I am constantly approached by customers who want us to write a custom APP for their business. Are you someone who wants an APP? Here are 5 questions that you need to ask yourself before you plop down the thousands of dollars needed to create your own custom app.
- Will you give the app away for free or sell it? If you give it away it will get more downloads, but people are very quick to delete an app they got for free because…well, it was free. Selling it costs you a cut if you put it into the APP store, plus it will get in less hands than if it was free.
- Are you prepared for the cost? APP’s cost thousands of dollars to develop, are you ready to spend that? Mobile websites can often be developed for a fraction of the cost based off your current website.
- How will you update it? If the data that needs constant updating, then you need to plan for that. One distinct advantage of a mobile website over an APP is that it pulls the data from the same place as your regular website, which means you do not have to spend extra time updating it.
- How are you going to market it? An great APP is not going to download itself. You will need to spend money promoting your APP. A mobile website gets promoted every time you promote your website, so their is no additional cost. Your mobile website will spider in the search engines too, your APP will not.
- Is your APP the next big thing, or just something additional for your customers? If you have the next big thing on your hands then good for you. Go for it, be committed, market the heck out of it and see where it leads you. If you just want something else for your customers that is great as well. It is important that you set your expectations and go from there. If your APP is an add-on to a service you already provide, then don’t expect to get rich off of it.
Make sure you have looked at all the solutions first. A mobile website can more times than not solve the same problems that an APP can at a fraction of the initial cost and with less up keep. If you eventually find that a mobile site is not enough, you can always add an APP, while still keeping the mobile site and all of its benefits.
APPs are great things. It is funny how something we didn’t even know about 5-6 years ago is now so important in our lives now. If you do your research and set reasonable expectations, then an APP can be a nice addition for you and your customers.
Contact us at Pacer Design Studios and we will set up a free consultation to help you plan out your mobile project…app or mobile site.