist on touch and mobile devices). Hovering shall lead to opening of other options like profile and settings most times, disappointing the user in terms of accessing the basics.

Don’t make the mobile app user go an expedition to literally discover the ‘logout’ feature under an array of symbols like cogs, ellipsis or avatars and usernames to exit the app. Using an inconspicuous, tiny icon to hide the logout link under doesn’t serve much purpose even though they give the advantage of occupying less screen space.

Provide proper visual cues that give the user a clear direction to the logout link instead of icons like cogs that represent configuration settings more than the user. Employ a straightforward and consistent approach where a username or an avatar leads to the logout option through a menu/dropdown. Don’t use icons that may confuse users, keep them simple and clear.

Make login and logout the smoothest process possible for your mobile app’s user to give them a sense of freedom, trust, and ease. We hope the above-shared tips shall render a great user experience on your mobile app.

Consagous also offers high end blockchain development solutions.

Courtesy:-

https://www.consagous.com/create-better-mobile-checkout-experience/

Custom Software Applications: Your Organizational Gloves!

Let us begin with understanding what Custom Software Development is; it is the designing of software and mobile applications that are specially developed for some specific organization or other user. As such, it can be contrasted with the use of software packages developed for the mass market, such as commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software, or existing free software.

Multinational corporations mostly make use of custom software for a wide range of departments or functions like inventory management, customer management, content management and sometimes just to fill gaps in the existing software.

If you are looking at streamlining your operations and enhancing intra-organizational efficiency especially in regards to small medium enterprises (SMEs), then, getting a custom software is the best choice for you.

Let us look at the many advantages of Custom Software Solutions –

A. Dependable Support & Maintenance

With a customized software you have the extreme ease of a support team that shall assist you and your firm/organization with any technical glitches.

B. Cost Effective

You save capital when you invest in custom software applications because when you purchase off the shelf and license it, they could come with an added cost – the cost of purchasing extra hardware that goes with it to make them run smoothly. Whereas, a custom software developer will tweak the program to both the vendor of your hardware and your hardware’s features, capabilities and structure. This in turn, helps your enterprise save money.

C. Provides One Stop Solution

Companies or businesses need a multitude of websites and softwares to seamlessly carry out day to day operations and maintaining a bunch of programs/softwares can not only be irksome but also chaotic. But if you employ a tailor-made software which can integrate all the processes, you won’t face the trouble of attending to every managerial function separately. Everything shall be dealt with beneath one software ceiling.

D. Runs as Per Your Wishes

Custom software applications operate as long as you want them to as opposed to licensed software where your firm is at the receiving end of software developer. If the developer of the purchased software decides to no longer maintain the application, you will be left with the sudden expense of replacing it with another software.

E. Immunity Against Hacking

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software that is readily available in the market is often the target of hackers’ exploits. The hacking brigade tends to hit these off the shelf softwares because one attack gives them access to multiple businesses using the same program. Therefore, when you purchase commercial software, you are making yourself vulnerable to these threats. A bespoke software protects you from such situations as you have the choice of communicating all your vulnerabilities to the vendor before software development begins and all those factors can be assimilated to give you a software that is less likely to get hacked.

F. Scales With Your Business

As your business grows, so do your organizational needs. An off the shelf software falls back when this happens because it hasn’t been developed to accommodate your growing business processes. And when you purchase another software which seems better tuned to handle your firm’s status quo, you have to go through the entire process of training your team again. But when you hire an IT firm, to frame/design a custom-made solution, they maintain it for you in the long run and guarantee that it scales to support your firm’s needs as and when required.

Many companies run into the issue of having to go for a good-reliable software, capable of supporting a large-scale business but very expensive to license. Therefore, it is a wise choice to opt for a custom software or application and go for a firm that can be your long-term technology partner, like Consagous Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Starting from the customization of the already existing software to the full-cycle custom software and hybrid app development as per the client’s requirements, Consagous is an experienced and trusted technology mate that can help you get cost-effective and reliable custom software solutions to serve your unique business requirements.

Consagous also offers high end blockchain development solutions.

Courtesy:-
https://www.consagous.com/custom-software-applications-organizational-gloves/

How to Use Push Notifications to Reduce App Churn

Firms creating or marketing mobile apps tend to give more weightage to acquiring new customers as compared to retaining those that are already existing as users which leads to ‘churn’, the abandoning, uninstalling of the mobile application. The focus has to be on the retention rate, else the user base is only going to diminish.

This is where mobile push marketing comes in, it helps you grow your app base and reduces churn. Push notifications can really change the way users perceive your app. Here are some strategies to see you through a competitive app market via push notifications. Begin with bringing in more users to opt-in for push notifications to further engage, encourage and re-engage inactive and active users.

Once your app’s user base opts in for the push notifications, you have established a direct communication route to target them with contextual and relevant messages. Here are some ways to go about them:

Pick Quality over Quantity

Every time you send notifications to your user base, make it worthwhile because it’s not the number of times you send but the value those notifications bring that counts. If you send too many alerts, you risk annoying your users and driving them to uninstall the application.

Group Your Users

Based on your app analytics, insights, user behaviour and level of engagement, segment your users and then send them notifications with context. Past preferences combined with relevant content shall lead to increased engagement and activity.

Customize User Notifications

Personalise the content of your notifications based on the user’s past preferences to drive engagement rates. Giving users what they want is key to make the most of user analytics for achieving desired results.

Spring up User Engagement

To prompt inactive users into action and regular engagement push notifications can be of great help. Sending offers, incentives and live updates regarding the product/service via in-app marketing campaigns triggers engagement. Tracking engagement metrics on grounds of location, device and purchase frequency will give you a clear picture of app performance.

Tell Your Users you Missed Them

When your most active app users turn inactive or slip into an engagement lull or skip your hybrid app for a different one, don’t fret, you can still show them your app’s potential by sending a personalized notification/message saying you miss them coupled with reasons (new features, design, etc) to come and re-check the app.

Hopefully, the above five strategies will help you chart your mobile and web push marketing in a better format. Consagous offers niche digital marketing strategies to amp your app reach increase its user base.

Consagous also offers high end blockchain development solutions.

Courtesy:-
https://www.consagous.com/use-push-notifications-reduce-app-churn/

Common Mobile Application Development Challenges Which Can Kill Your Project

Developing an application with a clear roadmap? No matter what is your level of clarity, during the development phase, one encounters numerous challenges. Whilst, every project comes with its own roadblocks but there are few generic challenges that surface regardless of the character of the project.

Let’s address 3 of generic mobile app development challenges that may kill your project and the possible solutions which will facilitate overcome the above challenges.

1. Product Delays and Budget Overruns

Someone stated it well that ‘time is money’. Now no one like to lose their money just because manufacturers’ operations were not planned properly. This is a major drawback which happens for a diversity of reasons. Naming a few of them, improper capability mapping, dependencies, and a gap of talents.

Also, budget overruns are usually expressly tied to product delays.

The longer it takes you to unleash and the more you push your project on the verge to collapse.

How to Overcome

The product delays and overruns in the project can’t be simply avoided but we can always scale back budget risks and time in projects.

a) Iterative Development

We always aspire for obtaining unblemished performance from the version one of our product whether it is web, mobile or  a custom software which is why our time estimates are very less than they actually should be. Iterative development should be encompassed in the time estimate to avoid a rush at the later phase of the project.

b) Capacity mapping

Often improper capacity mapping leads to product delays and budget overruns because if the capacity mapping is not done properly, a reliable estimate of time and budget can’t be made.

If planning is to be done on actual parameters a method needs to be devised which permits one to determine team capability and compare it to the project necessities which in turn allows the user to predict speed with a good degree of accuracy.

Now that the speed is known, one can tell what proportion of task at hand team can accomplish in given amount of time.

c) Flexibility

Time and budget are enormously affected in the quest to adapt to the dynamic wants of the client. If the app development method is agile, time and budget can be easily managed and hence product delays & budget overruns can be avoided.

2. Lack Of In-House Experience

Usually, organizations tend to assume that the existing development and QA groups can be used for any mobile technology task. But more often than not there are wide talent gaps.

The assumption that in-house teams will learn the mobile technology quickly enough to converge the company’s mobile development necessity can be harmful. As hybrid mobile application development is a different discipline and like any other discipline expertise is crucial here.

How to Overcome

The simplest way to do get a job done is to find and hire a professional in the field. But, the wisest option will be partnering with professionals in the field. The motive should be filling talent gaps apart from meeting the following requirements:

1. Ability to integrate along with the existing team
2. The process of information transfer and retention
3. Experience with similar engagements
4. Change management processes
5. Overall development method

3. Many Stakeholders With Differing Priorities

This is especially tough to deal with as diverging priorities will throw off timelines, affect the scope, and kill budgets. rigid method of app development like ‘waterfall’ is bound to fail in such circumstances as it will fail to cope up with modifications.

How to Overcome

Effectively converging differing priorities can all be done with an agile and adjustable method. Following practices like rolling wave mapping will let you accommodate modifications as they come.

For more troubleshooters, stay tuned!

Consagous also offers high end blockchain development solutions.

Courtsey:- 
https://www.consagous.com/common-mobile-application-development-challenges-can-kill-project/