The global mobile application market was worth $106 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $407 billion by 2027. This means more businesses will be looking to leverage the power of such technology. But, the app development cost may push small and medium businesses to give up the idea.
But there is an alternative to it. Creating a minimum viable product (MVP). MVP app development is a great way to quickly launch a product and test how it resonates with customers.
It involves developing a basic version of an app that covers the core features of the app and then adding and refining features over time. It follows a process that helps businesses get feedback from users early in the development process, allowing for an iterative approach that can result in a better product.
Additionally, MVP app development can efficiently use resources, as it only involves developing its essential features. This approach can also help businesses reduce risk and quickly launch a product.
Therefore, you do not need to incur the high app development cost, ranging from £12,000 to £3,50,000. Instead, you can choose MVP app development, which costs around £10,000 to £35,000.
Why should startups create MVPs?
MVP is an important element for startups that involves creating a bare-basic version of a product housing minimum features. Choosing MVP means getting insights from users about your business idea in the early stages itself and more importantly, the feedback paves the way for future product development.
This is a cost-effective way to gain feedback, test your app in the market, and make adjustments to the product before launching the full version. MVP development for startups ensures gauging user engagement and finding ways to retain customers and adjust the product accordingly.
MVPs can help with the following —
Quickly validate the idea:
MVP development helps gauge whether the idea has the potential to turn into a profitable business. This saves time and money by avoiding costly investments in creating a product that customers may not use.
Get customer feedback:
An MVP app allows startups to get customer feedback and make necessary improvements to the product or service before launching it in the market. This helps create a better product that meets customer needs and expectations.
Attract investors:
Investors are often more likely to invest in a startup that has already created an MVP app. It is because an MVP shows the vision of your business and offers something tangible to investors before investing.
Fast to launch:
You can launch the product or service quickly and get it into customers' hands once you have the MVP ready. It works to give a head start and offer a competitive edge to leverage the first-mover advantage.
Test the market:
With the MVP app at your disposal, you test the market to understand which features customers need and which add no value. This helps create better products tailored to meet market demand and minimises the chances of product failure.
How to create a successful MVP for your startup?
Creating a successful MVP requires following processes with a scope of feedback and improvement at each step. Generally, creating an MVP requires the following steps —
- Business and Marketing
- Proof of Concept
Business and marketing:
This is crucial since it puts together a compelling business case well-supported by relevant evidence. This requires analysis, planning, discovering optimal marketing practices, and finalising robust conceptual frameworks. This will also require finding the most effective marketing channels to reach the target audience with the right message.
The Proof of Concept (PoC):
This is a technical matter requiring experts to testify whether the idea can turn into a full product. Creating a minimum viable product helps determine which features are most important and which can be omitted. POCs provide inputs to create prototypes that show how your product or feature would function in practice and provide evidence that it addresses an issue your target audience faces. A prototype may shape up as an improved version of a proof-of-concept used to avail feedback from actual customers.
Steps for creating MVP
As mentioned earlier, creating a successful MVP requires following a process that begins with an idea generation and ends with launching a product. In between, here’s all that should be done.
Validating ideas through research
Not all good ideas can be implemented successfully in the marketplace. Therefore, before beginning MVP development, you must ensure the idea will address the unique needs of targeted customers. Additionally, you should be aware of your competitors' offerings and consider ways to differentiate your product concept from theirs.
An ideal approach involves conducting research by adopting different methods.
Conduct Surveys:
Surveys are among the most efficient tools for early customer research. Surveys range from a few questions to in-depth interviews, depending on the product's or service's complexity. Ultimately, it offers a great way to understand customer needs and preferences and help identify improvement areas.
Focus Groups:
Another research method is that of a focus group. It involves gathering a small group of target customers, offering space to discuss and provide feedback on the product concept. This type of research helps better understand how customers perceive the product or service, what they like and don't like, and what features they would like to have.
User Testing:
User testing involves testing the product with a select group of customers. This is done to identify any usability issues and to verify if users are experiencing any issues while using the MVP product.
Competitor Analysis:
Analysing the features of similar products available in the market is a great way to understand the customer needs that are being unmet. This could help to identify important features that could be included in the MVP.
Analytics:
Analysing data from existing sources can help understand customer behaviour, which can be used to identify areas where improvements are needed. This includes website visits, social media analytics, sales data, etc.
Define necessary features
The next step involves creating a list of features that must be included in your MVP. Start with brainstorming a list of potential MVP features based on the above research. It is important to identify the features necessary for the product to meet its goals and other sets of features that can be added later.
The first step in deciding an MVP's features is clearly defining the problem the product intends to solve. An MVP should provide a basic solution to the problem without excessive complexity or features.
The features of an MVP are decided based on the target market, customer expectation research, competitor analysis, and product usability.
Once the most important features have been identified, the next step is prioritising them. It is important to focus on creating a high-value and low-cost MVP. Begin by including only the features that are essential to the product’s success and leave out anything that is not necessary. This allows the product to be developed faster and with fewer resources while also testing key features.
Finally, create a timeline for releasing the product’s features in different phases. Specify when each feature should be implemented and when the product will be ready for launch. This timeline should also include any testing and user feedback that deems necessary to refine the product releasing it.
MVP Development
The MVP development phase builds on the prototype. Ideally, it begins with creating an MVP prototype and moves to the development phase. This is a crucial step in the process since it involves creating the actual code for the app. It requires developers to ensure that the app is coded correctly and optimised for the intended device(s).
While working on the minimum viable product (MVP), the development team will provide you status updates detailing the time spent on implementing various features. When using an agile methodology, your team of developers will have product demo meetings to showcase the functionality they've built and how it functions in the testing environment.
The code development for an MVP focuses on creating a stable, secure, and reliable foundation for the product. This involves writing code from scratch or using existing frameworks or libraries to speed up the development process. This code should be modular, reusable, and maintainable so future product iterations can be built on top of it.
Testing
This is the step for an MVP where the product is tested by actual users, and feedback is gathered to help improve the design, features, user experience, and overall product. During this phase, the MVP development team works to identify key metrics and use them to measure the product's success in the real world.
Feedback from users can also be used to help guide further development and make improvements. Here, the QA team identifies bugs or issues that need to be addressed prior to releasing the product in public. After the testing phase is completed, the MVP can be released and refined based on the user and QA team’s feedback.
Deployment
MVP Deployment is the final phase where you roll out the new product to a limited set of users. This is to test its viability and usability before opening it up for larger audiences. This is an important step in MVP development as it allows for feedback to be collected and acted upon before the product or feature is released to a wider audience.
The MVP Deployment process typically involves four key steps:
Pre-Launch Preparation — Gathering the necessary resources, setting up the development environment, gathering user data, and ensuring the MVP is ready.
MVP Release — Releasing MVP to a limited set of users. This may be a closed beta group or a small group of users who have signed up to test the product.
User Feedback — After releasing the MVP, it is crucial to collect user feedback and analyse the same. Use methods like collected and analysed. This can be done through surveys, interviews, and other forms of qualitative feedback.
Iteration and Improvement — This is where the development team works to deploy the feedback received from users to improve the product before releasing it to the full market.
Cost of MVP development
Now that you know the steps and process of MVP development, you would wonder how much does it cost to create an MVP app? Well, a typical cost would vary between tags for creating a minimum viable product is between £10,000 to £35,000.
The actual cost would vary based on the features, technology, time-to-market, etc. Therefore, it is best to discuss the costs associated with individual features or iterations of the MVP's development rather than providing blanket estimates.
In all, MVP development takes place in three major phases, and it will have the following (approximate) time and cost associated with it.
Later, there is a cost associated with launching it that often includes marketing, sales, and product demos.
Wrapping up
Overall, creating a minimum viable product is an effective and efficient way to take a product from concept to reality. It works for startups to test the cost-effectiveness and viability of their product ideas by creating a proof of concept. It can then be used to secure funding or attract customers.
With MVP, you can identify areas of improvement and build a better product and minimise the chances of failure by making the most out of customer research, analysis, and feedback.
FAQs
What are the benefits of an MVP?
The key benefits of MVP include reducing development costs, gaining customer feedback, and providing an opportunity to test the market.
How to begin with creating an MVP?
Creating an MVP involves identifying the core features of the product, prioritising them based on customer feedback, and developing a prototype or working model with those features.
How long does it take to develop an MVP?
The time required to develop an MVP depends on the complexity of the product and the resources available. Also, a lot would depend on the reiterations based on QA and customer feedback. Therefore, it can take anything between 12 to 15 weeks.
How to search for your MVP development partner?
An ideal way to search for MVP development partners begins with researching potential partners having the skills and experience you need. Search companies that specialise in MVP development and have a proven track record of successful projects. Ideally, you should consider looking at their portfolios to get an idea of their experience and the types of projects they have worked on.
What is the cost of MVP app development?
The cost of developing an MVP for a startup can vary greatly depending on the complexity of the project, the type of technology being used, and the experience of the development team. Generally, the MVP development cost ranges between £10,000 to £35,000 or more.