MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. It is the most basic version of the product that the company wants to launch. It is that version of a product that has just enough features that allow it to be used by early customers who in turn give feedback for the development of the product in the future.
Businesses release this model to collect feedback from users and verify whether the product is viable in the market or not. If it is, the manufacturing team can use the feedback to enhance and upgrade the product. The feedback from the users also partakes in adding to the final features of the product. This concept was marketed by Eric Ries, the author of “The Lean Startup.”
Index:
What are the characteristics of an MVP?
- Your MVP should contain the core features you’d want your product to have. You won’t receive reliable customer feedback if your MVP doesn’t contain what core features your product is going to have.
- The company should launch the MVP while keeping the cost and the efforts for its production minimized.
- It should yield what exactly your target audience wants regarding your idea so that you can improve or upgrade your product accordingly.
- It should be fast to make because that isn’t the only MVP you are going to create. You should keep launching small-scale MVPs to realize what exactly your product should look like.
What is the purpose of an MVP?
Instead of creating a full-fledged product and releasing it with a high risk, MVP allows companies to release a cost-efficient basic version of their product. The main motive of an MVP is to collect feedback from users regarding their product and test whether a certain product is feasible in the market or not.
The sooner you find out whether your product is attracting the audience, the less expense and effort you will spend on that product. It helps the creators to change the additional features to the ones that customers actually need. It not only reduces the cost of production but also reduces the amount of effort spent on that product.
MVP is more of a process than a product. It allows the creators to test, analyze, optimize and grow their product as per the needs of the customers. Thus, to summarise, the basic purpose of MVP is to:
- Learn if your idea is viable
- Minimize effort and expenses
- Define your target audience
Why use MVP?
There are so many advantages to launching MVPs. From receiving customer feedback to reducing your expense to a minimum, you have it all with just one strategy. Let’s discuss in detail the benefits you get from using MVPs.
- Allows clarity of your vision: When you first create an MVP, you focus on the core features of the product. This helps a lot in the long run as it helps keep your primary vision on the right track.
- Start your business with minimum expenses: MVPs are originally the cheaper version of your product, which allows you to analyze it with cheaper expenses and lower risks.
- Faster release: By launching your MVP, you create a ground for your product to stand on. Your budding relationships with the customers add to the success of your product. It gives you an insight into the situation in the market. You can avoid any mistakes that could cost you a fortune just by ensuring that there’s an actual demand for the product you are aiming to launch.
- Better knowledge of customer’s needs: The feedbacks received via MVPs help a lot in understanding the needs of the customer and developing the product in a way that they’ll love.
- Create a better final product: By receiving feedback so early in the product manufacturing process helps you understand the needs of your target audience better.
- Avoid product rejection: MVPs allow the companies to receive validation or criticism and upgrade their products accordingly, thus, eradicating any chance of product rejection.
- Better customer interactions: Customers love using the MVPs. Besides, if the company implements the suggested changes, they often remain loyal to the product and support the company.
- Find early funding: A successful MVP can attract the eyes of various funding sources and thus give your product a great start!
- Room for updates: With an MVP, you evolve stepwise. Starting from the most basic model, you keep on adding relevant features as per the needs of your target audience. Besides, you can update your product based on the latest technologies and stay ahead in this competitive world.
Disadvantages of MVP:
There are always two sides to a coin. Just like there are numerous benefits to launching an MVP, there are some negative aspects of it too.
- Competition: Launching a glimpse of your product to your audience and your competitors when it might still be of low quality may hamper your brand. It can even bring down your sales.
- Choosing the right technology: While creating your MVP, you must use software that allows you to scale up your project and implement updates.
- Time-consuming: Sometimes MVP may be a tad bit time-consuming.
- Reputation: Too much negative feedback can sometimes harm the reputation of a company.
The distinction between MVP, Alpha, and Beta:
So what exactly is the difference between MVP, Alpha, and Beta testing? Well, before going into that, let’s discuss briefly what Alpha and Beta testing actually mean.
- Alpha testing: It is the kind of testing that is conducted by the internal employees of the company. It identifies all the possible issues and bugs before releasing the final product.
- Beta testing: It is the testing of the almost final version of the product performed by real-life users wherein direct feedbacks from customers are taken.
What is the difference between alpha and beta testing?
- Alpha testing is done by the internal employees of the organization while beta testing is done by real-life users
- Alpha testing is done at the company’s location while beta testing is done at the customer’s location.
- Critical issues and possible bugs are fixed immediately in alpha testing while issues and bugs are collected from users and fixed altogether in beta testing.
What is the difference between MVP and beta testing?
- The main objective of MVP is to learn if their product is viable in the market and to validate their ideas. The beta testing is mainly done to make sure that the final product doesn’t have any glitches and works smoothly.
- The concept of MVP lies in minimalism while beta testing is done for the finalized product with all the decided features.
- The MVP is not created to cover the needs of the mass market. Its target audience is early adopters to validate the viability of the product. On the other hand, the Beta version is an almost final product and it is created while keeping the needs of the mass market in mind.
What is the difference between MVP and alpha testing?
- There are many MVP releases but there is only one Alpha testing.
- In MVP, the additional features aren’t decided yet. In an alpha product, the launch features are already set.
- MVP is the first step in the making of a product. It helps the company to determine the features that are to be included in the product. Alpha testing is done towards the end of the manufacturing of the product. The features are already decided. It only identifies the possible issues that may occur and correct them.
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