How to Plan and Launch an MVP: A Step-by-Step Guide

Rolling out an MVP in software development is a crucial moment when building a startup. It’s your first chance to test your business idea in the real world. But many founders skip doing enough research first. Sometimes, they don’t properly budget for the MVP launch.

Other times, founders don’t plan out a product launch strategy before releasing their MVP. You need to define what a successful product launch looks like first before setting your MVP loose.

So, how do you launch a minimum viable product the right way?

In this ultimate guide, we’ll walk through the key steps for planning, building, and launching an MVP.

Let’s dive in!

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What’s The Difference Between MVP And A Full-Scale Product

Coined by Frank Robinson and popularized by Eric Ries, a minimum viable product (MVP) isn’t a technology prototype, but a way to validate its sales.

Startups build minimum viable products to:

1. Test their business ideas
2. See how their target markets respond to product demo versions
3. Apply product refinement feedback to improve value development

For instance, instead of testing your actual mobile app prototype, you might benefit from our MVP development services to test a connected landing page with a “Buy Now” call to action (CTA) button. Or you might use it to test your app prototype’s customer support options.

Still, some startups may refer to an MVP as:

• A stripped-down version of a product
• A product on its way to success
• An initial version of a product in need of early user feedback

A full-scale product, on the other hand, is the complete and final version of a product. It includes all intended features, functionalities, and specifications for its final market release. In other words, it’s a product and a game plan that’s ready for mass production and widespread use.

Understanding Product Launches

Launching a product means putting your MVP out into the world to gather user feedback. It’s your first big step toward turning an idea into something people can actually try, use, and talk about.

But getting there takes work. A product launch usually includes several stages: idea validation, sketching out UX prototypes, coding core functionality, MVP design, and planning how you’ll market and sell it.

From there, it goes through the full cycle of building, testing, and refining your business assumptions.

You can choose different go-to-market strategies for launching your minimum viable product, like soft, hard, and dark launches. Let’s unwrap what these mean.

Soft Launches

A soft launch means releasing your product to a small group of people from your target audience instead of everyone. It’s a way to test the waters and reduce the risks of launching something new. Most startups rely on early users’ feedback to see if the idea works before going all-in or raising money.

The main goals of a soft launch are:

• Get feedback from users. Their opinions help you understand what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to be improved.
• See if people are willing to pay. You want to know if your product actually solves a problem people care enough about to spend money on.
• Test how to make money. A soft launch is a great way to explore which pricing or payment model your users are most comfortable with, if your MVP launch plan includes making money from the start.

People sometimes mix up a soft launch with an MVP launch, but they’re not the same.

A soft launch is about where and to whom you release your product. Usually, to a small or niche group, maybe even in a specific location.
An MVP launch is about what you’re launching. The first version of your product has just enough core features to test your idea.

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Hard Launches

A hard launch means releasing a fully developed product with a big marketing push to get lots of attention right away. It’s a common approach for established businesses, not startups, because the product is no longer in the testing phase.

Hard launches usually make sense when:

• You already have a large, loyal audience.
• Your tech and team can handle a big wave of users.
• You have a pretty good idea of how the market will respond.

Think of a smartphone or desktop software update; that’s a typical hard launch.

Dark Launches

A dark launch is a way to release new features as part of your MVP updates quietly. It’s based on continuous delivery, meaning you’re constantly improving and rolling out new things without making a big splash each time.

Why is it called dark? Because the new feature is released to a small group of users who don’t even know they’re testing something new. This lets you observe how they use the feature in real time, without influencing their behavior.

Let’s say you’re adding a one-click payment option. You could start by releasing it to just 1% of users, then increase to 5%, then 10%, and so on, only if the results look promising. Real-time tracking helps you see how the update affects both user behavior and app performance.

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New Product Planning And MVP Launch Process

Once the founder has decided to start an app, they need a product planning pattern to follow. It’s important to keep the whole process holistic, clear, and systematic.

The new product planning process focuses on the concept of the idea. It includes decisions and steps required to build a profitable application. In other words, the founder, as a product planner, decides what and how it will affect the final result.

In contrast to product planning, the launching strategy focuses on go-to-market activities. While a product plan is about a feature list, a launch MVP plan is about choosing the most relevant marketing strategy for a new product to attract the target audience.

There is a common misconception among many startup founders that product planning is a one-time activity. But it has the same iterative character as a development process.

Product planning is the flip side to a successful MVP launch. Both of these terms are interconnected. For example, the prioritization of features is directly related to market positioning and finding your advantages over competitors.

Thus, let’s clarify the step-by-step process of product planning and development.

5-Step MVP Product Launch Checklist

1. Generate and list your ideas. You will need the list of business hypotheses to track the dynamics of your MVP after launching. It helps to make the right decision. You can set up a limited number of features for every iteration to keep the process simple and effective.
2. Keep the tempo of rapid changes. The main idea of being a startup and launching an MVP is moving fast to market. A startup has the privilege to change as many times as required. The founder needs to set up a flexible and innovative culture to be agile.
3. Set up SMART goals. These goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. This complex helps you to move from one milestone to another without losing focus.
4. Focus on profit. A startup’s name, brand, logo, or colors don’t mean much at the early stages of development. The profit is the only metric that shows the viability of your product in the market.
5. Always be customer-oriented. The main rule of a product launch is that your users should love your product, not you. To create a successful app, you should collaborate with the users. If they have paid once, keep the strategy going and motivate them to get their friends to sign up too.

Tips for Successful MVP Launches

• Don’t waste time on features

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) app is a basic idea or a model of your “ideal” product. You need this initial release to test-run your idea within your target market. The only things that matter at this stage are the core features of your product. The secondary ones, along with some non-major functions, can be developed further down the line.

• Do not be afraid to try things

Speed should be your main priority when testing your solution in the market. Many founders wait until their product can fulfil every need at once. But this is not a necessity. And it is often impossible until you begin to truly understand your customers and their problems. That is why it is important to be able to react quickly to any changes both within the market trends and in customers’ behavior.

• Do not build a money-burning MVP

An MVP launch requires the minimum set of features just to be able to solve one user’s problem. The truth is that 9 out of 10 startups fail. And it usually happens because the entrepreneurs burn money before even closely looking at the market’s reaction to their solution.

• Rush MVP development

Progress is much more important than perfection. Product launch allows you to test how feature list changes and how the marketing activities are related to your target audience.

• Cut out anything that is not necessary

Iteration is the basic timeframe that is needed to develop a digital product. It is usually about 1-2 weeks. Iteration always includes new features and business hypotheses. Thus, it helps you to identify the most efficient tactics in a short period of time. And to cut off all the unnecessary things.

7 Ways Of Scaling From An MVP To A Full-Scale Product

With that said, let’s review seven ways you can transition your MVP into a full-scale product.

1. Refine The Product Based On User Feedback

Measure customer satisfaction by collecting user feedback and analyzing the results. Use the insights you uncover to improve your product.

Be sure to ask active users:

• What design elements do they like you to change
• What essential features or details are missing
• How intuitive the design feels
• What specific problems the product is helping them with, and how it could solve their pain points even better
• What (if any) user experience issues they’ve had
• If they’ve experienced any bugs, lag, or glitches when using the app
• If they’ve used a similar app that solved their problems better than your app does‌ , if so, how and why?
• How likely are they to invest in and continue using your product
• How likely they are to recommend your product to someone they know

After you’ve applied the insights you’ve gathered so far, don’t stop! Continue collecting and applying ongoing customer feedback, even after the official product launch.

2. Enhance The User Experience

A great user experience starts with a clean, intuitive design. Focus on making your product’s interface not just visually appealing, but also easy to use from the very first interaction. Clear typography, consistent colors, and well-placed buttons all help users feel confident and comfortable.

Reduce clutter and keep menus, buttons, and flows straightforward to simplify navigation. Every extra click or confusing label increases the chance a user will drop off, especially during their first session.

Also, don’t overlook performance. Optimize loading times, especially for key actions like onboarding, checkout, or dashboard views. On the backend, ensure your infrastructure can handle spikes in traffic without crashing or slowing down. A smooth, responsive experience builds trust and keeps users coming back.

And speaking of infrastructure …

3. Scale Infrastructure To Meet User Demand

Assess your current infrastructure and identify potential bottlenecks. Then, work closely with your developer to upgrade servers, databases, and other necessary components. You’ll also need to implement appropriate scalability measures to accommodate increased user demand.

For instance, you can:

• Employ cloud infrastructure: Leverage cloud-based services to scale up your app’s resources as needed, providing seamless performance even during peak times. This article on the cloud migration discovery phase outlines the key steps for a successful migration.
• Opt for horizontal scaling: Instead of relying solely on vertical scaling (upgrading hardware), consider distributing the workload across multiple servers to handle increased traffic effectively.
• Implement caching strategies: Use caching techniques to store frequently accessed data, reducing the load on your app’s backend and improving response times.

4. Expand Your Feature Set

At this point, you’ve created a basic version of your product, refined it, and scaled your infrastructure.

Now, it’s time to turn your bare-bones app into a high-value product with key features your audience craves.

Here’s how:

Conduct market research and analyze competitor offerings

Understand your target audience and the market landscape to identify gaps and potential opportunities for value proposition and new features.

Identify new features and functionalities aligned with user needs and preferences

Continue gathering feedback from your users, conducting surveys, and analyzing user behavior to uncover what they truly want.

Prioritize and implement features based on their potential impact

Evaluate the feasibility and impact of each feature idea, considering factors like user demand, development resources, and potential business value.

5. Pre-Launch Testing And Quality Assurance

Testing not only promotes a smooth user experience but can also help minimize negative reviews and customer churn.

Some best practices for testing and quality assurance include:

• Developing a testing plan: Outline the scope, objectives, and test cases you’ll execute during all stages of development.
• Conducting functional testing: Verify that all features work as intended and make sure your product has seamless functionality across different devices and operating systems.
• Performing final usability testing: Get final feedback from real users to evaluate your app’s UX and make improvements based on their insights.
• Testing security and performance: Validate your app’s security measures and assess its performance under different traffic loads.
• Performing regression testing: Re-test previously validated features to make sure that new code changes or updates didn’t introduce any additional bugs or issues.

6. Invest In Security

To protect your investment and your customers, identify vulnerabilities and potential risks in your app’s infrastructure, code, and data storage systems. Conduct this security audit thoroughly and often to continue providing the best user experience.

You’ll also need to implement security protocols and measures. These may include using:

• Encryption
• Secure authentication
• Access controls

Be sure to regularly track and update your security systems. Stay proactive and monitor for any suspicious activity, apply security patches, and keep up with cybersecurity best practices.

For extensive support, reach out to cybersecurity experts.

7. Develop A Marketing Plan

You’ve built an MVP and have a great new product to show off, but you need sales systems and marketing campaigns to help you get the word out.

To develop your MVP strategy, start by outlining your target audience and creating buyer personas.

In your target personas, explain who your ideal customers are, their demographics, and what needs and pain points they have.

You’ll also need to list how your product meets their needs and solves their problems better than the competition. Use your personas to tailor every aspect of your marketing efforts.

If you are looking for ways to elevate your email strategy, our email marketing for startups tips are here to help you communicate effectively with your audience.

Next, develop a strong brand identity and message. Clearly define your brand’s values, personality, and unique competitive advantage in your messaging.

For instance, “We help remote companies automate employee time tracking and payroll in multiple currencies. Our product saves remote teams 30+ hours per month on mundane HR tasks.”

By the way, if you are looking for HR software development inspiration, check out these best HR software solutions on the market.

Then use targeted marketing channels to reach and engage potential customers.

Choose platforms, such as social media, email marketing, content marketing, and SEO for user interactions.

Finally, set up sales funnels to automate lead generation and conversions.

Establish a step-by-step process that guides potential customers from awareness to conversion, using tools like landing pages, email sequences, and remarketing campaigns.

Meet with a marketing team that specializes in helping SaaS companies if you need support setting these up. If you’re deciding between software models, this comparison of the ASP model vs SaaS model can help you choose.

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8 Key Product Performance Metrics

Digital products require a permanent measurement of success. The numbers are the best markers. Here are the key performance indicators to track:

App traffic

The most important metric is the number of people who want to use your solution. The more visitors you have, the higher your chances of getting users.

• Use free tools like SimilarWeb to find out the traffic of your platform. In case your budget allows, you can also use Ahrefs.
• When talking about a mobile app, the best way to check it is Google Play or the App Store statistics.

The number of registrations

The main approach is to identify your customers and the general flow of visitors on the site. This is your strongest indicator of whether customers are interested in your business model.

The number of active users

This is the only thing that shows the real level of interest in your product. The next challenge is to find out how to keep those customers interested enough to keep coming back.

User engagement

This parameter shows the behavior of your customers. Identify the most important indicator for your solution and then track it. To do this, you can use such apps as Amplitude or Mixpanel:

• Look at YouTube or Instagram – the key indicator for both of them is the time spent on the platform.
• For Uber-like app it would be the number of rides taken.

The number of paying users

If your business model doesn’t generate revenue, it is useless. In case this number is low, it is time to make a pivot and develop another business model.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

This shows the correlation between the amount of money spent and the number of customers. The lower this number, the easier it is to grow:

• Facebook Ad company costs 100 dollars, but you get only 5 new customers, which means CAC is 20 dollars.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

This parameter shows how much revenue a startup can expect from a particular customer over time while using an app. The longer the customer makes purchases, the higher the rate is. The relevance between CLV and CAC shows how much money the product generates.

Churn rate

This value is critically important for subscriber-based business models, as it shows how many customers stop using the product. If they do not stay long enough to at least pay off the CAC, then you are facing a big problem and should consider making a pivot. Tracking customer retention is essential, and this churn rate calculator can help measure your customer loyalty.

Ready To Develop Your Minimum Viable Product?

If you feel you need more support getting your first MVP off the ground, consider partnering with an experienced development team.

At SpdLoad, our MVP launch experts can guide you through the validation, planning, and execution process. We can set your product (and your startup) up for a successful launch and continued refinement after release.

Get in touch to learn more about our end-to-end MVP development and product launch services.

Now is the time to start testing and improving your big ideas with real users in your target market. We’re here to collaborate and make that happen quickly and affordably.

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