Folks, if you have followed our MVP series till now and implemented it, your MVP should be ready by now or at least, in the making. But the story is not over yet. In fact, what I am going to share with you in this blog is the most crucial step for the success of your MVP.
Yes, you read that right. It is not how well you build your MVP but how well you refine it to make it the best product for your target audience that makes it a success. Why? Because, as humans, you are bound to make mistakes and overlook important stuff.
It is only once you test your MVP in the real world, that you get to find these “holes.” Thus, today I am going to show you why do you need to test your MVP and how to do it.
I ask you, “Why not?” Testing your MVP first has so many benefits that it is hard to overlook this step: -
It ensures that your product fulfills what it promises.
It refines the inevitable “bugs” in the product that hampers the user experience.
It improves your product further.
It helps you to know your product better and create a better marketing strategy.
It ensures that your product work as intended.
Now that you know why you should test your MVP, let me show you ways to test your MVP.
This is going to be fun as well as an eye-opener. You are going to reap all the benefits mentioned above. But before moving further, I would like to tell you that you need not try out every testing method that I am going to reveal to you. Some combination of a few techniques is fine.
How about earning money from testing your MVP? Fundraising platforms like Kickstarter help you do exactly that. People flock to these sites to support and invest in interesting products. If people donate enough money to reach your target amount, you will get that sum of money to support your product. But it also indicates that people are loving your product.
I highly recommend this as nothing beats asking the customer itself about his experience with your product. However, I also prefer conducting interviews face-to-face rather than online as it brings out more genuine revelations.
Hiring professional testers can be really helpful if you are having a digital MVP like a website or software. These testers put themselves in the shoes of actual buyers and rigorously test your MVP from various angles to find flaws in functionalities and even bugs.
Fortunately, you are at the right place. We are an MVP development company providing you with expert developers and keen testers to create and test your MVP.
Videos are a great way to demonstrate your product or service. In fact, this is how Drew Houston, co-founder of Dropbox tested his idea. He created a video demonstrating the service he was going to offer and uploaded it to YouTube. The views and engagement on the video proved that he has found a gem.
The good thing about social media surveys is that they can help you reach your target audience and gather valuable feedback easily. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are a great place to check this out.
This is another way to generate money before launching your product. Pre-order pages are simple web pages you can create easily. So, showcase your product such that your target audience is compelled to buy it. But make sure that you keep your promise as the transaction of money is involved.
Having a blog not only helps you to test your idea but also to attract more buyers after launching your product. A blog is quick and inexpensive to start. But it needs to have good quality content on it. Thankfully, you can delegate this to freelancers.
In the world of abundance, it is more likely that your product already has competitors. But the good thing is that you can use the shortcomings of their product to make your MVP even better and then stand out from them.
An ad campaign is a great way to reach your target audience on a limited budget. Search engines and social media platforms like Google and Facebook are the go-to places for startups to test their ideas by keeping an eye on how the ad campaign performs.
The problem with surveys is that they can be tediously long. People avoid filling those or, at best, work through them hurriedly without carefully thinking about the answer. So it is better to opt for micro surveys as they consist of only a small number of highly relevant questions and people can fill these on the go.
Wizard of the Oz is about creating a complicated and maybe even tiresome system for the service you want to provide. This, against what you may fear, is easy to do. Test your idea with this complicated MVP and then invest your money to make it simpler.
This is what Nick Swinmurn, the founder of Zappos, did. He created a simple website with photos of shoes. Then he used to purchase the shoes after an order was placed and delivered them. Once the idea of selling shoes online was validated, he then invested money to make his service simpler and bigger.
An MVP is important for the following reasons: -
It reduces your risk of spending more money and time than required.
It helps you focus on actual product development rather than mingling up on extraneous features.
It gathers actual customer feedback so you can improve it further.
You can test the market with an MVP.
It helps you build the business and marketing strategy.
To know more, check out our blog post on Why is an MVP important.
Yeah sure. However, that’s very risky. The majority of the time it happens that an idea we believe to be groundbreaking turns out to be a dud. Thus, it is wise to take a calculated risk by developing an MVP of your idea first and then testing it against the market to proceed further.
The short answer is “It depends.” It depends on your particular requirements, the features you would like to have in it, how quickly you want it, etc. However, if you would like to get an estimation, check out our MVP cost calculator.
How about five examples of MVP? We have a dedicated blog post for this purpose. So please check out MVP Chapter #5: MVP - Meaning, Purpose & Real-life Examples.
No. Usually, big companies also start with an MVP before launching a new product or service. Developing an MVP is the standard way to go for reducing your risk and keeping your best foot forward in the market.
Testing your MVP is an exciting phase. It reveals shocking stuff and can sometimes even lead to disappointment. However, you can lower your chances of it if by following the steps laid out for you in our MVP series. But, as I said before, testing an MVP is the most crucial step before your product is ready to be deployed to the world.
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