MVP + Spices = MLP
The early product-building approach has certainly changed over the last few years and customers are much more harder to please than they used to be! Customers don’t just want their needs to be met, they also want to be delighted, they want to love your product and talk about it.
DON’T FORGET, being Viable is not enough anymore. Your product needs to be Lovable and needs to give people a story that they can tell. So you need to think about creating a minimum lovable product (MLP).
So what will we do as Product Managers? I will tell it step by step but first, I need to give more details about MLP.
WHAT ARE MVP, MLP & MMP?!
Let’s look closer the product-building approaches.
🚀 MVP: Minimum Viable Product — this is a version of your product that you first launch to your customers. Idea of MVP that was developed by Eric Ries allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.”
It has minimum number of features that are crucial ones to solve their problem. While some companies prefer to use their MVP as a closed beta for testing only, other lean startups actually launch their MVP as the first version of their product.
❤️ MLP: Minimum Lovable Product — is an initial offering that users love from the start. It is similar to MVP, but design and UI are cared more. It aims to solve the problem, plus also delight.
Today customers have many options. Their relationship with technology, in particular, is highly transactional. If a customer’s experience with your product leaves them feeling unsatisfied, unheard, or unappreciated, they will quickly move on to find something better.
An MLP can be a way to differentiate your product in a crowded marketplace.
💰 MMP: Minimum Marketable Product — this is the version of your MVP or MLP which you’ll push to market.
MVP + DELIGHTFUL EXPERIENCES = MLP
Many companies create an MVP as a way to quickly launch a product with basic functionality. However, delivering the bare minimum can leave customers frustrated, driving them to seek alternative solutions.
A MLP asks two questions one after another “how can we solve the customer’s problem?” and “How can we delight them along the way?”
Jiaona Zhang says that if companies want to stay competitive, product folks need to be even more diligently attuned to a fledgling product’s lovability — not just viability. “The minimum viable product was appealing because it was cheap, and you could get it to market faster. But we’ve advanced past a world where products are ‘the first of X,” she says. “Stiffer competition means that MVPs aren’t going to cut it anymore. If startups truly want to stand out, they need to strive toward creating a minimum lovable product instead.”
Which one of these coffees is looking more lovable? And which one of these coffees is giving you content for telling your friends?
Both of them are cappuccino and meet your caffeine needs but one is more lovable.
While product development, the most important thing is to take the time to conduct the proper research to adequately fill the needs of the user. Because that research includes finding out what they love. This could be anything that solves the problem and makes experience enjoyable at same time. Such as integration with most used social media tools, innovative design aesthetic, …etc.
Earning user’s love is crucial for early product success, as it’ll give you an edge over your competitors, and help keep your product memorable. And users can’t leave products that they love it! LOVE TURNS INTO HABIT, HABITS TURN INTO LOYALTY.
For instance when Whatsapp announced privacy update people downloaded other instant messaging apps and sign up but They kept continue messaging on Whatsapp.
MVP vs MLP
MLP thinking, like MVP, has aim which is to to create the most basic version of a product with just enough features to be usable. But the goal of MLP is focusing on Complete Product Experience (CPE) and increasing lovability point ay each iteration.
On the other hand, the goal of MVP is to get an offering to market quickly and cheaply. Thus, the team can establish business viability, learn about the target market, and then improve the product over time.
STEP BY STEP CREATING A MLP
Except few key things to keep in mind that aren’t done before, building a MLP are very similar to building a product in the usual way.
1.Always Ask “Why”
All product must be built with a purpose that is a solution of a problem. So “Asking Why” is the best way to solve a problem but also to make something better.
2.Teamwork for Your Lovable Goals
In this stage you need everyone from development team for making your product lovable and weaving that love into every aspect of your product. User experience, sales, marketing, design, tech…they all have to be geared towards making something that your users will love.
3.Stay Lean and Agile
While you’re focusing on delighting your users, don’t forget the goal is still to be agile. Define the minimum set of features needed to solve your user’s problems, and make them as delightful as possible. Don’t assume that building lovable product means handing users everything they could possibly want. It will that waste your valuable time. There’s a delicate balance to be found between underinvesting and over-investing in an MLP.
If you under-invest with less features you takes risk and can lose in crowd that consists of your competitors. If you over-invest with too many features, you can waste your time and resources lost. Especially if you miss the mark and you have to make pivot.
4.Be Sure Making Right Research
Find out the answer of the most important question: how the product made them feel. In your research, you should use open-ended questions which allow users to express themselves, rather than just simple yes/no answers or tick boxes.
One of the important thing in this stage you need to be sure taking feedback from your target audience, not from anyone is out of your target.
Screen recording, heatmap, analytics tools are indispensable for product managers. As using these tools gives data about user behavior but without touching users you can’t learn the main reasons behind their behaviors.
5.Continuous Improvement
Of course, your MLP is not the final form of your product. Think MLP like a perfect tool that helps you to discover what your users want. After making research, collecting data you will start next iteration of your product. Test, Iterate, Repeat
Enjoy your MLP.
