How To HireMobile ApplicationDevelopmentCompany…….

Why Your Business Needs Its Own Mobile App ???

If you think that mobile apps are solely for big name brands like Walmart and

Bank of America, you are wrong. More and more small and midsize businesses are following the mobile trend, understanding that an effective mobile strategy involves more than just a mobile-friendly website.

In fact, these days you’ll notice that many small businesses you interact with in your everyday life have their own dedicated mobile app — be it the corner coffee shop or the beauty spa downtown. These companies are ahead of the game when it comes to taking their marketing to the next level.

In case you are still not sure why anyone would want to build their own mobile platform, here are the top seven benefits of going down this path sooner rather than later.

1. Be Visible to Customers at All Times

• Statistics show that the average American spends more than two hours a day (!) on his or her mobile device. While probably only a handful of applications make up the bulk of this total usage, it doesn’t change the fact that each user has to unlock, scroll, and scan their device for the apps they’re looking for. Being “in the way” can be an advantage to your company, as our mind unconsciously does record every image and text (or well-designed app icon!) it comes across — even if it happens unnoticed.

2. Create a Direct Marketing Channel

Apps serve many functions: they can provide general info, prices, booking forms, search features, user accounts, messengers, news feeds, and much more.

One of the biggest benefits of having a mobile app is that all the information you’d like to provide to your customers – including special sales and promotions – is right at their fingertips. Through push notifications you’re getting even closer to a direct interaction, and can easily remind customers about your products and services whenever it makes sense.• .

3. Provide Value to Your Customers

• Talking about on-hand information, how about digitalizing that loyalty program you have in place? Instead of sticking to the old point-collection card, make it possible for your customers to collect their rewards via your mobile app. The result? More downloads and more return customers. (Check out PunchMe, a service that lets you create smartphone-based loyalty programs.)

• .

4. Build Brand and Recognition

• A mobile app for your business can greatly contribute to your brand awareness. I’d like to break this topic down into two aspects, the combination of which will make your app a true winner:

• Brand. A mobile app is like a blank billboard sign. You can do what you want with it; you can make it stylish, hip, functional, shocking, or informative. But what you really want to do is create an app that has features your customers will love, while at the same time is well branded and beautifully designed.

• Recognition. The more often you can get customers involved with your app, the sooner they will be inclined to buy your product and/or service. In advertising this is called the “effective frequency”: as a rule of thumb, hearing and/or seeing your brand approximately 20 times is what will get you truly noticed.

5. Improve Customer Engagement

• No matter whether you are selling flowers or spa services, your customers need a way to reach you. Having a messaging (or help desk) feature within your app can really make a difference in the way you communicate with your customers. Think about it: OpenTable, for example, built its entire business model around this principle. Instead of calling a restaurant for a table, you can book it with less than five clicks on their platform. Now think about it: How many customers would prefer to communicate with you via text than via phone?

• These days mobile apps at the small business level are still rare, and this is where you can take a big leap ahead of your competitors. Be the first in your neighborhood to offer a mobile app to your customers. They’ll be astonished by your forward-thinking approach!

7. Cultivate Customer Loyalty• Last, but not least, the most important reason why you should consider building your

own mobile app is customer loyalty. With all the noise out there — roadside banners, billboards, flashing signs, newspaper ads, flyers, coupons, websites, website banners, Facebook ads, and email marketing — we slowly lose our impact on customers because of the immense amount of advertising surrounding us all. It’s time to go back to making a true and sincere connection with your customers, and making them a loyal lover of your product and/or service. I am not saying a mobile app is going to save your business, but it can be a way of staying closer to your customers, and being just a “fingertip” away at all times.

• Convinced yet? I am, for sure! Now that you have gotten a taste of the numerous benefits of your own business mobile app, where are you going to start? You have two options:

• You hire an app development agency, or bring your own in-house app development team on board (depending on how much emphasis you’d like to put on your mobile strategy).

• You use one of the fantastic mobile app builders like Como, BuildFire, or AppsBuilder to build your own mobile app without having to worry about coding and technicalities.

10 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Mobile Application Company

• If your company doesn't have a mobile app yet, you could be missing out on a golden opportunity to tap into new revenue streams. Smartphones and tablets are where today's consumers live. The majority of the 120 million smartphone owners in the U.S. use a shopping or retail app at least once a month, according to a recent Nielsen report. Yours could be one of them.

• If you'd like a mobile app that lets customers buy your products -- or simply access products reviews, videos or coupons -- you'll need to hire an experienced developer you trust to custom build it.

• Here are 10 key questions to ask mobile app company to help you choose the right one for the job:

1.Where can I find examples of mobile apps you've developed?

• Qualified company should be eager to provide you with a list of apps they are personally responsible for creating -- or at least played a major role in developing -- complete with links to each in Apple's iOS App Store, BlackBerry App World or Google Play, Google's Android app store.

• "That way you can begin to gauge whether or not they have the skills, experience and vision to produce the type of mobile app you're looking for," says Chad Mureta, CEO of App Empire, a San Francisco-based app development firm, and author of App Empire: Make Money, Have a Life, and Let Technology Work for You (Wiley, 2012).

2. May I have a list of your current and past clients?

Unlike reading movie credits, there's typically no way to tell who actually developed an app. This is why speaking directly with Company' current and former clients can be essential to verifying that the developers actually created the apps they claim to have worked on, Mureta says.Checking references also gives you an opportunity to ask how reliable, responsive and results-oriented Company are. For example, you might ask whether they delivered on deadline and within budget, and how well they work under pressure.Company sometimes only offer references who have a favorable opinion of them, says Farhan Thawar, vice president of engineering at Xtreme Labs, an Ontario, Canada-based mobile strategy and product development firm. He suggests visiting a candidate's LinkedIn profile to see if you have any professional colleagues or former co-workers in common. If you do, contact your mutual connections and ask them about their impression of the candidate's experience, capabilities and work ethic.

3. What kind of smartphone do you use?

This question can provide insight into how passionate and knowledgeable a company is about specific mobile platforms, Thawar says. "If you're telling me that you can build an app for an iPhone, then you should have an iPhone, you should be playing with the apps that you are building and also playing with other people's apps on a very regular basis." The same goes for Android and BlackBerry.

4. How can my app make money? • If your primary goal is to generate revenue with your

app, the company needs to know exactly how to build in features that will allow you to make money. You could opt for a pay-per-download revenue model, charging, say, between 99 cents and $4.99, depending on how many features your app offers.

• If you opt for a free app, be sure the candidate is well versed in how to integrate mobile display ads, in-app purchases or paid subscription services.

5. How will we communicate during the development process?

• The quality of your app often depends on how clearly and often you communicate your app design and functionality requirements throughout the development process.

• Does your app compay prefer to chat in person or via phone, Skype, instant message or email -- and how often? Or does he or she prefer to interact with you using a popular project and task management system like 37signals' Basecamp? How often will he or she provide you with status updates?

6. What kind of special features can you create?

• Apps rarely grab consumers' attention without truly innovative and useful features. Figure out the bells and whistles you'd like and then assess your company capabilities. For example, can your company add 3-D gaming, social media sharing, GPS check-ins or product coupon elements to your app?

7. Who will own the mobile app? • Typically the individual or company paying for a

mobile app will own the finished product, Mureta says. To be sure you own all the rights to the app you commissioned, you and the app company should sign a written "copyright assignment" or "work made for hire" contract. The document should establish confidentiality and state that you own the app's design, source code and all of its content.

8. How will you test my app? • Generally, the best way to test an app is simply to

run it on the smartphone it will be used on. The company should provide a thorough explanation of how he or she conducts an extensive beta test to weed out any glitches. If bugs are found, how will the candidate fix them -- and how quickly?

9. Will you submit my mobile app to app stores?

• After you've approved the beta-tested version of your app, the last step is for the company to submit it to an app store for approval to be sold there. App submission is often a long, multi-step process that your developer should already know how to successfully navigate.

10. What are your fees and payment terms?

• Draft a written agreement specifying that you will pay the developer by the hour or with a flat fee. Most developers, like Mureta, ask for a one-time fee upfront. Others require a deposit at the beginning of a project, often for up to half of the estimated total cost, with the balance due when the app is completed.

• The most basic mobile apps can start between $1,000 and $5,000, but you could end up spending many times more if you pay a developer by the hour. More complicated mobile apps, including ones that are database driven or involve 3-D gaming, can cost thousands more.

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