Some customer questions a normal website page can’t answer. Which size do I need. Will this fit my car. What will this look like on me. How much do I owe and when. A small, well-built tool answers those questions in the moment, and usually does more for sales than another page of copy would.
If an app cannot name the single job it does, it is not ready to be built.
What app and tool development means
App and tool development here means building something interactive that solves one specific problem for your customers or your business. That might be a configurator that works out which product someone needs, a calculator, a camera-based try-on, or an app your customers install on their phone. It’s software with a narrow job, built to be used rather than admired.
I build these because the same problem keeps appearing in SEO work. A site ranks, people arrive, and then they hesitate because they can’t answer a question about themselves. No amount of content fixes that. A tool does.
Who it’s for
This suits businesses where a purchase or an enquiry depends on something the customer has to work out first. In practice that’s:
- product ranges with sizes, variants or fitting rules that people get wrong
- services where the answer is “it depends”, and the customer needs a number
- businesses with a community of repeat customers who need telling things
- anyone whose support inbox keeps answering the same question
What I build
| Type | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Progressive web apps | An app your customers install from a link, with notifications, working offline, no app store | A caravan park app for park notices, works updates and billing |
| Interactive tools and calculators | Sizing tools, configurators and camera-based try-ons that answer a buying question | A ring size finder calibrated against a bank card |
| AI-powered apps | Apps that use AI to turn one thing into another, such as notes into questions | A revision app that turns schoolwork into practice questions |
| Shopify apps and product builders | Configurators that build a basket from a set of rules and hand it to checkout | A threshold seal kit builder that sizes a kit and counts the adhesive |
How I approach it
Every one of these starts with the rules, not the design. A configurator is only as good as the logic underneath it, and that logic usually already exists somewhere in the business: a buying guide, a fitting instruction, a spreadsheet, or something the owner knows and has never written down.
Getting that out and writing it down is most of the work. When I built the GaraDry threshold kit builder, the rules were spread across a buying guide, a FAQ page, two blog posts and a variant dropdown, and two of those pages disagreed with each other about how much longer than the opening a seal should be. Mapping the logic found the contradiction. That was worth fixing whether or not the tool got built.
What usually comes out of it
- A working prototype first. Something you can click through and react to, before anything is built properly.
- The rules written down. Often the most useful by-product, because it exposes gaps and contradictions in what the business tells customers.
- A tool that runs anywhere. Most of these are a single page with no server behind them, which keeps hosting costs low and makes them simple to move.
- Something search can use. A tool on your own domain earns links and answers a question people search for.
Related work
The GaraDry threshold kit builder turns five separate decisions into six questions. The ring size tools calibrate against a bank card so an on-screen measurement is real rather than a guess. The Barlows community app replaces a Facebook page and a posted invoice run for around 500 households.
Limitations
A tool won’t fix a product range nobody wants, and it won’t rescue a site with no visibility. These work best alongside search, not instead of it. I’d usually want to see where your traffic is coming from before recommending one, which is what the free assessment covers.
Talk to the person doing the work
There is no account manager here and no team to be handed to. If you get in touch, it is me who reads it, me who looks at your site, and me who does the work if we go ahead.
Get in touch, or start with a free assessment.
Engagement and price
There are no list prices here, and that is deliberate. What a piece of work costs depends on the state of the site, how much of it there is and what you actually need, none of which I know before looking at it.
So it starts with a free analysis. I look at your site, your Search Console and who you are really competing with, then come back with what I would do first and what it would cost to do. No obligation attached, and if the honest answer is that you do not need me yet, I will say so.
How the work gets done
Prototypes are built and tested before anything is committed to. The SEO side of putting a tool live, indexing it and linking it properly, runs through the technical SEO checks and schema toolkit. For the wider picture, see web development and SEO.
FAQ
Do I need an app or a website?
Most small businesses need a better website first. An app earns its place when you have customers who come back repeatedly and need telling things, or a decision so fiddly that a page of text can’t explain it. If neither is true, the money goes further elsewhere on your site.
Does it have to be in the app stores?
No. A progressive web app installs straight from a link to the home screen of a phone, sends notifications and works offline, with no store listing, no review process and no annual developer fee. For most small businesses that’s the sensible route, and it’s the one I recommend by default.
Will a tool help my SEO?
It can. A genuinely useful tool on your own domain answers a question people search for, gives other sites a reason to link to you, and keeps visitors on your site rather than sending them elsewhere to work something out. It won’t compensate for a site with underlying technical or content problems.
How long does a prototype take?
A clickable prototype of a focused tool is usually a matter of days rather than weeks, because the thinking is in the rules rather than the code. The longer part is agreeing what it should do and getting the underlying logic confirmed. I’d rather spend the time there than build the wrong thing quickly.
Talk it through
Get in touch with the problem you’re trying to solve, and I’ll tell you honestly whether a tool is the right answer.