You have an idea that you think can improve some people’s lives, and you’ve decided to turn it into reality. Sometimes, however, assumptions don’t match existing market needs. So how can one predict if people will be interested in a new product? There is a way: to research the target audience thoroughly and test your idea through MVP.
A minimum viable product, that’s what the abbreviation stands for, helps to understand the actual demand. Therefore, it prevents investing time and money into an initiative without a strong product/market fit. In this article, we will tell you a bit about MVP, its advantages for a startup, and specific QA services that will benefit an MVP.
An MVP is a “proof of concept” version of a new product. As a rule, it introduces the basic functionality that will make the core of the product and be significant for potential users. The purpose of an MVP is to generate user feedback and show whether the product will be in-demand.
When speaking about MVP testing strategies, people can mean testing from the marketing perspective or QA activities. Let’s start with the latter and the benefits it brings.
When we talk about the marketing perspective, authors of the idea and investors are the first to come to mind. Here are some benefits they will get:
Starting a product with an MVP also helps to boost developers’ efficiency, in particular:
As for the customers, access to the initial version of a product gives them a chance to influence the development process. There are many enthusiasts who will gladly accept an offer to participate in something like this. That brings us to the next point: QA activities and software testing.
To win users’ attention, interest, and approval, you will need to offer them a decent product from the very beginning. It should be easy to use and with minimum defects. While these two things are more or less clear, some don’t fully understand what exactly to focus on when developing an MVP.
While you create a product for the sake of functionality, the features aren’t the only important aspect. It is essential to make sure that the product is reliable and usable. You cannot neglect emotional design either. Instead of investing in the functionality only, present the core features but in an appealing way. Users will appreciate this option more than rich functionality that lacks intuitiveness or has many defects. Proper QA expertise will help to achieve this.
Remember that quality assurance is more than just testing. For example, you can involve a BA specialist to advise on what to include in the initial version of the product and help to create the strategy for further development. You can learn about the role of a Business Analyst in QA in one of our previous posts.
As you’ve already understood, an MVP is not just a mockup. It has to be functional and perform well. Therefore, it is best to entrust testing to professionals. It may be unreasonable to hire in-house QA engineers straight away. In this case, you can engage an outsourced testing company.
As for the types of testing, an exact list will vary depending on the product. Here’s an approximate list of the required QA activities:
As you can see, the list of the essential testing activities doesn’t get very long at this stage. The team will probably need to run regression tests, too. It helps to verify that changes in the last build haven’t affected the overall functionality that has been working correctly.
As for the test automation services that can be a game-changer for a startup, an MVP doesn’t need those. There is a high probability that requirements will change in the future. Hence, there is no need to invest in automated testing this early.
An MVP often becomes the basis for the future compromise between an idea, investors, and users. Learning how a product resonates with real users comes with valuable insights that help to determine the direction for further development. Then why is quality essential for a product that may not even continue its existence? It is pretty simple: quality gives you an advantage from the very beginning. Without having a stable, functional, and visually appealing MVP, you may not be able to receive those insights because there would be too few people eager to use a poorly designed product. So don’t rush to release software without testing it properly, even if it is just a minimum viable product.
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