6 Questions to Ask When Hiring an Application Development Agency

3 min read
Aug 23, 2017

One great way to promote your company and gain exposure for your business today is to create a mobile app. After all, tech experts expect there to be more than 160 billion app downloads this year, and users spend 90 percent of their mobile time in apps — not browsing the mobile web. If you are planning to create a mobile app for your company, you may want to consider hiring an application development agency to help. App development agencies provide dedicated teams that have the technical and customer service expertise to ensure that the app gets built well, and that your experience building and updating the app is a smooth, stress-free one. If your company is planning to hire an application development agency soon, check out the list of questions below. You should ask these questions to any application development agency before you decide whether to hire them, because they can help ensure that you and the agency are a good match.

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1. What Apps Have You Developed Before?

Ask an agency to see examples of their previous work. You can ensure that you’re impressed with what they’ve done and that their aesthetic matches with what you like. Another good reason to ask for examples of previous work is that previous clients can clue you in to what the company’s passion and values are and whether they’ll actually be interested in your project.

2. How Can I Monetise My App?

Apps can help your company gain exposure and boost customer satisfaction. However, apps are also a good opportunity to make money. When you meet with a developer or sales team at an application development agency, ask them how they can monetise your app so that it generates revenue. Some ways that apps can make money include pay-per-download (giving the app a price), display ads or in-app purchases. Agencies should have ideas that align with yours about how your app will make money (and the capability to make those a reality).

3. Can I Have the Contact Information of Former Clients?

Checking references is key when it comes to hiring a mobile application development agency. You may look through a portfolio and be impressed by a company’s work, but that final product tells you little about the experience making that product. Get the contact information of multiple former clients from the company, then get in touch with those companies to ask about their experience working with the agency. You want to ensure that you not only end up with a great app at the end of the process, but also that the development process is stress-free, easy and enjoyable.

4. What Level of Involvement Will You Need From Me?

Be sure to ask a mobile application development agency how much involvement they’ll need from you throughout the process of developing your app. Of course, no development team will be able to create an app without ANY input from you (they’ll need info about the concept, approval of wireframes and designs, and more) but some companies may want you to be more collaborative — while others will want to handle almost everything themselves. Get a feel for what the agency you’re talking to prefers, then see if it aligns with your available time and desire for involvement.

5. How (and How Often) Will We Communicate?

Throughout the development process, you may have questions about what’s happening with the app, or you may want to make tweaks and changes. Ask the development agency how you will communicate with them throughout the process. Some agencies will want in-person meetings; others will prefer phone calls or emails. Make sure you feel comfortable with their preference, and let them know yours as well. You should also ask how often you should expect to hear from them with updates, questions and more. This can help ease stress and anxiety when the app is being built, since you’ll know when you can expect to hear updates from the development team.

6. How Big Is Your Team?

When deciding whether you want to work with a mobile application development company, you should ask them how big their team is. Small application development agencies may only have a couple of people working on projects, while larger companies will have a large team of developers that work on projects. You want to ensure that you have at least a developer or two who will be completely devoted to your project and that the developers don’t have too many projects on their plate (which results in apps that are tardy or that take too long to create). 

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One of the best moves you can make to ensure that your company creates a successful and popular app is hiring an application development agency. Agencies provide experts who create apps that function well and look good. One of the other great benefits of bringing an app development agency on board is that they can maintain a relationship with you, even after the app is released. This means that they can make updates on the app when need be, fix bugs and generally be present to answer questions about the app as they arise.

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