As an entrepreneur, you can be inspired by a great idea to create something. So, initially, you only have the idea of the project. What’s next?
Statistics show that many startups continue failing because their app is not in demand in the market. So it shows when you have a brilliant idea, do not hurry to build a fully-featured product and spending several months for hard work.
There’s a more efficient and useful variant to initially understand whether your idea will be needed in the market. It is an MVP. The MVP development process is a procedure by which a new product is built with core functionalities. The purpose here is to test the target audience’s response to it.
Let’s take a look at the main steps on how to build an MVP:
The ideas may be good, but they have to survive the harsh conditions of the market. Before you propose your new idea, be sure to identify your target user’s needs. Glean as much information as possible. And keep an eye on your rivals as well. Your task is to make your idea stand out.
What value is brought by your product? How can users benefit from your product? Keep these important questions at the forefront of your mind. You have to express your idea simply. You also should be crystal clear about the basic estimations of your product. MVP implies introducing something of value to the customers.
You need to determine which features are most crucial and which ones are not. It could be helpful to have a scale from 1 to 10 for the increasing importance of the features. It would also be helpful to include information on the complexity of product implementation. Most importantly, in what ways is it beneficial for users? These questions are to be anticipated.
After you are clear on the main features and know the real needs of the market, you are ready to create your MVP (or hire a responsible team to do that). A prototype should be of high quality, user-friendly, engaging, and suitable for your potential customers.
First, the amount of work needs to be determined; then the product is ready for the development process. After the prototype of your product is built, it needs to be tested. QA engineers start running the first series of tests.
After your MVP is launched, do a thorough review (i.e., gather your potential customers’ feedback prior to the release). Their reaction can help you determine if the product is well-received in the market and can compete with other products.
Finally, you need to know how to give a serious assessment of your product’s future success. You can conduct interviews with potential customers and ask for their opinion. Furthermore, monitoring download and launch rates are necessary. You can also evaluate the success of an MVP by studying users’ behavior. Try to check your active users’ ratings regularly.
How do you get feedback on a high fidelity MVP?
Measuring the success of your MVP and receiving potential customers’ feedback are essential parts of building the MVP.
Here are some tips on how to get feedback and give a serious assessment of your product’s future success:
- Verbal communication
You can conduct interviews with potential customers and ask for their opinion.
- Sign-up
Sign-ups are a tangible way to assess user interest.
- Better client appraisals based on the feedback
If your app is downloaded and launched time and again, then customers are interested in your product.
- Percentage of active users
Monitoring download and launch rates is necessary. However, you can also evaluate the success of an MVP by studying users’ behavior. Try to check your active users’ ratings regularly.
- Churn
It gives you the number of people who stopped using your app or uninstalled it. Churn = Number of users at the beginning of the week or month/Number of churn per week or month.
When you collect enough information about your MVP, continue improving your product-idea. Rerun tests again, learn from testing and analyze the quality, and then do more tests again. This process needs to be repeated until your product is finalized.
When you have collected all the feedback on the MVP, it is the time to launch the Minimum Marketable Product. (MMP addresses the needs of the customers and you are ready to sell.)
