What should it cost to get my own App?

With an array of service providers, App developers and online services offering you the ability to build your own App, it can be a confusing choice about what you need and what you might need to spend to get what you require to succeed.

Like buying a car, there are many different brands and each brand may have various models to choose from, but the key is to find the right match for your needs and your budget.

So should you be looking for from your App provider?

• Full Apple and Android Apps – You need to make sure that you get a full App, listed as your business in both the Apple and Android App stores. This means your customers will be able to download your App / business and order directly from you
  
• Everything included as standard – Online ordering, booking, loyalty, marketing and customer data capture should all come as standard and you shouldn’t need to pay extra for them or even use another service on top of your App
  
• Full Back Office – you should have your own control panel or back office, that lets you manage your orders, menus, offers, discounts, customer data and digital marketing, so you have full control to manage your App and get the most out of the service
  
• Backup and support – things don’t always go 100% right and you may need to ask for help or guidance from time to time so make sure you have a dedicated team you can get in touch with by email, phone or messenger, at a time to suit you, not just office opening times
  
• Proven track record – because just about anyone can build an App if they have the right software, it is important you find a provider that has a proven track record and ideally some publicly available reviews, such as TrustPilot or Google reviews.
  
  

Once you have found the right sort of provider, you then need to make sure you pay the right price, and that all costs are what they seem.

Some providers may seem cheaper than others, but this could mean they are hiding other costs, such as order fees or high card processing fees.  Some key questions to ask when comparing providers are:

• Is the monthly price fixed? Many providers will quote a low monthly fee such as £29 or £49 a month but this usually has ‘from’ next to it. This is nearly always because the price is based on a low order volume and the more orders you do the more you pay, so make sure your monthly fee is FIXED, and won’t go up as you get more orders
  
• Is hardware included? Make sure the price includes hardware, as a minimum you will probably need a printer, and ideally a tablet as well. The cheaper services don’t include this in their base price or you have to buy your own, which can easily add £300-£400 on top of the price they quote
  
• What’s not included? Is there anything that isn’t included in the price that you might have to pay for, such as menu updates, sending marketing emails, updates to postcode areas, charges for the number of printouts, anything that would be a regular cost on top of the monthly fee
  
• How much are the card processing fees? It’s quite common for suppliers to use statements like ‘card payments included’ that imply the costs are too, but this tends not to be the case, and they hide a high fee, such as 3.4% + 65p per order, in their terms and conditions. You should be able to get a normal commercial rate and ideally have a choice of suppliers you can use
  
• How long is the contract? Make sure you are not signing up for longer than you thought, some App providers quote a lower monthly fee, but you can only get this if you sign up for 2 or 3 years and in some cases you have to pay this all up front
  
  

In terms of the right sort of price, you should be expecting to pay between £100 to £150 per month, depending if you get an App, website, hardware and/or marketing included and the only additional cost should be your card fees, which should be no more than 25-40p per transaction, depending on the order value.

For more info on how we could help you get your own App and online ordering, for a flat fixed monthly fee, that includes everything you need, call us on 01332 742514 or click here for a call back.