5 Mistakes to Avoid when Hiring a B2B App Design Agency

The B2B marketplace is considered a rather traditional, desktop-oriented arena, but these new numbers tell a different story: mobile devices account for more than 40% of B2B sales for some of the biggest names in the business, and perhaps that’s why B2B e-commerce is expected to grow to a $6.7 trillion industry by the end of 2020.

Mobile devices account for more than 40% of B2B sales

The B2B app boom has brought unprecedented opportunities for modern businesses that are looking for greater efficiencies and new marketing opportunities. 

An app design agency can create an appropriate app for your business, optimizing your sales revenue and marketing efforts in the process – so your business can have swift access to new audiences and income streams.

The problem is that people already have access to more than three million apps – making it impossible for a new app to stand out unless it is the absolute best in its niche. 

Research shows that there is an intense demand for B2B apps that will grow to $140 billion by 2023. E-commerce analysts predict that B2B apps will account for 50% of all mobile software revenue in the next two years. 

This immense growth has also given rise to an extraordinary number of design and development service providers, making it imperative for businesses to ensure that they select the right app design agency for their needs. 

App agencies that can distinguish themselves as industry leaders in B2B app development could help their clients tap into a dynamic and rewarding market.

When hiring app developers, avoid common 5 mistakes such as these:

Mistake 1: Hiring a firm that doesn’t understand local culture

It can be rather challenging for an offshore team to appreciate your brand voice, target audience, history, competitors, visions, and goals – so naturally none of these insights are considered when they are building your app. 

Developing an app that doesn’t appeal to your target audiences can spell disaster for your business.

Take, for example, global apps like Uber, Facebook, and Amazon. You'll find that their North American, Asian, and European counterpart apps behave differently. Brands that dominate the US market are not leaders in the rest of the world. That's because local cultures heavily influence everything that encompasses experience design- interaction design, visual design, reliability, and trust.

The different color palettes, iconography, logo design, information architecture and more should all be created for your customers specifically. These aspects will soon become ingrained with the DNA of your brand because people will relate your business with your app. Make sure your app design agency gets it right the first time.

Mistake 2: Mistaking a UI (graphic) designer for a UX designer

UX designers offer more than a good command of Photoshop. They are customer satisfaction experts who use a variety of metrics and tools to understand how to make your B2B app user-friendly, intuitive and easy-to-navigate. And while many graphic artists and app developers incorporate UI design, that doesn’t make them legitimate UX designers.

Intentional and strategic user experience increases conversion rates by as much as 400%. So you simply must look for professionals who have demonstrable experience in how they use UX to solve problems. They should empathize with the app’s end-user and understand how people process information while online.

For that, they should have technical skills in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), cognitive psychology and interaction design. Make sure your candidate can comfortably explain their processes for UX Research and help you understand how they’ll make sure your customers are happy with the app.

Mistake 3: Working with an agency that doesn’t do UX research

Everyone loves a good-looking app, but what happens if it doesn’t align with the core business goals of your business? 

If your agency only cares about making the app look pretty, people might like it, but they won’t become fans of your brand. You can’t have long-term traction with an app that doesn't help users accomplish their goals, quickly. 

UX research helps app designers create products that will be widely used and bring you the business you need to succeed. It takes a combination of experience, education and factual data, all of which take time and considerable practice to accumulate. 

The trouble is that UX research is a non-design aspect of app development and wrongly considered inconsequential for a quality app by many B2B companies. However, the reality is that research is the cornerstone of successful B2B app development, and the only way to ensure that your target users can make the most of it. 

So make sure that your app design agency values UX research (success story) and deploys the best in quality and usability expertise when creating your B2B app.

Mistake 4: Not conducting any user testing

Before deploying the app on a large scale, test it with a sampling of end-users to ensure that it’s everything it’s supposed to be. This is called user testing, and it helps straighten up any kinks and issues that might become huge problems for users later on.  

Stats show that 85% of UX issues can be identified with a usability test on only five users.

Hire an app design agency specializing in user testing to ensure adequate user testing of your B2B app across a range of platforms, versions and devices. Because the last thing you want is for your app to present previously unknown problems at launch time.

This is the only way to ensure a stable, launch-ready version of your app – evaluating the intuitiveness of navigation, ease-of-use and other core features during the testing process.

Mistake 5: Using an app design agency that can’t build consensus with all stakeholders

B2B businesses have many stakeholders, all of whom can have an impact on profits. Which means app design firms must create apps that satisfies all these stakeholders. 

Of course, the right app design agency understands and manages the expectations associated with every stakeholder, giving your app the ability to deliver all a user needs to get the most from it.

In addition to building consensus with all stakeholders, a good B2B app works well on the platform it is intended for while meeting the product manager’s goals for a variety of metrics.

Conclusion

Partnering with an experienced app design agency and development team is critical for B2B companies. 

Remember, mobile app development is an on-going process that takes constant communication and multiple revisions until you have a final version. So, when you have a reliable team of designers who understand your market and app development needs, your chances of getting a potentially successful app are much better.

It takes immense expertise and experience to get it right, so vet your app design agency candidates carefully. Fortunately, here at Designial, we deliver on all counts. Get in touch with us today to learn more about our services.