Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) are a cost-effective, pragmatic approach to mobile app development. Whether you’re an appreneur or work for a large corporation, MVPs can be the difference between getting there first with a sleek product or vying for market shares with an unoptimized app.
WHAT IS AN MVP?
First, let’s go over what an MVP actually is. A Minimum Viable Product sometimes referred to as a minimum feature set, is an app with the minimum amount of features needed to both function and simultaneously satisfy your intended user base. The term was coined in 2001 by SyncDev CEO Frank Robinson and popularized by entrepreneur Steve Blanks.
Unlike a product demo, an MVP is sale-able, akin to a beta test for a program or video game. Your MVP must include the necessary functionality to fix the pain point your app will attempt to solve, and optimally, not much else. An MVP is intended to build upon itself through an iterative process with early adopters, rather than re-working existing features to fix coding, marketing, or user experience issues.
Read More: Top 5 features required in any UberEats clone script
WHY DO I NEED ONE?
There are many reasons to go to the market with an MVP. The main points we’ll cover are as follows:
- Cut costs
- Build customer relationships earlier in development
- Test critical business functions without significant investment
- Reduce time spent re-working
- Strengthen your business’ case
Now, let’s get into it.
CUT COSTS
As stated in our How Much Does it Cost to Make an App? blogpost, an app’s features are the largest factors in determining final cost; the more features you include, the more hours you must put into development and testing. An MVP reduces costs by giving you the ability to test your product in the real world, while only requiring minimal development time on your part. When developing an MVP, your goal is to identify the pain point you want to solve, and then address it by producing only the necessary features to make your app work.
For example, if you’re developing an app meant to connect craft beer enthusiasts, you would only include the necessary features to make sure your app functions: A map that updates to show new users as they join, a messaging system to allow users to contact each other through the app, and simple back end infrastructure to give users the ability to update their profile with their current offering of craft beers for trade. The only graphics your app would need at this point are a logo and simple fields to select options. As you receive feedback from users, features such as giving recommendations based on beer preference, user rating systems, or real-time GPS and map updating can be included to improve upon your user’s experience.
Above, you can see a working version of the Brew Trader app. Notice the only graphic element that is heavily designed is the logo. All other fields utilize simple graphics with just enough detail to provide the necessary information. As development continues, these graphics can be updated with more a robust design, or even photos of the craft brews themselves.
An important feature of MVPs to note is that while you’re in development, your app is creating revenue. You can then direct this revenue into more development, giving you the option to start with limited funding and still produce a professional, robust, and well-designed app.
By releasing your app with only the minimum required features, you can rest assured that every hour put into the development is necessary to the functionality of your app, and therefore, reduce your costs by forgoing the development of features your user base may not require, or even want.
BUILD CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS EARLIER IN DEVELOPMENT
When building an MVP, early adopters should make up your target audience. Early adopters are a great way to build a foundation for your customer base, as they readily give feedback, are accustomed to industry standards, and are usually technologically proficient, so you can trust their opinions and criticism.
When you release your app as an MVP, you’re most likely capturing an untapped market of users looking for the answer to the same pain point you’re attempting to solve, giving you a head-start on the competition. Unlike the infamous Hydrox Oreo debacle, an MVP not only gets you there first but ensures your app is optimized for user experience and retention.
After your app’s initial release, every feature you add is not only backed by direct-from-consumer market research, it strengthens your relationship with your user base as your app’s utility grows. Features that may have been taken for granted are now seen as additional solutions to your users’ pain point and create an emotional bond of gratitude as they continually see improvements in their experience, thus building brand loyalty.
TEST CRITICAL BUSINESS FUNCTIONS WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENT
If Beta versus VHS taught us anything, it’s that no matter the quality of your product, sales numbers decide who wins and who loses. Sure, Beta tapes were more compact, robust, and produced a clearer picture quality, but VHS captured a larger market share and handily defeated Beta in the home entertainment market.
When you go to market with an MVP, your sales and marketing strategy are tested sooner, giving you a leg up when scaling your marketing and sales efforts. With your MVP, you can test your assumptions, determine weak points in your app that reduce sales, and even analyze how individual features impact sales numbers as they are added to your app, allowing you to focus on developing upon the most profitable features of your app.
REDUCE TIME SPENT RE-WORKING
A significant portion of the development is spent re-working features based upon user feedback, internal testing, and user behavior analysis. There are important factors that can reduce time spent revising your apps, such as market research and impeccable UI; but an MVP allows you to forgo heavy pre-development market research and design because an MVP is expected to be enhanced upon, rather than adjust existing features according to feedback.
Above, you can see how user reviews can give you insight into how your app’s individual features influence their behavior and can attract or detract users from purchasing your app. This example Sportly, an app that connects people looking for pick-up games – allows users to match with players at their skill level, a feature that isn’t critical for the app to function, but adds to its quality of life.
By clearly setting user expectations and maintaining clear communication channels with customers, you can ensure every step in your development process is necessary to the functionality of your finalized product because you’ll only include features requested or needed by users. While your app is on the market generating revenue, you can enhance design elements, build upon functionality, and increase scope – rather than researching, designing, coding, testing, and then finally re-working – all before making any profit.
With an MVP, you not only reduce your time spent in development, and therefore cost, you also open your revenue stream much earlier than a conventional build cycle.
STRENGTHEN YOUR BUSINESS’ CASE
While your MVP creates its own revenue stream during development, you strengthen your proposal to receive funding from investors, if needed. You’re much more likely to attract investors if you can prove that not only are you able to produce, but your app is needed, wanted, and already adopted by users as the solution to a particular pain point.
Use your user data to attract investors to your product. An app tester’s opinion can hold some sway over an investor, but hard sales numbers that prove your app’s value and hold on the marketplace are much more enticing.
MVPs INCREASE EFFICIENCY, REDUCE COSTS, AND GENERATE REVENUE DURING DEVELOPMENT
The early bird gets the worm, the second mouse gets the cheese, but an MVP is the bee’s knees. Creating an MVP is a fast and efficient way to market, but also ensures you don’t over-stretch your focus; all while providing you with relevant user feedback and data, and simultaneously developing revenue streams and brand reputation. If you’re an entrepreneur with a limited budget or a corporation worried about someone else beating you to the punch, an MVP is one of the most cost-effective and time-efficient methods to get your app into users’ hands.
Apart from that, if you are interested to know about 5 Reasons Why Small Businesses Need Marketing Agencies then visit our Business category.
