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What does an MVP Stand For? 4 Top Insights for You
The creation of a minimum viable product (MVP) allows you to test a mobile app concept within the market place. It enables you to build a prototype, at a lesser expense, to gauge user interest and longer-term viability. This is a smart option if you’re a small or scaling business with ambitions to make a mark in the app world. Read on to find 4 top insights on the ‘What’s’, ‘Why’s’ and ‘How’s’ of MVP creation.
What is a Minimum Viable Product?
A minimum viable product (MVP) is the earliest version of a mobile app product that a team can create. The main objective of an MVP is to solve a core problem. In addition, it allows you to test your app with real users, before moving to the next stage.
When planning an MVP, you’re looking to develop a basic app that honours your budget, goals and target users’ needs. As such, an MVP becomes your innovation tool, allowing you to test and explore whilst minimising business expenditure.
Why Build an MVP for Your Small Business?
As a business owner you need to focus your money and energies on the ideas that are most likely to bring a return. Taking the MVP route allows you to dip your toe into the app pool whilst limiting business and financial risks.
Building an MVP is a smart way for you to test your app concept before you go ‘all in’ with a bigger investment. It helps you to arrive at a product that adds value to your target customers and your brand.
Which Mobile App Product Should You Start With?
Deciding on the mobile app focus for your MVP can be challenging. We recommend that you choose a product idea that meets the following characteristics:
- Firstly, it should be something that can be built quickly. This means you don’t want to spend a lot of time and money creating a high-quality, finished version. Rather, you just want to create something simple and effective, that tests your idea.
- Secondly, it should be something that has the potential to be successful. Your MVP should stem from your target users ‘needs’, be aligned with your business goals and have the potential to develop and scale.
- Thirdly, it should be something that you are familiar with – that relates to your core purpose and offer. This will help you to create your MVP more quickly and with less effort.
The MVP Process – How To Deliver A Strong Result
Now that you have a good idea of what an MVP is, let’s talk about the key steps you need to follow to create a successful one.
- Planning – Before you build anything, you need to create an MVP development plan. You want to ensure that you’re following the right principles and process from the start. This ensures you get the app architecture, user flow, functionality and features right, whilst staying in step with budget and timeframe.
- Research – When building an MVP, you need undergo customer and competitor research. You want your concept to stand out and deliver a positive, user experience. Even at this early stage, your prototype should take heed of user needs – solving a key problem in their lives.
- Design – Even though an MVP is a prototype you should still give attention to your early design and user flow. This is crucial in order to gauge a positive, customer response before you move to the next development stage.
- Development – After you’ve planned and researched your MVP, you need to get it built as quickly and effectively as possible. At this point, it’s important to follow the principle of “getting it done,” to gather essential user feedback. That doesn’t mean you skimp on the detail though. Remember, a poorly designed and executed MVP can undermine your app dreams.
- Testing – And finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for. You need to test your MVP to see if it’s worth taking all the way. Enlisting a cross-section of your target audience, to be part of the testing process is key. You should think about offering an incentive for their engagement and feedback. Remember your app brand building and future success starts here.
We hope this article has given you a valuable overview in terms of the MVP process and how it can add value to you on your mobile app journey. Get in touch about taking your first steps to plan and test your app idea.
Heveloon
Content Writer
