The way we consume media like TV shows, movies, and even music, has changed drastically over the last several years.

Video rental stores like Blockbuster have gone the way of the dinosaur, and streaming media has risen to take their place. As a matter of fact, an incredible 85% of US households have at least one video streaming service. Furthermore, the streaming industry is expected to be worth $330 billion by 2030. With the growing popularity of Over-The-Top (OTT) streaming media services, it’s no surprise the streaming app market is highly competitive. But with so much competition, how do you make your streaming service stand out?

Start with the right features.

Must Have Streaming App Features

Eye Catching/User-Friendly Interface Design

Creating a unique interface design works in your favor because it will help grab your users’ attention. Furthermore, it helps your streaming app stand out in a somewhat crowded and established market.

But more than simply creating a unique design, your interface needs to be user-friendly as well. In today’s saturated streaming media app market, users don’t want to spend time learning an overly complicated interface. Users want easy access to their favorite content. Making them navigate through confusing buttons, tabs, and screens will only drive them to your competitors.

Original Content

When you think about the big streaming apps, like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+, what is it about them that keeps bringing viewers back?

The short answer is: original content.

In fact, according to Cloudwards, 32% of streaming app users say they would subscribe to a new service for original shows or movies produced by the streaming service. That means quality content, coupled with strong marketing and promotion will bring in a significant number of new subscribers.

Global Content

With access to a huge variety of media, global content is gaining popularity among streaming app users. This sort of media is an easy way for people to explore new cultures and languages, and experience people, traditions, and points of view from around the world.

That means including TV shows and movies from a wide library of global genres can be a powerful draw for viewers.

Customization Options

In today’s world of personalization and customization, giving your users more control over the platform is a must.

Some of the most popular customization options user look for include:

• General account settings, like privacy, ad options, theme, layout, etc;
• Playback speed;
• Control over language dubbing and subtitles;
• Changing resolution;
• Personalized playlists;
• Smart recommendations.

Recommendation Algorithm

Did you know that 80% of Netflix viewer activity is driven by the streaming service’s recommendation engine? That translates into real world savings for the media giant. In fact, it’s estimated that the Netflix Recommendation Engine (NRE) saves the company over $1 billion every year.

Netflix uses user viewing behavior to make these recommendations, which means it engages with users in a personalized way. Therefore, adding one to your own streaming app should be a no brainer, and could be a game changer for your budding service.

Parental Controls

Chances are a significant portion of your actual viewers will be children. And unless your aim is to create a streaming app specifically for children’s content, you’re likely to have media that is not appropriate for all ages. For this reason, parental controls are a must. With this basic feature, parents can control the content their children see.

Social Media Shareability

With social media now one of the principal ways people interact with one another online, your streaming app should offer some sort of shareable content. Even if all that is being shared is that users are watching a certain TV show or movie, it will still help generate buzz; for both your platform and the actual content. That makes social media shareability an excellent way to reach new audiences.

Offline Mode/Local Storage

One feature that allows your users more flexibility is an offline mode. With streaming media, success is often dependent on network access and quality. But when people are traveling, or know they will be in an area without a good network, they may still want to access your content.

Therefore, it’s a good idea to give your users the ability to store videos locally on their device. That way the user can download their favorite media and watch it whenever they want, regardless of network access or quality.

Security/Privacy

Now, access to content of all kinds is easy and nearly unlimited. But hand-in-hand with this incredible level of access is a heightened threat of external security breaches.

To safeguard your users’ privacy and data, you’ll need to invest in high-level security measures. This begins with your server of choice. You’ll want one that is safe, stable, and scalable. Additionally, you’ll want to ensure you have strong encryption standards, certificates, and security protocols. All of this is of critical importance to secure your users’ data against unforeseen cyber attacks or data breaches.

Systematic Updates

To offer the very best user experience, you can’t simply build your streaming app and then sit back and relax. Instead, you’ve got to keep up with trends and adjust your app to user and technology changes.

One way to achieve this is to keep a keen eye on your competition. What are they offering that you don’t? Is there something you can offer that they can’t?

You might also consider directly asking your users for their opinions, ask for beta testers of new features, create user-friendly forms for suggestions, and keep an eye on users’ viewing behavior.

Wrapping Up

When it comes to building a streaming app, offering the right mix of features is a must. It’s features like these that ensure your service looks professional, is user-oriented, and proves that you care about the user experience. In the end, there is no rule guaranteeing success in the highly competitive OTT and streaming media market. The only guiding principle is to make your platform as user-centric as possible. That means you need to make sure your strategy aligns strongly with your audience’s demands and expectations.

Keep Reading:

• • • 3 OTT App Monetization Strategies to Grow Revenue and Retain viewers
    • Why is OTT Authentication Important for Security and Conversion?
    • What Is SVOD: A Guide To Subscription Video On Demand

Thinking about diving into the world of sports betting apps? Here’s what you’ll need to know about sports betting app development.

How Does Sports Betting Work?

The basics of gambling haven’t changed much over the centuries: you risk money on the prediction of a certain outcome – if you’re right, you get a reward; if you’re wrong, you lose your money.

While this core concept is simple, today’s sports betting comes in a variety of styles. You’ll need to be familiar with each of them to create a profitable mobile app.

5 Popular Kinds of Sports Bets

Moneyline

Moneyline betting is straightforward: you place a bet on who wins, and get a reward, the size of which depends on if your winner is the favorite or an underdog. For example, placing a $500 bet on the favorite might result in $100 in winnings. However, placing a $100 bet on an underdog might get you $500 when they win, depending on odds.

Head-to-Head

Head-to-head betting is an aspect of Moneyline in which you bet on a single winner. Examples come from horse and auto racing.

Parlays

Also referred to as accumulator bets, parlays combine many bets into one wager. Potential profits are increased as more bets are added. On the other hand, if any of the bets in the pool lose, the entire wager is lost.

Teaser

A variation on the parlay, in teaser bets you receive a smaller payoff when the point spread shifts in your favor. Sports betting apps targeting basketball, soccer, and football can get the most benefit from teaser betting.

Prop Bets

While gambling is common and widespread, many people have never placed a sports bet before. The best sports betting apps keep this group in mind and offer a fun and easy introduction with prop bets. These sorts of bets are designed to require no knowledge of the sport or the teams playing. Prop bets might include, for example, which team will win the coin toss, or which team will score first, even as farfetched as how many yards a certain pass rusher will accumulate during a football game. Prop bets are typically undertaken for the entertainment value and don’t necessarily require in depth knowledge of the sport. They’re just for fun with little to no strategy involved.

Sports Betting App Development: Key Features & Functionality

Any successful sports betting application will include two main components: the admin panel and the user panel.

Admin Panel

The admin panel of a sports betting app handles financial transactions, regulates new users, and monitors the app’s performance. Furthermore, this dashboard needs to include an adequate toolkit to examine user activity and present important metrics. As users sign up and revenue increases, these analytics will become invaluable for things like adjusting marketing, offers, sports selection, targeting, and your overall business plan. This makes it a critical part of the sports betting app development process.

To ensure all of this, the admin panel will need features like:

Dashboard

One of the most important features to include in the admin panel is the dashboard. From here, all the features of the admin panel can be accessed.

User Management

Here, the admin can supervise actions performed by both bettors and regular users. Users can then be banned when discrepancies or malicious activity is discovered.

Prize & Payment Management

This allows admins to manage payments received from users as bets, and distribute prize payment to winners.

Game Management

With game management, admins can modify bet limits on individual games or matches, while observing the ongoing events.

Bookmaker Management

Bookmaker management is so critical that, without it, you can’t make bets. Here, admins can easily apply the best betting process to ensure the best user experience.

Revenue Management

This feature helps the admin manage all revenue generated from user betting. What’s more, they can control money transactions like game fees, distribution of prize money, withdrawal, and refund requests, etc.

Marketing Tools

Including a marketing tool in the admin panel allows for the implementation of several marketing strategies, including promotional messages, social media messages, email marketing, and more.

User Panel

The user panel is what your customers will see when they use the app. As such, there are several critical features to include:

Registration

Users should be able to create an account and log in and out of it. You’ll need to know the regulations for the areas in which you are operating and apply methods for preventing minors from accessing the app.

Menu

A menu in the panel is crucial, in that it allows users access to all the features and functionality your app offers. This may include the user’s account, bets, wallet, notification, settings, friends, etc. What’s more, an app offering betting on several sports should provide a list of options in the main menu.

How-To Guides

Include an easy to access – and understand – guide that explains each type of betting. This way, users don’t have to leave the application to get information.

Betting

This is the most important aspect of any sports betting application. The objective is a simple and intuitive user interface. It should easily guide users through each step of the betting process. The more straightforward the betting process is, the more willing people will be to participate.

Schedules & Statistics

Gambling is a numbers game. For that reason, you’ll need to help users stay informed on game schedules, expert commentary, future match-up odds, and thorough team and player statistics. The more detailed your statistics, the more confidence users will have – and confidence encourages betting.

Live Scoreboard

Provide real-time scores to keep users engaged. This encourages them to place bets and use the app more frequently.

Wagers

Users should always have access to their existing bets.

Wallet

Users will want to link their credit cards and payment systems to the application. Make it easy for them to do so. This way, after the initial setup, making a wager is as simple as a single finger tap.

Notifications

Your users will want to be notified about important events, game results, and new messages. When it comes to exciting news and bet outcomes, push notifications are advantageous.

Challenges Involved With Sports Betting App Development

The nature of mobile application development always means you’ll need to navigate significant budgetary and technological challenges. However, when it comes to sports betting app development, there are also several layers of legal concerns to plan for.

Regional Laws & Regulations

Before you begin the sports betting app development process, you’ll need to obtain a gambling license. Sports betting is not legal everywhere, which means you’ll need to apply for licenses in each country and state you want to launch your app in.

You’ll need to navigate gambling regulations that differ between countries, states, and provinces. This is critical, as the distinctions – even between neighboring jurisdictions – can be significant. For example, sports betting is legal in thirty-two states and Washington DC, however, online/mobile sports betting is legal in only eighteen of them. Legally, your app cannot be accessed outside of those eighteen states.

App Stores

In addition to the legal regulations, you’ll need to stay on top of app store regulations. App stores also have restrictions for gambling apps and failure to adhere to them risks your place in the store.

Google Play Store

The Google Play Store’s guidelines for betting apps include:

• Your app must comply with all applicable laws and industry standards for each country in which it is distributed;
• Developer must have a valid gambling license for each country or state/territory in which the app is distributed;
• Developer must not offer a type of gambling product that exceeds the scope of its gambling license;
• You must prevent under-age users from using the app;
• Your app must prevent access and use from countries, states and provinces, or the geographic areas not covered by the developer-provided gambling license;
• App must not be purchasable as a paid app on Google Play, nor use Google Play In-app Billing;
• Your app must be rated AO (Adult Only) or IARC equivalent; and
• Your app and its app listing must clearly display information about responsible gambling.

 Apple App Store

Apple’s App Store guidelines are similar to Google’s, and in addition includes:

• Apps may not use in-app purchase to purchase credit or currency for use in conjunction with real money gaming of any kind.
• Sports betting apps must have necessary licensing and permissions in the locations where the app is used, must be geo-restricted to those locations, and must be free on the App Store.

Closing Thoughts

Recently, as new markets have opened, sports betting apps have exploded in popularity. This increase has shown that the market is extremely profitable – but also highly competitive. Consequently, the first step to success is to be specific with your goals. Sports betting is a wide industry – choose your niche before proceeding further. From there, you’ll need a professional, knowledgeable, and dedicated team to help you through the ins-and-outs of sports betting app development.

Keep Reading:

How to Plan a Minimum Viable Product: Free MVP Template

How to Prioritize Features For Your Mobile App MVP

Sometimes your company can’t take on the entire project internally, and when your business needs to purchase app development services chances are you’ll want to shop around. A mobile app RFP allows you to collect offers from a variety of vendors so you can choose a development partner that best meets the criteria of your project, when it comes to both experience and budget. 

At Clearbridge Mobile, we deal with hundreds of mobile app RFPs every month, and not only do we respond to RFPs, we also help with the RFP writing process through strategic consulting and product discovery services. Our product discovery or ideation services, for instance, help businesses capture the necessary elements to write a thorough and effective mobile app RFP. Moreover, we’ve also created a customizable mobile app RFP template that provides the basic structure for the document.

The following article details how to fill out an RFP template and also includes an example for further assistance. Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that a mobile app RFP document is not one-size-fits-all. For this reason, it’s critical to modify your RFP to communicate exactly what your company needs. 

To get the most out of this article, download a copy of our free RFP template below. 

Why you Need an Amazing RFP

When you go through the process of sending out RFPs to vendors, it’s not just that you’re picking the best company to work with. You’re also signaling to potential customers about who you are as a business, and why they should choose you over the other RFPs they receive.

For this reason, your RFP needs to be clear when it comes to your goals, the criteria you are using to select a vendor, the desired functionality of the app, deadlines, and contact information. This is because the RFP process is meant to help define the relationship between you and the vendor upfront.

That means the quality of your RFP will have a massive impact on the quality of proposals (and the companies sending them) you’ll receive. In fact, a great number of companies don’t like responding to RFPs at all, and will simply ignore poorly written requests. As a result, you could miss out on the talent you need.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at what makes an amazing RFP

What Does a Mobile App RFP Include?

The first half of an RFP document is filled out by your company. This portion of an RFP contains the following sections:  

1. Executive Summary
2. Company Information
3. Project Description
   • Product Functionality
   • Use Cases
   • Stakeholders
4. Project Scope Requirements 
   • Services 
   • Operating Systems and Platforms
   • Backend Requirements 
   • Push Notifications
   • Analytics 
5. Budget
6. Project Timeline 
7. Proposal Timeline

The second portion of an RFP document is completed by the development vendor. It includes the following sections: 

1. Company Overview
2. Service Offerings
3. Development Lifecycle Philosophy 
4. Case Studies
5. Proposal
   • Solution Overview
   • Project Scope
   • Project Timeline
   • Pricing Model
   • Maintenance Plan and Product Roadmap

Step-by-Step: How to Write a Mobile App RFP

Part One: To be completed by you 

1. Executive Summary 

We call this section “Executive Summary,” but there are several appropriate titles, like “Project Purpose,” for example. What is important is that you use this section to provide a summary of your organization, the business case the mobile product will address, and the required solution. 

2. Company Information

In this section, you’ll want to provide a high-level overview of your company. In essence, this is where you introduce yourself. Show off how your company works, what your core values are, and define your goals.

Keep these key questions in mind:

• Why does the company exist (what problem is it trying to solve)?
• What products or services does the company provide? 
• What industry and market(s) does it operate in? 
• Who is the internal project lead(s)? 
• Who are the key stakeholders/leadership?

3. Project Summary

This is where you tell your prospective vendors what the project requires of them. Each vendor has their own processes and procedures, so you’ll want to provide as much detail as possible about the project so they have a thorough understanding of the required solution.

The more focused and articulate your RFP is here, the more standardized the responses you receive will be. Therefore comparing potential partners will be much easier and more efficient.

Problem Summary

Describe the core business or customer problem your mobile solution intends to address here. Answering these questions will ensure your RFP stays on track.

• What are the business objectives?
• What is the product vision? 
• Who are the target users of the application? 
  • Provide preliminary user personas 
  • What are your users’ goals? Their challenges? 
  • What situations might keep your users from converting? (ie. failure to understand the benefits of the app, difficulty navigating the app, etc.)
• Will this be a mobile-only solution, or is this project attached to a larger project? 

Goals & Success Criteria 

This section should be used to describe the criteria, metrics, and benchmarks that you will use to determine the success of the mobile solution. 

• What are your quantifiable business goals? 
• What are your user/download goals? 
• List your goals for three months, six months, and a year post-launch. 
• How do you intend to measure these goals? 

Functionality

Take this opportunity to describe, in as much detail as possible, the end-to-end solution you’re looking to develop. Consider what the core functionality of the mobile app should be. 

• What kind of functions is the app to perform? 
• What features are necessary to create the required functionality? 
• Please include a prioritized list of features? 
• Please include user journeys, wireframes, and mockups for the solution. 
• If possible, include a clickable app prototype.

Is your mobile app RFP missing essential information? Learn more about how our product ideation services can help you capture all the necessary deliverables for your RFP. Click here.

Use Cases

Take your potential development partners through a use-case of the app. How would a user interact with the app, from start to finish? Be sure to give a concise example.

Stakeholders

Who are the project decision-makers and key leaders? Specifically, who will be leading the project on a daily basis? What level of involvement do other stakeholders have in the project? Inform vendors of this information with a few lines about the team.

4. Project Scope Requirements

In this section you’ll want to narrow down the technical requirements for your RFP.

Services

What services do you require? Are you looking for services throughout the entire project lifecycle or only specific stages of production? You might be looking for a turn-key solution, or simply want services that cover some parts of the project. Such as:

• Consulting and Product Strategy 
• Development 
• Design and User Experience
• Quality Assurance and Testing 
• Technical Delivery

Platforms 

What platforms will the solution be built on?

• iOS
• Android
• Web
• Connected TV (Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Tizen, etc.) 
• Other

Please specify which platform is your main priority. Several restraints (timeframe, resources, target audience, budget, etc.) can impact the number of platforms you’re able to develop on. Consequently, the number of platforms you require will have a direct impact on the cost of your project. What’s more, each platform mandates different developer backgrounds and skill sets. In other words, if you develop for multiple platforms, you are asking for multiple codebases. This can carry additional cost implications. 

Backend

Do you have existing systems such as web services or CMS? If so, describe them here. Do the existing systems have available APIs and documentation to access? Is there a need for the vendor to develop web services or APIs? Do you have a current internal database? If so, what type (Oracle, Salesforce, MongoDB, etc.)? 

Push Notifications 

Will you require push notifications for your solution? If so, how often do you intend to customize push notification content? With what frequency will you need to send push notifications? 

Analytics 

Will you require analytics for your solution? If so, specify what kind of data you need to collect here. 

5. Budget

Mobile app development budgets vary significantly, and your budget range will dictate the kinds of proposals you get. If your budget range is too wide, you’ll likely receive a lot of responses, but choosing from them may be difficult. You’ll need a budget that is precisely calculated, but with a wide enough range to allow for experience and expertise.

Your budget is generally dictated by by two primary factors: 

• Scope (size) of the project
  • Platforms to be used 
  • Number of functions and features
  • Number of user flows 
• Quality and experience of the vendor

Providing a budget in a mobile app RFP is essential for receiving accurate responses from vendors and setting exact expectations for the project. Your budget helps vendors to understand exactly what services they’re able to offer in order to meet your business goals. 

6. Project Timeline

In this section, you’ll want to specify not only the due date for the project, but any circumstances that could influence that date. Consider:

• What date is the project due to launch? 
• Is the launch date associated with an event? 
• Are there dependencies that influence the launch date? 
• When do you need development to start? 
• Do you have expectations for how long the project will take? 

7. Proposal Timeline

Please provide a due date for proposals to be submitted by, as well as a timeline that includes evaluation of proposals, shortlisted presentations (if required), and the selection of the winning bidder. 

Part Two: To Be Completed by the Vendor

1. Mobile App Development Vendor Overview

Company Overview 

Ask potential contractors to provide an overview of their company, the leadership, and the executive team. Consider asking questions like the following:

• How long has the company been in business? What is its mission? 
• How does the agency provide value above its competitors? 
• What is the size of the company? 
• What are the sizes of the development, design, quality assurance, product, and project management teams? 
• Where are the employees located? Will any work be done overseas? 

Service Offerings 

Request descriptions of all the services each development company offers to their clients. Expect responses in these areas:

• Consulting and Product Strategy
• Development
• Design & User Experience
• Quality Assurance 
• Maintenance and Future-proofing 

Development Lifecycle Philosophy

This section is meant for prospective partners to explain not only their development philosophy, but also the best practices they utilize in terms of development/project management.

• What development philosophy does the company follow? 
• Why has it elected to follow this philosophy? 
• What has the company done to refine or improve it? 
• Who owns the code? 
• What coding standards and best practices are followed? 

Case Studies 

The vendors’ portion of the RFP should contain a list of each company’s clients, awards, and overviews/summaries of client projects. These lists should go here. Ask them to summarize the challenge, solution, and end result of each project. 

2. Proposal

This next section is entirely dedicated to each vendor’s offer for your project.

Solution Overview 

Ask vendors to provide a summary or description of the resources they plan to use to meet your requirements. Other details may include: 

• Who will be involved in the project? Please provide the resources you would use to tackle the requirements listed above and weekly cost for the team involved. 
• What product management, project management, communication, and development tools will be used? Will the client have access to these tools? 
• What will the key features be? Please provide a short summary. 
• What platforms will the solution be developed for? 

Project Scope

In this section you will ask vendors to provide comments and concerns about the supplied project scope. Specifically, you’ll want to understand the proposed timeline, budget, project risks, and any other concerns. 

Project Timeline 

Request a detailed project timeline including estimated start dates, schedule of activities, deliverables and resources to be used. 

Pricing Model 

Ask for an estimated price based on the scope of the project. They should include a fee breakdown in relation to time, scope, and weekly team costs. 

Maintenance and Support Plan

Here, a summary of the types of service level support plans that are offered and a breakdown of services and costs should be provided by potential partners.

Final Thoughts

To write the best possible RFP, it’s important to have a thorough understanding of your end-to-end product strategy. It’s helpful to fully define your product before you begin writing a mobile app RFP; ideally, you should have a list of prioritized features, a visual solution detailing the user experience and user interface, as well as a clickable prototype, if possible. Our Design & Discovery session gives you access to mobile subject matter experts to help you validate your ideas and understand best practices for mobile to set your RFP up for successful bidding.

Keep Reading: 

5 Things You Need to Know About Writing a Mobile App RFP

4 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Mobile App RFP

Is Your Mobile App RFP Ready to Submit to Potential Partners?

When you’re trying to choose the best mobile app development company to build your app, there are many things to consider and a Mobile App Request for Proposal (RFP) will help you find the right partner for your project. A well written RFP will not only help vendors understand exactly what you need, but will also help you filter through companies that don’t align with your vision, goals, and budget.  

It’s in your best interest to include as much detail as possible about your project in your RFP because you’ll receive more accurate information from vendors. Writing a mobile app RFP, however, can be a daunting task and if it’s not completed properly, it can lead to problems once development has started, or it can lead you to choose the wrong development partner altogether. This article covers four common mistakes to avoid when writing your mobile app RFP so you can put together an accurate and detailed document, which will save you both time and money in the long run.

Failing to Define the Full Scope of the Project

Project scope affects timelines, development costs, even the ability for you to meet business objectives. As a result, the way you present the scope of your project to vendors will influence the responses you receive. With that said, determining the scope is a tricky process considering that requirements can change frequently. Consider answering the following questions:

What is the high-level vision for the product? 

Start with the high-level vision for the product. Creating a vision statement provides a sense of direction towards the long-term goal of the mobile product. By providing the long-term goal, vendors can get a better sense of what services you require, the full extent of functionality necessary to make the project a success and the budget you’ll need to achieve your goals. 

Is this a mobile-only solution, or is it a part of a larger digital project? 

If your product is part of a larger digital initiative, it dramatically increases the scope of the project. In your RFP, be sure to clarify whether you need development work for the web, wearable devices, smart home accessories, car integrations, connected TVs, or any other platforms. Once you start to expand the scope of the project with multiple platforms, your budget will have to increase as well. You will also have to be certain that the vendor you choose has the expertise to build the functionality you need across platforms. 

What is the full extent of services this project requires? 

Most projects require more than just development work. It’s important to indicate if you need any of the following services on top of development: 

• Consulting and product strategy
• User interface or user experience design
• Quality assurance and testing 
• Technical delivery 

What operating systems do you need to support? 

Selecting the number of operating systems you need to accommodate is similar to the number of platforms you require. With iOS and Android owning 97 percent of the global mobile market share, the ideal approach to mobile app development is to build and launch for both operating systems. However, that’s not always possible—constraints like time, budget, and resources can prevent you from developing for both at once. Instead, you might want to consider launching on one operating system first and then introduce a second one at a later date. 

It’s important to distinguish what operating system is your priority. The number of operating systems you require has a direct impact on the cost of your project. If you develop for multiple operating systems you’re asking for multiple codebases: keep in mind, each operating system mandates different developer backgrounds and skill sets, which carry cost implications. Each operating system has distinct advantages, so it’s important to do enough research to understand which one properly aligns with achieving your product goals.

What features are necessary to create the required functionality?

Necessary being the key word in the question above. While companies may have a long list of features to include in an mobile app product, it’s critical to limit the number of features and focus on only what’s necessary to take the app to market. Take some time to prioritize product features, and only include the essentials in your RFP. 

What backend systems do you have in place? 

A traditional back-end architecture includes an application server, web server and a database at the core. If it’s a growth-oriented architecture, it could also have a load balancer and a host of service integrations such as email notifications, push notifications and queuing services. The needs of the back-end depend on your business and the type of functionality you want from the app. 

A dynamic application needs data synchronization across platforms, as well as data storage capabilities, the ability to send notification messages and the capacity to support different HTTP methods. The back end of the application determines the extent of these capabilities and helps you manage them. 

If you need to build a backend system from scratch, again the scope and cost of your project is going to inflate. Without accurate information about the backend systems you currently have or need for development, you won’t receive accurate responses from vendors about your project. It’s important to define these requirements early on to avoid any surprises for you or your development partner.  

Failing to Ask the Right Questions

Engage with vendors before you write your RFP so they can get a good understanding of your project. You want to ask the right questions to filter through vendors that don’t have the knowledge and expertise needed for your mobile app project. Typically, a good RFP template will include a series of questions for potential vendors to answer to help you make your decision. You need to find out what services the company offers, what development philosophy the company follows, what long-term support plan the company offers, who will be involved in the project, among many other important qualifiers. It’s also wise to look into the company’s case studies, previous work, and reviews to see whether previous clients are satisfied with their partnership. 

Underestimating Development Costs

Including an estimated budget will help qualify responses. If you’re hesitant about including a budget range in your mobile app RFP, keep in mind that it can help you qualify responses that are a poor fit very early in the process.

A budget can help you eliminate numerous vendors that are not the right fit for your project. For this reason, it’s a good idea to engage with vendors before you even start writing your RFP so that they can get an idea of your budget beforehand. 

Budget ranges for building applications will vary significantly. The budget is affected mainly by two factors: the complexity and scope (size) of the project, and the quality/experience of the mobile app company. Providing a budget range can help you improve the accuracy of responses. Read, How Much Does it Cost to Build a Mobile App for more information.

Not Including Enough Detail About Your Project

It’s important to include a lot of detail in your mobile app RFP. For you to do this, you need to understand exactly what you want in your app. If you partner with an experienced app development company, they will make recommendations on the functionality of the app. However, there needs to be enough information to understand what is required.

A detailed mobile app RFP helps eliminate ambiguity and sets the foundation for a project that is more likely to stay on time and within budget. Vendors will better understand exactly what you are looking for, resulting in a more accurate price and timeline estimation; less likelihood of unexpected issues arising during the project; and even the added advantage of saving valuable time once the project has started, which can ensure the product is shipped by the deadline.

Learn More: How to Write an Amazing Mobile App RFP

Schedule a Design Thinking Workshop Before You Write Your RFP

A design thinking workshop will help you measure the scope of your project so you can gauge your budget. Jumping right into a mobile app RFP can be a waste of time and here’s why: A mobile app RFP helps you define scope so you can get more accurate bids before you sign your contract.

At Clearbridge Mobile, we offer intensive Design and Discovery sessions, which set the foundation of your app and help you set product goals, understand the business outcomes of your product, prioritize product features, and determine what to include in your mobile app.

A Design and Discovery session helps companies: 

• Determine the purpose of the mobile product and how it aligns with business goals
• Define business outcomes 
• Identify market viability through competitive research 
• Create user personas rooted in extensive user research
• Communicate and justify a product’s concept with user journeys, wireframes, and mockups
• Create and prioritize a scalable product roadmap
• Enter the market quickly with the most impactful and useful features

If you already have a mobile product, a Design and Discovery session also carries many benefits for reimagining, rebuilding, and expanding existing mobile apps. In some cases (and for many reasons), mobile apps don’t always perform as expected and businesses need to revisit mobile strategies to effectively reach product goals. In these cases, Design and Discovery helps businesses: 

• Reorganize existing mobile product strategies to better align with business goals 
• Outline a clear vision of how the product will scale 
• Develop an app analytics strategy 
• Validate market opportunity
• Realign product features with user needs based on research and not assumptions
• Further define a user retention strategy and opportunities for long-term growth

At Clearbridge, our Discovery Session ultimately allows our team to collaborate with you to build up a solid foundation for your mobile app. Our team works alongside you to establish expectations, define goals, and create the roadmap for your app and future product phases. Talk to a mobile expert today and learn more about our intensive design thinking sessions and how they can help with the RFP writing process.

The Takeaway

When mobile app development projects fail, they do so often because of inadequately defined requirements. For that reason, the clearer and more comprehensive your RFP is, the greater your chances of getting higher quality responses that lead to a successful outcome. A mobile app RFP is vital for finding the right development team, but before you jump into writing it, you need to understand what’s involved.