I Built Out an Entire App Then Realized I Needed a Web App
The day of the competition I woke up and realized we didn’t need to build a mobile app, we needed a web app! I attended a Stamford innovation weekend a few weekends ago, where people pitched ideas, then formed a team with the goal of completing a working product by the end of the weekend. The product was to be a MVP, minimum viable product, complete enough to validate your idea.
I’m a developer. I’ve been developing for years. I’ve written articles on if you should build mobile apps or websites and, then I didn’t take any of my own advice. We spent the weekend drawing flowcharts, gathering market data, interviewing people and building a solution based on that data.
We wanted to give users an easy way to find out if a product was sustainable or not.
We were convinced we NEEDED to build an app, but we started solutioning before we even spoke to our users. We decided a scanner app could be used to scan products to determine how sustainable an item was. This was true, but when we spoke to our users the recurring response was, “We love the idea but we want it to be easy”.
A scanner would work for a few items, but if you were buying more than 20 items, easy was replaced with tedious. What was in the back of my mind was, although it’s easy no one is going to consistently scan every item to find out if it’s sustainable or not, but because we put all of our energy into prototyping and building a mobile app, we couldn’t think of anything else.
The morning of the competition I woke up and realize we didn’t need a mobile app.
Here’s why:
- If we were going to build an app, it should be sticky, users should always want to come back and use our app.
- It should be an easier solution to a problem.
Our app did touch on the sticky factor because people would use it every time they went shopping they would have a reason to come back, but our solution wasn’t making their lives easier. After discussing this, we pivoted that morning, built a new prototype, modified our pitch and we still came in first place!
This moment was a crucial learning experience although it came late. We should’ve kept our customers in mind. Although the scanner was convenient it wasn’t easy for our customers. We realized a web app would cover both of our needs. If we compared the two options before we chose a solution we would’ve realized immediately that a web app would’ve been a better option.
If you want to build out an idea but you don’t know if you’ll need a website, app, or both, think about your end goal and your customer.
This first step will save you lost time, frustrations and/or money. In the case of the competition, I was the developer so pivoting was easy. If I was spending my own money to hire a developer, the pivot was so late it would’ve cost me double because we built out two separate solutions.
Always start off with surveying potential users to assess features they may want. Use this as a guide to picking a proper solution.
I’ve added six questions you should think about when trying to decide between a mobile app or a website. These questions will serve as a good guideline for whether you should be building an app or a website.
- Do you need to deliver information in real-time?
Will you need to present your customers with relevant information in real-time? Mobile apps can do things websites can’t, like push notifications
2. Will your app be sticky?
Will users visit your app more than five times a day? If your user will be visiting your app often then it makes sense to start with an app. Games, notes, to-do lists, reminders, alarm clock, email, navigation or social media are usually recommended to have as a mobile app. It’s fast to launch, convenience and will keep users up to date with information.
3. Will mobile be your core differentiator from the competition?
Will having an app simplify a workflow specifically for mobile devices. Will having an app help you stand out from more established companies? If, yes then a mobile app makes sense. In our case the answer was no, having an app wasn’t simplifying the life of users.
4. Will you need access to features native to your phone like the camera?
Camera, Gyroscope, Sensors will always work better with a native mobile app. So, if one of these is crucial for your app — You should consider building a native app NOT a web app. Do note you can still access your mobile camera, gyroscope, and geolocation via the web. We needed a camera because we wanted to scan each product, so we thought an app made sense.
5. Will you need to provide content offline?
If you need to provide offline access to content or perform functions without a network/wireless connection then an app makes sense. Apps can work offline because you’re able to store data in the app where users can access this information without an internet connection. You can’t do this for websites
6. Is your budget over $10k USD?
Most complex mobile apps will require a budget greater than 10k USD while certain no-frills web applications can be built for less. Complex mobile apps are applications that use things like geolocations, social media login, push notifications, in-app purchasing, in-app messages, etc.
Generally speaking, websites are quicker and easier to build and cost a lot less. Because websites can be mobile friendly most projects can start off as a website. If you want to build an app first think about if a website can do it. Only then if what you want can’t be effectively accomplished with a website, build an app.
