Developing a mobile application is quite a complicated process. In fact, it’s not only about creating an app but also about creating a whole business. It means you need to be sure the application will bring profit and that people will like it and download it.
If you are planning to develop your own mobile application, it’s recommended that you start with creating an MVP or a minimum viable product. This is an approach which allows you to create an application with basic features and release it on the market. The idea behind this approach is to get feedback from customers, as well as find out whether there’s a demand for such an application.
By analyzing the information obtained after the release of the MVP version of your mobile application, you can make adjustments and improve your final product before releasing it on the market.
What is MVP?
MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. According to Eric Ries, the author of The Lean Startup, “A minimum viable product (MVP) helps entrepreneurs start the process of learning as quickly as possible. It is not necessarily the smallest product imaginable, though; it is simply the fastest way to get through the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop with the minimum amount of effort.”
Many entrepreneurs and product developers have used MVPs to validate their ideas and reduce their risks. The goal is to build a simple version of a product that can be tested with real customers and receive feedback on what needs to be done in order to make it better. When we develop MVPs for our clients at Dogtown Media, we like to think about it as “testing before investing”.
Why is MVP needed?
If you look at the mobile applications today, you will find that the vast majority of them were developed by MVPs. An MVP is basically a software which has the main features of an application but with very limited functionality. For example, if you are developing a mobile game, then your MVP can be just a login page for players and the main menu for the game. This will help you test out all the functionality of the app before you go into full production on it.
The first question most people ask when they hear about MVPs is how does MVP help a business develop mobile applications? The reason why many businesses choose to use MVPs is because it helps them build an application which can be easily understood by consumers. Another reason is because it reduces cost and time spent in building the application.
How does MVP help a business develop mobile applications?
When you invest in mobile application development, you’re investing a lot of time and money into software that has never been tested with actual users yet. With an MVP, you are able to create a basic version of your app that’s enough to test your assumptions and see if people will actually use your app before you spend all those resources in building something that might not be useful.
- A Minimum Viable Product or MVP is the first version of a product that is shipped to customers. This version has just enough features so as to be usable by early adopters. These users can provide feedback on the product based on which further improvements can be made.
- MVP also comes in handy when businesses are trying out a new idea. In this case, the MVP would have only core features and enough functions for users to interact with it.
- MVPs share many similarities with prototypes but they also have certain distinct characteristics. First of all, prototypes are usually not ready for public use and are used internally within an organization to test and improve products before they are actually produced. On the other hand, an MVP is sent out into the market so that real users can interact with it, providing feedback and ideas for improvement.
- A minimum viable product, or MVP, is a product that has just enough features to satisfy early customers and to provide feedback for future product development. It’s a way for companies to build up a minimum set of tools that allow them to start getting value from their users.
- The MVP strategy has become very common in the world of mobile applications. Many entrepreneurs don’t want to take the time and expense necessary to build a fully-featured app — they’d rather get something in front of users as quickly as possible and then iterate based on feedback.
Here are some ways an MVP can help you build your app:
- It allows you to see if people will actually use your app. The biggest risk with any application is that nobody will want it. You could spend weeks or months working on it, only to find out that nobody cares when it’s released — which is why you need an MVP. By releasing an app with a minimal feature set, you can test the waters on whether people will actually use it. If they do, then you can continue building on it; if they don’t, then you haven’t wasted too much time and money doing it.
- It allows you to get feedback from actual users before continuing development.
- Mobile first has become the mantra for businesses worldwide and with good reason. Businesses now need to be available to customers whenever and wherever they want. This is a significant shift in how businesses reach out to their customers and also how they interact with them.
A successful mobile application (app) can help you drive key business metrics such as brand engagement, sales and customer retention. But developing a high quality app can be challenging, time consuming, stressful and expensive.
So what can your business do to mitigate these risks?
At the core of the MVP philosophy lies the idea of providing your customers with their basic needs first before refining it with additional features later on. However, this does not mean that you should provide your customers with a stripped down version of your app. It simply means that you should focus on delivering functionalities that will provide real value to your customer from day one.
If you have ever heard of the lean methodology, then you have already come across MVPs, as they are an integral part of it.
The lean methodology in a nutshell is:
- Define and understand the problem
- Build an MVP to address that problem
- Test your MVP with real customers
- Iterate by building more features into your product based on feedback
Wrapping up
Android app development is a time consuming and costly venture. The investment in the process can be worth it if the app is delivered on time and within budget, but what if it isn’t? What if you find out that the app doesn’t actually meet the needs of your customer base?
This is where an MVP, or minimum viable product comes in. The idea behind an MVP is that you can test your product with real customers before committing to a full scale launch. By doing this, you can quickly iterate and create products that are guaranteed to answer the needs of your target market.