How can you develop a product that gains traction among consumers and sells? Take a look at these top five product development tips.
Customer Friendly Product Development Tips
This is pretty much a no-brainer. If you want to develop a new product, you need to develop something that meshes with your customer. This means that you need to know your target consumer’s wants, needs, and preferences inside and out. Don’t just take a wild guess, do the business development research. The goods news is that communicating with customers is easier than ever thanks to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, and e-tail solutions like Amazon.com. There’s nothing stopping you from getting in touch with your customer base, so there is no excuse for not soliciting feedback. Lack of market research and customer engagement is one of the most common causes of failed product launches.
Establish clear, precise goals
What is it that you want to achieve with this new product? Do you want to gain a proprietary position for a product category? Is your company trying to enter a new market? Is the goal to simplify multiple custom versions of the same product? Never develop in the dark. You not only need to know what you are developing, you need to thoroughly understand why you are developing it and where this new product will take your company.
Pay attention to the numbers
You need to understand how much money this new product will make your company. At the very least you are going to want to calculate your expected ROI. Just because you can manufacture something doesn’t mean you should, especially if it isn’t going to be profitable.
Collaboration is key
Research shows that collaborative environments lead to more successful product launches. Breaking up your team into multi-disciplinary pairs is ideal to facilitate collaboration and innovation.
Don’t be afraid to pivot
Don’t assume that you will have the perfect idea and the perfect position right off the bat. Durable business models are flexible business models, ones that can acknowledge what is working and what isn’t, adapt to feedback, and change direction when necessary. Keep in mind that a number of prominent, high profile companies have pivoted, including PayPal, Starbucks, and Groupon. Pivoting the right way at the right time can turn a mediocre idea into a multi-billion dollar company.
Pivot International is a product design, development, and manufacturing firm with extensive experience in the medtech industry. If you are interested in engineering a new product or updating an existing product, contact us at 1-877-206-5001 or request your free consultation today.
