How to Get The Best Mobile App Development Company Around You
Every big innovation starts like a dream. You suddenly have a flash in your mind and bam! Your entire mind is engaged for hours, then days and sometimes, weeks, and even months. Within this period you have come to realize the possibility of your business idea succeeding in the real world, and then make efforts to bring them to reality.
At this point, you start thinking about getting the services of people and instruments to launch your business and give it a very strong foothold in order to start healthy and robust to increase its chances.
On the other hand, your business may have been existing for some time but you realize that you’re losing business to competitors as customers/clients find it difficult to reach you; and you decide to make that important move to increase your chances by creating a mobile app.
With billions of websites on the internet today it is becoming difficult for customers to remember web addresses particularly with the very busy nature of today’s society people hardly have the time to write things down or even bookmark them when they’re browsing the internet.
The best thing to do is direct them to download your app straight to their mobile devices where they can later have a closer look at a convenient time and appreciate your product and services. It is easier to remember an application on a mobile device than a web page. Rather than searching the website again with the high possibility of not remembering your webpage again, they’ll scroll through their devices and find your app.
The mobile app serves to remind users about their presence (actually your presence) and the unconscious need to interact with you every once in a while. A good app also serves as a billboard and provides deep penetration into the mind of users. Sitting on the phone eliminates competition to a large degree; only when they need something extra, related, or entirely different can they go searching the internet.
How to get a good mobile app development company
Having established the need for and decided to get a mobile app for your business you must make the very critical move of searching for a reliable company that will do the job and gives you a strong competitive edge through quality service. But first, you must sit down to make a list of the type of apps that best serve your purpose.
Many design professionals offer the following criteria in determining and consequently choosing a mobile app development company:
1. Experience
While there are many developers out there some of whom are very good, you must, however, determine that they possess robust knowledge of your area of interest with proof of having done a similar job before. Successfully doing a similar job in the past ensures you’ll get value for your money because they would have encountered and worked around challenges and solved problems a total newbie may not be aware of. They will also be able to make important and creative inputs to the features of your app during development. A mobile app developer with rich experiences building applications for several clients in various fields such as education, travel, games and entertainment, social media, sports, and several other types of businesses will most likely make a good product for you that will function in various smartphones.
2. Rich Portfolio
An agency with a rich portfolio of past works done is a sure bet for the success of your app. This shows they have been in the business for a long and have experience. Essentially they must have excellent skills in UI/UX for streaming and adaptation with portable devices and small screens. They must have already developed beautiful apps rich with great user interfaces that must have accounted for their previous successes. You should find a way to assess their past jobs for this information before getting them to do your job.
3. Great design is a priority
“Seeing is believing”, right? This is the most important step the mobile app development company must take if your app is going to stand a chance at succeeding on the internet. Your mobile app must be very attractive in order to catch and hold the attention of the user. A user is more likely to interact with the app by just appreciating its design and then checking out its features by trying the product to gain firsthand experience. A great design should be able to stand out and unmistakably recognizable with little or no guess which is very important for cognitive association.
4. Cross-platform functionality
Your mobile app development company must be able to create an app that functions in the various mobile operating systems such as android and iOS, Xcode, Cordova/PhoneGap, Android Studio, Java, Applecelerator, Swift, Java, etc, etc. This is very necessary for deep market penetration without which you will to a very large degree lose potential customers.
5. Client Feedback
Beware of mobile app development companies that do not want to share their clients’ feedback. Think about it for a second, if the developer did a good job that they’re proud of and the client commended or praised their job wouldn’t they display it? This is the most natural thing to do. A company with a good client relationship will readily display and share such information as a way to convince an inquirer or potential customer. Sharing information from a previous client is very important. We advise that you read between 4-6 clients’ feedbacks with a balanced judgment on both the favorable and unfavorable comments bearing in mind some references may have been paid for by the developer to deceive new customers
6. Avoid Cheap Products
There are many developers out there ready for their services at a very low cost. You must avoid getting a very low app that won’t meet current demands. Do not patronize companies that offer low-cost app development as this will cost you much in the long run.
7. Long Term Relationship
The app must be maintained in the long run. Your developer must have a track record of long-lasting relationships with previous clients. Such a relationship is necessary for handling clients’ complaints dealing with debugging, updating, and several other necessary maintenance services necessary for a perfectly working application. Your app will undergo several evolution stages in its lifecycle. The developer must be there to handle challenges that will come up and regularly update it to meet users’ recommendations and needs to enhance its appreciation and acceptance.
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Determining the type of mobile app you need
Mobile apps serve different needs according to user requirements. Your MVP may be an existing one that’s becoming moribund and just requires a makeover or a little tweak to make it more functional to meet current technological trends and audience needs. Knowing what you really need will go a long way to narrowing your search on the category of the app and the best mobile app developer out there that best meets your needs. Your choice may fall into the following depending on your needs
End-To-End Mobile App Development
Startups and SMBs will usually require assistance on all aspects of their mobile application. Such may include but not limited to the following:
• Determining your strategy
• Choosing a design format
• The development phase
• Launching the product
• Updates and maintenance usually are done in response to user reviews\
• Post-launch activities such as marketing and advertisement
Sometimes your need may not be the development of a totally new app, at other times you may need to take your app development stages through different companies according to their area of specialization for optimum results. In this case, you should consult a full-service mobile app development company that has experts dedicated to each service phase. Consider the following:
Design only
Some app development companies or their partner agencies may already have working prototypes with design flaws and may need to outsource that phase. Choosing design-only agencies may be your best bet for a great product. Remember as earlier discussed that this phase if well done guarantees nearly half of the entire process.
Development Only
With a good design already achieved, you can outsource the development of your app to a company or a freelance team of developers to get your job done along with a project manager.
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Design & development
Sometimes a company or the individual may have all it takes to build an app such as documentation of specifications, core functionality, marketing plans, and user personas on the ground. In this situation, it is good to outsource your app development to a company that can handle both design and development considering that these are the core and essential parts of the app development process. So, getting a company to handle both phases at the same time is highly advisable for the results in the UI/UX stages of the development of the app.
Remember that a great app must be beautiful and catchy, able to meet current marketing demands otherwise it will soon get moribund. The track record of your mobile development company is key in making a choice of who does the job.
Cheap products will make you lose money in the not-too-distant future. So, you have to make an adequate budget for a good product that will drive your market for a greater impact in the long run.
Making a list of your need for the app should be your first step. This is very necessary as it will guide you in choosing the best service providers to develop your app.
Happy hunting and may the markets smile on your efforts.
