Why an MVP is Important Part in Mobile App Development Cycle
- Mobile
- June 11, 2018
As an entrepreneur, you have taken a right decision to develop a mobile app for your business enterprise and stay ahead of the competitors. However, there always remains an apprehension whether your app will be successful or not.
So, to counter that trepidation and lower the risk factors, you can rely on the Minimum Viable Product or MVP, which helps the business organizations and startups in evaluating the risks and threats before putting an idea into life.
Definition of the MVP
The Minimum Viable Product has been a great asset for the business enterprises. It allows the developers to test the idea of the app with the customers. The MVP can also be considered as the base architecture of any mobile app.
One of the vital aspects of the MVP is that includes the most essential features of the app that you think is necessary. The development team initially receives a feedback from the potential users and thus they can make out what the response of the product is in the market. They can also analyze what are the specific segments that needs an improvement and where the performance is not up to the mark.
You can either release the MVP to a set number of targeted audiences or launch it directly into the market. If the users are not pleased with its features, you know there is something wrong in the app idea and it needs to be refurbished.
Why is the MVP Necessary for Your Mobile App?
With the competition getting stiffer, the importance of having an MVP for any mobile app has enhanced in the current scenario. It is a point where you actually get to know whether your app idea is really unique or not. It offers you the shortest possible route to reach the market and have an access to the real user experience to evaluate your project.
Fastest and Accurate Way to Receive User Review About the App
Maybe you come across some idea one fine day and spend days and months building an app based on that. This surely is an unreasonable approach because you cannot predict what the end result would be.
But having an MVP will provide an opportunity to get the fastest and accurate method to receive the user opinion on the app. You will only have to focus on implementing only those features, which will enhance the user experience and people need it.
MVP is Considered as Core of the App
The major function of the Minimum Viable Product is to only emphasize on the primary idea and key app features. It does not concentrate on the other secondary or not so important issues.
As such, the ideology of Lean startup gets the benefit of MVP approach. The Lean Startup can be defined as a startup, which commences with lowest budget within a reasonable time. The MVP app offers adequate value to try it intending to get the maximum number of customers within shortest possible time.
You are at the least risk step. It also reduces the cost of app development as only basic features are implemented. Therefore, we can say that MVP does not indicate that the app owner is falling short of budget estimate but rather he gets the core idea of the market.
MVP Helps to Evaluate the App Performance
The Minimum Viable Product is also proving to be quite a handy tool for evaluating and rating the performance of the app. The developer can check if he is moving in the right direction and making use of the latest technology and trends while creating an app.
Ultimately, it is the users who would actually determine whether or not your MVP app has been successful or not. How this is done? Firstly, you get to know if you have been successful in solving the problem of the users through the app. Secondly, you get to test the success rate of the app during the initial stages only, which helps in saving money and time as well.
MVP Allows to Deal with Security Issues Better
Today, undeniably, the app security has become paramount specifically if your app has in-built payment facility. The MVP will help you in identifying the security loopholes and resolve them appropriately.
Another advantage of fixing the security issues at the initial stage is that your app remains bug-free right from the beginning, which in turn increases the conversion rate of the app. It also allows users to navigate seamlessly.
Read also: How to Improve Your Mobile App Security Knowledge
Creating an Improved Version of the App
The Minimum Viable Product lets you analyze whether the app is getting the user attention in the market or not.
If you feel that you have not got the expected feedback or failed to connect the app idea to the users, then, it’s time to redesign the product and look for creating a better version of the app.
Few Examples of Popular Apps with Great MVP Success
If you research well, you will come across many living instances where the successful MVP launch resulted in immensely popularizing the apps. Let’s discuss a few of these:
Uber
The cab booking app – Uber also started its initial journey with the MVP launch. In its very first version, Uber mainly focused on establishing a good connection between the drivers with the users and also added the facility of credit card payments.
However, soon it stated getting tremendous response and today it has transformed into a billion dollar business with a plethora of advanced features.
Next, we come to one of the most popular photo sharing app Instagram with the largest number of users. Talking about its initial version, the users had limited number of filters when sharing the photos.
Also, the market was flooded with better photo editing apps, when they entered into the venture. However, slowly and gradually, the company started gaining the impetus and added Unique Value Proposition (UVP) allowing users to edit and share the photos at the same time.
In addition, now it also offers the support for video content and has added new filters as well the option of direct messaging besides many other features.
Read also: How Much Does it Cost to Make an App Like Instagram
The social media giant Facebook’s story is interesting. Mark Zuckerberg initially built the social media platform only for Harvard University students where they could access the directory. But later on this service got expanded to other colleges and universities and then to entire world indeed.
The first version of Facebook only had a single profile page including the option of friend request and messaging. But today it is completely on the other side with several new features which is being added at regular intervals.
Develop and Launch the MVP of the App
1. Choose the Most Important Features to Integrate
Well, the first step is to choose the most important features that you want to integrate in the app to make it viable. The choice should be made very intelligently for which you must conduct a deep extensive research.
You need to know if your idea is really viable or not. Apart from that, you also have to decide when you want to launch the MVP app. You need to discuss all these aspects with the development team.
Besides, you can select a particular group whom you want to send the app after releasing the MVP for review and feedback. It is also recommended to adopt the Agile Development methodology as it is flexible and allows scope of continuous testing of the app.
Read also: A Catalogue of Key Mobile App Features That Stands Out in Crowd
2. Designing and Creating the Product
Once you have got the confirmation that your product idea is viable, now you can shift your attention towards designing and developing the product by using the right set of technologies that can enhance the app performance. The App Development Company hired for doing the job must offer the MVP of the app.
3. Sending the Product to the Potential Users
Well done! You have proceeded to the next stage after the completion of the designing and development process. Now, it’s time for unveiling the product and sent it to the potential users. Make sure that the app offers value to the users.
4. Leaving the Scope for Improvement
No app is perfect and hence it becomes important you have to leave some scope for improvement after getting the valuable feedback of the users. You may have to make changes in the UI or UX designs, add some more value to the existing features, and enhance the security aspects and much more. This part consumes most time and also is quite a tedious task; so, you have to be patient.
Read also: Why Choose Flutter for MVP Development?
Concluding the Discussion
The Minimum Viable Product is a necessary part of the app development process. However, having said that, it is not mandatory to develop and release the MVP app. But if you are choosing and building the MVP for your product, it will surely offer more scalability and greater chances of app retention.
Don’t be over-confident that your app idea is unique and it will be a blockbuster in the market. Moreover, you can easily launch the MVP to a specified number of targeted audiences.
So, if you are searching for a reliable App Development Company that can offer a Minimum Viable Product with the right approach, then get in touch with us.
