5 Major Mobile App Budgeting Mistakes

Mobile app budgeting is a task not many companies are adequately equipped for. Despite the prominence of mobile and the number of organizations that are realizing its importance, it’s surprising how little is understood about what it takes to build a fully functional, user-ready mobile app. The result of this knowledge gap is that many underestimate – often significantly – the time, resources, and budget they require in order to build a useful product. In our experience, the biggest mobile app budgeting mistakes people make are:

1. Ignoring backend development/infrastructure needs
2. Misunderstanding the vast differences between apps and websites
3. Failing to consider the cross-department involvement required for delivery and ongoing success
4. Not enough marketing budget to promote and educate customers about the mobile app
5. No plan for updates to meet customer demands after the initial launch

The cost of mobile app development ranges on a case-to-case basis, and factors like scope, complexity, feature requirements, and the firm you choose to partner with all end up determining the cost of your project. We’re going to discuss each of the mistakes listed above and why these areas need to be included when creating a mobile app budgeting plan. At the end of this post, you will have a more holistic understanding of the time, effort, and cost involved in creating a marketable mobile app.



Perhaps the biggest mobile app budgeting mistake people make is assuming that it is a standalone product consisting of only the screens that users interact with on their devices. The reality is that the user interface of the app is a very small part of a larger machine that allows the app to function.

There is a variety of moving parts: the content management system (CMS); the backend infrastructure APIs that handle business logic (cloud-based); and third-party integrations (user engagement via push, analytics for data capture, Facebook login, chat, etc.). We’ll look at these in turn:

CMS: The CMS for mobile provides configuration and content services. Don’t think WordPress. Think mobile specific so you can create the best mobile experience. You don’t want to have to republish an app because of an API endpoint change or a backend maintenance window. The mobile CMS should be considered as part of the mobile app: it provides everything from settings, menu details, images and text content to the application.

Backend Infrastructure: Your app will likely need to communicate with a server to handle actions that cannot be done on-device, which includes authentication, business integrations like booking appointments or requesting updates on status, business processes, notifications and messages, and much more. While you would have considered these as core services you should really think of them from a mobile context. Your customers don’t want to wait for answers. Mobile-specific services that are highly responsive are the only true solution in today’s world.

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