What do you think happens when there is demand for a particular product?
In simple words, it will lead to the development of a new product. However, the process of developing a new product is not as simple as the answer to the above question. It’s complicated and involves crucial stages of development.
Therefore, if one wants their product/service to be valuable for both consumers and producers, one must focus on the stages of product development with a keen eye on every aspect of it.
Pondering upon the benefits of going through all these extensive stages of product development?
Reduced cost, less waste of resources, increased value to customers, and improved performance are benefits that it provides. Needless to say, the process is extremely valuable and worth carrying out.
Now, let’s discuss the meaning of the product and its development process.
What is a Product?
According to the Oxford dictionary,
A product is a thing that is grown, produced, or created, usually for sale.
In other words, a product can be anything (a service or a tangible thing) that satisfies a customer and fulfill his needs. It is mostly associated with monetary gain and fulfilling the gap between the need and availability of any product in society.
What is the Product Development Process?
Are you always striving and wanting to invent a new product?
If yes, you should reconsider your thought about it.
Why not go for improvisation of a product or maybe add a few more features to make it more adaptable?
The product development process refers to the different stages of development that a product goes through starting from the new product growth strategy to maintenance and support. To rephrase it, turning up an idea into a successful product.
THE 7- STEP STARTUP SUCCESS FORMULA
Every entrepreneur’s journey is a mix of failures and successes. And that is what makes it all worth it. I packed up all my failures and successes in this box and divided it into 7 compartments
What are the Stages of Product Development?
According to BIT.AI Blog, research was conducted by Harvard University which concluded that 30,000+ new products are developed and introduced every year in the market!
But some products have a short span of life in the market and some go for a long run. What’s the reason behind it?
It may be the ways they are being developed and marketed. This makes it necessary to go through all the stages of a product being made and tested before landing a place in the market.
Let’s delve into the essential stages of the product development process and understands it better.
1. New Product Development Strategy
A well-developed new product development strategy can help you capture the expectations and needs of the customers and will avoid waste of time, money, and resources. One needs to consider many things before jumping into the new product development process.
- How much is the demand for the product in the market?
- Is it possible to manufacture the product with available resources?
- What are the feasible ways by which the product can reach customers?
- What kind of and how much competition will the product face?
- Do you possess the essential financial resources for its development and maintenance?
After assessing all the above-mentioned points, one can further move to the next stage of the process i.e. idea generation.
2. Idea Generation
Do you know that only 4 out of 7 product ideas get access to the stage of product development?
One can generate ideas from two sources- internal and external sources. Internal sources include employees, research, and development, whereas external sources include competitors, customers, suppliers, and distributors.
There are numerous tried and proven strategies that can be used for idea generation such as SCAMPER and mind mapping.
A. Brainstorming
It is the process of sharing ideas or knowledge as soon as it emerges in your mind. Apart from building the self-esteem of the people involved, brainstorming also contributes to involvement, commitment, loyalty, and enthusiasm.
Some of the essential requisites of brainstorming include encouragement of wild ideas, staying focused on the topic, going for quantity, one conversation at a time, and building upon the opinions of others.
Have a look at Communication Failure: How To Avoid It In Your Company?
B. SCAMPER
Would you like to utilize a creative brainstorming method for the creation of a new product?
SCAMPER is the method you can go for. The acronym stands for:
- Substitute
- Combine
- Adapt
- Modify
- Put to another use
- Eliminate
- Reverse existing solutions
A specific product, an idea, or a service is taken into account and is put through an array of questions. Each acronym has questions of its own and the product will go through all those questions one by one which ultimately leads to the innovation of an idea for a new product.
Questions concerning acronyms can be as follows-
C. Mind mapping
Are you looking out for a compelling visual way of representing ideas?
Consider mind mapping for it. A mind map has a central theme or you can say an idea to which a lot of different associated ideas are connected.
It is one of the creative and visual ways of representing ideas. You can easily recall the information through mind mapping.
According to Tony Buzan,
Mind mapping is a technique based on memory and creativity and comprehension and understanding, so when the student or a child uses the mind map, they are using their brain in the way their brain was designed to be used, and so the mind helps them in all learning and cognitive skills.
D. Crowd Sourcing
“Crowdsourcing is a great way to approach creation because at any given point there’s always somebody on the Internet who knows something better than you do.” – Guy Kawasaki
It is done by many organizations so that they can contact more people within a limited time framework. People with a range of experiences, ideas, and job roles provide their ideas to solve the problem at hand.
3. Idea Screening
Do you think all the generated ideas are worth implementing?
No. It is not the case. You need to evaluate all the ideas in detail one by one according to their characteristics, benefits, disadvantages, future use, and so on.
Idea screening is the third stage of the product development process. Ideas are shortlisted in this stage with the help of a lot of strategies. Let us have a quick look at all these strategies.
A) Fail-proof testing
To cut off unprofitable products, a lot of factors are considered according to which a product is being evaluated.
These factors incorporate feasibility, budget, company values, user needs, and competition. They are the basic parameters to which all potential products should respond.
B) A visual matrix
As an innovative research tool, a visual matrix consists of mainly two parts.
In the first part, images, effects, and associations are shared by the participants in the form of a matrix, and then a reflective dialogue takes place whereby interpretations are made by the participants.
C) Financial evaluation
Through this strategy, the financial estimate is done. It encompasses independent budget analysis, focuses on costs and profit, etc. everything related to the finances.
D) SWOT analysis
Assessment of internal and external factors as well as current and future potential is accomplished through SWOT analysis. The acronym SWOT stands for:
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threats
The strengths and shortcomings of a product and its opportunities and threats are taken into account and the product is judged on these parameters.
E) Co-star evaluation
One of the fundamental but lesser-known metrics is “co-star evaluation.”
It helps in providing a lot of information related to the characteristics of your team, opportunities of the product, the functionality of the solution, team members and skills, competitive advantages, and identifying expectations for results.
4. Concept Testing
It’s crucial that the product goes through concept testing whereby usability, price, convenience, and quality of the product are demonstrated to the customers.
After the customer’s satisfied with all of the above criteria, the product will move on to the next stage of development.
5. Marketing Strategy and Development
In this stage, it is important to understand all the aspects of the market. You need to understand the customers. Plus, an investigation should also be made of the market, research and development channel, and the competitors of the product.
Moreover, the marketing mix (4 P’s of marketing- Product, Price, Place, and Promotion), financial analysis, and review need to be done thoroughly.
Also, read Top 10 Living Marketers Of The World
6. Business Analysis
Analyzing the business is also necessary for the product development process.
- How much l will be able to earn profit through this product?
- Are we moving on the right track or not?
- How much we will be able to achieve our desired objectives?
- What can happen after the introduction of the new product?
After analyzing all these questions, you should move to the product development stage.
7. Product Development
Before moving further, you should have knowledge and understanding of the expected price of the ready product, expected sales amount, and the potential life span of the product.
In this stage, the actual development of your product takes place wherein you hire front-end developers, product designers, project managers, and back-end developers.
Let’s briefly consider the role of the above-mentioned positions.
- Front-end developers ensure that visitors to the website can easily interact with the page.
- Product designers are responsible for new designs that can meet the expectations and requirements of the customers.
- Project managers are held responsible for the planning, organization, and delegation of the project.
- Back-end developers manage the exchange of data between the server and the users.
The physical shape of your product is decided in this stage and your product is given a particular shape. And voila, you have your product ready for the testing and execution stage.
8. Testing (Post-Development)
Testing is one of the indispensable segments of development. It helps in evaluating customer satisfaction, product quality, product adaptability, and functionality of the product.
Post-development stage of the product development process involves two phases- alpha testing and beta testing.
A) Alpha testing
This testing is executed by the employees of the organization (who are highly skilled) in a specific environment. It is predominantly done to evaluate the quality of the product.
Bugs that came up after testing can be resolved by the developers. Typically, the time of alpha testing is 1-2 weeks per test cycle though it can vary based on the issues found.
B) Beta testing
It is implemented by clients who are not part of the organization. It is primarily done to evaluate customer satisfaction.
The feedback collected from the users after beta testing will be executed in the next version of the product or service. Typically, the time of beta testing is 1-3 weeks per test cycle though it can vary based on its objectives.
9. Product Launch
Are you aware of the items that you need to check before the commercial release of your product in the market?
You should look into user readiness, timing, and the pricing of the product. All the social, economic and political factors should be taken into consideration before launching the product.
To bring a product or service to the market, many departments of the organization coordinate with each other such as managers, sales teams, product teams, event management teams, customer support teams, and product marketing teams.
According to Hubspot’s Product Marketers, below mentioned is the step-by-step list by which a product can be launched in the market.
- Know about your customers.
- Create a positioning statement.
- Disclose your positioning to stakeholders.
- Organize your go-to-market scheme.
- Decide an objective for the launch.
- Generate promotional content.
- Equip your team
- Launch or inaugurate the product
- Evaluate how far you achieved your objective.
Usually, a product launch event should be of 4-7 days. Its purpose is to create brand awareness, engage potential customers, attract sales and create a buzz about the product which is the main goal of the event.
One of the important things to keep in mind is that the place of the product launch should be reachable for the targeted audience.
10. Maintenance and Support
In today’s competitive environment, products become outdated in a short time since new products are always emerging at a fast pace.
Isn’t it great if your product can last long?
For that, you have to look after the maintenance of the product and provide support services to your product from time to time.
You need to follow market trends and collect feedback from the customers and the market.
Furthermore, adapting and improving your product with time will undeniably result in success of your product.
Do explore: A Complete Guide To Micro-Influencer Marketing For Startups
Conclusion
The product development process seems to be an easy task but when we go into the details of each stage, many complex situations and competition will occur.
Dealing with everything is extensive and time-consuming. One should not rush during the entire product development process, or it will not result in the required fulfillment of the tasks and your product may lack the essential elements needed for its best qualitative development.
