From $10,000 to over a million dollars. That’s quite a broad range of estimates you’ll come across when you type “how much it costs to develop an app” into Google. Naturally, the price tag you end up with depends on countless aspects: What development approach will you take? What will the app do? Who is going to use it? And many more.
But let’s say, you want to give an app to your customers – so they can browse through and purchase products (or services) you offer. With that in mind, we bring you a breakdown of key aspects which influence the cost of developing an app for your customers.
The on-going rate in today’s market for development costs can range anywhere from $60-100 USD, for quality talent developing mobile applications. The time it takes to finish an “average” mobile app is approximately 18 weeks. However, keep in mind that actual costs may vary based on your app’s functionalities and scope.
Which mobile platform?
Delivering an app that’s going to be used internally by employees allows you to choose whichever mobile platform you prefer, provided you ensure that your staff have the appropriate devices. However, with users outside your organization (people utilizing apps for their personal usages), you don’t have control over which platform they’re on. Therefore, if you don’t want to deliberately limit your reach, creating an app for both Android and iOS is the way to go.
Building an app for both Android & iOS: $16,000
Do users need to log in?
In our example, we discuss an app for customers that allows them to order products – thus, some form of login will be required so that the users can access a personalized set of information, such as their billing & contact information and order history. E-mail login is probably the best option to start with. Yet, social login with Facebook, Google+, and Twitter are growing popular, although, it’s also costlier to implement.
Providing a login option: from $4,000
How will the app bring you profit?
B2C apps that bring companies closer to their clients are typically free to download from the app stores. But if a user is to make any orders, you need to incorporate a system that enables in-app purchases. Additionally, many consumer apps also offer the possibility to rate the purchased products and services – however (similarly to social login) implementing one also means digging even deeper into your company’s wallet.
Enabling purchases from the app: $6,000
Will it connect to your website or back-end software?
It’s one thing to design a purchase mechanism within the app, but when the client decides to seal the deal, all the related information needs to be transferred to the back office system (CRM, ERP, etc.) – so that processing of the order can start as fast as possible. To do so, you’ll need an application programming interface (API) which enables your app to communicate with other software.
Developing APIs: $10,000
How good should your app look?
Logos, colors, icons – the looks of your app should reflect your brand’s image. And a slick design, is aside from the apps functionality, the main factor that can draw users to an app. That’s why the prices for creating visuals for an app are among one of the most expensive items on our list.
Creating an appealing visual design: $12,000 – $28,000
Adding it all up…
…we came out with $48,000 – $64,000 for creating a simple application that would enable customers look up and directly purchase a company’s products/services. Still, when developing an app on your own, you need to be ready for more than the initial development expenses. In your budget you have to account for at least ongoing functionality updates and potential bug fixes.
If you’re considering giving a mobile app to your customers, but aren’t quite sure you can keep up with all the requirements, we’re here to help. Based on Resco’s Mobile CRM app, you can easily create fully customized consumer applications. Backed by 17 years of our experience in mobile development, used by 1500+ businesses worldwide.
If you’d like to find out more, visit www.resco.net/mobilecrm/consumer-apps.aspx or reach out to us at mobilecrm@resco.net.