What MVP Means for Mobile Application
Defining a Minimum Viable Product
Mobile application development is a daunting task, so if that's your jam, we salute you. You've got code to write, marketing to do, and people to pay. And at the outset, you have to do all that with very limited cash flow.
What you need is to get started as fast as possible.
To get the ball rolling, you need a minimum viable product known as an MVP. In a nutshell, an?MVP is a barebones iteration?of your app. It's what you need to launch. MVP means getting your product out the door for the lowest cost.
You might even say it's the laziest way to start a product. You wouldn't be completely wrong, either.
There's one vital point that many get wrong when it comes to MVPs. An MVP is?not?a half-completed product with features that are yet to be implemented.
Let's suppose you've got a winning new angle for dating apps. You want to match people to each other based on an innovative, bitesize personality test that's built into the platform. You quickly write down a laundry list of features to appeal to your target demographic.
They have a profile. They can upload and share images. There's a direct messaging service that allows users to talk to each other. There's a free version, a paid version, and a paid+ super-premium version for high ticket customers.
You even have tentative plans to integrate a food delivery service for movie dates on the couch.
This isn't even close to an MVP - even if you earmark most of the features for later.
Why?
Because the purpose of an MVP is to design a product that's open-ended and hits the market fast, any MVP worth its salt has a singular core concept at its heart, and that needs to be the sole aspect you focus on to start with.
Your core concept is what tells you if your product?will float or sink. User feedback and market data are what let you build the rest. Sure, you can have a list of planned features, but that should be something that's handled by a quick meeting or two.
In the above example, the MVP for the speculative dating app is one that implements the bitesize quiz, matches users based on the outcome, and lets them talk to one another. The rest is?fluff for another day.
What MVP Means for App Development
MVPs have several implications for mobile application development.
The first is in terms of scope. The second is flexibility. The third is cost, and the last is development turnaround time.
Scope
For an?MVP to work, you must drill down and define the scope of your app. This means two things: functionality and target market.
When you get down to it, your app needs only a smidge of functionality to be viable. This doesn't mean it should come off as a shoddy open beta with ugly UX design and missing graphics. But it does mean that you need to be ruthless in determining what's crucial for it to function.
That's your MVP's functionality scope. Next, you need to understand your consumer base.
What pain points does your MVP address? Who stands to benefit the most from your MVP? Is your target market viable in terms of ROI?
Flexibility
You must remain as flexible as possible both during the MVP development pipeline and following it. No function survives contact with consumers, and some things simply can't be accounted for in advance.
There may be some features that simply don't work out. Nobody handles an app with a pair of lace gloves. Consumers break things. They'll use features in ways that weren't intended. They won't understand some of the functionality.
Some will miss certain features entirely.
Your?development pipeline?must remain flexible to account for unintended consequences.
Cost
Another way of looking at MVPs is to think of them as a way of getting your product off of a flipchart and into the mainstream market for the lowest cost possible.
This isn't just in terms of the cost of development, either. If you plow six months and $X into your product without an MVP, and it?fails, you might as well have doused $X in gasoline and torched it with a flamethrower.
What's more, any unnecessary feature that doesn't cut it is doubly expensive, as now you've got to remove it or account for its shortfalls by investing more time, energy, and capital into setting things right.
If you instead spend one month and $Y on your MVP, you can then adapt and grow without additional overheads. You'll know more quickly what works and what doesn't, and as an added bonus, you'll start generating ROI a lot sooner.
You probably guessed it, but $Y is less than $X. Go with $Y.
Turnaround Time
By now, you've figured out that all of this means a reduced turnaround time. This is more than moving to the second phase of development faster.
A shortened turnaround time means more time spent on improvements. With a smaller code base, your app is efficient to update and addressing user feedback. Getting to market faster means more time your MVP can generate user interest and grow a loyal customer base.
Naturally, as we mentioned in the section above, it means more capital left in your pocket.
Case Studies of Successful MVPs
Many of the wildly successful mobile apps in use today began as MVPs. Their designers, recognizing the need for adaptability, economic cost, and fast turnaround time, sought to do the bare minimum possible to reach their audience.
Now, Spotify, Instagram, TikTok, Apple, Tinder, Uber, Facebook, and Amazon are household names. And they're not just successful.
They revolutionized entire industries. And yet, they all began as humble MVPs.
Spotify
Spotify launched in 2008. Now it's the juggernaut of an industry with an?active user base?of more than 365 million listeners. It contends with equally powerful rivals such as Deezer and Pandora.
How did Spotify become so successful? By adhering to the principles of MVP.?
Spotify has iterated countless times and always listens to its user feedback. By now, it's a complex platform that has curated playlists, in-house playlists, and user-generated playlists.
It has all the hallmarks of social media, with users able to interact with each other. It has paid and free accounts, offline listening, and canvas reels for songs reminiscent of Instagram and TikTok.
It did all this by addressing problems and iterating over time, building its success brick by brick.
Instagram came from humble beginnings. It all started as a simple photo filter app that allowed users to edit photos and add a filter to them. The main point it was addressing?
The comparative complexity of using traditional image editing software.
Now, the platform is a powerhouse of social media interactions. It has become so widespread that it's a vital element to every online business on the planet.
Just like Spotify, Instagram followed the MVP approach and has iterated like crazy. Users follow each other. They can upload a host of different content, from images to videos to view-it-or-lose-it stories that disappear after a short while, encouraging people to keep coming back.
With boosts, promoted content, and integration with parent company Facebook's ad center, Instagram has multiple a network of income generation streams.
And it all came from image filters. Talk about mobile application design gone wild.?
A Three-Step Guide To Developing an MVP
The benefits to the MVP approach should be unambiguously clear by now. The only thing left is to turn the thought experiment into a useable strategy.
So, to plop a cherry on top, we've put together a foolproof three-step strategy for how you can apply the principles of MVPs today. The great thing about it?
It's just about as simple as it gets.
Step #1: Map Out Your MVP Journey
Start by creating an actionable, step-by-step journey that takes your MVP from?raw concept?to released product.
You'll need to scope out your customer base, settle on core functionality, know your budget, and establish a timeline.
Your target market influences your functionality. Your timeline and budget tell you exactly how much wiggle room you have. Don't forget to account for difficulties further down the line, as you never know what the mobile application testing phase will throw at you.
It's important to build in a time buffer in case deadlines go awry, and portion off part of the budget should you underestimate cost. That way, you're insured against unforeseen events.
Step #2: Kill the Fluff
Anything that isn't mission-critical for release has to be cut. It's as simple as that.
Your MVP plan should already have shunted non-critical functions into the "maybe later" action plan. But you need to kill your darlings. Functions and wishes that aren't absolutely vital to your MVP hitting the market are for later.
Step #3: Hit Your First Milestone and Adapt
No matter how you define it, hitting your first major milestone is vital. It's a landmark moment in your development process that lets everybody breathe a sigh of relief.
Don't jump the gun and break out the champagne just yet. You can uncork a bottle once your MVP is released into the wild.
But focus on hitting that first milestone as soon as possible. You can bet that morale and team spirit will surge if you hit it early. More to the point, you'll have ironed out some of the kinks in development and found a rhythm your team can work with.
Your major milestone is where you can identify what is working and what isn't. This is the point where you adapt. Is your dev team focused? Are your managers delegating tasks efficiently? Are inter-personal conflicts kept to a minimum?
Are there critical concerns to address, such as capital drains, new competitors, or mobile application security?
Ultimately, keep things simple. That's the whole point of MVP. Cut the complexity and, once your MVP is out the door and you're garnering user feedback, be prepared for what comes next.
Breathe, throw a pizza party, and look back on how far you've come. In the next phase, you're going to have to iterate like crazy.
The MVP Approach Works
Look at the numbers and don't just take our word for it. We're standing on the shoulders of giants like Instagram, Spotify, and TikTok. As diverse as those platforms are, the MVP approach is one thing they all have in common.
MVP means cutting the fluff. It's about as cost-effective as it gets. It's the digital equivalent of setting up a lemonade stand outside your house. So grab your lemons, grab your sugar, and grab your wonky two-by-four to make a sign. And then get to work.
An MVP will take your startup to the next level. And if you need any help getting there,?contact us?to ensure you have the strongest possible foundation to build on.