MLP vs. MVP: Which Approach is More Effective for Product Development?

“Rule of thumb for UX: More options, more problems.” 

This quote is by Scott Belsky, the Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President of Design and emerging Products at Adobe. It sums up how the two product development approaches work: MVP and MLP. 

Both involve moving quickly with the product’s launch and iterating it over time based on the insights you gain. An MVP and MLP of a product don’t have many options (features), and that’s why they don’t create many problems. It becomes quite easy to point out what the eventual product should look like. 

However, they differ in their focus, so it becomes important to know which approach would work best for which kind of product if you want to create one. 

If you’re having second thoughts about creating one, know that 70% of users abandon an app because of long loading times.

Here, we will focus on understanding the core characteristics of MLP and MVP separately, the process of creating them, and eventually comparing the two approaches.

Alok Sharma is a seasoned designer with a wealth of experience, enough to feed a generation of passionate designers one fine evening, enlightened Yellow Slice designers with his views on MLP. His opinions were rather captivating,

“The decision is not always based on data. For MLP, we need to gauge how exactly your users are experiencing the product. So, the KPI to gauge is our research. You need a good research team to determine whether the users are having a good time with the product. 

You need to learn about their experience with the product. By just calling out the name of your product, they think about the experience, like the feeling you get when you hear of Starbucks, so it is not just data-driven but also emotion-driven.” 

Breaking Down MVP: The Essence of the Minimum Viable Product 

Imagine you want to make a website or an app and spend a big budget on it, but as you launch it, it doesn’t work. Users don’t like it; it missed a few important features that it should have had, or a competitor rolled out a similar product. What will you do? All that money and effort is now a waste. 

What if we tell you there’s a solution to this problem? You can create a basic version of the product you have in mind with minimal effort, resources, and a financial budget. It still addresses the potential user’s core problems, needs and expectations. 

There’s a term for this basic version: Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which works like a promise to add more functionality, accessibility, and features later in the product. Iterative designs are best for certain reasons. 

Core Characteristics

Characteristics of an MVP are as follows: 

• Tests product ideas quickly within minimal cost with essential features
• Efficient for startups with limited resources. 
• Gathers valuable user feedback quickly and helps you learn and improvise on the go.
• Speeds up time-to-market and appears before other alternate solutions emerge from competitors. 
• Encourages user feedback early in the process for further iterations. 
• Emphasises functionality over aesthetics, as it’s not the final product. 

How to develop an MVP?

Develop an MVP in a 3-step method:

Step 1. Conduct thorough user research to understand your persona and the primary functions the users will prefer in the MVP. 

Step 2. Create prototypes that target the core problems the product wants to solve. Focusing on usability, an intuitive user experience, and aesthetics can take a backseat for now. 

Step 3. Launch MVP and perform user testing on a sample audience. This process will give you feedback, which you can iterate in the final product. 

Challenges of MVP

• When introducing MVP, there’s always a risk of alienating users with a bare-bones product that isn’t fully developed yet. Users might not get the entire idea and misinterpret the final product. 
• MVP shouldn’t compromise on technology, as it might give the impression of low quality if not handled properly. Technology advances every six months or one year, so make sure that the latest technology and innovations are incorporated into the MVP. 
• An unthoughtful monetisation model in the MVP can be dysfunctional. If users don’t feel comfortable investing in the product in the initial stage, then the product will not have any financial success in the long run. 

The Core of an MLP Minimum Lovable Product 

A Minimum Lovable Product (MLP) has “love” in it, which explains that this version needs to be loved by users. It takes a user-centric approach beyond mere functionality and attracts users through well-designed visual design and user experience.

MLP differs from MVP in that MLP supplies more than the bare minimum required to offer a lovable experience. The co-founder and CEO of Aha Brain de Haaff, in a book called Lovability, discusses the concept of MVP. 

Eventually, this book became a bestselling book of 2017; in it, he argued that building an MVP is a road to the business’s long-term success. 

When we’re talking about building an MLP, utility is the first step; it’s at the pyramid’s base, and complete product experience is the goal. Complete product experience focuses on the process after the sale, the conversation with the salesperson, and the customer support required when the user is using the product. 

Core Characteristics

Characteristics of MLP are as follows: 

• An MLP is not just an amalgamation of a few features that work on the surface; it is perfected at every touchpoint that the user will encounter during their journey. 
• MLP does not compromise on the effort and resources that customers deserve that need to go into a product. 
• With MLP, you’re more confident about the product you’re delivering because you get very close to the final product and develop a greater understanding of it. 

How to develop an MLP?

Develop an MLP in a 3-step method:

Step 1. Conduct a survey asking users what they want with the product; ask them directly instead of guessing what would improve their experience. Knowing the market defines the purpose of what you can/want to achieve. 

Step 2. Create prototypes, this time focusing on aesthetics as well as usability. Use templates to help you start creating your MLP, but weave emotions into it so that users find a deep connection with your product. 

Step 3. Launch your MLP and gather feedback through customer satisfaction surveys to measure the lovability of your product. Ensure you set a goal for positive feedback so that success is pre-defined and the target is achievable.  

Designing an MLP is more straightforward than creating a full-fledged product and a bit more complex than creating an MVP, but it’s a doable and worthwhile task. 

Challenges of MLP

Not everything is sunshine about MLP, and there are some challenges that you as an entrepreneur, face. 

• There’s a chance of scope creep, which can be challenging. Scope creep is when a project’s scope, or the requirements and deliverables, grows beyond originally planned.
• It can be hard not to succumb to the temptation to create a flawless product since the MLP is much ahead of the MVP and very close to the final product. 
• The MLP may be stripped of non-essential elements, and the focus on the core problems may be lost as the designer overengineers the aesthetics. 

Comparing MVP and MLP: Key Differences Explained 

Enough with the analytics; let’s understand the differences and similarities between MVP and MLP with a real-life example to spice things up. 

We all have chairs at our homes and workplaces, but are all the same? Do they all provide the same level of comfort to your backbone and shoulder? Can you use all of them to work for eight hours straight? 

The answer depends on more than one factor: the material used in the making of the chair, the price you pay for it, the features it offers, its durability, and its aesthetics. These are the few factors that create a user experience in the chair-buying process. 

Which one do you pick, a normal wooden or a gaming chair? 

You can sit on all the chairs, but certain things make the other chair more comfortable. 

Adjoining a few wooden pieces together is the easiest way to make a chair, and it may suit the purpose sometimes when the budget is insufficient, and the user’s needs are sufficient. 

The simple wooden chairs can be called “minimum visible chair” that does the job. 

On the other hand, a gaming chair has a wide range of recline positions, while wooden chairs have a limited range of reclines. Gaming chairs also have thicker, high-density foam padding for prolonged, comfortable gaming sessions. Meanwhile, wooden chairs usually have thinner padding. 

Hence, gaming chairs can be called “minimum lovable chairs” that provide comfort and aesthetics. 

Sure, gaming chairs are more fun, but what if a user doesn’t have the budget to buy one and doesn’t want to spend hours sitting on it? Or they don’t have the space to put one in? Then what? 

The user will likely go for the bare wooden chair in such a case. 

This example amplifies that not all the time MLP is the better option, but sometimes MVP is the perfect pick. 

Here’s a table to give you a quick scan of the differences between MVP and MLP. 

When to Opt for an MVP: Ideal Scenarios 

There are different scenarios in which an MVP can be a great choice, below, we have mentioned some possible instances. 

Ideal for:

• When your project goal is to validate the idea quickly, MVPs are a less labour-intensive approach.
• When a startup has limited resources in terms of time, budget, and human resources, it usually makes design mistakes; it would be better not to make those by investing way too much time and effort in the initial version itself. 
• If you’re in a market where the target audience focuses more on functionality than swaying into aesthetics. 
• When you’re in a market such as fintech, where time is of the essence, launching quickly is a smarter choice than giving in to visual design aesthetics. 
• When the product is unique, the competitors do not threaten you, and you can provide baseline requirements. 

Examples and Case Studies:

Buffer is a social media management platform that helps users grow their audience on social media and beyond. It is a value-driven company that provides affordable, intuitive marketing tools for ambitious people and teams. 

Before building the full-fledged platform, Buffer established a presence before the potential users to let them know they were entering the space. Buffer created a two-page explainer website before launching an MVP, which entailed what the product would eventually offer.

It worked as a guide for users, telling them how to use it. Users’ better understanding of the product will eventually lead to MVP’s success. Buffer is a success that is used by many businesses across the globe. 

Uber initially rolled out an MVP that proved successful in the market as they didn’t compromise on the technology they were using. When they first tested the MVP in San Francisco, they kept their interface simple but functional. Before moving to other cities, their core mission was cash-free rides. 

Deciding on MLP: When It’s the Right Choice 

There are situations when just an MVP would not do, and you will need an MLP; what are those situations? Let’s learn, 

Ideal for:

• When the project goal is to form an emotional connection with the user while delivering a functional product. 
• When the market has many competitors, the product needs to stand out in the niche market from the start to attract loyal customers. 
• When you have already launched an MVP in the past, and you are ready to move to the next stage. 
• When you can afford the resources like time, budget and talent, opt for MLP. 
• When the industry you are entering has a target audience that places a lot of importance on aesthetics while caring about usability and functionality, 

Examples and Case Studies:

Slack is a platform that various companies use to ease communication within the organisation. It was launched in 2013, and the founders created an MVP instead of an MLP. 

Slack’s MVP was user-friendly, with an intuitive interface that didn’t include a chaotic onboarding process. Playful GIF integrations and custom emojis giving way to team branding made the MLP more playful and personalised. 

Smooth search and indexing capabilities allow users to easily retrieve past conversations. Integrating the MVP with tools like Google Drive and Dropbox made the file-sharing app more robust. 

The outcome was such that within a year, Slack gained lakhs of active users. 

Combining MVP and MLP: The Sweet Spot 

The choice between MVP and MLP can be dreaded, and the result should depend on your business objectives and definition of success. 

Dropbox played the unconventional game and adopted a hybrid approach when it launched its first product version. It initially started with a simple file-sharing app, and later, it added advanced features such as file synchronisation and collaboration.

Why choose only one approach when you can have the best of both? A hybrid approach that combines the MVP and MLP approaches features similar characteristics. 

An even better option would be to start with an MVP and, as the product evolves, turn it into MLP. This approach balances speed, cost, and user delight. 

Contact us at Yellow Slice to enter the market with an MVP or an MLP. It is a great way to test the market’s waters to see if your vision has some solid influence. With a team of expert designers behind your back who use four stages of development, it becomes a cakewalk.

FAQs

1.Is it important to create an MVP, Minimal Viable Product? 

Yes, it’s important to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) because it’s important that you test your product before launching a full-fledged product without even investing a lot of money and effort. A successful MVP can buy investors’ interest in buy-in and earn feedback from early users. 

• Which is more effective for startups, an MVP or MLP? What is important for a startup MVP or MLP depends on several factors, such as: 

• The volume of resources such as budget, time and human resources available. 
• If the product is unique or not compared to the competitors. 
• How much risk is a business willing to take? 

These factors, along with a few others, will decide whether a startup opts for an MVP or MLP.