Although a minimum viable product (MVP) is a very specific term with a strict definition, it has become one of the most misused terms in the technology world.
It is often used to refer to a prototype of a demo of the final product, but in reality, it is simply a more basic version of the final outcome.
When it comes to mobile apps, this means that you should have a few key features and functionalities with your first release.
There should be enough going on to make sure people understand what your app is about and how it can serve them, but not enough that it is a completely finished product.
Creating an MVP is extremely important as it provides you with metrics regarding your most useful features, which leads to a greater success for your app from the get go.
It can also provide you with feedback from users and analytics about what may be missing, and could potentially bring up things you hadn’t previously thought about.
Despite the benefits, however, defining an MVP for your mobile app isn’t always an easy task, nor is knowing where to start.
This is why we’ve put together the five main tips you need to put into action when planning the MVP version of your next mobile app.
Identify Your Target Audience
One of the very first things you need to do when defining your MVP is identify your target audience.
You might think that this doesn’t matter very much in a world of increased mobility, but this isn’t necessarily the case.
In fact, in 2017 alone, 25% of mobile apps downloaded were abandoned after just one use.
Though you cannot completely eradicate abandonment rates with your app, you can reduce them by knowing who will find real value in your app beforehand.
This will also provide you with an easier sense of where to market once your MVP has been released, ready to receive feedback from your audience.
Work Out The Problem Your App Solves
There’s no point in creating an MVP if you don’t know what problem your mobile app solves as this will prevent early users from understanding the value behind it.
This is a big deal when you consider that, in the first quarter of 2019 alone, the Google Play Store had 2.1 million apps available to download.
With so much competition, you need to be able to have a deep understanding of what your app is useful for and be able to portray this to users in a concise, easy to understand way.
If you’re struggling with this, think about the finished mobile app and the features you’d like it to have.
Then, put yourself in the shoes of a user and ask yourself what they would use it for if they came across it on an app store.
If it has features like timers and rewards, you may solve a problem someone has with productivity by providing them with the incentive to get things done.
On the other hand, an app that allows you to message people using the internet may allow people with smaller contracts to keep in regular contact with loved ones.
Regardless of what your app does, understanding how it could revolutionize your app is incredibly important, and a key part of defining your MVP.
Prioritize Your Focus On Certain Features
While it can be tempting to want to build a mobile app with all your desired features at once, this isn’t a great idea and can be a very costly way of doing things.
According to Digital Authority Partners, a successful MVP is created when you focus solely on the features that are aligned with your primary objectives and goals.
This means that you need to sit down with your team and think about what is most important to you in the long term.
If your primary objective is to serve a community, you may want to focus on implementing features that an app is yet to cover.
If you’re more interested in creating a profitable app, you may want to create an MVP with in-app marketing and features that encourage people to make additional purchases once the app has been downloaded.
Work Out Your Monetization Strategy
Mobile apps can be extremely profitable for businesses. In fact, the worldwide revenue for mobile apps is set to reach $188.9 billion by 2020.
Despite this, most apps won’t make enough money to cover their initial development costs.
While creating an MVP can go some way to prevent this as it’s cheaper to do, it’s also important to create a monetization strategy.
This will provide you with the profit necessary to make further improvements down the line, and to have your app considered profitable.
The most popular monetization strategy used at the moment is in-app advertising, which is utilized by 79 percent of gaming app developers and 49 percent of non-game developers.
Having this in place with your MVP will also save you considerable time when it comes to adding additional features further down the line.
Make Feedback A Priority
One of the main reasons to utilize an MVP is to receive feedback about your primary features so you can understand what your audience desire from your app.
To get the amount of feedback you need to make changes, you need to think about introducing in-app pop-ups and other ways of encouraging people to leave feedback.
In addition to this, you should also think about monitoring your behaviour analytics to see what features are drawing people to your app and the ones convincing people to click off.
Summary
Creating a MVP for your mobile app is an incredibly important part of the process, but that doesn’t make it easy.
Defining your mobile app is a long process that involves identifying your audience, prioritizing the features that mean the most to them and working out the problem your app solves. Not sure where to start?
The difference between an MVP and a finished mobile app is that feedback is far more important in the former, with it being responsible for potentially changing the direction of your app over time.
If you want to create a successful app, you need to consider all five of these tips and make sure you’re implementing them as part of your MVP mobile app defining process. Check out this list of creative companies that can help you out define a perfect MVP for your next mobile app.
To read more on topics like this, check out the business category.
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