Developing software can be expensive, particularly if the project runs over budget. On average, large IT projects will exceed their budgets by 45 percent. The very real possibility of a cost overrun exemplifies why it’s so important to build a strong MVP (minimum viable product) as a routine part of custom software development. An MVP is a software product that can be designed with limited resources and at minimal risk.
There’s virtually no downside to designing an MVP instead of a full-fledged software product. With an MVP, companies get to bring key functionalities and features of a product to life without blowing through their budgets and deadlines. The completed MVP, in turn, enables the company to achieve an early win and creates momentum for the company to secure additional funding to continue expanding the product. By contrast, companies that don’t develop an MVP first are at risk of designing products that are a poor market fit or for which there is no market need. Let’s explore five essential qualities that every good MVP should have:
MVPs Should Solve a Key Customer Problem
An MVP is not an internal prototype: It’s a viable, marketable product that’s meant to be experienced by end users. That’s why it’s so important for an MVP to offer customers a solution to an issue that end users perceive as a problem. Perhaps the problem is needing to bridge a communications gap, unlocking a useful functionality, or introducing a cheaper alternative method for an existing functionality. The goal of an MVP is to solve a problem for end users so that they have a reason to interact with the MVP and provide focused, actionable feedback on it.
MVPs Should be Tailored to a Specific Audience
Because the goal of an MVP is to get end users to engage meaningfully with the product, an MVP shouldn’t be a product that’s appealing to all audiences. Instead, MVPs should be targeted at a specific customer persona that will clearly benefit from the MVP’s value proposition.
A common way to identify a customer persona is to select a single industry vertical. Even if multiple verticals could ultimately benefit from the MVP, the MVP should be designed entirely around supporting one vertical’s use case. The advantage of doing it this way is that the company can generate meaningful customer insights without spending extensive resources to achieve them.
MVPs Should Offer a Cohesive User Experience
As much as a company may be tempted to produce an MVP that is as bare-bones as possible, this isn’t the best route to go. An MVP needs to be more than an early prototype or a small piece of a solution that, on its own, won’t be viewed as a solution. The target audience for the MVP needs to be able to take a discrete, actionable step forward as a result of interacting with the product. Thus, an MVP should offer a cohesive user experience that feels like it’s been tailored to solve a problem the target end user is facing.
MVPs Should be Thoroughly Tested
There is no point in putting an MVP in front of end users when it hasn’t been thoroughly tested. That’s because an unreliable, low-quality MVP could turn off customers for good. Although end users understand that an MVP isn’t a complete product, they still expect—and deserve—a quality product.
MVPs Should Minimize Potential Damage
Developing an MVP on a tight budget can be nerve-wracking. A poorly designed MVP has the potential to pose a risk to security and operations—in other words, to do more harm than good.
Thus, it’s important for MVPs to be designed to minimize potential damage. For example, in a worst-case scenario, an MVP shouldn’t be able to trigger a ripple effect of security breaches. Measures need to be taken to insulate and shield an MVP from the rest of the business ecosystem.
Final Thoughts
MVPs are invaluable to businesses—provided they are developed correctly. To build an MVP that drives business innovation, it’s critical to ensure that the MVP solves a key customer problem, has been tailored to a specific audience, offers a cohesive user experience, has been thoroughly tested, and minimizes potential damage in a worst-case scenario.
Outcode is a seasoned pro at helping our clients decide if, when, and how to build an MVP. We specialize in helping every client use MVPs to test assumptions about market viability and customer demand without breaking the bank. To learn more about Outcode’s tailored, client-centered approach to developing MVPs, please get in touch with us.
