Fixed Cost Vs Hourly Cost : Which One To Consider For App Development ?

Fixed Cost Vs Hourly Cost : Which One To Consider For App Development ?

Whenever anyone takes a decision of moving ahead with mobile app development , the very first factors that strikes people mind is the cost of developing the app . But even before going ahead with the app development , have you ever thought of the full defined features that will be present in your would be Mobile application ?

Especially when you are budget constraint , you have to predefine the features to get the exact cost estimate of developing a product .

But inspite of taking into consideration various factors , an app development company or app developers will unfortunately not be able to provide you with exact exact figure of app development cost . As the pricing of the app development depends on various variable elements such as man-hours to be spent , whether a company or freelancer has been choose by you for an app development , on which platform you want your app , ie Android or iOS , do you want the app on Hybrid or Native , technical’s aspects , the location of the development team and so on .

In addition to it , in case you are planning to key in some more features in your app ( which is the usual case with most of us ) which is beyond your predefined scope of work , you have to pay more for the add on features .

We are all aware that when talking about the app development industry , most of the companies follow dual pricing model :

  1. Fixed price model
  2. Hourly price model

Fixed Price Model

The fixed price model is best suitable if you have a pre defined scope of work . App development company will give you a fixed cost with predefined timeline with almost no scope in alternation of the project .

In this model , app idea , implementation of features and functionalities , platform on which app needs to be developed on are all well defined in advance . This is specially the case with the project which are small and have low budget . So it is not the touch task , even a small team will be able to accomplish it easily .

But you have to always keep in mind that in fixed price contract do not expect a single , I repeat ” not a single ” change in terms and condition of the contract under any circumstances .

However the biggest cons of this model is you are more concerned about your budget in comparison to what you are getting as a product in terms of quality , which may also results in failure  .

Essential Features Of Fixed Cost Agreement

  • The budget and timeline to complete the app is predefined in advance with mutual agreement between developer and client .
  • The development team knows in advance how to mould the app to give it a highly polished shape and they will focus on app UI designing accordingly .
  • You are not allowed to change the features later on , probably not in any case .

Situation When Fixed Price Cost Work Best

  • When you are planning to launch a simple app without any complexity .
  • You have a limited budget and no other alternatives can be chosen .
  • You are planning a Minimum Viable Product or App Prototype to test your app idea

Hourly Pricing Model

A hourly pricing module as the name denotes is based on the manta of hourly pricing . The hourly cost varies from region to region and from one company to another .
For instance say you have hired a single resource in some app development company for 600 hours , and their hourly rate of what they are charging is $ 25 per hour , then you have to pay $ 15000 to them which is multiplication of $ 25 and 600 hours .
The hourly rate or we can say Time and Material Model is preferable for clients who have a vision to make the app with demand on the go , rather than predefining everything in advance . As you have hired freelancer or company on hourly basis . As you have hired as per your flexibility , you are most welcome to share your suggestions together with using their expertise knowledge on improving the overall quality of product .
The best thing being you can always add on more features as per your convenience .

Essential Features Of Hourly Pricing Model

  • The pricing depends on working hours and rates they charge as per their skills .
  • The price is not fixed in advance , so it can be higher or lower as per your requirement .
  • Not only cost , but timeline of the project is also flexible .
  • Client and developer both can give their valuable inputs from time to time for addition as well as removal of any unnecessary features .

Situation When Hourly Price Cost Work Best

  • The hourly rate approach works best when you have a clear app idea and you are not sure about validating it .
  • When you have a really complicated project with not pre defined requirement .
  • When you directly want to get involved with project and desire to know how developers are proceeding with given task .

Fixed Cost VS Hourly Rates : The Conclusion

We have discussed in details about the two popular pricing models that almost all app development companies follows in present scenario . Every model has their own pros and cons . If you are choosing a fixed price model , you might get a quality comprimisement and not any further scope of changes . Alternatively choosing hourly basis model will always be on higher side in terms of pricing but you can get your product as desired .

How To Attract More User While Mobile Onboarding ?

winklix app development

Giving user an in app experience that they will love to us plays a critical part in user experience . Who does not want their app to be successful in long run , but for that you must focus on user retention and aids them in achieving life time value .Mobile app development exist on user retention ration .

In order to give an amazing experience for your app to user , you need to focus on almost all areas , ie right from design , to customer specific choice , and adding great deal within the app . This post is all about how you can attract more user retention while user are actually using the app . Lets discuss some of the points in details :

Build a Way Of Least Resistance For User

User will no way resist in your app for longer in case they don’t find it convenient in respect of usability. So choice is yours whether you want to offer a complex app or an easy one with learning screening to .

Benefits Oriented App

 
Communicating the value of the app together with guiding user what actually your app is all about , what features your app is offering to user always proven to be useful .

Functional Oriental Onboarding 

 
When you are actually not demonstrating the benefits and highlighting the functionalities of app – about how and when it can be used and more . If the app has complex workflow , multiple sections and hidden unique functionalities then this method is most widely preferable .
Regardless of what has been stated above , the ultimate aim of any app is to make the user experience as easy as possible .

Minimise Sign Up Fields

Offering long forms and that to in mobile application is really a bad idea . User will no way want to fill if they find it lengthy . The best solution now a days a to facilitate user with a single sign in button with the help fo social media account .

Well some app might require some more information , but it should be addressed carefully . On the other hand if your fields are actually long , then you can offer the input on different screens rather than a single screen .

Follow “One Screen One Concept” Rule

Describing information on the single screen helps you to avoid any overloading of the app . This practise can be best seen in the AirBnB app the image of which has been attached below .

Give Feedback Quickly

Feedback plays a really important role for the user onboard . Always try to give a clear view of the error message falling which they are not able to complete the task . It can be used through animation , effects and more . The one point solution is stating the error clearly in the app for making it easier for user to understand

Use Animation Purposefully

Animations can be used at multiple stages , for instance for an eye catchy movement of the user while trying to draw attention for the progress happening in the app . Or you can also use the animation feature for the feedback as discussed above . But always to keep in mind , it should draw attention of user and must not irritate the user with overloaded animations

Test , Test & Test Again

Have you ever think of sending the app to client without testing . They will unexpectedly bark on you . Test is the most most most important part of app development process . We can categorise the testing process into three sections .

The very first being testing the mobile application is before actually releasing the actual app in the market for the user . You must offer the beta version of the mobile application to be used by your known colleagues to get the pros and cons of the app before the final release . It could take usually 7 days to overcome with all the challenges depending on the size of the application after which your app will be baked for the final role out .

Secondly you can after launching the app in the market  should analyse the app , reviews and feedback for 4 weeks . Is app functioning properly ? Is app not crashing anywhere ? Is app able to fulfil user goals ? These all are the points that need to be taken care of .

The last one being Long term testing of the app after 1 month on regular basis and improving it and adding some additional features as per the requirement of the user .

Conclusion

Onboarding experience need to be takes care of in case you want to increase the overall experience of user retention . Retention rates maintenance is one of the biggest challenge for mobile app development company . True mobile success ratio can only be measured when user are actually loving to use your app . Following the points above , you might be able to offer highly effective Onboarding process .
Winklix is full custom mobile app development company  . We use our agile strategy for developmental process that gives you full control and scope , reduces your risk of failure and provide you with innovative technique and development procedure to deliver you awesome app . Start a conversation today to kick start your project asap .