Minimum Viable Product or MVP as is the term’s abbreviation is common terminology used in the web and development industry since the last decade. But what exactly is a Minimum Viable Product and its benefits in the business? Let us see them in detail in this article.
What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?
The concept of MVP was introduced in 2009 as part of the Lean Startup. The first definition given to MVP was by Eric Ries. MVP is defined as a version of a newly launching product consisting of the major highlighting features for the team to know how well the product is accepted by its potential customers. This will in turn help in validating how the product is received and the changes or alterations and additional features that are to be incorporated into the final product. Hence, you can also consider a Minimum Viable Product as a testing sample of the final version of the product.
Minimum Viable Product need not be a physical close replication of a product but can also be a representation of a product or service. Like for example, the famous travel and accommodation booking platform, Airbnb began with a simple concept of Bed and Breakfast by laying down a few air mattresses in the apartment of its founders. All they did was to post an ad that eventually became a superhit!
Another example is Dropbox. Before its final introduction, the team published a video demonstrating what is Dropbox, how is it used and the advantages of using Dropbox. This video had a wide audience and the team could easily read through the figures of views, shares, and reactions of the audience on the reachability Dropbox will receive on launching. Let us have a look at the advantages of MVP in the next section.
Advantages of Using MVP in Business/ Development
More Focus on the Core Values of the Proposition
This step will help in correctly analyzing if your vision has come to reality. As the MVP consists of the major features of the proposed product, it can be used to test and validate whether the product fulfills the criteria of the customer’s needs. In case, the MVP fails in combating or compiling a certain requirement, you can add the particular feature in the final product. This will hence aid is reducing the number of bugs in the later stage.
Reduced Rework and Better Optimization
Minimum Viable Product aids in learning the important features required for the website and roll out the unwanted ones as it might become a contradiction and unused part of the proposed product. MVP will help in optimizing the main features thereby improving the products overall performance. This will help in reducing the rework and additional entities to be done as planned in the initial phase and will eventually result in lesser development costs and the price of the product.
Create an Initial Fan Base and Customer Relationships
If the MVP creates turns out to be successful and matches the customer’s needs, this will help in retaining those customers resulting in creating a healthy relationship with the customers. This can also aid in attracting new customers to purchase your product/ service proposed. Introducing MVP can also drive in good investors and stakeholders to take part and invest in the product’s development and release benefiting your company.
Focus on Critical Business Functionalities
As the prototype of your proposed product is released earlier as a Minimum Viable Product, you can also put in your sales and marketing strategies into the test at the same time. This will help in understanding the main concepts to be used to get better sales and revenue for the company.
Points to Remember Before Creating an MVP
Conduct A Detailed Market Research
Conducting detailed research on the market and your business is inevitable. Knowing the needs of the market will help in optimizing the product’s output to compile to the market’s requirements. This is essential as it is a long-term product apart from regular updations for bettering the product output.
Learn Your Customers
Prepare a clear understanding of the target and potential customers for the product under design. Apart from learning who are the potential customers, it is also ideal to learn the basic actions and interests of the customers. For example, if the MVP is created for a website, the most visited and least visited pages must be taken into consideration to understand the customer’s interests.
Prepare a Product Roadmap
The product’s roadmap will consist of the features, its uses, and the upgrading features to come along way in the near future. Planning a roadmap on how the product will be launched and brought into the public will guide in the proper functioning of the system.
Conduct User Testing
Conduct initial testing on the product among close peers to read and record their reactions for a first impression analysis. This will help in improving the appearance and initial looks of the product and can also improvise on them before the final product is released.
Prepare a Well-Designed Product Launch/ Landing Webpage
Once your MVP is ready to be introduced, building a landing page is ideal to promote the product or service online. The landing page must contain details on the product, its functions, and its features. Including illustrations such as images and videos will also aid in promoting the product better.
Now that you have a clear understanding of the concept of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) try adding that to your business timeline on the process of launching your new product into the market.
