Minimum Viable Product: What Is An MVP?
Developing a digital product such as a mobile app or piece of software takes a lot of time and work. And with the fast-paced world we're now living in, it's no longer solely about the solutions a digital product can bring but all the moving parts that connect it.
To go above and beyond the competition, businesses now need to focus on their users rather than making presumptions about them. And, there's no better way to do this than developing a minimal viable product.
So, What Exactly Is An MVP?
MVP is an acronym for Minimum Viable Product and is a concept that allows a business to determine whether an early-stage product meets users' needs.
Put basically, it checks how customers perceive the value proposition of a product and whether it's commercially viable to launch it into a wider market.
Most start-ups and SMEs start off with an MVP since they can gather initial feedback and measure how satisfied their users are, whilst keeping risk low. You could say that an MVP is an important first step, with one of the main goals being to collect information and experiment with what works.
Best Practices When It Comes to Developing an MVP
So, now we've covered the basics, let's take a look at how you can successfully develop an MVP and what you can do to ensure it's a success.
Do Your Research
Before you even start with the MVP development process, you must check market demand and take a close look at what your competitors are already doing. If you don't, you'll run the risk of developing a low uptake product and an interface that users don't like using.
It's important to spend as much time as you possibly can with your research as it will make the consecutive stages of developing your product a lot easier. And, you'll have the data to back up any decisions you make.
It’s important to identify the key problems and pains and address them
Design and Refine Your MVP's Essential Features
Think about which features will bring the most value in your users' eyes and which ones aren't as necessary.
When developing an MVP, it's all about the core features that'll give you a competitive edge. As for any other features, place them on the backburner.
Not only will this ensure you are truly solving your users core problems but are able to get to market sooner, with less time and budget spent on build time.
Get Key Stake Holders And Users Involved early
Working alongside your team, you need to address your users' needs and create a strategy of how you're going to reach them with your MVP. You need to consider what their pain points are and how your product can help them.
Create personas, imagine them using your product and when the MVP is ready, listen to their opinions and suggestions from the very beginning. Then, analyse their responses in detail and use them to develop the product further. The point is, you should make user experience (UX) a top priority when launching an MVP.
Then as soon as you can, either with interactive designs or a working proof of concept, get others to use your MVP, ideally a selection of those who will be using it for real to help you guide future product development.
Validate Your Learnings
Constantly validate your learnings by running tests and listening to your users' feedback and lessons learnt along the way. This may seem obvious, but the whole idea behind developing a successful MVP is to validate learnings and act on them accordingly. An MVP it is the first step on an exciting journey to a successful app or software platform and has been proven time and time again.
What next?
We know that there is a lot to take in and understand when coming to launch an MVP, especially with something as committed (and expensive!) as an app or software platform.
That’s why we offer our MVP Launchpad service. A risk free way to arm yourself with the knowledge of exactly how and what to do. Find out more here.
Alternatively book a time or contact us for a quick chat where we would be happy to answer any questions you might have about planning, designing and launching your MVP.