Mobile App Development Client Questionnaire

When your business or startup needs a mobile app development partner to successfully execute a project for you, getting your requirements clear is a very important first step. A major reason for failed or poorly executed app projects is neglect for a well-planned requirement gathering process, commonly known as the discovery phase. A poorly conducted or overlooked discovery phase can result in project deliverables not meeting a client’s expectations, wasting valuable time and money.

A mobile app development client questionnaire is a great starting point for requirement gathering and laying a solid foundation to build amazing software products that live up to a client’s expectations. First of all, it helps in simplifying the entire app development process. It will help the app development firms to be more knowledgeable and professional about their work from the initial stage of a new client relationship. It proves that they have a procedure to follow for their services.

Below you will find a series of questions broken down into logical categories than a professional app development company may ask you to understand your specific app development needs and provide an accurate cost and timeline estimate. If you are feeling overwhelmed, we are here to explain you the most significant questions you need to be able to answer.

Strategy

While defining a mobile strategy is somehow alike to defining a business plan, it is very circumstantial. Some of the clients might be having a business plan complete with competitive analysis, SWOT analysis, elevator pitch, GTM pitch and everything you can think about it. Having a well thought out product development strategy significantly increases the chances of an app being successful. Here are a few questions related to mobile strategy a mobile app development company can ask you to get a better understanding of the objectives and goals of your projects.

• What is the overall goal of your app?
• Are there any references or similar applications? if Yes, share details.  
• Need assistance with refining app concept?
• Need assistance in technology selection and implementation approach?
• Need assistance for competitive analysis?
• Need assistance in defining business model?
• Do you prefer online or in-person brainstorming workshop sessions with experts?
• Need assistance in creating the blueprint of the application (Wireframes, FSD, BRD)?
• What is the anticipated number of app users?

Design

With a design-driven development process, your app development partner can provide a development team with a clear insight of your requirements, keeping your project on schedule and within budget. Because a quality UI/UX design requires an expertise in mobile design, hence, you must look for agencies with a considerable mobile design experience. In addition, you must be ready to answer the below questions for quality design related outcomes.

• Do you have the sketches or wireframes ready?
• Do you have visual mockups of all the screens?
• Do you need separate designs for iOS and Android?
• Do you have a style guide or branding guidelines we need to follow?

If you want us to design your app

• Do you have the sketches or wireframes ready?
• Do you need separate designs for iOS and Android?
• Do you have any reference link/s for an app you want us to use?
• Can you share your logo file in vector format?

Target Platforms And Development Approaches

You can choose to go native for both the platforms (iOS & Android) for a superior user experience. In case the limited budget is prohibiting you from building the same, you can choose to use a cross-platform app development approach.

Platforms

• iPhone
• Android phone
• iPad
• Android tablet

Development Approach

• Native app development – Java, Swift, Kotlin?
• Hybrid using Ionic and PhoneGap?
• Cross-platform using Xamarin?
• Web app – fixed layout?
• Web app – responsive layout?

Development

Each application is different and the techniques are always advancing, but this is kind of a standard process while developing mobile applications. A mobile application development process mainly includes Scoping, Project Kick-off, Development, and Deployment.

• Are you planning to develop an application in multiple phases?
• Is server backend ready or do you expect us to implement it?
• Do you want us to build the web services (APIs) that connect your app to your cloud database or will your team build the web services (APIs)?
• Will some of your features require research and development (R&D)?
• Do you want to store data on your customer’s device and then automatically sync that data to your cloud database when internet connectivity is available?
• Do you expect us to consider administrative web application?
• Do you expect us to consider the integration of any enterprise software?

Language Support

A good app development firm will provide an option to build mobile apps with multi-language support enabling localization and internationalization. Multi-language support can be enabled on all the key application platforms like iPad, iPhone, and Android apps. You can choose from various languages you want to be in your app. Some of the languages we use while developing a mobile app are:

• English
• Spanish
• French
• German
• Others

App Orientation Support Options

• Portrait
• Landscape
• Both

Security

Every week thousands of mobile applications hit the market. Simultaneously, thousands of hackers work hard to use these applications to implant malware. Application developers need to be alert about the security to protect users. If you are planning to build a mobile application, then security must be your prime concern. Here is a list of some features and queries related to mobile app security that will help you to choose some for your mobile application.         

• Authentication
• Password encryption
• Protecting sensitive data with SSL and using certificates
• Validate emails addresses by sending activation emails
• Validate phone numbers by sending activation SMS
• Local session timeout institution
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt data in transit
• Encrypt all data stored on your customer’s device and within your cloud database?
• Any security protocols or checklists we need to follow?
• Any specific security compliance like HIPAA?

Third Party Integrations

You may also need some additional third-party integrations for your app. You can make a personalized choice from the below list or ask the company to add more.

• Push notifications
• SMS services
• Email services
• Multimedia server
• Streaming server
• Payment gateway integration
• Ad integration
• Analytics Integration
• Crashlytics Integration
• ERP/ CRM / HRM etc Integration

Server And Deployment

• Do you want us to take care all deployment activities?
• Preferred cloud service provider – Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure?
• “Preferred app distribution model –  Enterprise distribution/ Public distribution/ Private distribution”?
• Do you require assets creation like app icon, banner images?

Intellectual Property

• Do you need access to the project source code?
• Do you want to build your intellectual property (IP)?
• Are you fine with shared intellectual property?

Cost & Timeline

Although the cost of an app development project would depend on our answer to the above questions, having a rough budget before approaching an app development company can help them better cater accordingly tailor the questions and the available options.

• What is your approximate budget for the project?
• What are the anticipated timelines for the project?

Conclusion

The requirement gathering or discovery phase is integral to an app development project especially when there is no proper reference or detailed documentation available from the client’s side. Overlooking this phase can result in subpar results, multiple iteration requests, increased development time and rising costs. Starting with an app development client questionnaire like the one above can help avoid such situations.

We at Mobisoft have a comprehensive discovery phase as part of the entire app development process to help all our client’s get the maximum ROI in their planned budget and timeline. Check out our interactive project planner tool specifically built for prospects to estimate the deliverables and costs for their product development needs.

Author’s Bio

Nitin Lahoti