Most apps become expenses within 12 months of launch. Not because they aren’t useful, but because they aren’t measured.
Businesses pour thousands, sometimes millions, into building digital products. But too often, those products are left to gather dust. No one checks if they still align with business goals. No one reviews the ROI. And no one is held accountable for outcomes.
In this article, we’ll explore how to evaluate whether your app is earning its keep or silently draining resources. We’ll introduce the Product Value Score, highlight the hidden costs of underused digital tools, and share how we approach product strategy differently.
The Problem: Build-It-and-They-Will-Come Is a Myth
Let’s be honest. Most apps are launched with big ambitions… and little follow-through. After launch, the team moves on. The tracking stops. The data is unclear. And slowly, what was once a strategic asset becomes an ongoing cost centre.
This is the sunk cost fallacy in action. You’ve spent the money, so you keep maintaining the product, regardless of whether it’s still adding value.
But in the current economic climate, with ever increasing pressure on CTOs, COOs, and CFOs to justify spend, that’s a luxury few can afford. Every digital product must prove its worth.
The Hidden Costs of Unused Apps
At Sonin, we work with a wide range of businesses who’ve come to us after seeing apps fail, not because the idea was wrong, but because the value was never realised. This is where our discovery and audit services make an immediate impact. We help teams uncover exactly where costs are hiding and what can be done about them.
Unused or underused digital products carry more weight than just their hosting bill. According to Gartner, 25% of enterprise software licenses go entirely unused. And for mobile or internal apps, the costs can spiral in other directions:
- Ongoing support and maintenance
- Training and onboarding time
- Poor user experience leading to inefficiency
- Missed opportunities elsewhere in the business
Even worse, the product can quietly degrade team morale, forcing people into workarounds, duplicating efforts, or delaying decisions. According to Productiv, the average enterprise wastes over £4 million a year on unused software tools. Gallup found that only 12% of employees strongly agree their company does a good job onboarding them with new tech, meaning most are left to figure it out or give up. If your app isn’t empowering your people or enabling results, it’s not just neutral, it’s a liability.
Spot the Red Flags: When Your App Becomes a Liability
Recognising these signals early is a key part of our ongoing optimisation service at Sonin. We can help you benchmark usage, identify what’s being overlooked, and decide where to act next.
Here are some of the clearest red flags:
- Usage is declining month over month – A steady drop in active users is a strong indicator that the app isn’t delivering value or is too frustrating to use.
- Teams are creating workarounds or duplicating efforts – When people revert to spreadsheets, emails, or side channels, it shows the product isn’t supporting real workflows.
- Support tickets or complaints are increasing – A rise in technical issues or user feedback often signals deeper usability or performance problems.
- New features are rarely adopted – If updates go unnoticed or unused, your app may be drifting from what users actually need.
- Updates take too long—or never happen – Long development cycles suggest stagnation, which often leads to reduced engagement and trust.
These issues don’t just affect operations, they erode trust, slow down teams, and contribute to wasted spend. The longer they go unaddressed, the harder they are to fix. Spotting these patterns early is key to turning things around, and reclaiming the value your product was meant to deliver.
That’s why at Sonin, we regularly work with clients to diagnose red flags and course-correct before the app becomes a cost burden.
A Simple Framework: The Product Value Score
Helping businesses define and track what success looks like is baked into every Sonin project. Whether we’re auditing an existing product or starting from scratch, this framework gives you, and us, a measurable benchmark for long-term value.
To assess whether your digital product is an asset or an expense, we use a simple three-part framework:
- Time Saved – Is your app automating manual tasks or streamlining workflows?
- Revenue Generated – Is it directly or indirectly contributing to new sales, upsell, or retention?
- Efficiency Gained – Is it reducing error rates, speeding up processes, or improving decision-making?
Score your product in each of these areas, from 1–5. If your total score is under 10, it’s time to reassess.
You can also look at softer indicators:
- Are users satisfied and engaged?
- Are internal teams using the product as intended?
- Is there a feedback loop in place to evolve the product?
This framework gives you a starting point for honest evaluation, and a way to benchmark progress over time. It also gives our team a shared language with yours, so we can continually assess and optimise against outcomes that matter.
And it’s not just theory. McKinsey found that companies that actively track and optimise digital product value see 20–30% higher returns compared to those that don’t. BCG also found that companies who track product performance grow revenue 1.5x faster. In short, what gets measured gets improved.
Our Approach: Turning Apps into Long-Term Assets
This is what truly sets Sonin apart. We’re not here to just build apps, we’re here to make sure those apps become high-performing, long-term assets that contribute to your bottom line.
There’s a gap between launching an app and ensuring it delivers real, measurable value. That gap is where most businesses struggle, and it’s where we add value.
At Sonin, we approach every product as an investment that must essentially earn its keep. That means designing with purpose, building for outcomes, and continuously validating that those outcomes are being achieved.
We don’t believe in building products just to tick a box or chase trends. Every project begins with deep alignment, between business strategy, user needs, and technical feasibility. Our discovery workshops, integrated analytics, and outcome-focused design processes ensure we’re always moving toward measurable value.
We believe in:
- Reliability – Robust architecture that doesn’t break down when the stakes are high
- Visibility – Tracking what matters, not just what’s easy to measure
- Relevance – Making sure every feature aligns with a real business or user need
- Adaptability – Creating space for feedback and iteration, so your product can evolve
Too many teams focus solely on features. But features don’t deliver value, outcomes do. That’s why our approach is rooted in context: understanding how your product fits into your wider operations, your goals, and your users’ day-to-day.
We work with you to define what success looks like upfront. Then we build the right product to achieve it, and put systems in place to prove it.
Because in a world of shrinking budgets and rising expectations, building a product without a clear value strategy isn’t just risky, it’s wasteful.
Take Action: Evaluate Your Product Today
If you’re unsure whether your current product is earning its keep, or want to prevent future waste, this is exactly where we come in.
- Request a free Product Audit – We’ll assess your product’s current state and identify quick wins.
You could uncover thousands in wasted spend or opportunities for real growth. Many of our long-term partnerships began with a quick audit that revealed overlooked gaps or untapped opportunities.
Whether you need a second opinion or a fresh start, Sonin is here to help you build the right product, and ensure it keeps delivering.
TL;DR
- Most apps become expenses within a year.
- The sunk cost fallacy and lack of measurement keep bad products alive.
- Unused apps quietly cost businesses time, money, and morale.
- Use a Product Value Score to track time saved, revenue generated, and efficiency gained.
- Sonin builds apps with measurable outcomes, clear visibility, and strategic alignment.
- Take action: Get a product audit or download our evaluation worksheet.
Final Question:
When was the last time you measured your app’s business impact? If you can’t remember, it might be time for a review.