DEV Community: Marian

Understanding MVP and Why It Is A Huge Mistake To Skip It

Marian — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 12:20:10 +0000

You may be too excited and confident about your "bright" idea for developing a web or mobile application. You also have the capital to materialize your idea. But do you know whether your idea or product will be capable enough in solving the users' problems?

The age where investors would commit their money without validation is gone by. The initial market and customer testing is a must for all projects and investments now. There is no way you can proceed in your project without calculating or evaluating the long-term success of a product. Also, this prediction has no rooms for guesswork or a random analysis.

Now the next question ruling your mind would be - how to go about this validation and customer testing process? This is where the concept of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) comes into play. Building a MVP is the best first step for any stakeholder in a project.

MVP enables you to conduct a feasibility analysis for your project by depicting the concept, sharing the idea with your audience, gaining early feedback and getting vision for full-fledged product.

To utilize this product/ process best, it is pertinent for you to first understand the basic concept. Once you get a fair understanding on the purpose and significance of MVP, you will also find information on common misconceptions about MVP and prevalent mistakes in building MVP, in the subsequent sections of this blog.

What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

Concept - MVP is a development technique or a process where a new product is developed with the core functionality to test the response of the users or target audience. The final set of features for the actual product are then developed after taking into account the feedback gathered from the early adopters or audience.

A MVP demonstrates how the actual product will function with just the core functionality. It is a beta launch which, in the complete product development cycle, has the maximum associated risk in terms of market response and investment. The long term success of a product usually rests on the response of the users on the MVP.

Benefits - A MVP can save you from spending your hard-earned money and time. It boosts your confidence in ensuring success for your product. It also enables you to get fully involved in further planning.

Correctly executed and planned MVPs are a win-win irrespective of the fact that whether they are accepted in the market or not. It helps entrepreneurs start the process of learning quickly.

In contrast with traditional product development, which usually involves a long, thoughtful incubation period and strives for product perfection, the goal of the MVP is to begin the process of learning. Unlike a prototype or concept test, a MVP is designed not just to answer product design or technical questions but also test fundamental business hypotheses.

How to best utilize MVP

1. Focus on core functionality - The MVP is the smallest, quickest thing we could honestly test an idea with. We always need to be observant that minimum viable product has just those core features that allow the product to be deployed, and no more

2. Prefer need over affordability - In MVP, your prime focus has to be on finding the actual need of the product in the market, irrespective of the fact that how much capital you have to invest. Without a real need or purpose for the idea and its end product, the affordability and investments will not derive success for you.

3. Prioritization is key - While building a MVP, it is crucial for you to prioritize what to include in the features and what to leave. Features that have no real purpose, other than giving a pretty look to the product, should not be included.

Besides, it is not always necessary to include all those features in your MVP which your competitors are running. It is crucial for you to stay focused on your project goal. Even though feedback from the users or early adopters is crucial, you must undertake thorough research and analysis before adding any feature upon request from the user.

4. Select the right team - You need have the right technical time to handle the responsibilities and challenges. It will allow you to remain focused on the crucial aspects of your project while minimizing chances of inconsistency.

It is a common perception that only one developer and a graphic designer are sufficient to build a MVP. However, you need the same amount of skills for building a MVP as is needed to build a whole product. You need to have members trained in UX/UI design, front end and back end development, Quality Assurance, project management and system administration.

5. Ensure that your MVP completes within 6 months - The workflow between the members needs to be smooth to complete the MVP within 6 months. Anything which takes more than 6 months to develop is certainly not a MVP. It is a clear indication that the product has unnecessary features or you have not selected the right team or right development methodology.

Mistakes to Avoid while building a MVP

The stakeholders of MVP are often so engrossed in the building process and are so influenced with the hypothesis that they forget the sole purpose of creating a MVP backlog. They end up adding too many features that clutter the valuable functionality.

A MVP is the smallest, quickest thing you could test an idea with. It is crucial to note that Minimum Viable Product has just those core features that allow the product to be deployed.

Summing up

MVP is a strategy to evaluate market potential of a product concept with validated inputs and minimum efforts, time and cost. It important to note that you are selling a vision to the visionaries but not to everyone. MVP should serve the purpose of highlighting and selling the USP of the product. Rest all follows smoothly.

The Failure of MVP does not define the failure of product. It is rather a feasibility test for your product and benefits you in both scenarios, irrespective of the fact that whether your audience gave a heads up to your MVP or not.

How to Develop A Successful Video Editing App for Your Business

Marian — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 11:11:16 +0000

If video content is the future of marketing, then the future is here! More and more businesses are promoting their products in the digital space with the help of a video editing app.

About 70% of businesses say that their sales figures increased by incorporating video content. And, with 85% of customers relying more on videos to make buying decisions, businesses now need to have a single focus on meeting their customers’ evolving demands as well as enhancing the brand image. – HubSpot

If you’ve been wondering whether it’s worth investing time and money into a video editing app, this is certainly the time.

As video content continues to rise, more and more people are accessing it on their mobile phones and brands are increasingly leveraging the power of this medium.

This article shares insight on mobile video traffic, its statistics and the key factors to consider while creating a video editing app along with a list of the best video editing apps available in the market.

Mobile Video Traffic is On a Steady Rise

“By 2022 Global IP video traffic will grow four-fold, and video will account for 82% of all IP traffic.” – Cisco

Desktop video editing applications have been considered more powerful for editing as compared to mobile apps. They are certainly purposeful when it comes to creating a longer form of content for the web or for video sharing sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, to name a few.

However, mobile video editing apps have simplified content creation and you don’t have to depend on anyone to create compelling and engaging content.

The Rise of Video Editing Apps

There are several video editing mobile apps in the app market that have gained tremendous success with their original and unique features.

TikTok, initially known as Musically, has taken the mobile applications market by a storm. It is the perfect example of a music video editing app as well as a video-sharing app. It allows users to create, edit, publish and share video content with themes and customizable filters. Individuals, as well as businesses looking to sell their products or services, are using TikTok widely. Also, it is the fastest-growing platform that lets you engage with the target audience to convert them into a customer.

Here are the key aspects to consider while creating your video editing app:

App Ideation

When you are at an ideation stage of an app, the challenges are more around streamlining the ideas and developing the product. Thorough research and brainstorming can help come up with a unique approach that can address the market needs effectively.

The idea ought to be achievable and the probability of the idea can be achieved by doing a competitive analysis, conducting market research, and establishing definite goals within a timeline.

Target Audience

When it comes to the business of making videos, it is important to know who your target audience is and what they are looking for.

For instance, if your target audience is into online shopping, your video-editing app should have features that allow them to access/experiment with different looks and keep them updated about the latest trends.

User-Friendly Features

When developing an app, it’s essential to keep the interface instinctive since no one likes experiencing too many steps or guides to access a feature. The same goes for app functionality.

So, it’s a good idea to begin with the MVP version, where you let users first get familiar with the app. Once they are accustomed, consider their inputs and feedback. This way, you will gain better insight into the features that your TG prefers, and this will help boost the overall success of your app.

Some examples of the innovative features that mobile app developers can implement include:

Adding audio effects or tracks.
Merging several files into one (both videos and photos).
Trimming down the video or adding frames.
Extended edits (exposition, saturation, contrast, temperature, tints, shades, etc.).
Editing while recording with special effects, filters, and textures.
Social media share features.
Saving video in multiple formats.

These features can help you attract and engage user base also leading to higher user acquisition and retention.

Monetization

To generate revenue out of your app, it is essential to launch an MVP so that you can test various monetization approaches such as premium features, subscriptions, and in-app purchases.

Video editing apps also have the potential to help businesses earn. Snapchat and Instagram stories enable businesses to add video clips to promote their products. The app should have interesting elements such as face filters, features, effects, geotags, etc, to let users and business profiles use them more efficiently.

Integration with Social Media

Social media integration is the most pivotal element for any video editing app. Once your users have created interesting content, they would want to share it instantly on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, etc, to increase its visibility. It is a smart idea to add as many social media channels in your video editing app to help them automatically share the videos across several platforms.

Which are the Best Video Editing Apps for Android and iOS, Available in the Market?

Here is a list of 10 best video editing apps, to create engaging and compelling videos anytime, anywhere for video sharing platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

Apple Clips

Available on iOS

Started by Apple in 2017, Apple Clips is a name to reckon with. It allows users to create and share entertaining videos using text, merging clips, inserting graphics, adding subtitles, editing timeline, and other effects. Users can also add music to their video clips.

Using the Apple Clip is easy. Users can either record a video in the app or pick one from the library, which they can edit by adding different filters and effects and then share it with their friends and followers on social media.

One of its outstanding features is the Live Titles, which automatically transcribes your audio and video to text on the screen. Here, you can also use the option to edit the Live Titles to ensure that the documents are free from errors.

Adobe Premiere Clip

Available on Android and iOS

Adobe Premiere Clip is not only a free video standalone editing app but is also connected to Adobe’s Premiere Pro product. It offers two modes of editing: Freeform and Automatic. With Freeform, users can exercise complete control of the editing process, and, with Automatic editing, the app trims the video clips and adds transitions to expedite the editing.

Other benefits include automatic modifying colors, customizing music from the existing music library, syncing with Adobe Lightroom CC, and Photoshop that offers users easy to use sliders, presets, and quick adjustment tools that enhance the creatives.

Boomerang

Available on Android and iOS

Instagram’s Boomerang enables users to shoot a burst of photos, which then turn into a 4-second looping back and forth animated gif. Like Instagram’s other standalone apps, it is fun, easy to use, and can keep users’ Instagram accounts from getting stale. For using Boomerang, users do not have to open an account. They can simply shoot and edit videos and save it to their phone.

Powered by Instagram, users can directly post their video on their Instagram and Facebook accounts via the app. This app helps users to create fun and entertaining short videos to engage their friends and followers. To create a video, all the user must do is tap the circle to begin, and the app will take a quick burst of 10 photos and convert them into a short video.

Quik

Available on Android and iOS

If you are looking to create videos on the go, Quik is the answer. With the Quik app, users can create amazing videos with just a few taps. All they must do is pick the photos and video clips of their choice and use the app to create beautiful moments and transitions. Quick also allows users to customize video clips by adding text, music, etc., which they can share with their friends on Instagram or Snapchat.

Quick enables users to zoom, reorder, trim, and rotate photos and video clips. They can add a personal touch to their clips by adding text overlays, title slides, and emojis too. Quik also allows you to speed up the video footage or play it in Slo-Mo.

iMovie

Available on iOS

For users new to video editing, iMovie video editing app is the answer. Designed for iOS users, it’s a simple and intuitive user interface, especially its drag-and-drop feature, makes editing a seamless process.

With iMovie, users can import video and photo files through a hard drive. Further, the app allows them to edit video clips, and they can add music, titles, themes, music, and other video enhancement tools and filters such as fades and slides. It also enables users to stabilize shaky videos, crop and rotate video clips, as well as increase or decrease their speed.

InShot

Available on Android and iOS

An all-round video editing app, InShot enables users to create videos and edit photos and collages. It has several notable features. Using this app, users can trim clips and enhance video speed. This app also enables users to add content, music, and filters.

A unique feature of this app is that it allows users to rotate and flip the videos, which is absent in other apps. Considered as a no-frills app, it has all the functions required in building a great video. Besides the advantages it offers, the downside is that users must shell $2.99 for removing in-app ads and the watermark from videos.

KineMaster

Available on Android

Another video editing app in the lead, KineMaster’s intuitive interface makes it the most advanced video editing app across any device, offering users with a ton of options. Best known for creating videos on-the-go, the app enables users to edit clips as seamlessly as video editing programs that run on desktops.

With KineMaster, users can also add texts and other effects; users can customize the sound and music in their video by picking it from the internal KineMaster Asset Store music. Further, users can also record audio for embedding it in their video.

Magisto

Available on Android and iOS

Magisto is an AI (artificial intelligence) technology-enabled automated video editing app for creating quick and smooth videos. This AI-powered editor also enables users to customize and control features for more superior output. The app recognizes faces, landscapes, flora and fauna, action sequences, and can analyze speech and audio.

Users can collectively edit sequences in a video, along with music and effects, to make their clips shareable. With Magisto, users can now add a professional appeal to their videos. Users can also leverage this app for building quick Instagram video posts.

Splice

Available on iOS

Splice is a popular free video editing app available only for iOS users. Created by GoPro, the app has a simple and intuitive interface. It also contains a sound library of samples, loops, and one-shots that users can leverage to boost their videos professionally.

With Splice, users can combine different video clips for creating compelling videos. Further, they can also trim and edit the various clips in the video and can customize transitions.

WeVideo

Available on Android

An online video editing platform, WeVideo is powerful, intuitive, and easy to use video editing app. It runs in the cloud i.e., in your web browser, which is a vantage-point for this app. Thus, you don’t need a powerful computer or install the software as all the hard processing is done at their end.

The process of getting the video footage up in WeVideo is seamless. Users can directly import their videos from Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and from social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. And to save the video clips i.e., import your video files, they get the option to save in 720p, 1080p, and 4K (i.e., the quality of export you want in); users can also export their videos to Vimeo, YouTube, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, and even to Facebook.

Another outstanding feature is that users get to edit video files even while it is being uploaded. And, once the uploading is done, the video changes to the edited one.

The Way Forward

Editing videos and shaping them into compelling content has always been the underlying objective. While editing them on systems, demands precise specifications, huge RAM, significant storage capacity, and technical know-how, reproducing all these on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets via video editing apps is quite a feat.

With the above-mentioned list of video apps, businesses can create unique video content for their target audience. Do check out these apps, identify the best ones for you, and share your experience with us in the comments below!