Written by Pat Enriquez
Have you ever heard of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?
It’s a concept that was introduced by Eric Ries, an entrepreneur, and author of The Lean Startup, who described it as a version of a new product that has just enough features to be usable in order to get feedback from potential customers.
Benefits of Having a Minimum Viable Product
In the mobile app development industry, the MVP plays a crucial role in testing if the app idea is what your market wants or if your solution actually works.
It can test the app idea in real world
When it comes to building an app, the beginning stages are important. Where did your app idea come from? Who will benefit from using your app? Who is your target market? Before diving into the whole process of developing an app, having an MVP will save you time and money.
An MVP helps you test if your app works or not. Once your MVP has been launched and a good number of people have used it, it is safe to assume it has the potential to compete in the market. If it goes the other way, at least you didn’t spend as much money and time on your final product as you would have.
Another great thing about having an MVP is that it helps you identify the changes you need to make, refine what needs to be done, and slowly improve your app, all while still working within a specific budget, before going all out.
Get feedback from users
One of the most important benefits of having an MVP is getting feedback from actual users. Feedback can be about the design, functionality, or overall experience with your app.
To help you analyze feedback, you can base it on the following factors:
- Sign ups
- Number of active users
- Number of paying users
- Engagement
- Churn rate
Helps identify bugs
Here’s the thing: despite having a really good team working on an app, it is impossible to release one that is 100% perfect with 0 bugs. Even big companies release software and applications with glitches.
With that being said, the beauty of having an MVP is that it helps you identify bugs that would have been an issue if it was released without being tested. Your MVP is the first version, thus far from being the final product.
Detecting bugs early on can help improve the product with less damage to user feedback and lower costs to fix issues before the final product is released.
How to Define Your Minimum Viable Product
Take these factors into account to ensure that your MVP is well on its way.
Ensure that your MVP aligns with your objectives
Although developing an MVP isn’t as costly as creating an actual product, that doesn’t mean you can just work on one without giving it much thought. You’re still spending time and possibly money, so make sure you’re spending them wisely.
Always consider your goals when deciding anything about your MVP. Whatever your goals are, use them as a guide when working on your MVP. Also, consider what purpose your MVP will serve you.
Identify what problems you want your MVP to solve
Think of the solutions you want to offer your customers through your MVP, but remember that you can’t fully develop all the features of your app yet. The key is to determine what are the bare minimum requirements that will make your app useable to a lot of people.
Start working on an action plan
The main point of creating a minimum viable product is that it is viable. Your product should have the potential to succeed in the market, without pouring too much time and resources.
Once you release your MVP and receive feedback from users, you will have an idea of what needs to be improved, added, or removed from your product. The next step is to create an action plan to help you develop a better version of your app.
Now that you know what an MVP is and its benefits, you might consider building one. Don’t know how to code? You can learn with us!
With various courses on iOS foundations, databases, and networking, we can help you come up with an MVP for an app idea you’ve always had. Start your iOS dev journey here.