How Much Does It Cost to Make an App? The Expensive Way vs the Practical Way

How Much Does It Cost to Make an App? The Expensive Way vs the Practical Way

How much does it cost to make an app? This is such an open-ended question that finding the right answer is often difficult.

A simple bare-bones mobile app can cost you less than a thousand dollars, but the more features that you integrate into the app, the more it’s going to cost you eventually. Having a mobile app is critical to the growth of your business. With revenues going up in billions for mobile apps, it’s easy to understand just how much potential there is for businesses that want to grow by building their own mobile app.

While many developers will claim to make an app for you at a lower fee, you should know that it’s going to be severely lacking on features as well. After all, you will only get your money’s worth. But, in general, how much does it cost to make an app? In the following paragraphs, we will break down the costs associated with building a mobile app into separate phases.

How Much Does It Cost to Make an App? Breaking Down the Elements

There are three major elements that you need to focus on: app development, design, and startup costs. The average cost of an app ranges between $80k and can go as high as $250k depending on the type of features you want to integrate.

The first stage is app development, in which the front end and back end of the app will be developed. Extensive testing will have to be carried out to iron out the creases and make sure that all of the included features are working properly.

Once that is done, the app will move into the design phase, where the visual design of the app will be configured. This includes working on the UX and the UI of the app, along with the design, logos, and other features. Copywriting services will be required as well to create the app’s content.

Once that is done, the next step is the startup costs. Marketing the app is going to be critically important. Without adoption, it’s going to be virtually impossible for the app to sustain itself. As a result, a significant amount of the budget is going to be set apart for marketing.

Then, there’s support. Problems with the app will need to be catered to, so appropriate support will be provided. An office will be set up to hire staff who will run the office and manage issues.

Now, how much does it cost to make an app? Here’s a brief summary:

  • Simple apps can cost a maximum of $80,000
  • Basic database apps can cost as much as $150,000
  • Apps with advanced features can cost as much as $250,000
  • Gaming apps can cost even more than that depending on the quality

However, there are other things to understand as well. App development is usually an ongoing process. Once the app has been built, it’s going to be refined and reworked over and over again, and all of this is going to require money. For instance, car dealers are going to need an app that allows them to show off their inventory easily.

Requirements for Car Dealers

There are several key features that you are going to want to include in your app for car dealers. You need to start by figuring out the number of platforms on which you are going to make the app available, and then determine the complexity of the app itself. Certain design elements are also going to play a role in the overall build.

Now, let’s take a look at these requirements separately for car dealers.

Platform Requirements

You can either create a native app for iOS or Android, or you can create a cross-platform app that is available on both platforms. As a car dealer, you need to understand that both iOS and Android are incredibly popular platforms. To allow more potential customers to view your inventory and access the app, you need to make sure that you develop apps for both of these platforms.

Cross platform apps are slightly more expensive, but they are definitely worth the money. You are going to have to pay a bit more, but it will also allow you to access a greater number of customers.

How Much Does It Cost to Make an App? The Expensive Way vs the Practical Way
How Much Does It Cost to Make an App? The Expensive Way vs the Practical Way

Design

How do you want the car dealer app to look? There are a few design elements that you need to include. For starters, the car dealer app should have an aesthetically appealing design. The look and feel should be in line with the aesthetic at your dealership for creating brand consistency.

That’s not all; you will also need to work on the user experience to make it as seamless as possible. Essentially, you have to understand that you will be listing plenty of cars on the platform. It’s important to allow for fluid navigation and lots of high-res pictures so that people can check and make a booking easily. They should also have an option to set up an appointment.

Complexity

This is a slightly confusing part, but one that plays an important role. You might need to add integration for accepting payments online as well, especially if you are going to offer in-app purchases to your customers. Obviously, as a car dealer, this is a fantastic feature to add, but you may have to spend more money.

That’s why it’s important for you to evaluate whether such a feature is necessary or not, especially considering your target market. Most people will want to visit before they decide to buy a car.

If you want to avoid going through the traditional way, you should consider getting in touch with DealerApp Vantage. Our mobile app platform that allows you to build an app tailored for car dealers within minutes, without having to pay over the top. It’s a fantastic option for people who quickly want to build and launch an app to separate themselves from the competition.

deploy your auto dealer app with just a few clicks.

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Learn How to Make an App in Five Different Ways

Learn How to Make an App in Five Different Ways

Developing a mobile app is one of the best things that you can do to promote your business.

Numerous studies have shown that having a mobile app is important for businesses that want to compete in this day and age. It is the ultimate way to get access to a whole new market. More importantly, learning how to make an app is now much easier than ever before. You really don’t need to learn as much code or go through extensive courses before you are able to create your own app.

Instead, there are a number of different ways by which you can create an app. For those who want to learn how to make an app, here are five different ways to keep in mind.

1. Write the Native Code for it

Known to many as the basic way for creating an app, all you have to do is write the native code for the device that you are creating the app for. For instance, if you are developing an app for the iOS platform, you will want to write the code in Swift, which is the default programming language for Apple.

On the other hand, most apps for Android are coded in Java or Kotlin, so you can write apps in those. However, the limitation with this method is that you will have to maintain two separate codebases, which can be a problem for smaller businesses.

Learn How to Make an App in Five Different Ways

2. Using React Native

Another excellent option is to make use of React Native. It gives users the option of writing JavaScript code while using fully native widgets. The platform still makes use of JavaScript runtime libraries, but it doesn’t make use of WebViews. More importantly, the presentation is not HTML either.

React Native is community-driven, and also features a live reload option. It offers fantastic performance for mobile environments, and has a very modular architecture that closely resembles React. React Native is much more intuitive when compared with other hybrid apps. However, it still faces quite a few performance related problems because of its reliance on JavaScript’s bridging.

If you don’t know how to make an app yourself, you can always schedule a demo of our mobile app service that is exclusively targeted toward car dealers.

3. WebViews

One of the simplest ways to create mobile apps was to create hybrid apps. They were essentially touch-navigable web pages that were presented in the app container. The framework obviously limits user experience and makes use of the JavaScript bridging to connect with native services. It also has a negative impact on performance and is obviously not as intuitive as you might think. React Native is actually considered an upgrade over this.

Learn How to Make an App in Five Different Ways

4. Using Flutter

Another excellent option to use is Flutter. The development style offered by Flutter is quite reactive, very similar to React Native, but the reason why Flutter is more popular among developers is because Flutter gets rid of the runtime JavaScript libraries altogether. Instead, it compiles the code natively for use on different platforms.

This leads to a litany of advantages, starting from faster app performance and quicker loading times as well. As a car dealer, you will want to make sure that you create a mobile app that is responsive and loads up quickly. Obviously, you will have plenty of products on your app as well, so if the loading times are not decent enough, most users are simply not going to want to stay on the app for a prolonged period of time.

How to make an app with Flutter

5. Using Progressive Web Apps

One of the best things that you can do as a car dealer is to get an application made using progressive web apps, which many may consider the future. Web APIs now allow for greater interaction between devices and their corresponding web pages, which means that the pages can be cached, thus allowing users to work offline as well.

What’s our take?

Hiring a developer can be costly and you will always depend on them for further updates. Also, learning the programming language yourself has its benefits but there will be a learning curve that might be too long and impractical.

If you don’t know how to make an app yourself, you can always us turn-key services like DealeApp vantage.  Schedule a demo of our mobile app service that is exclusively targeted toward car dealers. A demo will help you better understand the capabilities of the service and allow you to explore the benefits and see how fast you can bring your dealer app to market.

Automobile companies often face a litany of challenges as they continue to grow. Car dealerships have to come up with unique and interesting ways to separate themselves from the pack. As a car dealership owner or service manager, it is your responsibility to make sure that you are able to create a product that resonates with your customers.

Simple features such as allowing customers to set up dates for servicing or for tracking their application progress and updating inventory regularly are essential and you need to incorporate those. Once you are able to do that, your app’s ratings are automatically going to improve.

Mobile App Design and UX Best Practices

Mobile App Design and User Experience (UX) Best Practices

Hit the nail on the head with Mobile App design best practices to achieve a great UX (User Experience)

The market for mobile apps is growing by the day, and if you want to remain competitive in the business world, it is important for you to make sure that you come up with the right mobile app design for your business. If you are running a car dealership, it would be a great idea to come up with an app design that not only meets the needs of your customers, but also offers seamless compatibility. The result is, well you guessed it: a great User Experience (UX).

There are plenty of key features that you will want to incorporate in a mobile app that is primarily designed for car dealerships. Here are just a few.

Mobile App Consistency

Design consistency is perhaps of the utmost importance for making sure that users are able to easily recognize what the app is about. You will want to make sure that the typeface, the controls, and the colors remain the same on all platforms for which the app is created. Make sure that it is virtually the same app on both platforms. This is going to help get rid of confusion and make sure that users know your branding.

Focus on Eliminating User Doubt

An important mistake that many app developers make is that they do not provide enough feedback to the user who is engaging with the app. Eliminating user doubt is critical for the success of your app, and this is only possible when you are able to provide some sort of feedback every time a user interacts with the app.

For instance, a pop-up message should show up when a user fills out a form on your app. If a user is checking out cars available on your dealership in the app, every touch that they register should be confirmed.

Mobile App Design with Easy Navigation

The journey taken by your users to reach a specific goal is obviously important, and you need to take steps to minimize the number of steps involved in their journey. You have to make sure that you take appropriate steps so that the user is able to see different cars, place an order, book a service, or interact with your dealership in the most convenient manner. If they want to set up a meeting, they should be allowed to do that. The less steps a user has to take, the better it will be for your users. It’s only going to help in improving your contact with your end-consumers.

Simplify User Actions

Another thing that you need to do when creating a mobile app is to focus on breaking down the user actions. Instead of giving the user several actions on a single screen, provide them with a sort of home page and then focus on providing one action on each screen. For instance, if a user wants to book a service, they should be taken to a screen that allows them to choose from different options.

Once they click on a specific option, the user will be taken on a separate screen to show them all of the features within that servicing option. They can then make a booking through that separate screen.

The same can be applied for bookings as well. Users can easily make bookings for cars after checking the features and comparing them on your app. It’s a simplified way of making sure that you do not overburden the user with plenty of options.

The aim here is to make sure that a user has plenty of space to work with. Keep in mind that most users will be using the app on a screen not bigger than five to seven inches. That is why it’s important to keep the options minimal.

Focus on Different UI Elements

If you take a look at some of the most popular apps in the world, you will realize that they all follow a similar mobile app design strategy. All important elements are shown near the top of the screen, and then, they are broken down in terms of importance. More importantly, despite the limited space available on the screen, many of the apps also make use of whitespace in a very intelligent manner.

It’s all about prioritizing the amount of information that is shown on the screen. When developing a mobile app for your auto business, the focus should always be on providing relevant information. A lot of information might not be required, and can be easily omitted or shown on a separate screen. These are some simple design elements that your mobile app should focus on.

If you want a mobile app designed for your car dealership, you can always schedule a demo with us. We have built plenty of mobile apps in the past and are highly experienced in helping dealerships improve on their customer satisfaction by building tailored mobile apps.