It is remarkable what a budding business could achieve by building a  Minimum Viable Product using WordPress.

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a product which contains just enough features to gather insights about the product and helps to test the feasibility of the product in the long run. It helps in taking crucial decisions based on customer feedback about the prototype.

 

It serves the purpose of meeting the core needs and does not encompass additional features. It is essential for startups to create prototypes based on the principles of MVP. MVPs are critical in saving time effort and resources for a company. It helps in analyzing the market and lays the foundation for new product development through constant improvisation.

 

How to build a Minimum Viable Product using WordPress for your business:

To begin with, the following steps are essential to build a minimum viable product using WordPress

Step 1:

•  Know what you are planning to test
•  Decide how much time and energy you need to devote

Step 2:

• Inspect whether your plugins are functional and resolve issues if any

Step 3:

•  Ensure that your MVP is user friendly and does not come across as complicated to End Users

Why WordPress is the best alternative for launching a MVP:

WordPress is an online open-source Content Management System. According to DMR, WordPress powers close to 25% of the total global web traffic. It offers an astoundingly wide range of themes and plugins for websites. Moreover it loads fast and is user and mobile friendly. WordPress provides API functionality which means that it allows users to make their website’s data accessible and extendable to other parties, paving the way for mobile apps, widgets and similar tools.

WordPress also allows several agencies and developers to help startups set up their websites and subsequently build MVPs. In a nutshell WordPress is analogous to LEGO, where businesses can find plugins and themes that are the best fit for them and accordingly combine them to achieve desired results.  Thus it is useful to create a Minimum Viable Product using WordPress.

 

 

6 Reasons to use WordPress for your Startup MVP

 

Types of businesses that rely on WordPress for building PMVs:

 

There are a plethora of businesses that have adopted unique business models to execute smooth PMV creation

 

•         The Marketplace Model:

Companies such as Amazon and Flipkart are reliant on the marketplace model. This business model involves zero inventory cost and negligible overhead costs. AirBnB has successfully implemented this model and is reaping the benefits. WordPress plugins like WooCommerce can be utilized to create a prototype on similar lines. WP-Property is a plugin that can be used to replicate the business model of AirBnB. Similarly, Listify is a theme that makes it easier to create a website like AirBnB.

•      E-learning Websites:        

The E-learning space is dominated by websites such as  Coursera and Mbaskool. Skillshare is an online education website where members can access all the courses on the website for a fee as low as $10 per month. Members do not have to pay separately for each course. Similar MVP prototypes can be created by using WordPress plugins such as LearnDash

 

•    The Freemium Model:

This model is a unique blend of “free” and “premium” and has gained immense popularity over the years. Basic services are offered free of charge while premium services are chargeable. One of the best examples of the freemium model is LinkedIn.  Basic LinkedIn services such as creating professional profiles are free whereas additional features such as InMail and advanced search are offered at a premium. In order to facilitate payments, secure and efficient payment gateways need to be established for hassle free transactions to take place. Integrating the  eWay Payment Gateway  plugin with your website would come in handy. Instamojo is a good option for businesses operating within the Indian sub-continent.

 

Instamojo Review-Indian Payment Gateway for WooCommerce

• The Virtual Good Model:

Popular online games such as candy crush saga  and FarmVille  generate massive amounts of revenue from the virtual good model. Consumers can buy virtual goods such as bonus points, coins, extra lives, weapons and gifts to enhance their gaming experience. This model operates on high margins and low costs. If you wish to sell virtual goods via your business website, you can make use of a plugin like Easy Digital Downloads

• The Reverse Auction Model:

This is the reverse of e-Bay’s typical business model. The roles of the buyers and sellers are interchanged.  A price sensitive buyers bids for a service to the sellers and if the bid is accepted by the seller, the buye rmust conform to  the terms and conditions specified by the seller. For hosting auctions on your business website, you could consider using the Ultimate Auction Plugin. Alternately you could use WP Auctions

 

 

• The Affiliate Model:   

An affiliate is simply someone who helps sell a product in lieu of commission. The ownership of the product or service may not be taken up by the affiliate. They receive commission for referring customers to retailers whenever they make sales. Social media affiliate sites such as mylikes.com and leapviral.com pay individuals for diverting web traffic to their websites. AffiliateWP is a great WordPress plugin for affiliate marketing.

• The Direct Sales model

 

With the rise of the Internet as a distribution channel, producers do not have to rely on middlemen and can therefore sell directly to customers, rather than adopting the conventional approach of channel management. Direct sales if done right helps to foster healthy customer relationships. Dell is heavily reliant on this business model and continues to derive considerable success from it. [GWA] SalesPage is a useful WordPress plugin for implementing the direct sales model while building a Minimum Viable Product using WordPress

 

17 Business Models Shaking Up the Marketplace

Other Examples:

• Virtual Magazine:

WordPress plugins such as IssueM and Gridster enable you to create your website into an online magazine. This feature is very useful for media firms.

• Building Web Applications:

Piklist is a fast and concise plugin which serves to create web applications. It is highly customizable and simplifies many of the cumbersome tasks in WordPress and adds functionality not presently common in WordPress core.

 

• Building Mobile Applications:

Creating mobile applications for businesses has become indispensable in today’s era of intense market competition. AppPresser is a mobile application development framework for WordPress which helps developers to create customized apps.Although not an app-creator in itself, it serves as the core for all app development with AppPresser.

• Creating your own social network using WordPress:

With the emergence of social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and  Pinterest, the  trend of social networks is escalating at a rapid pace. BuddyPress is a plugin which allows developers to build a social networking website. Key features include the provision of creating user profiles, groups and private messages. WP Symposium is another alternative plugin for creating a social network.

How to create your own social network with WordPress

Conclusion:

As is evident from the aforementioned examples, WordPress is an extremely useful medium of creating prototypes for minimum viable products, owing to the vast number of themes and plugins that it offers. If you are a startup and you want to build an effective prototype for testing and analysis, look no further. Consider building a Minimum Viable Product using WordPress

Keep in touch with us to recieve more insights about the industry!

We take spam seriously, so you’ll receive only the best content in your email