Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash
UX Indonesia on Unsplash

Launching a new product requires a lot of resources and effort. At the same time, each company strives to do this within a reasonable time frame, with high quality and budget as much as possible. How to test the business idea of the project in a short time and use a minimum budget? What is an MVP in business? Do startups need an MVP and why? Why MVP app design should be client-oriented. You will find answers to these questions in this article.

What Is MVP And How Does It Work?

MVP is a minimum viable product with the minimum necessary functionality, which at the same time brings value to the end user.

MVP can help startups and business representatives to test the idea and the main functionality of the product at the initial stages of its development. The results of testing the MVP and feedback from the users will help you estimate:

  1. Product viability level.

  2. Benefits to end users.

  3. Possible changes in functionality or strategy.

  4. Functionality that cannot be changed.

  5. Prospects for product development.

  6. Demand for the product in the market.

What Is The Difference Between MVP And Prototype

The development of an MVP at the initial stage often involves the creation of a prototype - an early version of the product. Unlike MVP, it does not have full-fledged features. The prototype only imitates software that looks and works like a planned decision. Accordingly, its structure is simpler, and it takes less time and money to develop.

A prototype is a model of a project that can be shown to investors or an audience, to hear their feedback about a startup. The prototype allows:

  • demonstrate to users how the product will look like with minimal effort, time, and money;

  • determine the perception of the overall concept;

  • evaluate the usability of the product - design, interface, and main functions;

  • find your client;

  • detect gaps, shortcomings, and eliminate them at an early stage.

If this step is skipped, the MVP launch may fail. Feedback on the project allows you to more accurately determine whether it will be profitable, viable, and cost-effective.

Questions To Ask When Designing an MVP

Do not forget that the design of an MVP application should focus on users and their problems. The idea is simple, but startups and businesses often miss the opportunity to add value to their product. Often a critical mistake occurs right at the beginning: they build their MVP around features, not customers. Ask yourself some questions that will help you avoid mistakes.

Can You Explain The Product Idea In 2 Minutes?

In brief product announcements, many teams describe the functionality, use cases, and the main idea, but nothing about value for the user. You can get so immersed in the project and admire your idea that you forget about who you are creating the application for. Try to fix this as soon as possible so you don't scare users away.

Is Your MVP Focused On Features Or Customers?

The difference between a feature-focused MVP and a customer-facing MVP seems to be negligible. You could even say that there are scenarios that require feature orientation, but when launching a new product, market success is much more important than your ambition.

The landing page often gives the person information about what the product can do, but almost no mention of the specific benefit for him or the business. The instructions also do not say why the user should perform certain actions and what they will lead to. As a result, halfway to more complex tasks, the user does not understand what he is doing and why, and the product seems to him like an obstacle course.

Test your MVP as early as possible with real clients to get feedback and give yourself enough time to make changes. Sometimes even the smallest details can affect the success of a product.

Do You Think Like a Buyer?

Telling you to put yourself in the customer's shoes is not a difficult task. The question is how to do it:

  1. Stop thinking like an entrepreneur.

  2. Think about the purpose of the product instead of its features.

  3. Focus not on functional areas, but on use cases.

  4. Think not about income, but about return on investment.

These changes in mindset need to happen as early as possible in order to properly plan communication with the client. This will determine the language of your product, its positioning, and its main message.

Here are a few ways to achieve these goals:

  1. Talk to users, potential customers, and customers of your competitors.

  2. Write some user stories, and describe 4-5 different types of people that your product can help. Determine why they will use the product and what their goals are.

  3. Take everything people say with an open mind. Collect all the data and be ready to translate their requests into your functionality.

Do You Aspire to Be "Everything to Everyone"?

Your MVP application design doesn't have to suit everyone, it just needs to evoke a reaction from the right people. Cut down on the feature set to target and serve only the customers you can help the most.

Instead of offering a full line of products for different audience segments, launch one product for a specific market. Later, you can add additional functionality if there are active requests from other users.

Do You Think About What You Write?

Many companies are addicted to corporate language, so their texts turn into a block of meaningless words that do not help users in any way. Remove everything superfluous from your descriptions and focus on the benefits for people.

All these questions have answers, and all these answers can lead to changes - before, during, or after the launch of the MVP. Do not be afraid of feedback and changes that will need to be implemented in your idea and product, because the only thing that matters is the value for users.

Conclusion

The MVP for your product should be focused on solving user issues. In this case, the chances of success are very high. If you want to develop just such a product, Perpetio will help make your dream a reality. Since 2014, the company has been developing products for Android and iOS. You can take advantage of full-cycle mobile development support and get a working product that will be highly appreciated by customers.