How to Choose the Right Features for Your MVP

1 | Determine your target audience and their needs

Before you even start thinking about your product’s set of features, it's important to identify the specific group of users that your MVP is targeting. Assuming you know who your product is attempting to serve, you should be able to list out and explain their pain points and needs. This is super important to keep in mind as designing and building a product that actually solves their problems… well, requires that you know what those "problems” are! To gather this information, consider conducting market research and customer interviews.

Market research can include gathering data on industry trends, customer demographics, and competitors. This can be done through online research, surveys, focus groups, and other methods.

Customer interviews are a more personal approach to gathering data on your target audience. These can be conducted in person, over the phone, or through online tools like Google Meet or Zoom. During customer interviews, you should strive to ask open-ended questions as such questions tend to result in more detailed responses, allowing you to be better collect information about your target audience's needs and pain points.

If you’re not sure where to connect with real people in your set of target audiences, consider joining Subreddits and Facebook groups related to the problem space your product solves.

It's important to be open and receptive to feedback during the customer interview process. Even if you think you have a solid understanding of your target audience, it's always possible that you may uncover new insights or perspectives that can help shape the development of your MVP.

2 | Prioritize features based on customer value

Now that you have a good understanding of your target audience, you can start prioritizing features based on their importance to the user. This is where the concept of customer value comes into play.

Customer value refers to the benefits that a product or service provides to the customer, and how those benefits compare to the costs associated with obtaining the product or service.

To prioritize features based on customer value, you'll need to consider the following factors:

• The needs of your target audience: As we discussed earlier, it's important to understand the pain points and needs of your target audience. This will help you identify which features are most important to them and will provide the most value.
• The benefits of each feature: Consider the specific benefits that each feature will provide to the user. For example, a feature that helps users save time or money will likely be more valuable to them than a feature that simply adds visual appeal.
• The competition: Look at the features offered by your competitors and consider how your MVP features stack up. You don't want to include features that are already offered by competitors, but you also don't want to omit features that are considered industry standards.

Once you have a list of potential features, prioritize them based on their importance to the user and the benefits they provide. Focus on the core functionality that will provide the most value to the user and leave the non-essential features for later iterations.

3 | Consider time and resources

Once you have a list of features prioritized by anticipated customer value, it's time to consider the limitations of your team and the amount of time and resources available for development. This step is crucial to ensure that you are able to deliver a functional MVP within a reasonable timeframe.

To consider time and resources, you'll need to do the following:

• Understand the capacity of your team: How many people do you have working on the MVP? How much time do they have available to work on it? Understanding the capacity of your team will help you determine how much work can realistically be completed within the given timeframe.
• Prioritize features based on the effort required to develop them: Some features may be more complex or time-consuming to develop than others. Prioritize these features based on the effort required to develop them. For example, a feature that requires extensive coding may take longer to develop than a simple design change.
• Determine which features can be included within the scope of your MVP based on time and resources: Once you have a list of features prioritized based on customer value and the effort required to develop them, determine which features can be included within the scope of your MVP based on the available time and resources. It's important to be realistic about what can be accomplished within the given timeframe, and to be prepared to make adjustments as needed.

There are a number of tools and techniques available for creating these estimates.

Despite leveraging platforms like Jira to track this kind of data once a project gets underway, at Aclarify, we prefer to create a Google Sheet to capture user value, time approximations, and anticipated complexity among other fields. Doing so allows us to make custom calculations on the fly to not only make better decisions around what features are worth investing resources into, but also to leverage once the project kicks off as said data can be plugged directly into the backlog within your project management tool of choice.

Have a look here at an example spreadsheet:

4 | Test and validate your MVP feature list

Once you have a list of features to include in your MVP, it's important to validate that list with potential customers. This will help you ensure that the features you have chosen are actually solving the problems of your target audience and providing value to them. There are several ways to test and validate your MVP feature list:

• Customer feedback: Collect feedback from potential customers through surveys, focus groups, or one-on-one interviews. This can help you gauge how well the features solve the problems of your target audience and identify any areas for improvement.

• User testing: User testing is a more formal approach to gathering feedback on your MVP. During user testing, you can observe users interacting with your MVP and gather feedback on their experience. This can help you identify any usability issues or areas for improvement.

• A/B testing: A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of a product to determine which one performs better. You can use A/B testing to compare different versions of your MVP and gather data on which features are more successful at solving the problems of your target audience.

Once you have gathered feedback from potential customers and conducted user testing, make adjustments to your MVP feature list as needed based on the feedback received. Stay open minded and be ready to channel customer input, as it will help you create a product that truly meets the needs of your users.

Wrapping up

Choosing the right features for your MVP can be a daunting task, but with careful planning and consideration of your target audience and available resources, you can create a product that provides value to your users and sets the stage for future development. Don't be afraid to gather additional customer feedback and make adjustments to your MVP as needed – the goal is to create a product that meets the needs of your users.

Remember, an MVP is just the first step in the development process. It's a way to quickly test a product idea and gather feedback to iterate and improve upon it. As you continue to gather feedback and make adjustments to your MVP, you'll be able to create a product that truly meets the needs of your users and sets you up for success in the long run.

Looking to build an MVP?

We'd love to help. Aclarify specializes in getting software products to market quickly, effectively, and without compromising user experience, nor scalability. Reach out to us today to find out how we can help you launch your software product the right way! 🚀