How to create an MVP app: A step-by-step guide (2023)

Learn to translate your idea into an MVP app using a no-code tool like Cogniss.

Are you solving the right problem for your users?

Due to our unconscious biases, we can sometimes arrive at solutions that don’t effectively meet the needs of our intended audience.

Take the example of Segway, the two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter. Instead of selling 10,000 units per week and making $US1B in sales per the founders’ prediction, the company only hit 10,000 units in two years. Many companies tested the product, but there was no significant market penetration.

Their mistake was there wasn’t a clear unmet need. People were already moving around on foot, bicycles, motorcycles, and cars and didn’t see value in investing in a Segway, which is expensive and big.

This is why it is essential to reframe a problem or look at it from different angles to uncover precise unmet needs, even when creating an MVP app.

Reframing a problem is only one part of the equation to creating an MVP app. This article will walk you through a 10-step process of how to do so.

What is an MVP app?
How do you create an MVP app?
10 steps to bring your MVP app to life

1. Outline the problem, goals, audience, and assumptions
2. Conduct user research and create a primary persona
3. Reframe the problem
4. Brainstorm ideas and decide on a solution
5. Identify your content needs
6. Build a Features list
7. Think of user retention strategies
8. Develop a user flow
9. Create your MVP app
10. Test, gain feedback, and iterate

What is an MVP app?

It is a simple version of your final app that allows you to gather the maximum amount of user data and insights with minimal effort. When we say simple, we mean the minimum requirements your app needs to function effectively — features, content, user flow, etc. — that will allow you to gather valuable feedback from your users.

Testing your solution early in your app creation process is incredibly helpful before you go all out into creating a market-ready app.

How do you create an MVP app?

There are a few ways you can go about this:

1. Hire a custom development agency or freelance developer

They have the app development expertise, so you don’t have to worry about coding or UX design. However, they can be expensive and require a minimum of four months for an MVP app development. Making iterations to your MVP app after the user testing stage will be an additional cost. You will also have to provide a lot of input on how you’d like to drive specific health, learning, or behavior change — or what we call Human Transformation — outcomes through the app, as they may not have the knowledge to do so independently.

2. Use a generalist no-code platform

If you don’t have the resources to go with option one, option two might be better. Generalist no-code platforms offer more flexibility in building your app’s features, UX design, etc. However, there is a long learning curve, and it doesn’t necessarily have pre-built components capable of driving specific Human Transformation outcomes. Say you’re in the digital health or education space. You would have to exercise caution as these platforms may not necessarily meet specific privacy and security requirements applicable to your app.

3. Use a specialist no-code platform

Alternatively, you could create your MVP app using a specialist no-code platform like Cogniss, which allows you to build apps that drive Human Transformation outcomes. With Cogniss, you can configure features in multiple ways to create highly sophisticated and customized apps. Cogniss-powered apps also meet best practice privacy and safety requirements by default, which reduces the hassle for app creators.

10 steps to bring your MVP app to life

1. Outline the problem, goals, audience, and assumptions

a) What is the problem you’re trying to solve/ opportunity for improvement?

Albert Einstein once said: “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.”

Ask yourself this: Is the problem significant enough for people to take action?

b) Think about your goals for the MVP app.

What do you want to accomplish? Consider the behavior change results you’d like to see in your app users.

Not ideal: To create a remote patient monitoring app that works well for clinicians and patients.

Ideal: To create a remote patient monitoring app that improves clinicians’ efficiency in monitoring cancer patients’ health and allows cancer patients to receive personalized and ongoing care between in-person appointments.

c) Who do you plan to target with your app?

Since you are creating an MVP app, think of a specific audience segment. You can always expand your target audience later on.

d) What are your assumptions about the problem/ opportunity?

You will need to validate these assumptions by conducting research and user interviews. Why? You might think you’ve created an excellent solution for your intended audience, but they might think otherwise.

2. Conduct user research and create a primary persona

Think of geographic, demographic, firmographic — demographics for firms/businesses, psychographic, and behavioral — products/ brands the user frequently uses — factors.

Find out why the problem you stated is a problem for your user.

What is their current solution to the problem?

Common user research methods include surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observation. The method you go for depends on your MVP app goal.

Tip: The more data you have, the better your MVP app will be because a group of users, and not just one user, will be using your app.

Now you are ready to create a primary persona, a fictional profile of a user whose goals and characteristics represent that of a larger group of users.

It should have at least the following:

Summary about your fictional user
Their motivation
Their pain points
Their needs/goal

3. Reframe the problem

Your users’ problem may seem obvious, but it may not be the right problem to solve. In fact, it could be a symptom of the real problem.

Based on your notes from steps one and two, reframe the problem like this:

“[A user] needs [user need] because [insight/why].”

Example: “[Laura] needs [to find a way to stay motivated to achieve her body-building goals] because [she finds it difficult to maintain interest in repetitive workouts].”

Here’s another example: Imagine you are the owner of a residential building, and residents have complained that the building elevators are too slow.

An obvious solution would be to make the elevator faster, but that would require a lot of investment (time and money).

What would help is to take a step back and reframe the questions you are asking. Find out why XYZ is a problem in the first place. This can lead you to solve the right problem: The wait time is annoying.

4. Brainstorm ideas and decide on a solution

You have done all the groundwork. Now, it’s time to ideate. Don't be afraid to think outside the box to spark ideas. Discuss in a group, as the more brains you have, the more innovative ideas you can come up with for your MVP app.

Then, ask yourself: Which solution would require minimal effort to execute yet create the most impact for your users?

The answer to that will be your solution.

5. Identify your content needs

Content is the meat of your app. It’s essential to consider the type of content you’d like to have in your app early in your MVP app development process.

Types of app content include:

User-generated content

Game-based content

Interactive story content

Text, audio, and video content

Here are some important questions to ask yourself:

- How are you going to get the content from users?
- How are you going to manage all that data?
- How are you going to display the content? (What would best engage them?)
- Where will you get your content?
- Who is going to create it? (Will it be you? Do you have the resources to outsource?)
- How are you going to display the content?
- How are you going to manage your user data?

6. Build a Features list

If content is the "what", features are the "how" of your MVP app. Features determine how you display content to users, obtain data, engage users, and so much more.

Start by listing out features you would need for your MVP app and the purpose of each of them.

Ask yourself these questions:

Does this feature add value to my MVP app?
Does this feature support my MVP app goal?

In some cases, one feature is enough to accomplish outcome A. In others, you may need to combine two or more features together to accomplish outcome B.

If you’re stuck, try exploring other apps in your category. Download these apps and see how they utilize different features. Note down best practices.

7. Think of user retention strategies

According to Upland’s survey across 37,000 apps, one out of five users abandon an app after just one session. For this reason, it is essential to consider how you can bring users back to your MVP app. That way, you can test (refer to step 10) with users to see if your retention strategy works well.

You would want to make this process as natural as possible for users to adopt. Some great examples of achieving this include:

Reminders like scheduled push notifications.
Game-based features like badges, challenges, progress tracking, and streaks.

Take the example of the SWEAT app by Kayla Itsines. The highly popular fitness app includes daily steps and hydration trackers to keep users motivated to achieve their goals and virtual community challenges to encourage interaction and foster social connections.

8. Develop a user flow

A user flow is a visual representation of the steps your users will take from the entry point of your app till they complete an activity on your app or exit your app. User flows help plan your user interactions in the different sections of your app.

Since this is an MVP app, your user flow does not have to be perfect. You can iterate it after you have received feedback during the testing stage (refer to step 10). The primary user flows we recommend you work on are onboarding and feature flows.

Below are some examples:

Onboarding flow

Feature flow

Since you will have more than one feature for your MVP app, we recommend creating flows for each feature and combining everything into one diagram. See the diagram below:

Tip: Keep it simple, as you don’t want to confuse your users.

9. Create your MVP app

It’s time to bring your MVP app idea to life. If you’re using a specialist no-code platform like Cogniss to create your app, we recommend spending a bit of time getting to know the platform and its features, such as app style, content, automation, virtual goods (rewards), and so on. Speak to our team if you would like to get started on a free trial with Cogniss.

Book a demo

Once you have access, you can begin to create your MVP app by using a sample app that we’ve built for new app creators like yourself. This sample app already has its own content, design elements, and several other features, which you can modify.

10. Test, gain feedback, and iterate

Congratulations! You’ve created your MVP app! It’s time to test it with your intended audience (refer to step 2) to see if your app works the way it should.

Provide tasks for your testers and observe how they interact with your app — are they getting stuck or feeling confused at a specific section?

Ask them non-leading questions and be open to receiving feedback. Remember, it is easier to make iterations to your app during the MVP stage of app development rather than later once you have a market-ready app.

Conclusion

There’s a popular phrase in marketing that goes: “People don't buy products; they buy better versions of themselves.”

Your app users would be interested in using your app if they can see an improvement or something positive in themselves. If it doesn’t bring them value, they will not use it after a single session.

Want to get started on your own Idea to MVP journey with Cogniss? Speak to our team.