Top 3 Mistakes that Cost Big Money When Creating an App

The Apple App Store opened in 2008 and since then millions of mobile applications have been designed. With that, clear guidelines for best practices for development emerged due to routine challenges. Below we collected a handful of common mistakes made when designing apps to help you see the red flags in advance and avoid them.

#1. Key Features are Missing

There is nothing more painful than a key feature missing. Why? The users are disgruntled. They were promised that one extremely valuable feature and now they do not have it after waiting for months.

One recent example includes Microsoft’s To-Do – their version of Wunderlist. Microsoft purchased Wunderlist and explained to users that they would create similar functionality in To-Do. The Microsoft To-Do team took a year before releasing a primary feature that allowed users to create sub-tasks for lists.

Oftentimes apps perform many functions; however, there tend to be a few important features that differentiate an app from others. This is the number one sign that your app was partially built and will cost you more money.

#2. Skipped the Discovery Phase

Did the project immediately shift into development after the idea was presented to the development team? The important step skipped here is the discovery phase. The discovery phase is a success-defining analysis in the mobile app development process where developers and other key stakeholders are able to perform their due diligence.

Sometimes teams opt-out and what happens next is all too common. The team makes slower progress without this phase because there are not clear needs, requirements, and timelines. The lack of due diligence leads to idling development teams, inefficient sprints, and ultimately a lower-rate of delivered story points.

#3. You went with the Lowest Quote

Wow! The third quote for your app project came in 50% less than the first two quotes! Your ready to sign on the dotted line to begin your project, but wait, the tactic here is to merely start the project. Time and time again, we see lower-priced proposal quickly incur added costs as the true costs of developing a mobile app are realized during the production of your app. You may want to rethink which proposal to sign the dotted line on before pouring the celebratory champagne.

#4. (Bonus)  The App is not Available in App Stores by Launch Date

The marketing team allocated budget to launch campaigns. Google Keywords were targeted. Google Ads started. Press Releases were sent out. And now? The app is not in the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store! What happened?

Answer — Your app was partially built and therefore does not meet the minimum standards required by the app store for approval. Another reason could be, perhaps the project ran late and there was not enough time to complete the app store review process.

Ultimately, it is more than likely a combination of the previous three reasons that resulted in a partially built app that led to the delay in your App store launch.