Gain an advantage over the competition by learning the fundamentals of creating a minimum viable product (MVP) app. This is a smart way to test your concept and get early adopters.
Every product development company is racing against the clock to bring its product into the market before its competitor.
Companies have adopted numerous methodologies to make that possible, with Agile being the most prominent. A core tenet of agile methods is relying on customer feedback to evaluate and improve a product.
But this results in a catch-22 situation. For instance, a mobile app development company in India using Agile cannot produce a product without thoroughly evaluating its functioning and flaws.
But it also cannot assess and improve the product without its customers’ feedback about its initial use. The Minimum Viable Product is the solution to this problem.
It enables developers to create a working product that can only carry out the bare minimum of its intended functions, according to Eric Reis, the inventor of the Lean Startup methodology.
Designing And Building An MVP
MVP has made agility possible by creating a feasible cycle of development and improvement. But what’s the natural appeal behind this aspect of the product development lifecycle?
How can manufacturers benefit from using it besides gaining valuable feedback data?
This blog answers these questions and more about its development process, making a case for you to go for an MVP for your product too.
You’ll also learn the importance of hiring MVP app development services to succeed in getting a software MVP for your app.
Read: When you need Software Development Services?
An MVP may only contain the essential features of a product, but that does not excuse it from having a well-structured development process.
You must put as much thought into its design and development as the full version would require. This is because MVP app planning and execution become the blueprint for creating the complete product development pipeline.
Here are the steps you need to follow to create a rewarding MVP development pipeline.
Conduct thorough market research. The more you know your customer base or target market, the better your chances are of developing a product they will buy.
Gather as much data as possible about said market using various market research tools, like online and offline surveys. It also helps to employ the services of a dedicated market research agency for speedy and accurate execution of this process.
Use the latest software to analyze the data gathered and gain meaningful insights into your target market.
Every crucial piece of knowledge you earn this way will help you sculpt the MVP to better produce the intended results by aiding in creating a buyer persona. Add any feedback you get about the MVP to the present customer data to enhance it.
Also, don’t forget to conduct competitor research. Their MVPs and finished products, along with their uptake, can provide clues about your target market’s likely behavior towards your MVP.
#1. Define The Product’s Goal and Function
With the available market data, you now know how to understand your target customer’s pain points. You can align your product development goals to solve those issues efficiently and cost-effectively.
Simultaneously, you can verify if the MVP’s goals align with your overall business objectives and how quickly the MVP can help achieve them.
Defining its function helps analyze its role in plugging any market gaps found during market research data analysis.
Once you find such a niche in the market, you can position your product better during its marketing and trial period, increasing the chances of the MVP’s uptake.
Related: How To Plan App Development Life Cycle
#2. Create Its Features List
Once the goals have been ascertained, you can proceed with defining the features and functions of the product. These two aspects manifest the dreams, serving as the product’s selling points.
The more unique they are, the better your product will stand out from the market competition and bring in conversions.
When creating a list of features your product should have, you should go all-in and add all the viable features you can have in the final product. Then, create a trimmed-down version of that list for MVP development.
If you are utilizing an external agency, such as a mobile app development company, to make your company’s app, you should work with them to create the MVP features list.
The coordination helps provide a clear pathway for development and reduces mismatches in the ideas each party may have about the MVP.
Related: How To Get Best Ideas for Mobile Apps Development!
#3. Allocate The Required Resources
Now that you know what your MVP should entail and how it will be developed, you should allocate the necessary resources.
In the case of an in-house operation, you should get the required personnel and equipment for the purpose. For an outsourced one, you should decide on what service package you want to pick from their list of offerings.
Most importantly, you should allocate the necessary budget for the development process in each case.
Your timeline for the process should also be defined now, with the same being communicated to the external development agency for clarity. Keep the allocation flexible to accommodate unforeseen delays and budget overruns.
#4. Build, Launch, And Analyze It
With all the necessary prerequisites to build an MVP, you can go ahead with its development. Whether the process occurs in-house or elsewhere, the result should be a lean, minimalistic product that doesn’t try to be everything it can.
You should validate the development process for speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness over perfection. You can also use a fake MVP if you need it, which is a simpler version of the MVP that only contains the core function to gauge viability.
An example would be a simple webpage that includes the core functionality of an app that users can enable with a simple action like clicking on a button.
It could lead to another page describing the product and your brand story in detail to generate interest and possible feedback.
You can do this inexpensively and effectively if you hire a mobile app developer in India due to the availability of quality, budget-friendly talent.
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Choose a launch window and marketing mechanism to launch the MVP. This window should be opportune for high ROI (an online gifting app launched before the commencement of the holiday season is one such example).
Then, gather the necessary data from the MVP and analyze it to extract the information you need to develop the final version of the product.
Reasons For Companies To Opt For MVP
Trying to outdo a highly competitive marketplace while trying to squeeze out every bit of profit from low margins helps to have every possible advantage by your side. With an MVP, you get those advantages and more.
Here are some of the reasons companies have made MVPs a priority:
#1. Quick Customer Feedback
With product development, there’s always the element of guessing customer needs and experimentation, no matter the amount of market data available.
If the product does not meet the target market’s expectations in any way, it would mean a loss of investment and an opportunity for a rival to take over the gap.
Not to forget, a delay in the development pipeline may result in launching the product when there’s no longer an appetite for it in the market.
MVPs provide a workaround to this problem. By allowing you to launch a basic version of the product, you can gather vital feedback about it from the target customer.
This may happen with a focus group, a limited launch, or a full launch. This early customer feedback lets you know about the product’s upside and downsides while it’s still in the development part of its life cycle instead of the completed one, making it easy to incorporate the required changes.
#2. Easy Investor Pitching
Potential investors are likely to fund your company only if they are convinced of your product’s ROI potential.
Like an MVP, a pitch with a demonstrable effect is more likely to convince them of that potential than mere numbers and words.
On the plus side, an investor may offer suggestions about improving the product along with the funding.
Read: Reasons to Use SaaS to Boost Your Business Efficiency
#3. Trimming Resource Wastage
For a small business in product development, resources tend to be limited and profit margins are low, especially during the initial phase.
For various reasons, large companies can struggle with budget overruns during product development.
If such a product fails in the market, all that resource would be wasted. MVPs can stop such waste by preventing the development team from making the mistakes that cause them in the first place.
Whether a tangible, real-world product made in a factory or a virtual one created by an MVP app development company, a basic version doesn’t use as much time and money as its full-version counterpart.
Such resource savings can be utilized to improve the product in the later stages of its development lifecycle to bring about a better ROI.
#4. Quick Learning Curve
Mistakes during product development are bound to occur, despite efforts to mitigate them. And the sooner they happen in the development pipeline, the easier it is to learn from and rectify them.
An MVP allows product developers to identify and correct errors in their product before it is too late. It will enable them to refine the production process, the product’s functioning and features, or both to produce the viable version that will give the sales figures sought.
Another advantage of using MVPs is their insight into the testing process itself. When the QA aspect of the pipeline improves, fewer errors make it through to the final products, saving resources and brand reputation.
Thus, an MVP is the best option for any product development company to get the best results.
This methodology offers the right balance between resource management and usable product generation for gaining valuable feedback and a clear path towards product improvement that aligns with market demands.
NOTE: We are looking for Automation Testing Tools! Here are the 9 best automation testing tools for developers.
In Conclusion
The product development process is evolving with continued technological and methodological advances. Today, you have options like MVPs to grow your business while minimizing the associated risks, such as losses and brand value depreciation.
By incorporating the design and construction practices mentioned in this blog, your business can compete against established players, regardless of their size and scale. These practices will also help keep your budget in check and obtain valuable customer feedback.
If you plan to hire a professional MVP app development company, you will likely have a clearer understanding of how to coordinate with them to create an MVP that can support improved market targeting and overall product development enhancement.
