There are a couple of factors that can help you to identify if a mobile app development company is uniquely suited to your needs. Please note that before starting to search for a mobile app development company, you need to do your homework to elaborate:

• Your goals driving you to have a mobile app
• Competitors if there is any, that you take as an example in terms of app design, content, and user experience
• Bad examples that you want to avoid if there is any
• Your expectations from the company

After making sure that you have collected everything you need, the next step is to do your research for alternative mobile app development companies to evaluate. Here are the 5 factors you should take into consideration to find the best company for you.

Your Budget, Timeline, and Choice of the Platform

Average cost of a mobile app and average time to develop an app depend on the complexity of the mobile app. According to the statistics, mobile app development costs range from $5000 to $500,000. More complex features and design means more cost. It also takes from 3 months to 1 year to develop an app based on its complexity. According to the Outsystems Survey, 2018-2019, over 80% of mobile apps take 3+ months to develop; 40% of apps are built in 6+ months. 

This is why you need to have an idea about your budget and timeline before getting quotes from app development companies. 

You should also determine which app store(s) you’ll submit your app. Designing an app according to iOS or Android devices has significant differences so if you are planning to have an Android or an iOS app or both, you need to specify this in your meetings. 

Company Expertise & Portfolio on Your Desired App’s Category

Having an experience with mobile app development doesn’t mean that it is enough for your needs. While some companies have an expertise on game development, another one might have a portfolio of e-commerce apps mostly. You need to be careful about the company expertise and portfolio if they have experience in your desired app’s category. 

If the company shares their portfolio with you, download some of the apps from your app category to understand their user experience. You can also read reviews of those apps in the app store pages to see if there are a lot of bad reviews about the app itself. 

Another thing you can do to make sure that the mobile app development company is tailored to your app category is reaching out to app owners from your app category to listen to their experiences and to ask your category specific questions. 

Company Experience in Different App Design Trends

App design trends are important to follow for a good user experience and conversion rate optimization. The term “app design” doesn’t only include the visual elements, it contains everything an app user interacts with. If they are suitable for your app category, you can consider including the following features to your app as part of user experience:

• Voice interaction: Having voice-controlled personal assistance of Apple, Google, Amazon (Alexa), or Samsung (Bixby)
• Login Preferences: Providing social login, facial recognition, fingerprint recognition (biometric authentication), one-time temporary passwords, or sign-in links.
• Buttonless design that avoid physical buttons to provide more space
• Chatbots with clean designs and interactive content 
• Designs for disabled people
• Illustrations, 3D elements, and gradients 

If you consider having some of those within your app, you need to make sure that the mobile app development company you’ll choose should have experience on those features. 

Ratings & Reviews

Today it’s very easy to find comments about anything that can be found on the web. Before arranging a meeting with a mobile app development company, don’t forget to search platforms like Clutch.co and g2.com. You’ll find ratings and reviews from current or old customers of a specific company. 

Another way to collect feedback about a mobile app development company is using social media platforms including Quora, Facebook pages of the company, and Reddit. People are willing to leave a review especially if they have a bad experience with a company so being open minded and making a targeted google search can give you a detailed idea about the service quality of a mobile app development company. 

Getting reference from your own network is another powerful method to collect feedback. If you have a network of app developers or app-based companies, don’t hesitate to ask their opinion and make an introduction for you. 

Customer Support 

Providing an experienced customer success team is important for you to get support  during and after the project. You can ask for a dedicated account manager to get in touch when you have a question, request, or a feedback.