The Steps to Building an MVP Without Code

Essentially, there are two ways you could go about building a no-code Minimum Viable Product. 

1. Learn how to use a no-code platform yourself. First of all, you’ll have to decide on a no-code platform to learn, such as Bubble, Adalo, or Webflow. You can read the platform's documentation and tutorials to understand its basic features and capabilities. There are also lots of forums, communities, and courses you can join, like Makerpad or Buildcamp. You’ll then be able to experiment with different features and tools to expand your knowledge and understanding of the platform.

2. Find a no-code developer who can build your Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Outsourcing your MVP to a professional no-code developer assures the highest quality for your final product, and has the added bonus of removing any time it takes to learn the platform of your choice. You can look for no-code developers on job boards such as Upwork, or Fiverr. You can also join online no-code communities and post about your project to find potential developers. Consider working with a no-code development agency to find a team of developers with the skills and experience you need.

✅ Check out our detailed guide about finding a no-code developer for your project. 

Regardless of how you choose to develop your no-code MVP, there are some steps it’s a good idea to follow. Let’s go over them.

Market Research

The first thing you’ll need to do when developing an MVP for your startup is perform market research. 

Market research is the process of gathering and analyzing information about a market, including its customers, competitors, and trends. The goal of market research is to provide insight into the market and help you make informed decisions about your new product. 

Market research can involve a variety of methods, including surveys, interviews, focus groups, and competitor analysis. The results of market research can inform your understanding of your target audience, identify opportunities and threats in the market, help to validate your Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and guide decision-making.

Need a little guidance? Here is our process for MVP market research:

1. Define target audience: Identify your target audience and understand their needs, pain points, and buying habits.

2. Competitor analysis: Research your competitors and their offerings to understand the market landscape and identify gaps.

3. Customer feedback: Reach out to potential customers and gather feedback on your MVP concept and potential features.

4. Surveys and questionnaires: Use online surveys or questionnaires to gather data and useful feedback from a larger sample size of potential customers.

5. Online forums and communities: Join online forums and communities related to your industry to gather insights and trends.

6. Analyse data: Analyse the data you've gathered to identify patterns, trends, and insights that can inform your MVP development.

7. Validate your MVP: Use customer useful feedback and market research to validate your MVP and refine its features.

Hopefully, by the end of the market research stage, you’ll have defined your product idea and established the goals you’ll strive to achieve throughout the new product development process.

Wireframing and Feature Planning

Once you’ve answered questions such as:

• What problems will my MVP help solve? 

• What solutions currently exist?

• Who is the target audience for my MVP? 

It’s now time to start wireframing your MVP features. The goal here is to determine the most critical features required to validate your Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Start by sketching the MVP's user flow and interface on paper to get a rough idea of the layout and functionality.

You can then choose a no-code platform that has wireframing capabilities such as Bubble, Adalo, or Webflow. Begin by using pre-built templates and customizing them to fit your MVP needs. This is what is called a low-fidelity wireframe which will allow you to quickly iterate and make changes without investing a lot of time and resources.

💡 Quick tip: Add interaction and animation to the wireframes to make them more interactive and help visualize the user experience.

A great benefit of no-code is that it allows you to update and make changes to the wireframe in real-time, without needing to code. When you share the wireframe with stakeholders, you can adapt to feedback and quickly iterate it, whether you’re building the Minimum Viable Product yourself or with a no-code agency. 

Founder Harish Malhi recently wrote an article about Minimum Lovable Products – the new version of the MVP, with a focus on giving your audience what they want. Want to find out more? Check out the article!

Building Your No-Code MVP

With a solid wireframe and strong market research on your side, you can feel confident when it comes to building your no-code MVP. At this point, you’ll already have a pretty clear idea of what you want your Minimum Viable Product to look like and to contain. You can use the drag-and-drop interface in your preferred no-code platform to add and arrange elements such as buttons, text, and images. 

The next steps will be to:

• Add interactivity: Add interactivity to the MVP by defining actions and links to other pages.

• Connect to APIs: Connect to APIs to integrate with third-party services and add functionality to the MVP.

• Refine your MVP’s design: Use the in-platform design options to fine-tune your MVP’s design. 

• Add animations: You can outsource custom animations to no code agencies or you can try building your own for maximum interactivity. 

Feedback and Iterating Changes

Once you’re happy with your no-code MVP, you’ll be able to start gathering feedback and iterating changes accordingly. Reach out to early adopters or beta testers and ask for their feedback on your Minimum Viable Product. You can then test the MVP and make improvements based on their feedback. Other options to gather feedback are to:

• Utilise social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook to gather feedback from potential users.

• Host focus groups with a select group of the product's initial users to gather more in-depth feedback.

• Use online survey tools such as Typeform or Google Forms to gather feedback from your target audience.

No-code platforms allow you to analyze usage data to see how users are interacting with your Minimum Viable Product and identify areas for improvement. You’ll be able to incorporate feedback into your MVP to continuously improve it.