Advantages & Disadvantages of Minimum Viable Product

The term minimum viable product (MVP) is commonly used to describe a product with enough essential features to satisfy the end-users, no less and no more.

After getting sufficient feedback from the early adopters, the final product with a complete set of features is released on the market.

One of the key benefits of an MVP is that it allows businesses to test the waters before pouring resources (money, time, & a lot of work) into the final product development. In addition, it helps the product development team to incorporate valuable feedback in the final product.

However, this doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine and rainbows!

There are considerable disadvantages of the minimum viable product (MVP) as well.

In this article, we will take an in-depth look at the advantages and disadvantages of minimum viable product. We will then try to understand the minimum viable product definition with the help of examples.

So let’s get into it!

Minimum viable product examples

Before we look at the pros and cons of MVP, let’s look at some examples of a minimum viable product to understand this concept better:

E-commerce store

Imagine that you want to make an e-commerce store that sells men’s clothing. In this case, the MVP will be a basic website with just enough features for the customers to browse and purchase different clothing articles. Some essential features that will be a part of the MVP include a product catalog, a shopping cart, and an easy checkout process.

But since the e-commerce store is an MVP, it will not have any additional features such as advanced search options, personalized content, reviews, etc.

Using this MVP, one can determine whether there’s a demand for men’s clothing. In addition, the feedback gathered through the process will prove to be very useful in the future development process.

Ride sharing app

Another example of a minimum viable product (MVP) is a ride-sharing app. In this case, the app would only contain the basic features that are essential for a ride-sharing app, such as requesting a ride, listing available drivers, etc.

However, the app will not contain advanced features such as leaving a review, scheduling rides, etc.

After collecting the customer’s feedback, it can be decided whether it is a good idea to enter this market. In addition, a list of valuable features that should be a part of the ride-sharing app can be made from the customer’s feedback.

These were some essential examples of MVP, but you can always find more inspiring ones on the internet! Now, let check what’s next!

5 Advantages of minimum viable product

Now that you understand what MVP stands for, let’s look at some of the benefits it offers:

1. Confirm market demand

The first advantage of an MVP is that it helps confirm the market demand.

Let’s say that you want to create an online store for selling customized ties… Before creating a full-fledged e-store, you need to confirm two things first: is there a market demand for ties? And second, how advanced or simple should my website be?

Depending on where and to whom you want to sell the ties, you must conduct some marketing and testing. And it’s never a good idea to develop an expensive store just for testing…

Second, you need to ensure the adopted features and technologies are actually beneficial for your audience. And how would you know the answer to that, again, without starting with an MVP website!?

De facto, even the final website would be considered an MVP website because it’ll be designed based on what the end user is expecting and actually wants.

So the first benefit you get from an MVP is confirmation of whether there is an actual demand for a particular product & how you should present it.

2. Minimize risk

The second advantage of minimum viable product (MVP) is that it helps minimize risk.

Creating an MVP allows you to test your product idea and even the market demand, as we saw in the earlier example, without a massive investment. This strategy can lower your financial risk & will also help you save valuable time.

By creating a simple version of a product with minimum features, you can introduce it to several customers. And after gathering customer feedback, you can decide whether it is viable to develop the final product or not!

In addition, an MVP also helps make necessary adjustments or launch new features before launching the final product.

Overall, an MVP can minimize your risk while significantly increasing your chances of success!

3. Secure funding

The next advantage of a minimum viable product (MVP) is that it helps secure funding. Once you have developed an MVP, it can be shown to potential investors to attract financing.

And after securing the fund, you can then proceed toward further development of the product.

Let’s say you want to create an AI-powered bookkeeping software but need to present it to secure funds. In such event, you want to start with software that performs a single task perfectly, then present it to potential investors or donors.

Basically, an MVP allows you to show a functional prototype to the investors without spending too much initiative from your end… This can significantly increase your chances of securing the fund & onboarding multiple investors with minimum hassle.

For startups, getting funding is a major concern. And developing the final product is also difficult on a limited budget. So, for cases like this, where it is essential to secure funding, an MVP can come to the rescue!

4. Increased speed to market

An MVP also allows you to quickly launch a product in the market with minimum resources and time. In fast-moving industries, it can be a real game changer to gain the early-mover advantage (EMA). And even if it is a crowded market, it can still be beneficial to establish a strong footing in the form of an MVP.

When you develop and launch an MVP, you can put the product in front of the customers immediately and start collecting feedback. This allows you to establish your presence in the market & launch a product that includes all the features & improvements that customers truly want!

These days, new technologies and trends continue to emerge, and it can be really beneficial to gain the early mover advantage. This can allow you to gain an edge over your competitors and build a better product!

5. Understand user’s needs

A minimum viable product allows you to test your idea with early customers. This reveals valuable insights into the pain points, preferences, and needs of the customers.

You can then incorporate this feedback to add valuable features to your product.

In the end, you will have a final product that is more beneficial to the customers than the other already-present solutions in the market.

If you think about it, an MVP allows you to build a product from the ground based on the user’s pain points and requirements. On the contrary, building the final product based on limited market research may not be as helpful in understanding customer needs.

6. Better UX web design

Some websites and web design agencies (like us) prefer to adopt MVP in their web design philosophy. The idea is that we try to provide a website with only enough features and components that serve its purpose, and therefore offer a clean and straightforward user experience (UX).

Users are tired of all the chatbot popups, cookies accepting popups, privacy policy accepting popups, signup popups, a lot of buttons in a single page, and even a lot of navigation options, in addition to announcements about features they’ll never use…

Why not show only essentials!?

Doing so will not only make the overall experience of a user hassle-free, but it’s more likely to make the customer stay longer and get educated on your product or services.

7. Faster website

Speed is vital for websites, especially after Google made it a critical ranking factor. And since a website that stands under an MVP umbrella has fewer features, it would definitely load faster than other websites in the same industry.

Google and other search engines test websites’ speed consistently and give better scores (and rankings) to faster sites that compete in the same niche or industry. That’s to say, if two websites have identically the same content and are both competing for the keyword “Z,” the website with a faster loading speed is more likely to rank higher. However, other factors like backlinks and page trust can also be decisive.

5 Disadvantages of minimum viable product

So far, we have learned how a minimum-viable product can benefit you and your business!

Now, let’s take a look at some of the major disadvantages of minimum viable product:

1. Limited feedback

Compared to a final product, a minimum viable product (MVP) may be released to a limited number of users. So, on that front, you will only be getting limited feedback which might not be the actual representation of the entire -much larger- market.

This could lead to poor decision-making during the process of product development. In fact, you might not be able to fully understand the pain points of a wider audience as your feedback will be coming from a small pool of users.

2. Limited testing

Another disadvantage of a minimum viable product (MVP) is that it is often released with limited testing. So, when the final product is released to the broader audience, it could lead to bugs and many yet to be discovered.

Once again, this drawback is associated with releasing the MVP to a select number of users. And it can be hard to mitigate as the sole reason for an MVP is to create a basic product & release it to early adopters and gain feedback.

3. Limited functionality

The basic idea behind the MVP is to launch a product with limited core functionality. On the one hand, it allows you to enter the market with limited resources quickly. On the other, it also means that the MVP will not have all features that the customers may be expecting from a product like this.

As a result, the user could become dissatisfied with the product and will be less likely to adopt it in the near future. There is also a possibility that the user could move towards one of your competitors, which will limit your chances of success in the market.

 4. Scalability issues

An MVP is released to a small audience and is thus not designed for a high level of usage or to accommodate a wider audience. So, when new features are being added to the MVP without making significant changes to the code, it could lead to scalability issues as you develop the MVP into a full product.

But the scalability issues can be countered by ensuring that all the components of your products can be scaled if the need arises.

5. Limited market appeal

The limited market appeal is another disadvantage of the minimum viable product (MVP)… As mentioned earlier, an MVP is a simplified version of a product with core functionality. And this means an MVP will not be as polished as the users might expect from a full-fledged product.

As a result of this drawback, your product can become less attractive to potential customers in the short term.

For example, a user will be more willing to purchase from an online store that looks good & provides a range of products. On the contrary, an online store developed as an MVP will not have the same good looks and functionality as a full-fledged online store.

But then again, the final product can be ten times better than the competition if the former is built upon an MVP approach while the latter isn’t. So, on a long-time scale, an MVP website still wins!

In sum

A minimum viable product (MVP) is one of those concepts that come with an extensive list of advantages & disadvantages. If we look at the plus side, an MVP helps ensure the final product is perfectly designed to suit the audience and serve them.

But on the flip side, there are certain drawbacks, such as limited testing, a higher chance of bugs, and even potential scalability issues.

So, the next time you contemplate making an MVP, always keep these pros and cons in your mind!