Startups, This Is How You Should Decide Which Mobile App Vendor To Engage

Background

A little introduction about myself: I’m a Programmer and the Account Manager at Originally US. We build iOS & Android mobile apps and help people fulfill their dreams.

Building iOS and Android mobile apps seems to be all the rage now. Start-ups are building apps, SMEs are building them and even large MNCs are building them.

Mobile apps are software that reside on a person’s mobile phone. There are almost no other more intimate way to reach out to your consumers and users. Just imagine this – Singapore has mobile phone penetration rate of 148.9% way back in 2012. Businesses know that they are missing out huge opportunities by not developing their own mobile apps.

Mobile apps can serve a large variety of purposes. Some can be perfect avenues for businesses to push out information and interact with their customers. Other apps allow users to conduct transactions. Many also build mobile apps for marketing and outreach purposes. One such example is the highly popular McDonald’s Surprise Alarm that went completely viral some time in 2014.

Not all mobile apps are created equal. Some mobile apps are extremely well-executed and highly welcomed by customers. Others are poorly designed and achieve nothing but invite the wrath of audiences.

Take for example, the two most popular competing brands in Singapore – Starbucks & Coffee Bean. Both of them came up with their own iOS apps for the Singapore market, but enjoyed a totally different outcome.

Left: Coffee Bean App. Right: Starbucks App. Awesome placement of login button there!

Left: Coffee Bean App. Right: Starbucks App. The stars of the screen should be the coffee, not ugly boxes and gradients!

Left: Coffee Bean App. Right: Starbucks App. Coffee Bean, what is the purpose of even having photos there when it is placed this way?

Beyond the obvious design inadequacy, Coffee Bean’s old mobile app was filled with bugs, was slow, and very laggy. People simply hated it. Eventually, Coffee Bean pulled its app from the iOS App Store (it is no longer available to download now). Money down the drain?

Starbuck’s app, in contrast, works really well, was well-received, drove huge amount of conversions and increased customer engagement and sales, and also went on to win not one, but three Mob-Ex Awards in 2013.

Both mobile apps have very similar functionality. Why was the outcome so different?

This brings me to the topic today, cost.

Understanding The True Cost of Building Mobile Apps