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When the idea of selling or creating a product pops into our mind, the first thing that we think about is if it would work or not.
The thing is, a lot of people don’t understand that in order for something to sell or work in this modern era, you have to make it presentable, usable, and buyable, however, they just give up before the product even enters the market or before it gets properly developed.
While a lot of people might not realize or think about this, but some of the most famous and commonly used products in the market right now never really started off well and were made for different purposes, which is why you shouldn’t give up right away, especially with the amount of money, time, and skill that you have to invest just for a software or an application to get developed.
And when it comes to a product doing well, there are a lot of things that you have to do.
In order to make your application successful like all the major apps out there, you have to invest or look into developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
But what is it, how can it help your product and why is it important?
What Is A MVP In Software Development?
Before we talk about anything, it is important to understand what MVP in software development is.
The MVP, which is known as the Minimum Viable Product, is a product that has enough features that’s capable of attracting customers and validating a product while it is still in the early developmental stages.
In the software development industry, the Minimum Viable Product is used to get user feedback as fast as possible with the priority to improve the product for more usability before it gets available for mass download.
And thanks to the response that they get while the app is still in the beta stages or developmental stages, the developers start to work on gradually evolving the app into making it more mature, which can improve future iterations of the product.
Why Is It Important To Build A MVP?
The main goal of having a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is to get your software in the hands of potential customers so you can have an overview on what they think about your product. With this, you can get valuable data that will be vital in producing a product that would help you perform well once it’s out for the mass public.
Not only that but with a MVP, you will be engaging with the users, especially in the early developmental stages of your software or application, which can improve the overall usability of your product.
When Is A MVP Beneficial?
There are many user case scenarios where a MVP will be beneficial for you:
- When you have no idea how your users will interact with the product
- When you have no idea how your users will find your idea
- Having no idea if people will be subscribing for your product
- Having no idea if users want to test your product before it goes in the final stages of development
- If you are at 50/50 on investing your money on a product that might not be used by anyone
What’s Prioritized In A MVP?
In a MVP, there are multiple things that are prioritized.
Here are the 4 most important ones:
The Reason
Before someone downloads your application, you need to have a solid reason on why they should have the app on their device, which is why knowing the purpose of your app is important and knowing your target audience is a must to maximize the usage of your application once it’s out.
Getting Proper Feedback
In order to improve your app, you need to find a way to get feedback from your users, and with a MVP, you will be getting it a lot. This can allow you to make tons of changes in your apps, which can increase the usability and efficiency.
Reach Your Users
A MVP is also used to create an efficient and effective way to reach out to the users that would be downloading the application or apps that you have developed. The bete or developmental stages could attract those that love to test out new technologies and with their output, you can improve your apps.
Modify Your App To Maintain Users
To maintain users in your application, a MVP finds a way to get proper feedback from them, which can be used to solve real-time user problems that are faced when your application is running on mobiles or browsers..
MVP Development Process
The development process of a MVP is important, especially if you want to launch a successful product in the market.
In order to develop a MVP, you would have to do the following:
Research The Market
Without having an overview on what the market wants, there’s no point in developing or creating a product.
Remember it’s important to make something that is in demand, considering it increases the likelihood of the app doin well in the market once it gets released officially for the use of the mass public.
With having knowledge or some idea on what the market is currently demanding, you can come up with a solution or a product that could become useful once it gets rolled out.
Get Some Data
Having some data on what’s hot and hit in the market is a must, which is why in the early development process of your MVP, getting accurate information and numbers is a must.
Not only general data, but you should also get some data that could answer questions, which includes how can your app benefit users, will it help them carry out tasks easier, and why would they get your app once it gets rolled out.
The data in these 3 questions can help you come up with a product that’s capable of making your app useful!
Build And Launch The Product
After you have all the necessary data that would answer what’s needed in the app, what type of app you need to develop and other things, it would be time to build the product.
While the product is being developed, you will be getting some real-time feedback that would be helping you out a lot in improving your app before it gets launched in the market for the use of the mass public.
Some apps or products stay in the developmental stages for a long time for the assurance of releasing something that would impact the market in a huge way.
Get Some Feedback
To improve your application so it can become near perfect or so you could decrease the bugs or errors in it, you will be required to get some feedback from real time app users or from those that are testing out your application.
The feedback can be used to make improvements and to solve issues in the app or product so it could be interactive, usable and efficient.
This is important even if your app has been released for the mass public, especially if you want users to download it continuously.
Make Changes Accordingly
As you get all the necessary feedback from real-time users, even after the product gets launched on a mass public scale, you will be getting feedback from your real-time users, which can help you identify normal to severe or complex bugs and errors.
With all the necessary information provided by the data, the feedback and reviews about your app, you can make changes accordingly in your app or product to improve its usability.
Remember, to solve these problems, you will have to fully understand what’s causing the issue, which also means that while you fix one thing, other solutions or errors might come up.
6 Things You Can Achieve With A MVP
A lot of people are still clueless about how this one works out, but in simpler terms, the main goal of the MVP is to help you take your application on a whole new level.
For example, you’re planning to make a burger, but you only have a bun with you. What a MVP does is it gives you the other ingredients to make it a delicious burger with all the vegetables, sauces and the right patty inside it so people or whoever eats it can enjoy it in a very decent way.
To explain everything in a broader way, here are some of the many things that you can achieve if you have a decently planned or laid out MVP:
Know What To Improve
Because you will be getting an amazing amount of feedback with the help of a MVP, it is likely that you will know what to improve in the application that you are trying to launch.
Remember, user feedback is what you need if you want to keep on improving your application, which is why having a MVP during the developmental or early stages of your app is really important.
Faster App Release
With MVP development, you only need a couple of months to roll out the official version of your product, which means that it is likely to be in a very good shape once it becomes generally available for everyone in the market.
You Offer What You Promise
Before the application is released in the market it would be ready thanks to the MVP development.
Like what we said above, during the beta phases of your application, the developers will be constantly working on making sure that your application is perfect and would have no errors or bugs before it goes live in the market, which means you are going to offer what you promised everyone.
Find A Monetization Strategy
To make money out of applications, it is important to have a decent monetization strategy, which is why having a MVP product is a must. Remember, you need to go through a lot of test phases to find the best monetization strategy for your app or software, which is why it is important to avoid giving up right away.
Also, make sure that you are being patient as you might have to carry out a merger to get the best results.
You Get To Maximize The Usability Of The App
Because you will be getting a lot of feedback from users or simply from the data from heatmaps and reports on errors or bugs while the application is used, you can allow your developers to maximize the usability of the application by fixing each one of the problems that may arise.
Every single time a new report arrives, the developers can start working on making your application more usable, which can lead to the proper testing of the user interface and improve the overall usability of the application.
User Insight
Without user insight, you will stay in the dark, especially when it comes to knowing what you would have to improve and what you need to change so you can maximize the usage of the app that you want to put out in the market.
With a MVP developed app, you can get all the necessary user insight that’s needed to perform well once it gets released in the real-time market and is done with its beta stages.
MVP Can Help You Save Money
The thing with MVP is that you will be spending a lot of time in the beta face of the application, which means that while the application is still being made or developed by the developers, each feedback that you receive will allow you to make changes into the application right away, meaning you will not be required to hire someone to get specific changes after the application goes live in the market and is available to download for the mass public. Not only that, but the overall spending can be reduced with MVP as the launch time is decreased in an exponential way.
4 Examples Of Companies That Used The MVP Approach
Some of the biggest companies that have websites and apps right now have used the MVP approach with software development, which has allowed them to maximize usability thanks to the feedback that they get.
Here are some of the companies that used the MVP approach:
AIRBNB
The founders of Airbnb, Brain Cheung and Joe Gebbia, came up with the entire idea because they wanted to pay their rent and they needed some extra money.
To test out their business idea, which is guests are willing to pay to sleep on air mattresses inside their apartment, they landed 3 guests during a design conference that was being carried out in San Francisco. After a success in their initial business idea, their plan is now one of the biggest businesses in the world, which by the way got the hotels across the globe in complete shock.
Right now, people from all over the world are listing their houses and extra rooms on Airbnb to earn extra. The application or website is mainly used by those that simply avoid staying in expensive hotels.
Amazon
Designed in the year 1994, Amazon was made to sell books at a low price, and was using a very easy to understand web design so anyone that’s using the newly introduced world wide web could make purchases through their platform.
With an easy web design and a good plan, Amazon turned out to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, companies in the world right now that offers e-commerce services.
Currently, you can buy anything off amazon. From medicines to toys and food, the website is trying to become an all-in-one online shop for users across the globe.
Facebook is arguably the most used social media platform on the internet right now, with over 2.85 billion monthly active users worldwide.
Initially, the MVP of FB was to connect students based on their classes and colleges on the internet, and because it was so easy to use and anyone who used it could connect with everyone, people started using the website as a mode to interact with one another. Fast forward to 2022, Facebook is 100 percent different and is mainly used to reach out to friends, family members, is about forums and also has a local marketplace where you can make purchases and sell items.
As you may have noticed, as time passed by, the features are still increasing to meet up with the feedback and demands of the users that are using this platform.
Foursquare
Initially, Foursquare, a location based social network, was only offering check-ins and gamification rewards, but fast forward to today, the app is now offering recommendations of places that they should be visiting based on the current location of the user or their browsing history.
This app was once offering rewards and check-ins, but in 2022 it is now one of the most used websites or apps to know which place, bar, and restaurant you should visit if you’re at a certain place
Summary
A MVP is developed with the main goal of handing your product to potential customers so you can have an overview on what they think about what you would be offering on a larger scale once the app or software is released on the internet. This can allow you to have an overview or make the decision to bring the app in the final stages of development.
