MVP in Mobile App Development
An MVP mobile app is a minimal form of your product that you want to test in the market. What is an MVP? The abbreviation MVP expands to ‘minimum viable product’. For a mobile app, it is the preliminary iteration of the app that has a limited number of features but offers functionalities and core benefits which can be experienced by early users of the product.
Using the strategy of developing an MVP allows the development team to validate assumptions made for the product and the experience that target users will have with the functionalities intended for the mobile app product.
Building the MVP is an iterative process and it helps to identify user pain points in the early cycles which are addressed and set right in the successive iterations. In the field of mobile app development, using the MVP development method allows you to build only the core functions for early adopters. It is, in fact, an app model that will help you achieve the primary goal that you want to get using the app.
Why You Need an MVP for Your Mobile App
An MVP for a mobile app allows the creation of a new product using real data that is part of users’ feedback. An MVP for a mobile app provides you with the following benefits:
An MVP provides a quick way to develop a working product that will provide value, thereby minimizing costs.
Developing an MVP allows you to have the chance of understanding your target customer in greater detail.
It sets the stage for future iterations and development direction for your product.
It helps to showcase the business potential of the product and may help to buy in new stakeholders.
How to Set up an MVP for a mobile app
The steps to planning an MVP can be made part of the agile mobile app development process. The different steps are presented in a brief manner below.
Identify and understand what the market needs
Strive to find out if the market requires a product that you intend to create. It could bridge a gap existing in the market. Dig deeper into what your competitors are up to and you can decide what better features your product can sport in the market.
Also set up long-term business goals like reducing check-out time for your customers, etc. You must be in the know of what would define the ‘success’ of your product; whether it is having ‘x’ number of downloads or reaching $y in terms of transactions via your app.
Map out the user journey
Mapping out the user journey would allow you to look at the product from a user’s perspective. Thereafter you can design the app so that it is easy for the customer to use your app. For this, some prerequisites are correctly identifying the user, identifying the different actions the different users have to take, and addressing other associated priorities that enable the user to reach their goal whatever it may be.
Pain and Gain Map
Plotting out a pain and gain map may be the best step that you take while creating an MVP. This act would help you to identify each user's pain point and also list the gains if this was to be solved. This allows you to spot points with the greatest potential.
Decide the features to build
At about this stage, you will know what features you need to include in your MVP to make it tick. It is also not a good idea to implement too many user-requested ideas in the app. This may cause the app to lose its overall usefulness.
Listing the features to be included and writing down specific opportunity statements will allow you to have more clarity on the product roadmap. Use a prioritization matrix to include the most urgent features first.
MVP apps that turned out to be runaway successes
Some of the most successful mobile apps of today such as Airbnb, Facebook, Dropbox, and Twitter were all started as MVPs. Understanding the shortfalls and incorporating features that removed the users’ pain points have brought the apps to where they are today.
These apps, as you know, allow great user experience and satisfaction, are profitable and have monetization features.
Spotify is today an app to be reckoned with. It grew to its current stature because the creators of the app acted on user feedback promptly and learned from in-app user behavior.
The first version of Uber was designed to connect customers to cab drivers and accept payments. Uber was able to solve a particularly notable pain point and that was the trouble of hailing cabs. Uber solved the problem and they are where they are today.
Instagram was initially launched as a location-sharing app: that is, users could take photos, edit the photos and geo-tag the locations. Today, with enabled video content support and allowing users to share their Stories, they have gained a massive following.
Conclusion
An MVP mobile app is a great tool for anyone wanting to attract investors or turning a business app into a success. It allows you to incorporate any significant adjustment into the mobile app that was not included earlier on.