Simon Jenner
Monday, 14 September 2020
Building your MVP doesn't have to be a gamble - learn from others' mistakes to improve your own chances of success.
Posted in:
No-Code
As users become more tech-savvy, their input on your minimum viable product (MVP) is your golden ticket to success. We know the importance of creating and building your MVP to save time and money, although there are a few key dangers to be aware of that may threaten your MVP development process and the larger success of your Big Idea.
Let’s take a look at five of them, along with the ways you can avoid falling for them.
1. Identifying the Wrong Problem to Solve
Before beginning to build your MVP, a brilliant starting point is to validate your business case. This process involves analysing the problem you have chosen to solve. A good problem to create a solution for is one that is large and won’t be resolving itself any time soon.
You also want to select a target audience within the market that is immediately affected by this problem and ensure your solution will actually benefit them. In other words, you need to identify the market need for your Big Idea. You can accomplish this by researching your industry, examining the opportunity within the market, and conducting a competitor analysis. Does your solution solve the problem in a unique and effective way?
2. Jumping Over the Prototype Phase
Just like you wouldn’t build a physical product without an initial prototype, you need a prototype to build your MVP as well.
This prototype does not need to be fully functional, shiny, and flawless - we encourage you to embrace a little sawdust. It should be just enough to aid you in visualising the UX of your MVP. The key here is baby steps; you can’t jump from an intangible idea to a functioning app with the snap of your fingers.
3. Testing the Wrong Audience
If you’ve yet to notice the theme here, your users are necessary for the success of your app. After all, you’re building it to solve their problem.
This translates through to the development of your MVP. While your mum might be thrilled to look at your MVP and tell you she loves everything about it, her excitement will not ensure that you are actually solving the problem you have identified. Instead, feedback will be the most valuable when coming from testing your intended user segment.
Test your end-users. Apply their feedback, then test again. Continue to test and improve your MVP until your users no longer reach a consensus about what is missing or what is unnecessary to include.
4. Inefficient Development Method
Jumping head-first into developing your MVP is dangerous and may result in enough frustration that you give up on your MVP prior to solving your problem. That would be a shame, both for you and the users you intend to provide a solution to.
Assuming you’re interested in saving time and money (aren’t we all?), look no further. We offer a No-Code Bootcamp that teaches you to develop a no-code MVP within just 4 weeks for a fraction of the cost of traditionally-coded apps.
Never heard of a no-code MVP? Learn more here.
5. Misuse of Qualitative and Quantitative Feedback
Qualitative and quantitative feedback are both very valuable tools for gathering feedback from your target user. The perfect combination of these will only strengthen your recipe for success.
- Qualitative Feedback includes the responses you collect about the user-experience of your MVP. This feedback will allow you to work out any issues with UI elements of the app prior to taking it to market and answers why users are struggling or succeeding to interact with the app.
- Quantitative Feedback is your hard data. What percentage of users were able to successfully find a certain feature in your app? How many users gave up making a purchase through your app?
Qualitative and quantitative feedback work together to minimise your risks of product failure.
Your MVP build can be a daunting process - but it doesn’t have to be. If you are still a bit hesitant after noting these mistakes to avoid, we would love to help you through our Bootcamp.
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