Is there a need or demand for mobile apps?

[Ben Gray]

I was recently discussing with my friend about whether a small businesses should spend money on potentially expensive, native mobile app. We both agreed that a website is common practice for any business, anywhere from a small startup to a billion pound corporation, however for mobile apps, this doesn't seem to be the case.

My friend argued that the returns weren't currently great enough for the expense of a decent app, usually north of (at a very minimum) £10,000. Any apps under this price seem to be of a very low quality, naming no names, and this made me think that there was a potential gap in the market.

Coming from an app development background, I would argue that decent quality apps, no template rubbish, are overpriced. I would say that a simple enough iOS app, designed for a small business to either showcase/sell products or give information about the business, should cost no more than roughly £4,000.

The various cheap, low-end app design websites, I'm talking less than £1,000, are not based on the standard design principles used in app creation, which limits functionality and I personally think they are incredibly unattractive. Apps that follow these standard design principles are easier to make, higher quality, easier to adapt for future updates, offer more functionality and look much more professional. Would businesses be more inclined to invest in an app if there were quality apps available for a reasonable price?

There currently seems to be no middle ground. You either seem to pay too much for a decent app, or you pay a little for a tacky, low quality app.

So I want your opinions:

Do small businesses need mobile apps?
Is there a demand for apps available at an accessible price for small businesses?

I'm personally thinking of opening a business which would offer well designed apps, that can connect to a businesses website or database at a much more reasonable price, closer to £4000. It would be interesting to know whether people think a service like this would be useful

 

[woodss]

As a developer who regularly works on these things, I think you need to consider what £10,000 gets you.

You need to pay for meetings with the developers, prototypes... loads of stuff. A properly branded application incorporates many tiny details which form a cohesive solution. This can be custom icons, bespoke UI transitions etc, all of which require specification, amendment, approval .. the whole shebang.

Honestly, £10,000 is not a large figure at all ... it is not just the development costs that you pay for. Even if it were, the developers are not going to get it 100% right first time.

Maybe you can do it for £4,000 somehow (do you only employ chinese children?) - but if you're only competing on price, good luck - there's a perception of quality that is attached to a high cost, and many brands are willing to pay it (for good reason).

 

[Ben Gray]

Yeah, that's fair enough, you definitely have more experience than me.
I only really have experience in personal projects rather than working for clients. You can have a look if you like - getsoflow . com

When you mention Chinese children you are partially correct! I am actually still a child (although I still think I could offer a quality app, what do you think of the one in the link?) so for me, if I could make an app over a month and sell it for £4,000 it would be a big win!

I guess I would be offering a less bespoke experience for the client, removing meetings etc, maybe doing a video call or simply email communication

Do you think I would be able to create the perception of quality if I were to offer a portfolio of beautiful demo apps?

Really appreciate the feedback, this is going to be a steep learning curve for me!

 

[justinaldridge]

Interesting question and my honest opinion is that for small businesses app development is generally not necessary and it won't enhance their businesses.

I have thought about it for my online marketing business. Our clients log in to our website to track the progress of their sites and the work we are doing. We could present this in an app but it's all available on our website anyway. So what would be the point? It would just be an additional cost for us with no extra benefit for our clients.

Apps need to bring something different to the table, otherwise they are just glorified websites.

A friend of mine tried selling apps to restaurants and local businesses. He was charging 2K per app and didn't manage to sell a single one. It may be that he's rubbish at sales but why would I want an app for my local restaurant? I have enough apps on my phone already.

I think it would be very tough to make this work Ben, but I would so love to be proved wrong!

Best of luck with it.

 

[Ben Gray]

That's a great point

A down to earth case study as well, thanks

 

[arnydnxluk]

The vast majority of small businesses don't need bespoke mobile apps, the web is powerful and suitable in most cases. Small businesses which do need a mobile app are often in the tech industry themselves.

Additionally I think the days of "an app for everything" are on their way out. The mobile web experience is becoming better and people no longer want (or sometimes trust) having loads of apps on their devices.

 

[woodss]

I 100% agree with the notion of apps dying out for small businesses - I think (and always did think) they were a fad which everyone jumped on. I firmly believe web applications are the way forward (not least because they can work on ALL devices, and require no installation or indeed anything from the end-user).

Case in point above, the restaurant app - I don't know about you but the only things I want from a restaurant are:

a) the ability to book a table
b) the ability to view a menu
c) the ability to view a map of where the place is

Q) Which one of those requires a bespoke application for iPhone? for Android? for Windows Phone? for Blackberry?

A) None.

Q) Which one of those would work perfectly well on all of the above devices, as well as on a tablet or desktop machine if built correctly?

A) All of them.

So let's keep the numbers simple. £5,000 per app, £5,000 per website.

The bespoke app route would cost you
£5,000 * 4 platforms = £20,000 for apps + £5,000 for a website = £25,000

The web app route would cost you
£5,000

What extra benefit are you going to get from an additional £20,000 outlay?

Not to mention the ongoing maintenance costs if you decided to update something... my advice, do it once on a website and continually invest in its improvement.

 

[woodss]

Actually... another point.

Would you install a bit of software on your PC/Mac for your local restaurant? If not, why would you do it on your phone?

 

[ryedale]

As said above, we've had many small businesses come to us after they've spent fortunes on having an app made that nobody downloaded.

All the app does is display information that could be easily handled on a responsive website at a fraction of the cost. It doesn't offer the end user any incentive to go to the effort of downloading it as opposed to going to a competitor's website and getting the information they need immediately.

 

[marble_pars]

I think there was an urge for everyone and their dog to have an app around 4 years ago. There is still a space for certain restaurants, online shops, etc to have a mobile app but we are talking the like of Amazon. Websites are now (or should be) completely responsive and work natively on mobile devices so why is there a need for an app?

Why would you want to download and install an app when you can just view the same thing on your mobile browser.

 

[BizImageJoe]

The main question is "What will my app offer that isnt being done already?". A user is unlikely to download an app for every business they visit/work with. So in cases where this is true, it is often suffice enough to develop a website that functions on mobile as efficiently as an app would.

On another note, If you can find a website designer that is knowledgeable enough, you could look at packaging 'a version' of your website in native app containers via something called 'PhoneGap'. This would be a quicker and cheaper option than having native apps developed.

Hope that helps.

 

[Paul Murray]

I don't necessarily think an app is needed for a lot of large businesses either, often they just provide an unnecessary barrier. Recently I was trying to pay for car parking at a pay and display car park. I didn't have the correct change, it didn't take cards, and there was no option to pay on their website. The only other way to pay was via their app.

So, I had to go to an app store, find their app, download it, install it, set up an account, check my emails to authorise it, add my vehicle details, then my card details, only to find that the app didn't actually work!

In the end I drove away and found somewhere else to park. Rather than spending money on their own app (which was clunky, unresponsive, and I assume, cheaply made), they could have piggy-backed off an existing, established app that allows mobile parking payments (PayByPhone for example).

 

[garyk]

It really only works for an aggregated service; think tastecard or justeat. People don't want 50 apps with 1 app per restaurant. They want one app that gives them *all* restaurants in their vicintiy, or as @Paul Murray mentions a single parking app.

Businesses are realising there is no real benefit in terms of return for spending out on an app.

 

[Jeff Nev]

It all depends on the business to be honest. In many cases I've looked at apps built by businesses and wondered what the point is, but in others I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality businesses have offered in their app.

I agree with Paul, one of the problems is the long process of people having to download it. As a iOS user, the process could be a lot better and I could see a lot of users giving up. And then if it doesn't work, you'll be even more likely to never use the service again.

The important questions is to seriously consider the purpose of the app, and whether or not it's just an unnecessary distraction from a core part of your business. If it's not going to add anything new or improve the function of the existing site, there's very little point in my opinion.

 

[JoeInTheMiddle]

The risk associated with an app, is a lot for small businesses to bear. You can make a brilliant app, but chances are it will languish at the bottom of app stores. It's increasingly becoming a zero sum game with the majority of revenue concentrating with big developers like super cell. Your best bet is a mobile optimized web site, it's more affordable and will increase your visibility in SERPs.

 

[dexterash]

I think it also depends on how you use the app or what you use it for. For example, an app can work offline (where Internet is lacking or devices are forced to have radio off). Secondly, it doesn't depend on the Internet speed - which, sometimes, can break the User Experience. Not to mention an app that's rich in media (Videos, Pictures - even a simple restaurant app).

Also, by using various in-app goodies, tools & others you might get a very loyal customer or a loyal customer base. Or, for example, in case of a restaurant, you can use the app as a catchy menu/ordering system too.

I think it's all about how you design/think/imagine the app and what's the ROI.

 

[glencooley.com]

"Do small businesses need mobile apps?"

It really depends on what the business does rather than the size of the business and most importantly do their customers need, want or expect an app experience?

"Is there a demand for apps available at an accessible price for small businesses?"

Why just small businesses?

"I'm personally thinking of opening a business which would offer well designed apps, that can connect to a businesses website or database at a much more reasonable price, closer to £4000. It would be interesting to know whether people think a service like this would be useful"

Well designed apps are usually well designed because they are heavily user focused specifically on the problems they solve and the way that they do it. This takes research and core understanding of the problem the app solves, the app users context and also the users expectations.

To get to a well designed app is more about what it does (the service design) rather than the visual design or micro interactions, these are just layers on top of something that solves a genuine problem for users (not the business per'se).

 

[Deleted member 248628]

"Do small businesses need mobile apps?"
Well designed apps are usually well designed because they are heavily user focused specifically on the problems they solve and the way that they do it. This takes research and core understanding of the problem the app solves, the app users context and also the users expectations.

Absolutely - that's why the cost of getting an app built is so high and includes all those meetings - the development team has to understand WHY it's being built, WHAT problem it's solving and exactly WHO it's for.

The one advantage an app has over a responsive website is when it comes to payments. I use JustEat, rather than the takeaway's website, because I can use Apple Pay - no entering my card details AGAIN on a site that could get hacked any day now (in other words, I trust Apple, Amazon or Google's security procedures much more than 2-person-agency-who-built-the-takeaway-website's security procedures). The equivalent for a website would be Paypal, but a lot of people hate that, or Stripe but you're back to typing your card details out again.

 

[techsors]

It really depends on your goals and what you want to achieve by having the app. Just to have an app is nice but if you're spending all that money on developing an app it would better to first of all understand why you're developing it. Are you selling a product and want to take advantage of mobile traffic? Is the app a game or application that you want to market? Who is going to use your app? and what are your target audiences characteristics? You might have a product that won't be comfortable being used via an app. Before you rush out and develop an app, ask yourself " What do you want to accomplish with the app and how will it help you?" Once you have the answers to those questions, then define your goals and plan what you want in the app. If you need help feel free to PM me.