Table of Contents
Introduction
If you are reading this article, you’ve probably decided that Custom Apps is something that you need for your stores. Now you’re looking for a Shopify App Development company, but you are not sure exactly what to look for.
Don’t worry! We’ve identified 5 criteria that can help you choose the right development team and exactly how to find them.
5 criteria for selecting the right Shopify App Development Company
Experienced
In order to deliver a Shopify Custom App, the development team must possess some experience developing apps on Shopify. It is difficult to accurately give you a number, since it is largely dependent on the actual Custom app’s specification. Our advice for you here is to find a developer with experience developing public or even custom apps on Shopify.
Skillful & knowledgable
This factor is much more difficult to assess, but not because it is something intangible. If you need a Custom POS app, you’d want to find a development company that has made a similar app. The problem here is that the number of Shopify App Development companies out there are very small, while the number of possible Custom app ideas are almost infinite. The odds of you finding that specific developer will be very low.
For that reason, we suggest that you find a developer that possess some knowledge in that particular domain. Maybe they have made a POS app on another Ecommerce platform for example. This will ease the seeking process yet still be able to act as quality assurance.
Another small indicator of skills that you could look into is programming languages. There are generally 3 groups of programming languages:
– Front-end: React.js, Shopify Polaris, etc.
– Back-end: PHP, Node.js, Ruby on Rails, etc.
– Database: MySQL, Firebase, MongoDB, etc.
If you are still not sure what all these means, feel free to send us an email at [email protected]. We’ll get back to you in no time.
Customer-oriented
Now that you know the level of skills & experience needed to develop a Custom App, what about the actual delivery? How can you find a Shopify App Development company that could deliver the right product that fits your needs?
The process of developing a Custom app isn’t going to last for a few days, but rather weeks and months. You need to find a developer that is focused and committed to delivering you a satisfactory product. This process requires good communication to discuss what should be done, what can be done and what will be done. This is just as important after the app is completed, as the merchants still need the developers to handle technical issues. No app is perfect inside out and there’s bound to be problems down the line. This is precisely when a customer-oriented development team could shine the brightest.
Quick delivery
Obviously the product’s quality is crucial to the success of the partnership, but so is the timing. The product could be a 10, but if it was delayed, the overall service would just be a 7. You need a developer that could provide you with a timeline of events before development, with milestones spread throughout.
Unlike the experience and skills, these two criteria (Customer-oriented & Quick delivery) are far more difficult to assess. There are most likely reviews and testimonials on the developers’ websites that could give you an idea of what their previous customers think of their service. Moreover, if they have tried their hands at public apps before, you could read their apps’ reviews on the App Store to see if users are happy with their products, and most importantly, how they handle the situation when users are not.
Reasonable price
Here comes the deciding factor. Assuming you’ve found a Shopify App Development company that possesses all the qualities mentioned above, how do you know the prices they ask of you are fair? What kind of prices should you expect going into the world of custom apps?
The answer is, you don’t. Not without some trials and errors anyway. There are two ways in which a development team could price their service.
One, based on hours – or the time they expect to spend making the app. The problem is that this figure is extremely hard to estimate when there are so many changes that could happen during the development process.
Two, based on the value it gives customers. The estimated price depends on how useful the app is to you, but that’s not something the developer can easily evaluate.
Our advice here is to identify a number of development teams that fit our mentioned criteria and send them an email or fill in the form on their site (if they have one). You could describe your app idea to them and ask for an estimated quote. This estimated figure might not be accurate, but it will at least give you an idea of what you should expect to pay. Compare the prices together as well as other factors like timeline and quality, and you should have a pretty good idea which of those development teams you should work with.
Conclusion
A customer-oriented development team that has the right skills, experience, and is willing to deliver to you your product on-time and under-budget – that’s what you are looking for when pursuing Custom Apps.
We know that seems like a lot to ask, but that’s why we are here. We at HappyPoints offer a Shopify App Development Service that we believe could solve all your problems. With over 10 years of experience, more than 500 Shopify projects and 15 custom apps developed, we’ve had enough experience on Shopify as well as other Ecommerce platforms to understand what you need and how to give it to you.
Don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] or visit our website here. All you have to do is tell us what you need and we’ll get back to you with a quote in no time.
