This article outlines the right questions to ask your prospective app development companies to be able to hire the best. The real problem with having many app developers is not the varying qualities of their services but the fact that higher charges do not always lead to higher quality services. So, if care is not taken, you may pay higher for a poor mobile app.
To avoid that, you should ask all the questions outlined below when discussing with your prospective mobile app developers and base your decision on the answers to the questions.
Are they at par with the trending app development technologies?
Technology generally moves at a super-fast pace but in app development industry, technology moves even faster. More coding languages and platforms emerge everyday with newer ones offering better features than older ones. So, it makes sense to verify if your prospective mobile app developers are in tune with the trend.
This is one of the qualities of
top app development companies. They are always exploring newer technologies. Wearable technologies have recently taken the app development world by storm and a lot of app developers have begun to develop apps for wearable items with the use of wearable app development technologies.
Another trending technology that app developers now focus on is mobile payment platforms. Over 100 million smartphone owners have switched to Google Pay. The competing platforms for Google Pay are Samsung Pay, Android Pay, and Apple Pay. The question is, does your app developer have the facility and knowledge to integrate all of them into your mobile app? Top app development companies are already implementing this as a general standard.
Ask for their portfolio
Of course, every developer will present themselves as the best and they can also sweet-talk you into seeing them as the best. It is their portfolio that will separate top app development companies from others. It is important to download and install some of their apps to be able to experience their apps first hand. On the other hand, you may not detect some flaws (if any) without installing their app.
You need to assess the functionality of the app, its speed of loading, its size, its user interface, its simplicity, and its support. In your own opinion, do you think the functionality is commensurate with the size of the app or you think the app is too big for its purpose? You know users are now careful about how they use their memory space so the smaller the better. Most importantly, how easy is it to navigate through the app without any assistance? Does it offer great user experience?
Top app development companies base the app design on simplicity and
great user experience. You may also read reviews on the apps. Finally, it is not out of place to ask for your developers’ list of clients. Most top app development companies usually work with big brands.
What platforms do they work on?
Currently, there are only four mobile platforms – Android, iOS, Windows, and RIM (Blackberry). It is needless to remind you that both Android and iOS dominate the industry. It is necessary to select a team of developers that are proficient on both platforms. Furthermore, top app development companies usually work with a team of iOS experts and Android experts.
If your app works on only iOS, it means you have cut off millions of Android users and if your app works only on Android platform, you will be cutting off millions of iPhone users. And the success of any mobile app is determined by its number of users. So, you need a team that is proficient in all the four mobile platforms or at least both iOS and Android.
How will you make money on the app?
It is necessary to ask them how they expect you to make money on the app knowing fully-well that users resist too many ads and placing a price tag on your app can turn off prospective users. If they are really experienced, they will offer several actionable ways to make money on your app.
This is also a good way to find out developers that are only interested in delivering your app and getting their pay and the ones that are really concerned about the success of your app. However, if what you want is a mobile app for your online store, you can disregard the question because the app will be a means to an end and not an end itself. The app will only let your customers order your products more easily.
How will you communicate during the job?
Since it is important to be carried along during every stage of the development of your app, you should ask about how they will be in touch during the job. The question is, are you comfortable with the means and frequency of the communication? While it is good to keep you posted, it will be boring to get a daily update on the job.
Ask for their turnaround time
Every
app development project comes with its deadline and for businessmen, time means money. The longer it takes you to launch your app, the more you lose sales and sale leads. So, you need to consider the developer with the best turnaround time. However, it is not uncommon for contractors to promise a turnaround time that they can’t meet just to clinch the contract. So, you may need to decide on sanctions for failure to meet the set deadline.
Ask them about testing too
Testing mobile apps is an integral part of app development and experienced app developers from mobile business applications service providers already have a ready platform for hiring testers.
Ask about their marketing efforts too
Considering the number of apps available in app stores, you will be winking in the dark if you launch an app without following it up with marketing campaigns. This is why reliable app developers include marketing as part of their app development services.
Conclusively, when you are comfortable with the answers to the questions outlined above, you can now discuss charges and terms of payment.