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Building an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is one of the early steps to ensure the success of your project. This step should be given a thorough consideration though as it will largely determine whether the product you are creating will receive a warm welcome on the market.
Without further ado, we have prepared a step-by-step guide for you to help you build a successful MVP.
MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the initial version of a digital product. Before it is built, every digital product is a combination of ideas, projected income and costs, plans, funding opportunities and potential growth. However, until the product is built and launched, all of the above remain assumptions. MVP in this respect helps to understand whether your business ideas are viable.
The beauty of an MVP is about creating a draft product with key functions and getting to test how well it handles the tasks that is was built for. Testing and getting feedback are part of the process that allow refining product functionality, design, product costs and receive potential users’ feedback. All this is done to ensure that the product, which is eventually released on the market, is functional, relevant, user-friendly and cost-effective.
So where do you start when building a successful MVP?
1. Define the purpose of your MVP
Define what information gained from building an MVP will land you with a product that will sell well.
2. Do a research
Explore the market, see what products are already there and what makes them successful, study your competitors, find service gaps and capitalise on that. Remember that the benefit of a thorough market research does not end at the stage of product development, it will serve as a solid ground for product/service growth in the future.
3. Determine the core features of your product
Among everything that you want your product to be, define the core features that are vital for your product/service essence. To help you with this, try to get clear answers to the following questions:
– What problems you are trying to solve with your product?
– What is your target audience (who will be using your product)?
– What differentiates your product from the existing products on the market? (new features, design, affordability, user-friendliness etc.)
Based on the answers you get, you will be able to crystallise the focal points for your MVP.
4. Build an MVP
While previous steps take some time, we suggest that you do not delay with the actual building of MVP. There is no universal approach to building an MVP that works for all. Start with having a clear vision of your product, incorporate basic graphic design and add architecture wireframe. It does not have to be perfect. MVP will help you to refine the features and elements that your ideal product should have.
5. Test your MVP with potential users
Once you have the MVP built, it is time to start collecting feedback from the potential users. Getting feedback is probably the most valuable part of the learning before you launch your product. The whole idea of any product or a new service is about giving the customers what they want. Feedback will give you a clear understanding of what features your product really needs, what your true target audience is, if your product has potential to grow and whether it is worth investing into it at all.
Be open to any type of feedback. Whether it is positive or negative it still is a valuable piece of information that will help you to create the right product.
This stage highlights what you should improve and enables you to see if your creation is a product-market fit.
6. Improve your MVP
There is always room for improvements. They are much easier to make when you know exactly what needs to be changed and why. Making improvements based on the feedback and testing, turns your assumptions into evidence and defines the direction for your product development.
Some may be put off by what they see as additional expenses associated with building an MVP. There is no need to hire an expensive team of developers at this stage – save it for later when the time of product development comes. Believe us, building an MVP pays off and saves you from significant unnecessary costs in the future.
At Magnise, we have been involved in both – building an MVP and developing a product. We know the deal and can guide you through all stages that your particular product may need. Get in touch with us and we will be happy to share the expertise.
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