How can you test market demand using minimum viable product design?

1 What is MVP?

MVP is a concept that comes from the lean startup methodology, which aims to reduce uncertainty and risk in building new products. MVP is the simplest version of your product that can deliver value to your customers and get feedback from them. It is not a prototype, a demo, or a beta version. It is a functional product that solves a specific problem or meets a specific need for a specific segment of your market. The goal of MVP is to learn as much as possible from your customers with the least amount of effort and resources.

2 Why is MVP important?

MVP is important because it helps you validate your assumptions and hypotheses about your product and your market. By creating and testing an MVP, you can learn if your product is desirable, feasible, and viable. You can also discover what features and benefits your customers value the most, what problems and challenges they face, and what improvements and changes they want. MVP allows you to test your product-market fit, which is the degree to which your product satisfies the needs and expectations of your market. Without testing your product-market fit, you might end up building something that nobody wants or needs, or that is too expensive or complicated to use.

3 How to create an MVP?

To create an MVP, you need to follow a few steps. First, you need to identify your target market and your value proposition. Your target market is the group of customers that you want to serve with your product. Your value proposition is the unique benefit that your product offers to your customers. You need to understand who your customers are, what problems they have, what solutions they use, and what goals they have. You also need to articulate how your product solves their problems, how it differs from the existing solutions, and how it creates value for them.

Second, you need to define your core features and metrics. Your core features are the essential functionalities that your product needs to have to deliver your value proposition. Your metrics are the indicators that measure how well your product performs and how much value it creates for your customers. You need to prioritize your core features based on the importance and difficulty of implementation. You also need to choose your metrics based on the objectives and outcomes that you want to achieve with your product.

Third, you need to build and launch your MVP. Your MVP should be as simple and as fast as possible to build and launch. You should focus on the quality and usability of your core features, not on the aesthetics or details of your product. You should also choose a channel and a strategy to reach and attract your target customers. You can use various methods to launch your MVP, such as landing pages, email campaigns, social media, blogs, podcasts, videos, webinars, or online platforms.

4 How to test your MVP?

To test your MVP, you need to collect and analyze feedback from your customers. You should invite your customers to use your MVP, observe their behavior, and ask for their opinions. You should also measure and monitor your metrics, and compare them with your expectations and benchmarks. You should use various tools and techniques to gather and process feedback, such as surveys, interviews, reviews, ratings, comments, analytics, or experiments.

The purpose of testing your MVP is to learn from your customers and validate or invalidate your assumptions and hypotheses. You should look for evidence that supports or contradicts your value proposition, your core features, and your product-market fit. You should also look for insights that reveal your customers' needs, preferences, and behaviors. You should use the feedback and the data to make informed decisions about your product and your market.

5 How to iterate your MVP?

To iterate your MVP, you need to use the feedback and the data that you collected from testing to improve and optimize your product and your market. You should identify what works and what doesn't work, what adds value and what wastes value, what attracts and what repels customers. You should also explore new opportunities and possibilities, such as adding or removing features, changing or testing value propositions, expanding or narrowing target markets, or adjusting or experimenting with pricing or distribution models.

The goal of iterating your MVP is to increase your product-market fit, which means increasing the satisfaction and retention of your customers, and the growth and profitability of your product. You should repeat the process of creating, testing, and iterating your MVP until you achieve a product-market fit, or until you decide to pivot or abandon your product.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?