What Questions to Ask When Outsourcing Your Web Development Project?

Summary: A majority of companies worldwide have chosen to outsource. Fortunately, they have found the best all-inclusive solution for the same. For those planning to outsource a web development company for an upcoming project, this is your opportunity to outshine competitors! However, you need to do 360-degree research when outsourcing. This guide lists the top outsourcing questions you need to ask before signing an agreement with the web development company.

Undoubtedly, developing a website is a necessity for businesses seeking growth. Any small, mid, and large-sized companies need to create a website or web application. The primary purpose of any website or web application is to connect with customers. Therefore, web development is one thing that stands first on the priority list of every business plan. Besides, outsourcing has become one of the potential sources for web development projects. Outsourcing is still a questioning way to undertake web development. Why? Because companies are unaware of the importance of Web Development Outsourcing and what outsourcing web development questions to ask.

Considering the lacking importance of outsourcing, we have compiled a guide where we’ll learn how to choose the best web development company. Let’s ask legitimate questions to the outsourcing companies so that your company doesn’t face any jeopardy.

Customers Google Everything

To understand the importance of outsourcing web development, you should know that customers Google everything. When they say, “let me first Google it,” they mean to learn about the business, its products/services, prices, and everything in between. Thus, you need to construct an online presence.

According to a Google survey, 53% of shoppers research before buying. The same survey report mentions some eye-opening numbers about consumer behavior:

• 87% of the survey shoppers believe it is significant to find a good deal before investing in a brand or retailer.
• 85% of shoppers say that product information and pictures play a critical role in their purchase decision.

Now that you know online presence is crucial from the sales point of view, you should understand that creating a website or web application can flip the cards for you.

As a company, you can opt to develop a website from scratch or outsource it.

Why Are We Asking You to Outsource?

Business owners get confused about whether to outsource or hire an in-house development team. But, when you have multiple business goals to achieve and a time constraint works around your clock, the best option is outsourcing!

In-house web development is more popular than outsourcing. However, don’t mistake it for the best option you have. Here’s a rundown of some of the drawbacks of in-house web development. Think of it as additional reasons to choose outsourcing web development over in-house!

1. High costs

Buying electronic equipment, expensive software licenses, hiring, and retaining employees all cost a fortune. An in-house team requires you to incur ongoing costs. You cannot settle for a one-time payment! In brief, you incur high costs of web or app development.

2. It is time-consuming!

To hire employees locally, you first need to post a job, wait for a suitable candidate to respond to it, conduct interviews, and finally make the appropriate, informed decision. Besides, you need to spend a considerable time collecting resources, training them, conducting meetings, and much more.

Thus, without proper intel, you can lose a lot of time just gathering the human resource required to develop them!

3. Limitations

You can be limited to choosing from the local talent. However, outsourcing is the opposite. Here, you have an entire pool to choose from without any limitations.

Why work the hard way when you have chicer web development options?

Hiring a Remote Web Development Team Is the Key to Success

Did you know that remote employment has two types – outsourcing and out-staffing? Outsourcing involves hiring a web development company that helps you to develop the solution according to your needs and requirements. The hired company takes care of the entire project! On the other hand, in out-staffing, you hire a team of professionals who, under your supervision, do the job. In this case, you are provided a team of employees with the necessary skills and experience to work on the web development project.

That brings us to the different kinds of outsourcing based on location.

• Offshore outsourcing: you hire a team from outside your country with a different time zone.
• Nearshore outsourcing: hiring a team from other countries within the same time zone.
• Onshore outsourcing: you hire a team from your country.

When you outsource web development or other projects to another company within the same region/country.

Which one is better? That depends purely on your goals and requirements. However, to find the best web development company, ask these top outsourcing questions!

Top 15 Questions to Ask Web Development Companies When Outsourcing

Here are the top 15 interview questions you should ask a web development company while outsourcing them. To ease out your job, the questions are differentiated based on various criteria like expertise, technical knowledge, workflow, and so on.

Questions to ask yourself!

1. Who is the target audience?

Define your target audience before starting the web development project. Understand and study who will consume your product. Know A to Z about them, starting from their age, gender, location, and much more. Once you know your target audience, you’ll be able to justify the look and feel of the website you’re expecting the outsourced company to build.

2. Why do you need to build a website?

Identify certain problems or challenges you can fix by building a website for your company. Here, answering “to build an online presence,” “everyone has a website.” or “to reach more customers.” can be wrong.

Find an in-depth answer to this question!

3. What kind of budget do you have?

Defining the budget is important when you are looking to outsource a web development company. If you don’t have a multi-billion dollar budget, no problem! Outsourcing comes into play here!

With an outsourced solution, you can get the best results even without having bulky cash in your pockets!

To know their expertise!

4. What kind of industry experience do you hold?

Having specific industry experience that’s similar to yours, gives you an affirmation that the web development team is familiar with the most used terms, legal requirements, etc. Hiring a team that understands industry-specific models, concepts, and works with the same technology, and other aspects is significant.

Thus, if you want your project to succeed, ask about their experience.

5. Who were your clients?

To gain some excellent insight about the web development company, ask them about their previous clients. It is an excellent opportunity to understand and find the justification for the quality of the product that the company is promising you.

If the outsourced company has worked with prestigious clients, you know that they build high-quality web applications.

6. Can you share some references?

It is one of the crucial outsourcing web development questions to ask. Even if you don’t plan on using the references, if the company is willing to share the references, they are showing their high credibility and want to maintain complete transparency.

Look for testimonials on the company’s website or social media channels. They’ll help you to create the “impression” of the outsourced company.

About the workflow of the web development company

7. What development methodology do you follow?

Asking about the methodologies, you are trying to know more about the company. The methodologies don’t have to be rigid. However, more in-depth knowledge about it can tell you how they function.

Usually, companies follow the agile methodology. If the outsourced company is following the agile approach, you can gain benefits like:

• Greater flexibility
• Control
• Result-focused project workflow
• Better involved in the project from start to finish

8. What development stages do you generally follow?

Any web development team must follow a predefined web development process route to obtain results. Once again, it doesn’t have to be rigid! But, a proper step-wise approach can save you the extra cost and effort.

This is an example of the development stages a web development company should follow:

• Analyzing business goals and requirements
• Research of potential solutions
• Structuring the solution
• Documenting the project scope
• Addressing potential risks beforehand
• Setting the plan and scheduling the deliverables (preparing the timeline)

9. How do you plan to communicate with clients?

“Communication is the key to success.” Thus, to maintain the quality of the project, communicating with the client frequently, plays a critical role. Therefore, it’s necessary to ask how they prefer to communicate with the clients.

Here’s what you should expect from their answer:

• We get in touch with the clients over audio calls, video meetings, messages, etc.
• We use various tools to maintain an efficient communication pattern.
• We regularly update the clients on the project’s progress.
• Our project managers remain in direct contact with the clients.

Technical questions to ask

10. What technology stack will you use for our project (provide a rough idea)?

The list of top outsourcing questions is incomplete without asking them about the “technical” front. Therefore, if you haven’t decided on the technology stack for your project, you should ask the outsourced web development company how they plan to do it. Asking this question will ensure they are well-versed with the latest technology stack in the market.

Also, if they have worked on similar projects, they’ll provide the perfect answer!

11. How do you ensure the website’s user-friendly?

A website must be user-friendly. Ensure that the company builds user-friendly deliverables so that website can work smoothly across different devices, web browsers, screens, etc.

While the company is answering this question, if they mention “compatibility testing,” you have found the perfect match. Compatibility testing ensures that the website or web applications work smoothly regardless of the device!

12. What tools do you prefer to use while developing a website or web application?

The development process should be smooth, don’t you agree? Thus, it’s vital to know what tools the company prefers to use for the same. Besides communication, the outsourced company should provide you with an extensive list of tools they use for:

• Managing the productivity
• UI/UX design
• Analytics
• DevOps
• Testing
• Source Control

Security-related questions

13. How do you plan to handle the security and maintenance?

To ensure your website performs well, you need to ensure that the hosting, security, and maintenance are in place. Take note of what hosting environment the company follows and its security certificates.

The outsourced company must offer your maintenance services as well! Why? Because outsourcing website maintenance separately can cost you more! Moreover, it will put your website or web application under “increased inefficiency” risks!

Also Read: Why Outsourcing Website Maintenance Can Help Your Website Grow

14. Will you transfer complete ownership of the website?

The domain name should be registered under your company’s name. Without this, you cannot access the website’s hosting account and receive the source code files. Ensure that the outsourced web development company doesn’t claim ownership of your products or artifacts.

Web development price-related question

15. How do you price web development services?

You should be aware of the cost to build a website. Thus, note that you don’t forget to ask about service pricing while asking other outsourcing web development questions! The pricing of the service should include everything:

• Payment models
• Methods of payment
• Up-front costs

Carefully analyze their pricing before you make the final outsourcing decision.

Ultimate Guide: How to Outsource Web Development?

Wrapping Up

The decision is yours!

We hope that you have understood the importance of outsourcing. However, if you are stuck, start your search for the best web development companies to outsource! Ask questions to yourself and the other bunch of top outsourcing questions potential companies before you start building the foundations of your website or web applications!

Happy outsourcing!