How to Build an MVP: A 7-Step Guide to Success

Posted in Healthcare

Developing a product that fails to deliver after significant investment is a costly mistake. According to Statista, one of the most common reasons for startup failure is the lack of market demand for the product. But how can healthcare app development companies know if their product would work? The answer is – an MVP! A minimum viable product is a tool that supports innovations and saves time and money. This concept gained popularity through Eric Ries’s The Lean Startup, which focuses on creating a framework based on customer feedback with minimal initial investment. This strategy proved a successful strategy for big names like Figma, Dropbox, and Uber.

When pondering over how to build an MVP, always ask the following questions: What’s your idea? What makes it unique? What value does it offer? Once you have a target set, focus on essential features and leverage real-world insights to increase the likelihood of long-term success. Let’s get into more detail about the 7-step process to develop an MVP, common challenges, along with the solutions and benefits it offers. 

What is an MVP (Minimum Viable Product)?

An MVP is a functional product with basic features used to test a business idea. The purpose of a minimum viable product is to start with a small use case, evaluate it, and then decide whether you need to refine it and develop the idea into a product solution or move in another direction. 

While building an MVP, developers must balance the product to make it simple enough to not overuse resources but deep enough to demonstrate its value proposition. 

Businesses should ensure that the MVP has enough features to attract early adopters and provide valuable insights so that they can save on the cost of a fully developed product. This methodology allows businesses to get feedback from the real world and quickly adapt towards a better, market-ready solution.

Common Types of MVPs

1. Low-fidelity MVPs

They have a fast development process and are cheaper to make. Usually, they involve creating a basic prototype with simple materials like sketches or wireframes and are intended to undergo rigorous testing of the core functions. The product evaluation process helps manufacturers get real feedback from users. Such MVPs validate a product idea and ensure it meets the target audience’s needs. 

2. High-fidelity MVPs

Consider them like advanced versions with better design and functions. A high-fidelity MVP is much closer to the final product, with more work on user experience and design. Since they offer high-end features, these MVPs are more expensive and time-consuming to develop; however, they provide accurate market projections, which is valuable. 

Purpose of Building an MVP

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) aims to test your idea with real users to gather valuable feedback. You can refine your product while saving time and money by starting with a basic version that includes only the essential features. This lessens the risks, improving your chances of success.

For example, while building MVP in software setting, one could focus on a single targeted feature, like an appointment scheduling tool. You will learn what does and does not work and how to improve your product to meet user needs through user interactions and feedback collection.

How to Build an MVP – The 7-Step Process 

Creating a minimum viable product includes: 

1. Define Your Ideal Customer

Start by understanding your target audience by creating a profile that includes details like their age, gender, income, etc. Think about their pain points and how your product can help solve them. Additionally, consider how they make buying decisions and where they shop. Comprehensive customer understanding helps ensure your MVP is designed to meet their needs.

2. State Your Product’s USP

Figure out what gives your product a competitive edge. Always ask yourself, “Why should customers choose your product over others?” To find the answer, thoroughly research what competitors offer and where they fall short. Find areas where your product can stand out and offer something better. Your value proposition should clearly explain why your product solves the customer’s problem best.

3. Set a Budget

Not overspending is crucial, and for that, you need to properly allocate a budget; include costs for:

• Development phase: Building the product, hiring developers, and getting the necessary tools.
• Design: Creating user-friendly UI/UX.
• Marketing: Promoting your MVP to get early testers.
• Market research: Talking to customers or running surveys to get their opinions.
• Operational costs: Ongoing costs like web hosting or licenses. 

4. Select a Time Frame

Setting a deadline to build an MVP is a must. Typically, MVP product development can take anywhere from some weeks to a few months, depending on how complex your product is. Having a set timeline helps you stay focused and prioritize only the most important features, ensuring you can move on to testing and gathering feedback without delay.

5. Create Your MVP

Your MVP is the simplest version of the product that real users can test. It is not about building a perfect product, but enough to see if your idea works. 

Your MVP can take different forms, such as:

• The basic version has just the essential features.
• A landing page that explains your product and offers sign-up.
• Short videos explaining your idea.
• A manual version of your product (like doing everything by hand before automating it).
• A crowdfunding campaign to see if people will pay for your idea. 

6. Get Feedback from Early Adopters

After releasing your MVP, get questionnaires filled by early users for feedback. Focus on getting answers to the following questions:

• What did you like most about our product?
• How does it work in your daily life?
• What problems does it help you with?
• Why would you stop using it?
• What is missing, or what could be better? 

The feedback you get will show if your MVP is solving targeted problems correctly.

7. Iterate, Build, or Abandon

The next step is deciding what to do on the basis of collected results: 

• Iterate: If the feedback is mostly positive but needs changes, improvement of the MVP by adding or fixing features is required.
• Build: If the feedback is highly positive and people clearly want the product, you can develop it into the final version. 
• Abandon: If the feedback suggests the product does not work or is not needed, it may be time to abandon it and focus on a new idea.

5 Benefits of Building an MVP

Common benefits of building an MVP include:

1. Validation of Product Hypotheses

An MVP test basically validates a hypothesis, the market’s response to a product with core features. This process supports founders in refining their business model with real-world reviews rather than assumptions.

2. Less Capital Investment

On average, the cost to build an MVP is less than launching a fully developed product. This aligns with the lean startup approach, signifying the importance of using just enough features to execute the main concept without overusing resources. It allows startups to set budgets effectively. 

3. Gain Investor Confidence and Funding

A strong MVP building attracts investors and helps secure funding. By showcasing a functional minimum viable product, you give investors and venture capitalists clarity regarding your business idea’s potential. It provides solid proof of your capabilities and the viability of your model, making it easier to win their support.

4. Work Towards Product-Market Fit

Achieving product-market fit is an ongoing process, and MVP product development is the perfect tool to guide it. By gathering feedback from real users, you can refine your product to better meet market needs. This ensures your final product connects with its audience, increasing its chances of success.

5. Get Valuable Customer Feedback

Collecting valuable feedback from customers makes a business successful. An MVP focuses on core features, providing a platform for engaging early users and gathering their reviews. This feedback is crucial for startups to understand what the customers need and prefer.

Real World Examples of MVP

MVPs have been the launching pad for many companies, providing a practical approach to test their business ideas. Here are two real-world minimum viable product examples:

Zappos

Zappos is now one of the most popular online shoe retailers. It began as an MVP with a simple website displaying shoe pictures collected from local sellers. It held no inventory and purchased products at retail price when orders came through. This approach was safe and validated the business idea of selling shoes online without significant investment in building an inventory.

Spotify

Spotify needs no introduction, but did you know it started as a prototype and was built to test the audience’s willingness to stream music legally, artists’ ease of allowing streaming, and the technical aspects of instant playback? This early version played a few songs and lacked polish; however, its use and feedback were crucial for validating the concept. By putting this basic minimum viable product into the close-knit users, Spotify’s team learned that instant, stable streaming was possible and highly desired.

MVP Development Challenges and Potential Solutions

Following are the most common roadblocks along with their solutions: 

1. Lack of Clear Objective

Many organizations build MVPs without focusing on the target audience, leading to wasted resources and misaligned efforts.

Solution: Set SMART goals: Pick objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Align these parameters with user needs and your business strategy. Identify the core problem your MVP tackles and set measurable success metrics, such as the number of user sign-ups or feedback submissions within a specific time frame.

2. Too Many Features 

An MVP is supposed to be basic and a preview of what is next to come. Teams often overload it with too many features, steering away from the purpose by increasing complexity.

Solution: Put efforts into the core function that shows your product’s value. Prioritize features based on their ability to address your primary user pain point. 

3. Perfectionism

Aiming to achieve perfectionism of basic versions often adds to the set timeline of MVP product development and consumes unnecessary resources.

Solution: MVPs are meant to test ideas and validate the main concept of the final product to come. Concentrate on delivering value through core features that highlight your product’s potential and then move along, taking real feedback into account. 

4. Neglecting User Feedback

Ignoring early user feedback can lead your MVP to miss its target market or fail to resonate with users.

Solution: Build a feedback loop early in the development process. Actively gather user insights through surveys, interviews, or analytics tools. Regularly analyze this data and incorporate it into your development roadmap to refine the MVP, ensuring it evolves toward a better market fit.

How Much Does It Cost to Build an MVP?

On average, the cost to build an MVP can lie anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000. While the actual cost depends on the specific features you add and the scope of work required. 

Factors That Affect MVP Building Costs

Creating a minimum viable product (MVP) requires a capital investment, and the exact amount varies on several factors like the following: 

• Complexity: The cost depends on whether the MVP is basic, moderate, or complex, as more complexity requires additional development effort and time.

• Technology: Using open-source MVP tools is often more cost-effective than proprietary technologies that require licensing fees or specialized expertise.

• Team: The size and expertise of the team, including designers, developers, and project managers, directly impact the overall budget.

• Development Approach: Usually, No-code/low-code tools are cheaper and faster, while custom software engineering involves higher costs for tailored solutions.

• Intended Platforms: MVP for web, mobile, or both affect cost. Mobile apps require platform-specific development (iOS, Android), increasing expenses.

• Testing and QA: Investing in QA specialists and tools delivers a polished product but comes at a price.

• Marketing: Promoting the MVP through social media, sponsored ads, or corporate events significantly increases launch costs.

• Maintenance: Ongoing expenses like server hosting, API updates, and software patches ensure smooth operation post-launch.

Key Metrics to Measure MVP Success

Tangible metrics of MVP success include:

User Engagement

• Active Users: Track the number of participants actively using your product within a timeframe, such as daily, weekly, or monthly.
• Session Duration: Measure the time users spend interacting with your product on average.
• User Retention: Calculate the percentage of users returning to your product after their initial interaction.
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV): Estimate the total revenue generated from an average user over their entire relationship with your product.

Product Usage:

• Feature Usage: Monitor which features are used most frequently and identify underutilized features.
• Conversion Rates: Track key conversion rates, such as sign-up rates, purchase rates, and trial-to-paid conversion rates.
• User Flow: Analyze user behavior within your product to identify any bottlenecks or areas where users are dropping off.

Business Metrics:

• Revenue Growth: Track the growth in revenue generated by your MVP.
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Calculate the cost of acquiring a new customer.
• Customer Churn Rate: Measure the rate customers stop using your product.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS): Gauge customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Qualitative Metrics:

• User Feedback: Collect and analyze user feedback through surveys, interviews, and in-app feedback mechanisms.
• Social Media Engagement: Monitor social media mentions and engagement to understand user sentiment.
• Press Coverage: Track media coverage of your MVP to assess market awareness and brand recognition.

Scale Your MVP with Folio3 Digital Health

Take your minimum viable product to the next level with Folio3 Digital Health. We offer scalable, user-friendly cloud solutions that grow as your company thrives. With our sturdy infrastructure, you can transition from MVP to a finalized product effortlessly.  Folio3 Digital Health has skilled developers, designers, and marketers to assist you from ideation to deployment and beyond. Our expert developers and designers adhere to the highest standards, including HL7 and FHIR, to deliver applications that exceed expectations and meet your unique needs.

Closing Note: Building an MVP for Long-Term Success

Now that you know how to build an MVP app, what stops you from taking the plunge? Choosing the MVP process or methodology lets you quickly learn and respond appropriately to the market’s feedback. This experience provides invaluable insights that can guide future product endeavors. Connect with us to learn how Folio3 Digital Health can help. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What Should an MVP Include?

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) should include:

• The main value proposition.
• Differentiating factors of your product from similar products.
• Automated tools for data collection or manual product review collection.

How Long Does it Take to Develop an MVP?

The timeframe to build an MVP lies between 2 and 6 months, depending on the complexity of your product, the team’s expertise, and the development approach.

Can an MVP Replace a Prototype?

No, it cannot. While both are used in MVP product development, a prototype is used to test design concepts and user experience, while an MVP is a functional product with core features ready to be launched in the market to validate a business idea. 

What’s the Difference Between MVP and Full-Scale Development?

An MVP is a basic version of a product with only the essential features. It helps test its position in the market, while full-scale development is to build out the complete product with all intended features and functionalities. 

What are Common MVP Testing Methods?

The process to create MVP includes:

• Customer interviews
• Landing pages
• A/B testing
• Pre-orders
• Crowdfunding
• Explainer videos

How to Build a Minimum Viable Product?

• Define the problem your MVP aims to solve.
• Conduct market research to identify opportunities and gaps. 
• Define your target market, identify who your product is for, and address their pain points.
• Define the MVP and determine the features to attract early adopters. 
• Develop the product with the minimum necessary features. 
• Release the MVP and collect feedback.
• Use feedback to improve the product.

What is the Cost of Building MVP for Startups?

The cost of building an MVP for startups lies between $10,000 to $150,000 or more.

In Which Stage is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Created? 

It is created during the formulation stage of MVP product development.

What is the Success Rate of MVP Development for Startup?

In general, the success rate is around 70%, compared to a much lower rate for startups that do not develop an MVP first.

Which Two Aspects of a Product do Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) Test? 

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) primarily tests the core features and user value proposition of a product.

What are the Common MVP Requirements?

• A clearly defined core problem 
• Focused target audience
• Set of essential features 
• A medium to gather user feedback
• A functional product that can be launched quickly

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