Over time, the popularity of mobile apps is increasing rapidly. To compete in the market and increase sales. Businesses are now developing their own mobile apps. According to an article, it's unsurprising that the mobile app market is booming, given that there are more than 6.3 billion smartphone users worldwide. The market is expected to generate over $935 billion in revenue in 2023. But no one wants to spend years of teamwork, loads of money, and precious time on an app that eventually has no success in the market and turns out to be a huge flop. That's where MVP steps in to prevent that from happening. In this story, we are going to guide you on how to build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for your mobile app.

What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

Before diving into that we need to have an understanding of what is an MVP. MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product is an earlier version of a product that has enough essential features to be used by early adopters. It is built with the intention of testing your product market worth without wasting amounts of time and money on the development. By gradually improving the product with the help of user feedback and their requirements. So businesses can compete in the market on a larger scale with an investment that's worth the money.

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‍Steps to Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for Your Mobile App

Here are some steps to build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP):

1. Identify Your Product Differentiating Feature

Before launching your app into the market, find out what is the killer feature of your product that will attract people and is worth investing money in. What does your app offer that others don't have? Is that feature compelling enough to launch an app based on it, and will it attract early users to maintain their faith in the app throughout the development cycle?

2. Do Market Research

Market research is an important step while building an MVP. It allows businesses to have a vision of what their target audience is looking for. Search for what other apps in your domain are providing. What features are they providing? Discover their app's strengths and weaknesses. Conduct thorough research to understand the competitive market. Find out your target audience's needs and start working on the features that are a must-have in the app. By doing this you would find out more opportunities for your app.

3. Create a Wireframe.

The next step is to create a wireframe for your app. A wireframe is a visual representation of the interface of the app. It gives you an idea of how your app would look like. Companies don't need to give the app loads of features. Start by only giving the basic features and essential ones. This would give users an idea of what type of features their app is providing. Different features, such as free features, subscription-based features, and other purchasing features, should also be taken into consideration. Businesses can also test and improve the feature over time with users. The process of discovering flaws, identifying areas for improvement, and determining the best features will become easier this way.

4. Build the MVP

The next step with a clear vision of all the previous steps is to build an MVP. Start by developing a basic version with all the essential features, while keeping the design user-friendly and simple for users to understand. This step includes developing the app, testing it, and ensuring that all features in the app are working fine before launching it. Also by keeping things within your budget and timeframe.

5. Launch the MVP

After all these important steps comes the final launch of the app. This is an extremely important step. Make sure that all the features are working perfectly without any bugs, glitches, or errors and that app doesn’t crash while using it. This stage decides if the app is a success or if it will survive in the market over time. Don't forget to promote your app on social media platforms to gain more followers. Many opportunities will come at launch such as investors, shareholders, and an increase in users.

6. Start Testing and Getting Feedback from Users

As soon as you have a working MVP, it's time to start conducting tests and getting feedback from early users. This will help companies to find out what's working and in what areas improvement is needed. Feedback can be acquired in different ways by creating forms, group chats, and also by inviting users to test your app. This way including the main audience for which the app is being developed can help a lot in increasing market value, loyal users, investors, and companies even gain people that will promote their app. With the help of these people, testing and improving the app becomes easier, making it more user-friendly.

7. Iterate and Improve

After getting feedback from users. It's time to repeat the process. Iterate and improve the app then talk to more users and repeat. In this step, more features will be added, Some will get removed and changes to the user interface will happen with the help of the users. Our final goal is to gradually improve the app, increase its market worth, attract more investors and shareholders, and ensure that the app meets the needs of the target audience.

Building a Minimum Viable Product is a process of developing and learning over time. The MVP should be flexible so that it can adapt to the changing needs of users. Following these steps ensures the creation of a successful MVP for a mobile app.

Why Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

The question that arises most often is, "Why build an MVP?" The answer to this question is simple. Why would you want to spend years of work, time, and money on a project that could end in massive failure? For example, consider launching an app with an estimated timeline of three years. You invest months in development, wireframing, prototyping, and spending a huge amount of money to make the app perfect. However, it eventually turned out to be a flop. Your business can go bankrupt and be destroyed in little time. So, to prevent this scenario, an MVP offers a solution not only for small companies but also for large corporations. By launching the app with minimum but essential features and improving it over time based on user needs. Even if it turns out to be a failure, identifying and addressing the issues can happen much sooner and be less destructive.

What are the Benefits of Building an MVP for your Mobile App?

There are many benefits of building an MVP for your mobile app such as:

  • Earlier launch of your product in the market gives you a competitive edge over your competitors.
  • Reducing development costs and risks by launching with essential features helps to eliminate risks earlier, rather than waiting until it's too late.
  • By Getting user feedback and suggestions the app can be improved according to the target audience and become user-friendly.
  • A better understanding of your users and market needs by involving users in the development of the app. 
  • Gaining investors and shareholders when they see your app is improving and worth investing their money in.

Things Not to Do While Building an MVP

These are a few things not to do while developing an MVP for your app.

  • Build a full-fledged App- this is actually eliminating the whole point of making an MVP. Launch the MVP earlier and improve it over time.
  • Not getting feedback- If you don't receive feedback from your target audience, for whom the app is being developed, your app won't improve and become user-friendly over time. This can lead to users losing trust in the app.
  • Being afraid to take risks- experiencing risks and problems in any business is completely normal you have to be brave enough to deal with them. There is a famous quote that states"Fall in love with the problem, not the solution".
  • Have an unrealistic budget and timeline- you must have a realistic budget and timeline while building an MVP for your mobile app.

Real-Time Apps That Have Enforced MVP

Here are some apps that have used the MVP approach.

1. Slack‍‍‍

The famous app Slack began as a messaging app to have team communication with each other. Then eventually they introduced more features such as file sharing, channels, integrations and more based on the user requirements

2. Instagram‍

Instagram MVP was a simple photo-sharing app that allowed them to put filters on it and share them on Instagram with limited features. Now it has features like sharing stories, notes, highlights, applying music to stories, and many other cool features based on user preference.

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