What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?
Minimum Viable Product is the initial version of the final application which is presented in a compact form. MVP is launched to determine the acceptance of the product and to gauge whether the product will sustain in the market. Usually in mobile app development, Minimum Viable Product is built with minimum, yet necessary features that determine the product and also, define the market potential.
It would be incorrect to say that MVP is an amateur version. It is more of a beta version that focuses on getting customer feedback and later releasing the main application with the entire set of features. The following image is the best pictorial representation of the Minimum Viable Product.
Why do companies need Minimum Viable Product?
I know this question must have passed through your mind: “Why release the MVP and not just the main application?” So fellas, here are all the reasons why companies need to launch the Minimum Viable Product and how it can prove to be super beneficial for your final application:
1. App’s performance evaluation – Minimum Viable Product act as a tool to evaluate and judge an app’s performance. Developers can examine whether the application is moving in the correct direction and can make changes to the application according to the latest trends and technologies that they might have not implemented before.
2. Centre of attraction (read app) – To highlight the initial idea and the vital application features is the utmost function of a Minimum Viable Product. MVP application provides sufficient value in order to get in the hands of the maximum number of users and within the shortest time-frame possible. It also reduces the app development cost because only the basic, crucial features go into the making of the app.
3. Quick customer feedback – One major benefit of an MVP is that it provides instant user review that lets the company know how their application is performing in the market. Otherwise, how hapless would it be to invest several months into building an app and getting scathing feedback from the users because of the lack of prediction and forecast of the app’s popularity! MVP helps in ruling out such an unreasonable approach. Also, it aids in focusing on executing only the features that upgrade user experience for the customers.
4. Improved version – As the Minimum Viable Product helps in analyzing the attention that an app gathers in the market, it makes it possible for companies to improve their application if the market reviews are not according to their expectations. It gives opportunities to work further on the app and come up with a bigger and better version.
5. Better security – This benefit of the Minimum Viable Product is a major priority for those applications that hold in-built payment features. MVP helps companies to identify and locate the security loopholes and rectify them suitably. One more benefit to enjoy at the initial stage, a.k.a, the MVP version, is that fixing issues related to security from the beginning results in an apparent increase in the conversion rate of the application.
They did it too!
Uber, a popular cab booking application, began its journey with the Minimum Viable Product release. It started off with establishing a connection between the drivers and the customers and provided them with the facility of making payments with credit cards. This started getting attraction and soon the company transformed into a billion-dollar business with a bundle of progressive features, collaboration tools, monitoring activities, navigation features, payment modules etc. Similarly, Instagram managed to stand out in the market of photo sharing apps by introducing the feature of editing photos within the application and sharing them at the same time. It gradually came up with features like video sharing, direct messaging, etc.
There are many more applications (Twitter, Airbnb, Facebook) that stepped into the market, holding their Minimum Viable Product up and high. Examples like these make the case of MVP pretty strong and convincing and encourage companies to embark on their app’s journey without any hesitation.
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Source: DZone, Mind Inventory, Medium (@peter.fernandez)
Rachit Agarwal
