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New Product Development - The 7-Step Process Explained

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Delivering innovative products can help you gain a competitive advantage, but maintaining that advantage requires continuously delivering new products that keep pace with your customers' evolving needs. New product development is the key to building and keeping market share and customer loyalty.

What is new product development?

New product development is the end-to-end process of creating a product that has never been brought to market—from idea to concept, prototyping, developing, testing, and launch. It involves building a product strategy and roadmap to successfully guide cross-functional teams and stakeholders through the entire process.

Unlike product enhancements and upgrades that modify and improve existing products, new product development addresses the unique challenges of designing and delivering brand-new products. This article discusses the seven stages of new product development, some challenges Agile teams face along the way, and how you can succeed.

The 7 stages of new product development

Successful Agile software development takes careful planning and good project management practices . The seven stages of new product development guide you through the process by breaking the work into stages or steps.

1. Generating ideas

Every new product begins with a problem and ideas to solve it. Ideas may come from within the company, such as the customer service team, or from outside via customer and market research. In this phase, it's important to gather all ideas without discrimination. The more ideas you can brainstorm, the better.

Products such as Jira Product Discovery help product teams structure the chaos of prolific ideas. Ideas can be supported by data, customer feedback, sales input, support tickets, and more to help shape what the product team should focus on, creating ongoing feedback loops. Idea generation is most effective as a team activity with the outcome of developing the essential elements for a new product. 

To help you prioritize ideas, methods such as a SWOT or Competitive analysis take the guess-work out of the process. When generating ideas, having a clear understanding of where opportunities exist and knowing how the competition stacks up can lead to brainstorming disruptive and game-changing ideas.

2. Screening ideas

Agile teams can use Jira Product Discovery matrixes to view a large number of ideas, using criteria such as impact, effort, and confidence level before scoring and selecting which ideas to move into the next phase. Gathering and organizing product ideas in a centralized tool makes it easier for product teams to prioritize which ideas or features will drive the most impact.

Scoring ideas by product development effort versus the overall impact of the solution is an excellent way to focus on those with the most impact. The SWOT and competitive analysis templates from step 1 can provide the foundation for where to place priorities. 

You can also identify good ideas that are simply not right for this new product but may be suitable for future products and the goals of the team. Screening ideas can be difficult, but aligning each good idea to your goals and comparing its impact to other ideas will help identify the most impactful opportunities.

3. Creating a product strategy

After selecting ideas to develop into a new product, it's time to create your product strategy. This is a concise definition of the need that the new product meets. A good product strategy includes the vision, target market or user, position in the industry, features and benefits, and the value the new product brings to the business. This phase involves creating a clear definition of the requirements.

Confluence offers a strategic plan template that can help you refine your strategy messaging, remove ambiguity, and clearly communicate the goal. From here, the Confluence requirements template walks you through the process of outlining your objectives and success metrics, listing assumptions and options to address them, and adding supporting documentation. These efforts include prototyping and validating with customers, ensuring the product being built will be something that customers actually want.

4. Building a product roadmap

A product roadmap is an action plan. It outlines product functionality and release schedules and helps you manage new product development. Think of the roadmap as the core communication tool for short- and long-term efforts that align with your business goals. It's a shared source of truth for a product’s vision, direction, priorities, and progress over time. Creating a great product roadmap keeps your entire team working together and moving in the same direction (try our product roadmap template ). They also make it easy to check in on the work at any time throughout the product development life cycle.

Product teams using Jira Product Discovery can then share their product strategy using always-up-to-date, custom roadmaps to present which ideas will be built, when, and why.

5. Prototyping

Time to market is critical for new product development, and your ability to rapidly prototype and develop products ensures viable solutions. Jira Product Discovery’s integration with software development tools like Jira  makes it easy to seamlessly connect your entire software delivery lifecycle.

Defects and change requests are simply a fact of new product development, but concise tracking and issue management keep everyone on your team informed, organized, and on schedule. Testing can span both internal quality assurance (QA) teams as well as customers and end users engaged in alpha, beta, or user acceptance testing. Jira  is the leading tool that Agile teams use for testing, in part because it optimizes the QA workflow by writing and managing test scripts, tracking test cases, and managing defects. 

The product roadmap template from the previous step, along with other Confluence project planning templates , also inform testing and help ensure you miss nothing.

7. Product launch

You only get one chance to make a good first impression, and launching a new product requires careful planning and delivery. Every step in the process is a building block to a successful launch. Confluence’s product launch template helps ensure a smooth launch.

Additionally, sales and marketing, HR, and legal teams are already using your product strategy and roadmap to align messaging, identify opportunities, and ensure regulatory compliance. Using Jira , they can seamlessly connect their work with the product team’s. It provides a streamlined UI and integrations with the tools they use daily, such as Gantt charts and spreadsheets.

4 main types of product development

There are four types of product development, including:

• New product development : These are products that haven’t been released in the market before, such as software applications that solve new or novel customer problems. 
• New product categories : These products may not be new to the marketplace, but they are new to the company developing them. For example, a software company may expand their offering to include products within the category they currently develop, such as adding tax accounting to their portfolio of personal finance applications. 
• Product line extensions : These expand the products offered within the organization’s existing range of products, such as adding new industries within a category. For example, a company may develop accounting software for the construction industry and decide to extend their accounting software to the airline industry.
• Product enhancements : These are new features and capabilities within existing products. Companies generally design them to provide customers with new or added value. Enhancements respond to changes in the market, performance issues, or new competitive products. 

Example of new product development

Whether creating a new product that hasn’t been seen in the market before, or expanding an existing application to address new geographic locations, understanding the time it will take to develop is essential. 

Jira insights help teams make data-driven decisions based on their own historical progress. Insights can come from every aspect of the product development process and provide continuous improvement opportunities with each new product development project.  

3 challenges teams encounter in the new product development process

Great tools can help alleviate the challenges of new product development. Understanding these challenges and how to address them can keep your team on track for a successful launch.

1. Defining clear requirements

When speed is important, the requirements often become an ironclad set of instructions. While clear requirements are necessary, Agile teams must have a shared understanding of and empathy for the customer. Include various members of your team in requirements-gathering activities, such as customer interviews. When designers, developers, and QA share an understanding of user stories, they can produce results more quickly and accurately without maintaining rigid rules.

Confluence’s requirements template gives you the power to capture and update assumptions, use cases, UX design, and scope together.

2. Estimating the development effort

Working with realistic project timelines is essential for bringing new products to market and gaining a competitive advantage. However, product development tasks are notoriously difficult to estimate, and new product development can be even harder. Break work into smaller tasks for more accurate estimates. In addition to giving you more flexibility with resource assignments, smaller tasks minimize the impact on your overall project when something takes longer than expected.

Many Agile teams have switched from traditional estimates to story points—units that measure the effort teams require to fully implement a user story. A user story is an informed explanation of a feature from the user's perspective. With Jira, Agile teams track story points, reflect, and quickly recalibrate estimates.

3. Siloed tools

Collaboration is a critical component in your team's success and the success of their products. Development teams use a variety of specialized tools, such as visual design tools for creating mock-ups and instant messaging apps for hosting team discussions. No single tool can provide the specialized functionality for all the needs of the development team. Jira Product Discovery and Jira integrate with a wide range of specialized development tools to easily collect and incorporate important information.

How long does new product development take?

The time to develop a new product can vary widely based on the complexity of that product. For example, developing an application that securely processes credit card payments may take magnitudes longer than developing software to track exercise statistics. But a few tips can help reduce the time to market while maintaining quality. 

Expert tips from Atlassian for new product development

Understand the customer.

Begin with the customer’s needs in mind. The time you spend early, interviewing customers and gathering input, helps create a clear product strategy. The entire team should understand the problem they are solving for the customer. It will keep the team on track when they make decisions during development. 

Foster team collaboration

When the team has the tools for seamless collaboration, generating ideas, prioritizing issues, and solving problems is much easier. Today’s product development teams include a wide range of cross-functional roles. The best way to prevent silos and keep the team working together is with collaboration, respect, and genuine appreciation for each other’s contributions. Centralized tools such as Jira Product Discovery and Jira help foster this.

Define the requirements

A good product specification outlines the purpose, what the client needs the product to do, the technical and functional requirements to achieve that, design mockups, and even release plans. This foundational document takes time to create, but it helps teams refine and clarify fuzzy requirements and align on the scope of the project. 

Optimize resource allocation

Resource allocation is among the hardest aspects of new product development, so the roadmap must be well-defined before you begin. Understand the tasks included in the project, their dependencies, and the resources required. Visual workflows can help teams identify when you underutilize or overcommit resources. They can also highlight bottlenecks and roadblocks to allow teams to quickly adjust and stay on track. 

Jira makes new product development easier

Jira  provides success tools for new product development teams to collaborate on and manage work from idea to product launch. Agile teams have made Jira the leading solution for new product development.

Jira Product Discovery is a dedicated tool that aids teams in crucial stages of product development. It helps Agile teams gather and prioritize ideas and align everyone with product roadmaps. 

With Jira Product Discovery matrixes and criteria, you can easily select which ideas to move ahead with, enhancing the experience of product development.

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• Product development process: The 6 stag ...

Product development process: The 6 stages (with examples)

The product development process is a six-stage plan that involves taking a product from initial concept to final market launch. This process helps break down tasks and organize cross-departmental collaboration. Find out how to implement a process of your own.

Product development is both an exciting and difficult endeavor. From initial ideation to research and prototyping, no two product launches are the same. However, there’s a general process that can help you get started with the product development process. 

The product development process describes the six steps needed to take a product from initial concept to final market launch. This includes identifying a market need, researching the competition, ideating a solution, developing a product roadmap, and building a minimum viable product (MVP).

The product development process has evolved in recent years and is now commonly used by dividing each step into six separate phases. This helps better organize the process and break individual deliverables into smaller tasks.  

What is product development?

Is product development the same as product management.

Though they sound almost identical, there's an important difference between product development and product management. Product development describes the process of building a product, where product management is the overseeing of that work. It's a slight difference, but an important distinction. A product manager, who often oversees a team that is in the product development process, will lead product management.

The 6 stages of product development

Not only does the product development process help simplify a launch, but it also encourages cross-team collaboration with teamwork and communication at the forefront of the process. 

Let’s dive into the product life cycle and define the six product phases. All of which can help you successfully launch your next product. 

1. Idea generation (Ideation)

The initial stage of the product development process begins by generating new product ideas. This is the product innovation stage, where you brainstorm product concepts based on customer needs, concept testing, and market research. 

It’s a good idea to consider the following factors when initiating a new product concept:

Target market: Your target market is the consumer profile you’re building your product for. These are your potential customers. This is important to identify in the beginning so you can build your product concept around your target market from the start.  

Existing products: When you have a new product concept, it’s a good idea to evaluate your existing product portfolio. Are there existing products that solve a similar problem? Or does a competitor offer a product that doesn’t allow for market share? And if yes, is your new concept different enough to be viable? Answering these questions can ensure the success of your new concept.

Functionality: While you don’t need a detailed report of the product functionality just yet, you should have a general idea of what functions it will serve. Consider the look and feel of your product and why someone would be interested in purchasing it.

SWOT analysis : Analyzing your product strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats early in the process can help you build the best version of your new concept. This will ensure your product is different from competitors and solves a market gap. 

SCAMPER method : To refine your idea, use brainstorming methods like SCAMPER , which involves substituting, combining, adapting, modifying, putting to another use, eliminating, or rearranging your product concept.   

To validate a product concept, consider documenting ideas in the form of a business case . This will allow all team members to have a clear understanding of the initial product features and the objectives of the new product launch. 

2. Product definition

Once you’ve completed the business case and discussed your target market and product functionality, it’s time to define the product. This is also referred to as scoping or concept development, and focuses on refining the product strategy. 

During this stage, it’s important to define specifics including:

Business analysis: A business analysis consists of mapping out distribution strategy, ecommerce strategy, and a more in-depth competitor analysis. The purpose of this step is to begin building a clearly defined product roadmap.

Value proposition: The value proposition is what problem the product is solving. Consider how it differs from other products in the market. This value can be useful for market research and for developing your marketing strategy.

Success metrics: It’s essential to clarify success metrics early so you can evaluate and measure success once the product is launched. Are there key metrics you want to look out for? These could be basic KPIs like average order value, or something more specific like custom set goals relevant to your organization. 

Marketing strategy: Once you’ve identified your value proposition and success metrics, begin brainstorming a marketing strategy that fits your needs. Consider which channels you want to promote your product on—such as social media or a blog post. While this strategy may need to be revised depending on the finished product, it’s a good idea to think about this when defining your product to begin planning ahead of time. 

Once these ideas have been defined, it’s time to begin building your minimum viable product (MVP) with initial prototyping.

3. Prototyping

During the prototyping stage, your team will intensively research and document the product by creating a more detailed business plan and constructing the product.

These early-stage prototypes might be as simple as a drawing or a more complex computer render of the initial design. These prototypes help you identify areas of risk before you create the product.

During the prototyping phase, you will work on specifics like:

Feasibility analysis: The next step in the process is to evaluate your product strategy based on feasibility. Determine if the workload and estimated timeline are possible to achieve. If not, adjust your dates accordingly and request help from additional stakeholders.

Market risk research: It’s important to analyze any potential risks associated with the production of your product before it’s physically created. This will prevent the product launch from being derailed later on. It will also ensure you communicate risks to the team by documenting them in a risk register . 

Development strategy: Next, you can begin working through your development plan. In other words, know how you’ll be assigning tasks and the timeline of these tasks. One way you can plan tasks and estimate timeline is by using the critical path method . 

MVP: The final outcome of the prototyping stage is a minimum viable product. Think of your MVP as a product that has the features necessary to go to launch with and nothing above what’s necessary for it to function. For example, an MVP bike would include a frame, wheels, and a seat, but wouldn’t contain a basket or bell. Creating an MVP can help your team execute the product launch quicker than building all the desired features, which can drag launch timelines out. Desired features can be added down the road when bandwidth is available.

Now it’s time to begin designing the product for market launch. 

4. Initial design

During the initial design phase, project stakeholders work together to produce a mockup of the product based on the MVP prototype. The design should be created with the target audience in mind and complement the key functions of your product. 

A successful product design may take several iterations to get just right, and may involve communicating with distributors in order to source necessary materials. 

To produce the initial design, you will: 

Source materials: Sourcing materials plays an important role in designing the initial mockup. This may entail working with various vendors and ordering materials or creating your own. Since materials can come from various places, you should document material use in a shared space to reference later if needed.  

Connect with stakeholders: It’s important to keep tight communication during the design phase to verify your initial design is on the right track. Share weekly or daily progress reports to share updates and get approvals as needed. 

Receive initial feedback: When the design is complete, ask senior management and project stakeholders for initial feedback. You can then revise the product design as needed until the final design is ready to be developed and implemented. 

Once the design is approved and ready to be handed off, move onto the validation phase for final testing before launching the product. 

5. Validation and testing

To go live with a new product, you first need to validate and test it. This ensures that every part of the product—from development to marketing—is working effectively before it’s released to the public.

To ensure the quality of your product, complete the following:

Concept development and testing: You may have successfully designed your prototype, but you’ll still need to work through any issues that arise while developing the concept. This could involve software development or the physical production of the initial prototype. Test functionality by enlisting the help of team members and beta testers to quality assure the development. 

Front-end testing: During this stage, test the front-end functionality for risks with development code or consumer-facing errors. This includes checking the ecommerce functionality and ensuring it’s stable for launch.

Test marketing: Before you begin producing your final product, test your marketing plan for functionality and errors. This is also a time to ensure that all campaigns are set up correctly and ready to launch. 

Once your initial testing is complete, you’re ready to begin producing the final product concept and launch it to your customer base. 

6. Commercialization

Now it’s time to commercialize your concept, which involves launching your product and implementing it on your website. 

By now, you’ve finalized the design and quality tested your development and marketing strategy. You should feel confident in your final iteration and be ready to produce your final product. 

In this stage you should be working on:

Product development: This is the physical creation of your product that will be released to your customers. This may require production or additional development for software concepts. Give your team the final prototype and MVP iterations to produce the product to the correct specifications. 

Ecommerce implementation: Once the product has been developed and you’re ready to launch, your development team will transition your ecommerce materials to a live state. This may require additional testing to ensure your live product is functioning as it was intended during the previous front-end testing phase. 

Your final product is now launched. All that’s left is to measure success with the initial success metrics you landed on. 

Product development process examples

Now that you understand the six stages of the product life cycle, let’s look at real world examples of some of the most successful product development strategies of iconic startups to inspire your own.

Example 1: How Figma expanded their product features

Originally started in 2012, Figma was the first professional-grade UI design tool built entirely in the browser. Today, Figma has grown into the leading competitor for design web applications.

Their mission is to make design accessible to more people and help them bring their creativity to life. They’ve shown this by continuously adding new product features—like multiple flow capabilities, a brainstorming timer, and an interactive whiteboard—coordinating successful software releases, and building trust through transparency.

Read our case study to learn how Figma uses Asana to manage development backlogs. 

Example 2: How Uber solved a market gap

While today we think of Uber as the biggest ride-sharing service, that wasn’t always the case. They too started with a compelling product strategy that made them into the innovative company they are today. 

Uber’s strategy began by solving a gap in the existing taxi industry: creating an easier ride-hailing process with simplified payment processing. But they didn’t stop there: they continued to innovate their product portfolio by developing ride tiers ranging from luxury to budget-friendly. 

While each situation varies slightly, with the right product strategy, you too can create an innovative portfolio. 

Who is part of the product development team?

There are many stakeholders and various teams that assist with the product development process. The main leader is the product manager, who oversees all product tasks related to ideation, research, development, and product launch. 

Additional important stakeholders include:

Product management: A product manager oversees all areas of the product life cycle and works to bridge communication gaps between various internal and external teams. The product manager works to initiate new product launches and initiates product ideation and market research.

Project management: A project manager may be involved in the product development process to assist with cross-departmental communication. They might also assist with task delegation and goal tracking.

Design: The design team helps during the prototyping and designing phase to support the visual product concept. It’s important to connect product designs with brand guidelines and UX best practices. 

Development: The development team helps with the implementation of the product on your website. Most commonly, a team of developers will work together to build the new product offering depending on the complexity of the concept.

Marketing: The marketing team will assist with developing the marketing strategy and testing it before the product goes live. They will also measure the success of the marketing initiatives.

Sales: The product manager works with the sales team to come up with an effective strategy and report on success metrics after the product has been implemented. 

Senior management: Senior stakeholders may need to give final approval before the product can go to launch. 

In addition to these important roles, other teams that may be involved are finance, engineering, and any other related stakeholders. All of which can play a role in the process depending on the complexity of the concept. 

The process that simplifies product development

The right product development process can help you streamline each step with organized tasks and team collaboration. The six stages outlined above will get your team through all steps of the process, from initial idea screening to the development phase. 

But you might need help along the way. Coordinate tasks and organize your product development process with Asana for product management . Asana can help get your products to market faster by tracking workload and simplifying planning.

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A step-by-step guide to the product research process

A strong product research process ensures product teams maximize resources, meet key business goals, and make confident decisions that will deliver successful products and features to create customer delight.

But, how do you conduct effective product research?

Just as there’s no single way to develop a product, no single research process fits all product teams. But there are key steps that will help you balance business goals and user needs for actionable product research . 

This article takes you through the factors you should consider to tailor product research to your desired outcomes and provides a step-by-by-step guide to doing research right.

Use Hotjar to streamline your product research process

Hotjar offers product teams a rich stream of quantitative and qualitative data that keeps you connected to user needs at every stage of research.

What to consider before starting product research

Before jumping into the research process , product managers prepare their team. Take time to consider the why and determine how you can design the process to meet your unique product requirements. 

Reflect on:

Why you’re doing the research

Get connected with the deep purpose of your research: what you need to understand to create a profitable and effective product .

Determine specific outcomes of the research process.

During the early product discovery stages, generating new product ideas for innovation and getting to know your users better will serve as a solid foundation throughout the research process. At later stages, look for concrete feedback on a new product, or possible upgrades and feature updates for an existing product. The why behind the research should guide your process. 

Categorizing your users

Determining customer needs and segmenting users are crucial steps that impact the success of any product research strategy. 

You might use a random sample of potential or existing customers; or segment users according to region, industry, or other criteria to spot patterns across different demographics.

Trial users can give immediate product feedback, which is usually incredibly easy to implement (a new theme, for example) or incredibly difficult, like an entirely new functionality or platform for your product. Your long-time users can give nuanced feedback, but they overlook what doesn't work due to their expertise.

Finding that middle ground of users who like what you offer but aren't stuck to your brand is essential. These users appreciate being treated like their insights matter most—because they do.

Finding impartial user insights can be tricky since many tools track users who’ve been paid or incentivized to click through to your website or product. Product experience insights software like Hotjar can help by providing organic, unbiased user data that gives you a clear picture of your customer experience (CX) .

Pro tip: Hotjar Highlights lets you sort and curate user insights and attributes, and share them with your product team. You can also watch Session Recordings of users from specific countries or industries—or filter recordings to see only satisfied or dissatisfied user experiences, which can provide valuable information on what’s working (and what’s not).

A Hotjar Session Recording

Your core business goals 

The best product research processes overlap with the overall organizational vision, so update your research goals in line with company goals to ensure alignment. 

Designing your research process with cross-functional collaboration in mind is a great way to eliminate any communication issues, ensure all departments collect data that tests product profitability, business goals, and user satisfaction.

 Your team’s methodology

Different product methodologies emphasize different aspects of product research throughout its lifecycle, so it’s important to consider techniques that will fit your team’s working stages.

Teams who use waterfall methodologies usually rely on bursts of intense research before development and again during pre-launch. They also make a clear distinction between the product’s research and development phases. 

Teams who use agile, lean, or DevOps methods usually integrate research with the broader product development process, engaging in continuous discovery methods. 

Whatever your methodology, infuse research into every stage of the product lifecycle to achieve business goals like increased revenue, acquisitions, and user adoption.

Choosing which research tools to use

When you’re deciding how to do product research, you’ll need to consider your budget and company size to pick out your tool stack.

Manual research techniques like user interviews can be time-consuming and cost-intensive, but useful to forge a personal connection with users and ask improvised questions based on their responses.

Automated research tools (like Hotjar 👋) increase speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, and reduce human error. They allow you to reach a larger target audience and ensure you’re getting clean, unbiased product feedback —in person, users are more likely to feel pressure to compliment your product or underplay their concerns, but with tools like Hotjar, you’ll get genuine, in-the-moment feedback from users as they engage with your product. 

Which team members will contribute

Involve different team members at each stage of the product workflow. For example, when you’re validating product ideas, you may want to include marketing and technical departments; and when you’re testing product usability , you may want to rely on the expertise of your engineers. 

It’s also important to consider what research other departments have done before launching your own process, so you don’t waste resources duplicating generic market research. 

8 steps for amazing product research

Amazing product research is all about doing smart research to unearth effective insights without getting lost in an information overload that derails your product workflow .  

Follow these eight steps to guide your product research strategies to achieve valuable, actionable product insights that will inform your product’s entire lifecycle, from ideation to execution. 

1. Define your research goals

First, set your high-level goals, which should test business objectives as well as customer-centric product discovery. These are often drawn directly from the product vision and strategy.

Then, create attainable, specific goals or questions for your team to focus on during each stage of their research. This might include: 

Conducting market research for the product’s adoption before its launch

Identifying areas where key features can be improved after the product launch

Evaluating the product’s performance throughout the product lifecycle

2. Understand your users

User needs are at the center of effective product research processes. 

Engage in user discovery—identify and understand your customer—as early as possible , even before you have definite product or feature ideas. Open-ended user research is a key source of product inspiration and innovation, and an essential step in determining product-market fit .

Then, when you have product proposals, prototypes, or a minimum viable product ( MVP) , you can start seeking more specific feedback. 

User research is all about interacting with your current or potential users and learning what they want and need . Developing a user-centric culture of ongoing research will help you gauge the market demand, position your product against the competition, and generate customer delight .

To create a user-centric research culture, conduct user interviews and create user personas. You can also connect more passively with your user demographic by looking at forums, Facebook groups, or sites like Reddit that are used by your customer niche. 

The more organic the research process, the better. It’s ideal to catch users in situations where they answer by instinct instead of having carefully crafted answers. It's what they say instinctively that leads to better product solutions.

Pro tip: use Feedback widgets to gather user feedback in a non-invasive way. 

Hotjar’s Feedback widgets are integrated into the product interface , so users can give quick feedback and then carry on with their tasks. This means you can survey your users and gain valuable insights by learning what they’re thinking and feeling as they interact with the product.

A Hotjar feedback widget

3. Do market research for your product 

Run thorough competitive and comparative analyses to test the business potential of your product against other solutions on the market , and engage in opportunity mapping to get stakeholder buy-in.

You can also use historical market data and trade reports to predict potential profitability and run keyword research to understand users and what potential customers are searching for to generate product ideas.

Once you’ve validated whether there’s a viable market for your product and determined how saturated that target market is, focus on your product’s unique selling points.

Pro tip: even if you already have a product established in a specific market, make sure to assess the market periodically. Markets and competitors change, and making assumptions because of your initial research processes can be a costly mistake. Work with your marketing team here to validate your ideas and avoid guesswork.

Evaluate your product regularly against the industry by creating a value curve. The value curve plots the product offerings currently available in the market on one axis, and the factors the industry is competing on and investing in heavily on the other. This can help you spot market opportunities, ensure product relevance, and get ideas for features you could add to increase user demand and open up new user bases.

Check out how Gavin increased conversions for his lead generation agency by 42% with Hotjar.

 4. Get to know industry trends

Next, combine your understanding of your users and market with research on technology trends that may affect user expectations of your product or its long-term viability. 

Stay on top of trends by regularly engaging with tech cultures —read trade magazines and news sites, listen to tech news podcasts, and follow key trendspotters on social media and specialist forums. You can also use tools like Google Trends , Trend Hunter , and PSFK . 

Another key source of tech trend information is your engineering team . Chances are, you have plenty of techies on your team who are up to speed on different aspects of technology and what’s forecasted to change.

Pro tip: rigorously analyze trends and put them into context to understand what has staying power, as you avoid jumping on every passing fad. Create a learning culture that embraces experimentation and gives team members the opportunity to share their knowledge. 

Analyze the latest trending topics and projects in mainstream open-source communities across the Internet such as GitHub. These communities are an incredible resource for identifying tech trends that are sustainable, disruptive, and have immense staying power. 

It's also important to subscribe to prominent tech publications and leading technology platforms such as Azure and AWS to get the latest tech news and new feature announcements delivered directly to your inbox. This way, your product team is always in the know about the most important tech trends that are shaping product development and product markets.

5. Validate ideas with current or potential users

Once you’ve developed a strong sense of your users, market, and technology, it’s time to start testing concrete ideas and solutions. 

Based on your early research, identify possible products, features, or upgrades that could meet user needs as well as business goals. Then, run concept testing to evaluate the user experience.

First, identify key users or user types to test. Recruit participants for customer interviews or focus groups, or deploy Hotjar Surveys , Incoming Feedback tools, and Session Recordings to test ideas with existing users. 

Then, ask questions or set tasks and observe user responses. You may just want to explain concepts to users at this stage—or you can use wireframes or mockups; or, at later stages, prototypes or MVPs. 

Make sure you account for confirmation bias and false-positive responses from users when designing the validation process. Include open- and closed-ended questions and use measures like purchase intent to determine customer adoption.

Pro tip: use fake door testing to gauge interest in new features across your existing user base. 

In fake door tests, you show users a call-to-action for a product action that doesn’t exist yet. Once they click to perform the action, they’ll be taken to a page that explains this feature isn’t available yet—you may also choose to include a short survey on this page to learn more about their interest. By reviewing answers to survey questions and the click-through rate , product teams can quickly validate ideas for new features or improvements with users.

6. Test your MVP

The next step in your product research process is to develop a Minimum Viable Product based on validated ideas and run tests to improve subsequent iterations. 

This is a critical stage in product research that you shouldn’t skip. Waiting for the fully developed product before running tests makes it harder to fix software and prioritize bug issues, causing major delays. 

Quality assurance (QA) testing, regression testing, and performance testing check the MVP’s functionality and show developers where they need to make product changes . 

User tests are also key at this stage. Different types of product testing , like tree testing and card sorting, can confirm whether users can easily navigate your product to find the functionality they need. 

A/B tests and multivariate tests , where you split your user base into groups and give them different versions of a product or feature, can help you decide which iteration to run with. Hotjar Heatmaps allow you to easily compare where users click and scroll on different versions of the product.

7. Continue research after the product launch

Consider doing a soft launch—or even canary deployment—where you release new products or features to a small group of users

Gather data to weed out bugs

Finally, adapt the product based on user responses

Then you can roll it out to all users.

But even once you’ve launched the final product, your research isn’t over. The best product teams stay connected with their users and regularly analyze market trends and tech changes.

After the product is released, either through a soft launch or a regular launch, implementing a data-driven approach to the go-to-market strategy is crucial in parsing consumer reports and validating trends and customer opinions.

Continuous research ensures that your product stays relevant and successfully meets customer needs, which will boost user metrics and business metrics alike.

So how can you continue your research throughout the product lifecycle? 

Watch session recordings to spot blockers and bugs where users are rage clicking or dropping off the product journey

Use heatmaps to understand which product elements are most popular—and unpopular—with users

Measure product analytics like click-through rate (CTR) and product conversion rate

Stay up to date on industry and market trends 

Incorporate regular opportunities for cross-team discussions to get different research perspectives

Schedule regular user and customer interviews

Use product experience insights tools like Hotjar to give you a steady stream of user feedback through Surveys and Feedback widgets

8. Turn research into action

The final step in any product research process is to organize your research and turn insights into action. 

Curate your research into specific, actionable themes to cut through the noise and gather valuable, user-centric insights.

Then, use your research to establish a strong product strategy and roadmap to guide your product development process. Make sure you compare the strategy and roadmap with new research at regular intervals and update where needed, though it’s important to strike a balance: these documents should be dynamic but relatively stable touchpoints.  

Your product research should also drive your day-to-day decisions and product backlog management , and form the basis of your product storytelling to help get stakeholder buy-in. 

Why creating a user-centric research culture is essential

Remember: at heart, all product research is user research. 

Product teams who are endlessly curious about their users—who they are, what they need, how they experience your product—can better meet the demands of an ever-evolving market, inspire customer loyalty, and increase their Net Promoter Score (NPS) . With a learning mindset and a commitment to customer-centric product discovery, you can transform research into innovation and sustainable business growth .

FAQs on the product research process

What is product research.

Product research is the process of gathering data about your product’s purpose, intended users, and market to meet user needs and achieve business goals.

What are the steps in the product research process?

The 8 steps in an effective product research process are: 

1) Define your research goals

2) Understand your users

3) Do market research for your product

4) Get to know industry trends

5) Validate ideas with current or potential users

6) Test your MVP

7) Continue research after the product launch

8) Turn research into action

Why is product research important?

Strong product research is critical to product management because: 

It ensures the product will meet customer needs and hit business targets 

It helps product managers (PMs) develop a data-informed product vision, strategy, and roadmap

It helps PMs make confident decisions on the product backlog and day-to-day tasks

It keeps the product team motivated and connected with the purpose of their work 

It helps the product team communicate product value to stakeholders to get buy-in and secure resources

Prioritize product features

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A Comprehensive Guide to Successful Product Development

• June 1, 2023
• product management

In today’s highly versatile business landscape, the ability to create and introduce profitable products is a critical component in determining the success and expansion of organizations. Product development is essential for addressing consumer wants, bringing novel solutions to market, and establishing a competitive advantage. Whether you’re an established company looking forward to expand your product range or a startup with a solid idea, it’s important to understand the fundamentals of product creation.

In this extensive blog, we will guide you through the realm of product development, starting with the fundamentals and progressively delving into more complex ideas. We will demystify the process, explore strategies for effective new product development, and outline the key stages in the product development life cycle. By the end, you will have a firm grasp of the guiding ideas, tactics, and best practices that guide fruitful product development endeavours.

So, if you want to learn how to make your ideas a reality, build products that appeal to your target market, and handle the challenges of the product development process. Let’s dig in and learn how to create extraordinary products that capture customers and spur company success, whether you’re a product manager, an aspiring entrepreneur, or just interested about the intriguing world of product development.

Key Takeaways:

• Prioritize understanding customer needs through thorough market research, user personas, and continuous feedback. Tailoring your product to meet specific customer requirements is essential for success.
• Embrace Agile methodologies and develop a minimum viable product (MVP) to expedite market testing and gather early feedback. Continuous improvement and adaptation based on user insights are key to staying competitive.
• Utilize data and analytics to inform product development decisions. Monitoring KPIs, conducting tests, and analyzing user behavior help in making informed choices throughout the development process.
• Foster collaboration among diverse teams, including product management, design, engineering, and marketing. Effective communication and interdisciplinary teamwork leverage different expertise to drive innovation.
• Leverage collaboration and product development software to streamline workflows and enhance team productivity. Data analytics tools provide actionable insights, facilitating data-driven decision-making and optimization of development strategies.

What is Product Development?

The act of developing and introducing new goods or services to the market is referred to as product development. It involves a series of activities aimed at transforming ideas and concepts into tangible offerings that meet customer needs and generate value for the business. Product development encompasses various stages, from ideation and design to testing, manufacturing, and commercialization.

Role of Product Development in Business Success

Product development plays a pivotal role in determining the success of a business. Here are some key ways it contributes to the overall growth and profitability:

1. Meeting Customer Needs : By engaging in product development, businesses can identify and address unmet customer needs and pain points. Companies may create products that meet particular requirements, improve user experience, and address current difficulties through research, consumer input, and market analysis.

2. Competitive Advantage : In today’s crowded marketplace, differentiation is essential. Businesses may differentiate themselves from rivals by providing distinctive features, functions, and benefits thanks to effective product development. Companies may grow market share, draw in new clients, and foster brand loyalty thanks to this competitive edge.

3. Revenue Generation : Developing new products expands a company’s revenue streams. By introducing innovative offerings, businesses can tap into new markets, target different customer segments, and create additional revenue opportunities.Successful goods may boost sales, boost profitability, and contribute to the organization’s long-term financial success.

4. Brand Image and Reputation : Well-executed product development initiatives enhance a company’s brand image and reputation. By consistently delivering high-quality, innovative products, businesses establish themselves as industry leaders, gain customer trust, and build a positive brand perception. A strong brand reputation can lead to increased customer loyalty, positive word-of-mouth recommendations, and improved market positioning.

7 Elements of Effective New Product Development

Planning, execution, and ongoing improvement are essential for successful product development. H ere are some key elements that contribute to the success of product development initiatives:

1. Market Research : Conducting thorough market research helps identify market trends, customer preferences, and unmet needs. It provides valuable insights that shape the product development process and ensures alignment with market demands.

2. Customer-Centric Approach : Placing the customer at the center of product development is crucial. Understanding their pain points, desires, and behaviors enables businesses to create products that address their specific needs and deliver a superior user experience.

3. Cross-Functional Collaboration : Product development involves multiple departments, including marketing, design, engineering, and operations. Effective collaboration and communication among these teams are essential for seamless coordination and successful product outcomes.

4. Iterative and Agile Methodologies : Adopting iterative and agile methodologies allows for flexibility and quick adaptation to changing requirements and market dynamics. This approach promotes rapid prototyping, testing, and feedback incorporation, leading to faster time-to-market and better product iterations.

5. Design Thinking : Applying design thinking principles helps in developing innovative and user-centered products. By emphasizing empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing, businesses can create products that address real user problems and deliver delightful experiences.

6. Quality Assurance : Ensuring product quality is vital for customer satisfaction and brand reputation. Implementing robust quality assurance processes and conducting thorough testing at various stages of product development help identify and rectify issues before product launch.

7. Post-Launch Evaluation : Continuously evaluating the performance and success of the product after launch is critical. Collecting customer feedback, monitoring key performance indicators, and making iterative improvements based on insights gained enhance the product’s long-term success.

Product development is a strategic process that drives business success by creating innovative, customer-centric products. By understanding market needs, leveraging cross-functional collaboration, and following key principles and methodologies, organizations can develop remarkable products that meet customer expectations, drive revenue growth, and gain a competitive edge in the market.

What are the steps in development of a new product?

New product development (NPD) strategies are a set of systematic approaches that organizations use to create and introduce innovative products to the market . In order to guarantee that the new goods fit client wants, line up with corporate objectives, and have a greater chance of success, these strategies comprise a number of clearly defined stages and processes.

New product development strategies are vital for businesses across industries, whether they are launching a completely new product or introducing enhancements to existing offerings. By following a structured approach to NPD, companies can reduce risks, optimize resource allocation, and maximize the potential for market acceptance and profitability.

Let us explore the key stages involved in new product development strategies, providing insights into each step of the process. From market research and idea generation to concept development, business analysis, product development, and test marketing, these strategies enable companies to create innovative and customer-centric products.

These are the strategies for developing new products:

1. Market Research and Analysis: Conducting thorough market research and analysis is the first stage in developing a new product. This entails compiling information and insights into the target market, consumer wants, competitive environment, and market trends. Businesses may make wise judgements regarding product development by using market research to find market opportunities and gaps.

Data analysis, focus groups, surveys, and interviews are all examples of market research methodologies. Understanding client preferences, problems, and unmet wants is the aim. Businesses may create goods that are in line with market wants and have a greater chance of success by developing a thorough grasp of the market.

2. Idea Generation and Screening:

Once market research is complete, the next step is generating and screening product ideas. Idea generation involves brainstorming sessions, idea competitions, customer feedback, and internal suggestions. The goal is to generate a pool of potential product ideas that address identified market gaps.

After idea generation, a screening process is conducted to evaluate the feasibility and viability of each idea. Screening criteria may include market potential, technical feasibility, resource requirements, and alignment with business objectives. Ideas that pass the screening stage move forward in the product development process.

3. Concept Development and Testing:

In this stage, selected ideas are further developed into product concepts. Product concepts are detailed descriptions of the product, its features, benefits, and positioning in the market. Concepts may be presented through visual representations, prototypes, or simulations.

Concept testing involves gathering feedback from target customers to evaluate their reactions and preferences. This helps refine and validate the product concept, ensuring it resonates with the intended market. Feedback from concept testing is used to make necessary iterations and improvements before proceeding to the next stage.

4. Business Analysis and Feasibility Assessment:

Before committing resources to product development, a thorough business analysis and feasibility assessment are conducted. This involves evaluating the financial viability, technical feasibility, and market potential of the product concept.

Financial analysis assesses the projected costs, revenues, and profitability of the new product. Technical feasibility analysis evaluates whether the product can be developed within the required time and resources. Market potential analysis examines the target market size, growth potential, and competitive landscape.

5. Product Development and Prototyping:

Once the product concept is deemed feasible, the actual product development process begins. This stage involves designing, engineering, and manufacturing the product. Multiple iterations of prototypes are created to refine the product design and functionality.

Product development teams work closely with designers, engineers, and other stakeholders to ensure the product meets the desired specifications and quality standards. Prototyping allows for testing and validation of the product’s performance, usability, and aesthetics. Iterative improvements are made based on feedback and testing results.

6. Test Marketing and Commercialization:

Before a full-scale launch, test marketing is conducted to gauge the market response and fine-tune marketing strategies. Test marketing involves a limited release of the product in select markets or target customer segments. It allows businesses to gather real-world feedback, assess demand, and make necessary adjustments.

Based on the test marketing results, marketing strategies and communication plans are refined. After successful test marketing, the product is ready for commercialization. This includes finalizing production, distribution channels, pricing, and promotional activities. The product is launched in the market and made available to customers.

By following a structured approach to new product development, businesses can increase the likelihood of creating successful and profitable products. The stages outlined above provide a framework for effectively managing the product development process. Each stage plays a crucial role in ensuring that the product meets customer needs, aligns with business objectives, and achieves market success.

What are the Steps in New Product Development

A successful new product development process involves a series of well-defined steps that guide organizations from the initial idea generation stage to the final commercialization of the product. These steps ensure that the product aligns with customer needs, business objectives, and market opportunities. Let’s delve into each step of the new product development process:

1. Idea Generation:

The first step in the new product development process is idea generation. It involves systematically generating and collecting potential ideas for new products or product improvements. This can be done through various methods such as brainstorming sessions, customer feedback, market research, competitive analysis, and internal innovation programs. The goal is to generate a wide range of ideas that have the potential to address customer pain points or tap into new market opportunities.

2. Idea Screening:

After generating a pool of ideas, the next step is to screen and evaluate them to identify the most promising ones. Idea screening involves assessing the feasibility, market potential, and strategic fit of each idea. Criteria such as customer needs, market size, competition, technical feasibility, and financial viability are considered during the screening process. Ideas that do not meet the predetermined criteria are eliminated, allowing the organization to focus on the most viable concepts.

Once the promising ideas are identified, the organization moves on to concept development and testing. In this stage, detailed concepts are developed for the selected ideas. These concepts outline the product’s features, benefits, and value proposition. Concept testing involves presenting these concepts to a target audience to gather feedback and assess their acceptance. This feedback helps refine the concepts and identify potential improvements or modifications before moving forward.

4. Business Analysis:

Before committing resources to the development of the product, a thorough business analysis is conducted. This step involves assessing the financial viability and market potential of the product. Factors such as estimated sales volume, pricing, production costs, distribution channels, and competitive analysis are considered. The goal is to ensure that the product has a strong business case and aligns with the company’s overall strategic goals and financial objectives.

5. Product Development:

Once the business analysis is complete and the product concept is deemed feasible, the product development phase begins. This stage involves transforming the concept into a tangible product through design, engineering, and manufacturing processes. Cross-functional collaboration is crucial at this stage, involving teams from various departments such as engineering, design, research and development, and production. Prototypes are created, and extensive testing is conducted to ensure product functionality, quality, and reliability.

6. Test Marketing:

Before launching the product on a large scale, test marketing is conducted in selected target markets.Test marketing enables the company to analyse the performance of the product in a real-world environment, acquire consumer feedback, assess the success of marketing initiatives, and make required improvements. It provides valuable insights that help fine-tune the product, positioning, pricing, and promotional activities before the full-scale launch.

7. Commercialization:

Commercialization is the last stage of the new product development process. This involves the full-scale launch of the product into the market. The commercialization stage includes setting up production facilities, establishing distribution channels, implementing marketing and promotional strategies, and managing the product’s lifecycle. The success of the commercialization phase relies on effective marketing campaigns, efficient supply chain management, strong customer support, and continuous monitoring of market performance.

By following a structured and systematic approach to new product development, organizations can increase the likelihood of success for their innovative products. To ensure that the product satisfies consumer expectations, corresponds with corporate objectives, and seizes market possibilities, each phase is essential. Market analysis, consumer insights, and cross-functional cooperation, when properly carried out, may result in the development of ground-breaking goods and long-term company growth.

What are the major challenges of product development?

Going to market with a new product is an exciting time for any company. However, the road to success is full of obstacles that can make or break your product’s development. In this blog, we’ll look at the 10 most common product development challenges faced by businesses and provide tips on how you can overcome them. Whether you’re a startup or a well-established company, understanding and overcoming these challenges can significantly improve your chances of succeeding in the ever-changing product development landscape.

1. Undefined or Unclear Objectives: One of the primary challenges in product development is not having a clear understanding of the objectives. Without a well-defined goal, teams may struggle to prioritize tasks, leading to wasted resources and delayed timelines. To address this challenge, establish clear and measurable objectives from the outset, ensuring everyone is aligned on the product’s purpose and goals.

2. Insufficient Market Research: Inadequate market research is a recipe for disaster in product development. Without a deep understanding of your target audience, competitors, and market trends, you risk creating a product that fails to meet customer needs or differentiate itself in the market. Invest time and resources in comprehensive market research to gain valuable insights that inform every stage of development.

3. Poorly Defined Target Audience: Knowing your target audience is crucial for creating a successful product. Failing to define and understand your ideal customer can lead to ineffective marketing, misaligned features, and a lack of resonance in the market. Develop detailed buyer personas to guide your decision-making and ensure that your product resonates with the right audience.

4. Inadequate Resource Planning: Resource constraints often impede product development progress. From budgetary limitations to a shortage of skilled personnel, inadequate resource planning can lead to delays and compromises in product quality. Conduct a thorough assessment of your resources, allocate budgets wisely, and ensure you have the right team with the necessary skills to execute the project successfully.

5. Lack of Cross-Functional Collaboration: Siloed teams can hinder the flow of information and ideas, leading to suboptimal product outcomes. Foster a culture of collaboration by promoting cross-functional communication between teams such as marketing, engineering, and design. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and working towards the common goal of delivering a successful product.

6. Scope Creep: Scope creep occurs when the project’s objectives and requirements continuously expand beyond the initial plan. This can lead to missed deadlines, increased costs, and a diluted product vision. Combat scope creep by establishing a well-defined scope at the project’s outset and rigorously managing changes through a structured change control process.

7. Ineffective Project Management: Efficient project management is critical for navigating the complexities of product development. Without a robust project management framework, tasks may be poorly prioritized, and timelines may be compromised. Implement agile project management methodologies, set realistic milestones, and regularly reassess and adjust your plan to keep the project on track.

8. Quality Assurance Challenges: Neglecting quality assurance can result in a product that fails to meet customer expectations. Implement rigorous testing processes throughout the development lifecycle to identify and rectify issues early on. This proactive approach ensures that your product meets high-quality standards and minimizes the risk of post-launch setbacks.

9. Regulatory Compliance Hurdles: Navigating the regulatory landscape is a challenge, particularly in industries with stringent compliance requirements. Stay informed about relevant regulations from the start and integrate compliance considerations into the product development process. This proactive approach can prevent costly delays and ensure that your product is market-ready.

10. Inadequate Post-Launch Support: Launching a product is not the end of the journey; it’s the beginning of a new phase. Inadequate post-launch support, such as insufficient customer service or delayed updates, can harm your product’s reputation. Develop a robust post-launch strategy, including ongoing customer support, regular updates, and an iterative approach to product improvement.

What is Product Development Life Cycle

The product development life cycle represents the various stages that a product goes through from its introduction to its eventual decline. For controlling the product’s growth, maximizing its profitability, and ensuring its long-term success, it is essential to understand these stages and put relevant measures into place. Let’s examine each phase of the life cycle of a product

What are the 6 stages of a new product development process?

1. Introduction Stage:

The introduction stage is the initial phase of the product development life cycle. The product is initially released onto the market at this phase. Customers are unfamiliar with the product, and sales volumes are typically low. The focus of this stage is to create awareness, generate interest, and establish a market presence. 

Key strategies for the introduction stage include:

a. Product Launch: A well-planned and executed product launch is essential to create excitement and generate initial sales.Getting the attention of potential clients requires effective marketing and promotional strategies.

b. Market Education: Since the product is new, educating the target market about its features, benefits, and value proposition is critical. Providing clear and compelling messaging helps potential customers understand how the product can solve their problems or meet their needs.

c. Pricing Strategy: Pricing during the introduction stage is often set higher to recoup development costs and leverage the product’s novelty. Premium pricing can also create a perception of exclusivity and quality.

2. Growth Stage:

The growth stage is characterized by increasing sales and market acceptance. Customers are becoming more aware of the product, and competitors may enter the market. The focus of this stage is to expand market share, solidify the product’s position, and drive profitability. 

Key strategies for the growth stage include:

a. Market Expansion : Identifying and targeting new customer segments or geographic markets can help fuel further growth. Investing in additional distribution channels and exploring partnerships can expand the product’s reach.

b. Competitive Differentiation: With increased competition, it becomes essential to differentiate the product from competitors. Highlighting unique features, superior quality, exceptional customer service, or innovative marketing campaigns can set the product apart.

3. Pricing Strategy : Adjusting the pricing strategy becomes crucial during the growth stage. Companies may consider competitive pricing to gain market share or implement volume-based pricing to attract a larger customer base.

4. Maturity Stage: The maturity stage is characterized by stable sales and market saturation. The product has achieved widespread acceptance, and competitors are numerous. The focus of this stage is to maintain market share, extend the product’s life cycle, and maximize profitability. 

5. Decline Stage: The decline stage is characterized by a decline in sales and market demand. The product reaches a point where it is no longer profitable or relevant due to changing customer preferences or technological advancements. Key strategies for the decline stage include:

a. Product Diversification or Extension: Exploring options to diversify the product offering or extending the product line can breathe new life into the declining product. This can involve introducing new variations, bundling products, or targeting new markets.

b. Cost Reduction: Implementing cost reduction measures becomes crucial to maintain profitability during the decline stage. This can involve streamlining operations, reducing marketing expenses, or optimizing distribution channels.

6. Product Exit Strategy: Eventually, if the product’s decline is irreversible, companies need to plan an exit strategy. This can involve phasing out the product gradually, selling it to another company, or repurposing its components for other products.

Understanding and effectively implementing strategies specific to each stage of the product development life cycle is vital for sustained success. By adapting to market dynamics, consumer preferences, and competitive landscape, companies can navigate the challenges and leverage opportunities at each stage to maximize the product’s potential.

The product development life cycle consists of distinct stages, each requiring unique strategies and actions. From the introduction stage to the decline stage, companies must adapt their approaches to ensure continued success. By leveraging the right strategies at each stage, companies can effectively manage their products, capitalize on market opportunities, and deliver value to customers.

Challenges in Product Development

Product development is a complex and dynamic process that involves numerous challenges. Overcoming these challenges is crucial for successful product development and ensuring that the final product meets customer needs and achieves business objectives.

The key challenges faced in product development:

1. Managing Risks and Uncertainties:

a. Technological Risks: Developing innovative products often involves technological uncertainties. This includes challenges related to feasibility, scalability, compatibility, and reliability of new technologies. Mitigating these risks requires thorough research, prototyping, and testing.

b. Market Risks: Uncertainties in market demand and customer preferences pose significant challenges. Conducting comprehensive market research, understanding customer needs, and validating product-market fit are essential for reducing market risks.

c. Financial Risks: It’s critical to manage financial risks connected to product development, such as spending restrictions, cost overruns, and return on investment. These difficulties can be lessened with good financial planning, monitoring, and risk assessment.

2. Cross-Functional Collaboration:

a. Siloed Approaches: Product development often involves multiple departments and teams working together. Siloed approaches and lack of effective communication can hinder collaboration and lead to inefficiencies. The answer to overcome this difficulty is to establish cross-functional teams, encourage open communication, and develop a collaborative culture.

b. Alignment of Objectives: Different teams may have varying objectives and priorities. Aligning these objectives to ensure a shared vision and coordinated efforts is essential for successful product development. Clear goal-setting, regular meetings, and effective project management techniques can facilitate alignment.

c. Integration of Expertise: Product development requires diverse expertise, including marketing, engineering, design, and operations. Integrating these different skill sets and leveraging the strengths of each team member is crucial. Encouraging knowledge sharing, providing training opportunities, and fostering a multidisciplinary approach can enhance collaboration.

3. Time and Resource Constraints:

a. Time-to-Market Pressure: In today’s competitive landscape, speed to market is crucial. Balancing the need for speed with thorough product development processes can be challenging. Efficient project management, streamlined processes, and effective resource allocation are key to managing time constraints.

b. Resource Limitations: Limited resources, including budget, personnel, and technology, can pose significant challenges. Optimizing resource allocation, prioritizing tasks, and seeking external partnerships or outsourcing opportunities can help overcome resource constraints.

4. Market Dynamics and Competitive Landscape:

a. Changing Market Dynamics: Markets are dynamic, and customer preferences evolve over time. To remain competitive, it’s crucial to keep up with industry trends, comprehend developing technology, and adjust to shifting client requirements.

b. Competitive Landscape: Competition is fierce in most industries, and launching a successful product requires differentiation and a competitive edge. Conducting thorough competitive analysis, identifying unique value propositions, and continuously innovating are vital to navigate the competitive landscape.

Addressing the challenges in product development requires a proactive approach, effective leadership, and continuous improvement. By anticipating risks, fostering collaboration, managing resources efficiently, and staying agile in response to market dynamics, organizations can overcome these challenges and deliver successful products.

Product development is a complex process with many difficulties. By recognizing and addressing these challenges, organizations can enhance their chances of success. Through strategic risk management, fostering cross-functional collaboration, optimizing resources, and adapting to market dynamics, companies can navigate the complexities of product development and bring innovative and successful products to market .

5 Best Practices for Successful Product Development

Successful product development demands a methodical, well-executed methodology. Businesses may improve their chances of producing goods that satisfy customers’ demands, help them fulfil their objectives, and outperform rivals by putting best practises into practise. Let’s explore some key best practices for successful product development:

1. Customer-Centric Approach:

a. Market Research: Conduct comprehensive market research to understand customer needs, pain points, and preferences. Use techniques like surveys, interviews, and focus groups to gather valuable insights that drive product development decisions.

b. User Personas: Create user personas that represent your target audience. These personas help in aligning product features and design with the specific needs and preferences of different customer segments.

c. Customer Feedback: Continuously gather and incorporate customer feedback throughout the product development process. This helps in validating product concepts, identifying improvements, and ensuring customer satisfaction.

2. Agile and Iterative Methodologies:

a. Agile Framework: Adopt Agile methodologies, such as Scrum or Kanban, to promote flexibility, collaboration, and incremental development. Break down the product development process into smaller, manageable tasks called sprints, allowing for faster iterations and frequent feedback.

b. Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Develop a minimum viable product that addresses core customer needs and allows for early market testing and feedback. This approach helps in reducing time to market, validating assumptions, and making informed iterations based on user feedback.

c. Continuous Improvement: Embrace a culture of continuous improvement by regularly reviewing and refining product features, design, and functionality. This iterative approach enables organizations to respond to market changes and evolving customer needs effectively.

3. Continuous Learning and Adaptation:

a. Data-Driven Decision Making: Leverage data and analytics to inform product development decisions. Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), track user behavior, and analyze market trends to gain insights and make data-driven decisions.

b. Test and Learn: Implement a test and learn approach by conducting controlled experiments, A/B testing, or usability testing. This makes it possible for organizations to obtain empirical evidence and base their judgements on factual information.

c. Rapid Prototyping: Build prototypes or mockups early in the development process to visualize and validate product concepts. Prototyping allows for early feedback, identifies design flaws, and helps refine the product before investing significant resources.

4. Collaboration and Communication:

a. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Foster collaboration among different teams, such as product management , design, engineering, and marketing. Encourage open communication, knowledge sharing, and interdisciplinary teamwork to leverage diverse expertise and drive innovation.

b. Stakeholder Engagement: Engage important stakeholders, such as clients, partners, and internal teams, at every stage of the product development process. To guarantee a common vision and positive results, solicit their feedback, resolve any issues, and set clear expectations.

c. Effective Project Management: Implement effective project management practices, such as defining clear goals, establishing milestones, and setting realistic timelines. Utilize project management tools and techniques to streamline communication, track progress, and manage resources efficiently.

5. Leveraging Technology and Tools:

a. Collaboration Tools: Utilize project management and collaboration tools, such as task management software, communication platforms, and shared document repositories. These tools facilitate seamless collaboration, streamline workflows, and enhance team productivity.

b. Product Development Software: Leverage specialized product development software to streamline and automate various aspects of the process, such as idea management, requirements gathering, prototyping, and testing. These tools help in improving efficiency, reducing errors, and accelerating time to market.

c. Data Analytics and Insights: Leverage data analytics tools to gain actionable insights from customer feedback, market trends, and performance metrics. These tools enable organizations to make data-driven decisions and optimize product development strategies .

Implementing these best practices in product development can significantly improve the chances of success. By adop ting a customer-centric approach, embracing agile methodologies, fostering continuous learning and adaptation, promoting collaboration and communication, and leveraging technology and tools, organizations can enhance their product development processes and deliver innovative, market-leading products.

Successful product development requires a combination of strategic planning, customer focus, iterative approaches, effective collaboration, and leveraging technology. By following these best practices, organizations can navigate the complexities of product development, reduce risks, and increase the likelihood of launching successful products that meet customer needs and drive business growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Product development refers to the process of creating and bringing new products or services by transforming ideas and concepts into tangible products or services that meet customer needs and provide value to the business.

Product development contributes to business success by meeting customer needs, providing a competitive advantage, generating revenue, and enhancing brand image and reputation.

Key elements of successful product development include thorough market research, a customer-centric approach, cross-functional collaboration, iterative and agile methodologies, design thinking, quality assurance, and post-launch evaluation.

New product development strategies involve conducting market research, generating and screening product ideas, developing and testing product concepts, analyzing feasibility, prototyping, test marketing, and commercialization. 

The steps in the new product development process include idea generation, idea screening, concept development and testing, business analysis, product development, test marketing, and commercialization.

Concept to product development involves transforming an initial idea into a marketable product, focusing on solving customer problems and meeting market demands efficiently.

The 5 stages of product development include ideation, research, planning, prototyping, and sourcing, each critical for transitioning from concept to a successful product launch.

The 4 types of product development strategies encompass new product development, product improvement, product line extension, and product repositioning, allowing businesses to stay competitive and relevant.

The product development process is a systematic approach to creating new products or improving existing ones, involving stages from ideation and research to commercialization, ensuring the product meets market needs and customer expectations.

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7 Key Stages Of New Product Development Process (+ Examples)

Marta Lee-Perriard, Ph.D., has twenty years of experience in product management, most recently as VP of Product. She advises executives in Fortune 500 companies with a focus on women in product.

“Everyone thinks they can create new products, but in actual fact few people do,” my first manager wisely informed me about new product development.  Looking to build a new product?  Then the reliable new product development process I outline below will increase your odds of success.   Fast forward to twenty years of my building new […]

“Everyone thinks they can create new products, but in actual fact few people do,” my first manager wisely informed me about new product development. 

Looking to build a new product?  Then the reliable new product development process I outline below will increase your odds of success .  

Fast forward to twenty years of my building new products in three different markets: what I have seen repeatedly are product managers who present new product ideas that aren’t a strategic fit for their product line or organization. I made the same mistake.   

One failed new product idea I spearheaded was a product that helped engineers learn how to apply standards. Our customers needed this; they were well-funded and willing to pay for it; and there was ample, compelling customer and market research in support of the idea.

And yet, this new idea died several deaths. Nonetheless, a foolhardy product manager (me) resurrected it multiple times. This new product idea finally expired forever and almost took me with it.

The new product idea did not fit with the strategic direction of the organization’s new product development. Best to accept this and move on. Do not attempt to raise a product idea from the dead!  It does neither your company nor your career any favors.

Below are the seven key stages in any new product development process , but keep in mind that new product development is not a linear process. You will go through these phases, multiple times, while building a new product. I also included some product development process examples to help guide you.    

1. Customer Research

Get To Know Your Customers

Most new product development strategies tell product managers to start with brainstorming.

Sitting in a Zoom room dreaming about new product ideas is super fun but futile. Product managers need to start with their customer needs.

As a product manager, your job requires the same understanding of your customers that an anthropologist has of her subjects. You need to know what irks them, what they don’t have, what they have that they don’t like, and how they behave.

Example Of Customer Research

When I studied my customers (librarians) in their native habitat, I uncovered their frustrations. 

For example, until the 2000s microfilm preserved and displayed old newspapers. The microfilm reader—a hulking monstrosity invariably broken—lived in the basement. Genealogists, historians, and social scientists hated using microfilm and loudly complained about the impossibility of searching newspapers, and made their displeasure loudly known to the helpless librarians.

Librarians live to help their patrons. Their patrons’ irritation and the librarians’ ensuing frustration took the form of a question: wasn’t there a way to make newspapers more easily searchable? 

Through the new product development stages below that question resulted in a series of new products that made historical newspapers searchable.

There are proven methods to do thorough customer research and to understand customer needs, both qualitative and quantitative. Here’s a piece covering how to create a customer feedback loop to get you started.

3. Ideation 

How to brainstorm the right way

Once you have that customer problem and you understand all aspects of it, then you want to start idea generation or ideation. According to IDEO,  ideation is brainstorming with your colleagues and customers with the goal of answering ‘how might we”.

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Example Of How To Do Ideation

You’ll want to choose the participants in any ideation session with care, and ideally develop a solid idea management process . One of the features of product development software is that it can help guide this process.

Nothing dampens the mood more than a naysayer. Select individuals who are zany, creative, and open-minded. One of my best product managers would schedule a day and provide a brief summarizing the customer, market, and problem but no solution.

I walked past the ideation room, peering in to observe marketing managers, engineers and customers jumping up and down to scribble on a whiteboard and waving half-eaten cookies.

Involving stakeholders from inside the organization ensures strategic fit; involving potential customers seeds the market. Oh, and if your organization doesn't have a whiteboard—as most remote organizations don't— idea management tools make an excellent substitute.

After the ideation session, this product manager examined all the ideas and distilled them into two or three concepts she could prototype. For tips on how to create prototypes easily and for free, read this article .

3. The Prototype Process

Cupcake and then cupcake again

New product development is not a linear process. Once you have a simple prototype—a cupcake vs a whole cake—you’ll show it to customers.  

During your customer research, these same customers said they wanted exactly what you created. But now, they will turn up their noses. This is normal.

Example of Prototyping

The bigger the irritation for your customers, the more likely they will be to hate your first cupcake. 

I once built seven different prototypes in this stage for a new, low-cost product. It was classic Goldilocks: too little functionality, too much functionality to be low-cost, too hard-to-use, too easy-to-use and so on, until I found just the right mix. Persevere.

Make your cupcake with your designers, keeping marketing engaged and your engineers on hand: remember to bring everyone along. 

Along the way, cultivate mini evangelists. To understand how useful evangelizing about your product concept can be both internally and externally, read this Harvard Business Review article.

4. Concept Development

Check all the ingredients

At this stage, your customers are excited about the prototype. Your colleagues feel a sense of ownership. This is the time to do a strategic fit check-in before you go too far. 

Examples of a Concept

Write a concept paper—or whatever your organization calls it—that outlines your product vision , including the following:

• The customer problem you are solving
• The target market, market size and your market research
• The product launch plan (including a marketing test)
• A P&L (however rough but all executives want estimated costs and revenue)
• What product investment you need to move to the next step
• What you don’t yet know (be honest and have a plan to find out)

For tips on how to write a compelling vision and strategy, I recommend you read Five Crucial Parts of a Product Development Strategy .  

Present the concept paper to the decision makers in your company. Hopefully, your company has an established new product development process to review new product ideas. If it doesn’t then this is your chance to show initiative and/or possibly look for a product manager job in a company that does have an established investment process.

Be compelling, concise, and clear. Listen carefully to the feedback. This is a key check-in. 

Example of When Concepts Fail

If the decision-makers don’t see a strategic fit, it may be time to cease and desist. One of my product managers, Bill, was tenacious in the extreme, presenting different versions of the same new product idea in the product review meetings.

Bill’s product was shot down every time: there simply wasn’t a fit.

You may need to refine your product idea. You may need to do more business analysis and market research. You may need to do more idea generation, hone your process for idea management , or build another prototype.

In 75% of organizations, you will then proceed to a full-blown business case in which you will describe everything above but in far more detail. You’ll also need to answer any open questions.

At this stage, you will ask for the investment to build this product. Ask for enough investment. New products always cost more and take longer than you think. 

5. Building A New Product

Time to bake the cake

The Chief Product Officer approves your concept paper or business case. You’ve picked your favorite product development software and you’re ready to go. Now you start to build the product, using Agile methodology .

Engineering (including UX), quality assurance, marketing and your customers will all be critical in this stage.  

If you were able to involve engineers and designers early in the process, then the development team will understand your product vision. As a result, everything will go much more smoothly despite the inevitable delays and compromises. Collaborating well with engineers requires finesse and precision.

Example of What To Do and Not Do During the Product Build 

Having at times overestimated my ability to convey a product concept to the engineers, my products emerged looking nothing like what my customers needed. Agile enables you to catch a mismatch before these have progressed too far.  Agile also allows for creative solutions no one imagined in the product concept phase.

In the headlong rush to market, we often sacrifice quality assurance time to launch products sooner. When you are trying to convince customers to make a change—always a risk—nothing undermines their confidence more than a bug.

In one particularly critical product launch, I embedded customers into our engineering process to provide instantaneous feedback on a complex new product.  Marketing and product chose customers based on their size and ability to influence the rest of the market as we knew they were likely to be early adopters. 

Keep marketing involved and active, so they are thinking about the marketing strategy as the team moves through the new product development stages. They are about to become the lynchpin. 

6. Go-To-Market And Product Launch

Marketing is your co-chef

Ideally, the market seeding with potential customers began in Stage One, and now is the time for the marketing manager to unfurl the full marketing strategy. The product launch is critical. According to this Harvard Business Review article , it is also frequently bungled. 

As a product manager, you will want to be actively involved with the first customers to ensure everything goes smoothly. Sometimes the marketing tests are misleading, and you will have to adjust your marketing message. Here’s a great article to help you understand more about the role of marketing in product development .

Remember to have a Plan B if everything goes wrong. 

Example Of A Difficult Product Launch 

I once built an online learning product in conjunction with a third party. We did minimal quality assurance. Glitches riddled this product. The product also had an exceptionally poor user interface. It was painful to move customers back to their original version but infinitely preferable to losing their business altogether. Fortunately, it was an option.

Also, be certain to have a Plan A+ if the final product exceeds all expectations, so you are not struggling to meet insatiable demand. You never know.

7. Ongoing Enhancements And New Features

Your work is never done

Imagine you are celebrating the most successful product launch in your company’s history. Enjoy the moment but know that new customers, and old ones, will demand new features. That is why Apple rolls out a new iPhone every year or so. A benefit of good product development software is it can help you track these as you go. No idea left behind!

Strategic Fit In New Product Development

To ensure strategic fit you will have brought the organization along with you on the new product development journey. And you’re not alone! Different types of product development software will help with the heavy lifting across all stages. At every stop along the way, remember to evangelize, explain, and elucidate the strategic fit.

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Product Development Process: The Seven Stages Explained

10 min read

The product development process is part art, part science, and all important to the success of your SaaS.

In this article, we’ve got a comprehensive review of the entire product development process. We’ll take you through idea generation, market research, defining a minimum viable product, building new features, managing the launch, and beyond.

Ready to get started?

• The new product development process is the method of building new products or services and bringing them to market: everything from generating ideas for a product concept to prototyping to identifying a target market, to launch, and beyond.
• While product development describes the process of creating the product itself (i.e. designing screens, writing code, running tests), product management is a broader concept that encompasses strategy , vision, and product-market fit.
• You need a range of disciplines working together in a cross-functional team to make sure various product development processes go to plan, including product managers , developers, marketers , sales, designers , senior leaders , and more.

The product development process has seven key phases:

• First up is coming up with an idea . Product managers generate these by looking at key metrics and trends in the market or gathering user feedback from existing products.
• Next up, you need to validate the idea before you start writing code. You can do that with innovations like ‘fake door tests’.
• Once you know you’ve got something valuable, you need to test your concept and plan your roadmap so you and your team have a clear strategic plan.
• Step four is building a minimum viable product . This could be a relatively low-fidelity prototype or a fully working MVP with just enough functionality to add some value to your users.
• The next phase is to gather feedback on your MVP . Use insight gathered from your first batch of users to make targeted improvements to your product before a wider launch.
• Once you’ve made enough tweaks and enhancements, you can start building your actual product . Remember that without working code – and a secure, scalable system – you don’t have a product.
• The final step is to launch your product . Your marketing and sales teams have a big part to play in making sure you roll out to your target market smoothly and drive interest on day one. Your job isn’t over – you need to evolve continually and iterate based on user behavior and feedback.
• Regardless of the context, there are some fundamental principles guaranteed to improve your workflow: align your priorities with business goals, ensure you collaborate across your cross-functional team, adopt an Agile mindset, and don’t lose focus on the importance of onboarding.
• Userpilot is a powerful user onboarding platform: leverage it to maximize the chances of product success.

What is product development?

Product development is the method of bringing a new product or service to market.

It involves all the steps right the way through, from initial ideation and research to concept development, prototyping, mass production, distribution strategy, and ultimately market launch .

The development phase of the product lifecycle is a critical one: you can get everything else right, but if the development process is flawed, your SaaS will never be a success.

Product development vs. product management

So what’s the difference between product management and the product development process itself?

In a nutshell:

• Product development describes the process of creating the product itself (i.e. designing screens, writing code, running tests).
• Product management is a broad term covering the overall strategy , vision, market fit, and all involved in ‘building the thing right’.

It’s clear where the product development process sits: it’s a part of product management as a discipline.

Who is involved in the new product development process?

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson

One of the most important things to understand about the product development cycle is that it’s a team sport .

You need a range of disciplines to bring a new product to life:

• Product development team: Your software engineers play an important role. They’ll choose the development framework you use, conduct software development activities (i.e. writing code and unit tests), and use their expertise to guide the rest of the team on technical feasibility).
• Product management team: Product managers set the vision, define a strategy, and build a roadmap that helps focus the team’s efforts. Without those artifacts, the product development lifecycle might lack direction.
• Project management team: The project managers’ job is to make sure development processes run smoothly: organizing resources, keeping track of work, effective process management, and resolving blockers.
• Product design team: Your user-centered design experts will gather early feedback about product concepts and help solve an existing customer problem. They also test the product concept and identify areas for improvement while collaborating with your development teams to bring designs into reality.
• Product marketing team: Communication is key in the marketing team as it will define your marketing strategy, help get messaging right for your target audience, and work with product managers to understand the competitive landscape before launch.
• Product sales team: Your sales team can help you articulate a clear value proposition, and identify your unique selling point.
• Senior management . Connect the work your team is doing with the wider business plan, set the direction, and sign off on key decisions.

What are the seven stages of the product development process?

Next up, we’re going to break down the entire process of bringing an entirely new product idea into reality.

Step 1: Carry out idea generation

“Everything begins with an idea.” – Earl Nightingale

Product managers need something they can bring to the team to start with. There are many ways to generate ideas:

Market research

Competitor analysis can help you quickly figure out if there’s a market need and start to figure out product market fit.

Tools like Google Trends and other industry publications can help point you in the right direction.

Customer requests

There’s no better way of generating ideas than gaining insight into a user’s perspective. Building outlets into your product so existing customers can provide relevant product and feature ideas to you and your development team

Collaboration with cross-functional teams

Customer-facing teams like the sales or customer success teams can share product ideas they’ve picked up from interacting with users.

They’ll be able to make suggestions aligned with your product strategy and serve as a useful ‘idea screening’ stage.

The product marketing team can also help as they continuously conduct market research, so they might know what competitors are focusing on and are well positioned to identify if there’s any market gap.

Having great distribution is a fantastic way to gain a competitive advantage.

Step 2: Perform product validation before the product development process begins

Before your product definition is set in stone, you should stress test it and figure out whether it’s viable . It’s key to the product’s success and helps you avoid the risk of catastrophe (i.e. users hate a concept – or it’s not technically feasible).

There are lots of ways to validate a product idea in this stage of the development process:

• Ask for initial feedback from your target audience via surveys and interviews.
• Generate interest and capture engagement with a fake door test (monitoring clicks on a link to a feature that’s not yet built to gauge demand).

Step 3: Conduct concept development and plan the product roadmap

Once you’ve validated your idea, you should work on concept development .

This stage is all about concept testing to refine your product idea and building a product roadmap .

Alongside a roadmap (which sets out what you’ll focus on now, next, and later – a strategic plan for future iterations of the product) you need a detailed business plan outlining your financial constraints, resources, and other risks.

Planning is an often overlooked part of the production process: without it, your product features won’t be anything more than ideas.

Step 4: Build the minimum viable product (MVP)

Next up is the prototyping phase. You might want to go into a ‘lighter touch’ prototyping stage (i.e. low fidelity mockup) or you could even build a working MVP with basic features.

Put simply, a minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough core functionality to be usable by early customers, who can then provide feedback for future product development.

Your MVP should tackle your user’s main pain points.

This approach means product developers potentially avoid lengthy and (possibly) unnecessary work.

Step 5: Collect customer feedback on MVP and iterate

Next up, you should conduct prototyping/MVP testing to identify potential issues that need to be rectified fast.

User feedback is vital to your product development strategy.

You can test the MVP with a sample of your target market. Alternatively, if you have an existing customer base, you can recruit beta testers in-app. Talking to power users is also a good idea since they regularly use your product.

Testing will answer an important question: how are your product’s unique features performing? Have they landed with potential customers in a new market the way you’d expected they would?

You can then collect customer feedback via interviews/focus groups or a series of in-app surveys.

Remember, the more closely you listen to your target customers, the sharper your competitive edge.

Step 6: Develop the final product

In this step, you write the code to develop the final product.

Remember to analyze the feedback received from beta testing and incorporate it when developing the product – into the manufacturing process of physical products, it’s a chance to refine and avoid defects.

In reality, this is the most crucial element of the development part of the product life cycle: without a working code, you don’t have a product.

Step 7: Launch the product and continuously improve it

You’ve done all the hard work: now it’s about nailing a successful product launch.

Alongside your developers, it’s key for product managers to collaborate with the marketing team to create the go-to-market strategy.

You should be mindful of market conditions and prevailing market trends: if your competitive analysis shows a particular time of year is sensible to launch in, then tailor your launch accordingly.

Once you’ve got your launch over the line, you should continuously gather feedback and monitor product usage data . That’ll give you valuable insight into where to focus your efforts during the next new product development stage.

What are some product development examples?

Of course, how the product development process looks in practice might differ depending on the context.

Let’s explore a couple of examples.

Developing a new CRM software

CRM tools are vital in the world of modern business: managing customer relationships shouldn’t rely on a spreadsheet!

A team looking at developing a CRM might follow the stages above like this:

• Generate ideas based on observations from the sales team on their pain points, frustrations, and requirements.
• Stress test the concepts you’ve come up with by interviewing a few of the sales team and walking through your proposal.
• Prioritize and plan a roadmap of features.
• Build an MVP with the first key bits of functionality (i.e. customer information, document upload, and integration with email, for example).
• Gather feedback from beta users on the MVP.
• Use that insight to define your final MVP (i.e. a user might have issues or suggest changes to a feature you hadn’t considered).
• Launch your CRM, monitor usage, and focus on the highest value improvements (i.e. integrating with sales and marketing integrations).

Building an AI writing assistant feature for a product growth tool

AI is a rapidly growing area: what might the software development process look like for an AI writing assistant:

• Generate ideas for your tool: market research can help you pick a niche.
• A fake door test will give you an indication of whether there’s demand (i.e. people wanting to try your assistive tech out).
• Plan your roadmap: what are you going to focus on now, next, and later?
• Build an MVP of your writing tool – maybe you focus first on one specific range of edits.
• Use that insight to make targeted improvements (i.e. tweaking the language options to make sure they help drive growth).
• Launch your writing assistant, monitor usage , and check performance against KPIs.

Best practices to follow for developing a successful product

The product development process has several underlying principles. Here are some best practices.

Prioritize product ideas that align with business goals

Prioritization is a fundamental skill for PMs: without it, you’ll have to treat everything as a priority.

Choose product ideas based on optimizing for value realized to the business and your users.

There are many frameworks to choose from that can help you make better decisions:

• Value vs effort
• SWOT analysis

Foster cross-functional team collaboration and communication

The beauty of cross-functional teams is that each discipline brings a unique skill set to the table.

Getting developers involved in ideation, designers in planning the launch , and sales input to the roadmap can only improve collaborative outcomes.

Ensure all product development refers to different team members. For example, if you were to involve engineers in your strategic planning, they can provide accurate technical estimates and help set stakeholder expectations.

Follow an agile mindset

Agile teams have a proven track record of delivering valuable outcomes, faster. Teams that build in a ‘waterfall’ style where all requirements are defined up front run the risk of getting off track.

An agile, highly adaptive , user-centric approach will set you and your team up for success.

“Agile is an attitude, not a technique with boundaries.”

Don’t compromise on the quality of the product onboarding

Onboarding is critically important . If you can’t get users to experience value fast from your existing product, the hard work you and the team put into the development process might go to waste.

Product managers should work with the marketing team to orchestrate an effective comms strategy that highlights the unique value proposition, key features, and how users can make the best use of them.

The new product development process is notoriously tricky.

Hopefully, you now feel much better equipped with a firm understanding of the key steps, principles of successful development, and some examples you can draw inspiration from.

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Product Research: The Building Blocks of a User-Centered Solution

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Product research is a foundational step in building user-centric products. It allows you to understand customer needs, preferences, and market trends, informing the development of successful solutions to user problems. Read on for the ultimate guide to product research, including methods, processes, and best practices—plus our favorite tips from the industry’s leading experts.

Product research 101: Definition, methods, and best practices

You may only build new products once, but you iterate on them continuously. The ongoing evolution of a product’s user experience (UX), informed by user insights, is pivotal to staying ahead of competitors and giving your users exactly what they need. In chapter one of this guide, we’ll explore what product research is, give an overview of key methods (and when to use them), plus best practices to follow.

What is product research?

Product research is any research you conduct to better inform your product and understand your user and market. Unlike user research , product research goes beyond evaluating the user experience and includes market analysis, pricing, feature prioritization, and assessing business viability.

Product research is a broader term than UX research—you can conduct research on the user, the interaction, the market, or your business strategy.

Matthieu Dixte , Product Researcher at Maze

It helps you understand the world you are bringing your product into, and what your users expect to do with a product like yours—so you can use their insights to influence development and design decisions.

Product research can be conducted in multiple ways, such as talking directly to users in focus groups or user interviews , or through product experimentation, usability tests and competitive analysis.

Other research terms you might come across

Ultimately, all research falls under the 'product research' banner if it influences the final product. For some product teams, ‘user research’ and ‘product research’ may be interchangeable. But there are some subtle differences between various research terms that it can be helpful to know. Here are the distinctions between key terms you might hear, explained by Maze's Product Researcher, Matthieu Dixte:

• Market research: Discover who is leading the market, who your direct and indirect competitors are, and what similar products are available to your users at what price
• User research: Understand the user, including their needs, pain points, likes and dislikes, and characteristics—both as a consumer and user of your product
• User experience (UX) research : Learn how your user perceives and interacts with your product—where they click, which paths they follow, and where they search for information on-page
• Product discovery : Uncover what your users’ needs and problems are, validate ideas for potential solutions before development, and apply user insights to your product strategy
• Continuous product discovery : Adapt the mindset of an ever-evolving product and user; conduct research continuously throughout the product lifecycle and ensure all decisions are informed by user insights

For example, let’s say you’re thinking of developing and launching a note-taking app for teenagers. You’d need to conduct market research to see if there are any similar products in high demand to gauge if your tool is something customers want. In parallel, you should run user research to discover who your user persona would be and what their pain points are.

You also have to do product discovery to identify the best way to build and design your potential product to make it appealing for teens. And, if you want to know how your users will feel about your product compared to other options, you need product research .

Lastly, run UX research tests on your mobile and web app to gather feedback, and improve the experience. You should continue to talk with users regularly after launch by adopting a continuous product discovery mindset (and ensure you’re always updating and offering the right product).

Talk to more users without needing to grow your product team

Recruit and test users from Maze’s high-quality panel to get more eyes on your product, without increasing payroll.

Why is product research important?

Are we making the right assumptions? Is this product what users really need? Can they use it effectively?

Research answers all those questions. But product research goes a step further by placing those answers in the context of your niche and the market. It empowers your team—not only to create unbiased, user-centric products—but also to create best-selling products that are based on a robust business strategy and deep understanding of the market.

Product research will also help you:

Head in the right direction

Conducting types of product research like competitive analysis gives you inside information on what your users value in a similar product—and what they’re missing. It ensures you’re heading in the right direction by only working on aspects of your product you know will succeed. This helps you speed time-to-market, reduce the cost of fixing future mistakes, and achieve higher goals.

Product research allows you to “define the total addressable market and north star metric, based on the customer segments that found your idea and product valuable. We would fail at achieving product-market fit without doing customer research,” explains Prerna Kaul , Product Lead for Alexa AI at Amazon.

Make the right decisions at the right time

User data can inform your decisions and help you prioritize them according to the goals of the business. “Make choices regarding the evolution of your product and find the right balance between what you want to deliver to improve the user experience, and the benefits it’ll bring to your company,” advises Matthieu. Without product research, you’re building products in the dark with no idea whether your target audience will like or buy them—which could mean wasted resources and sinking revenue.

Get stakeholder buy-in

You’ve probably found yourself explaining multiple times to stakeholders why you need to prioritize one feature over another. Conducting product research enables you to “clearly articulate the customer value proposition to leadership, tech, and science counterparts,” says Prerna. Having quantitative and qualitative user insights provides reassurance to stakeholders and speeds up sign-off—while ensuring the wider organization is aligned on your product ideas.

In short, product research provides you evidence you need to start evangelizing research among your organization, and get the whole team on board.

Understand the position your users hold in the market

User research is about getting to know your target audience and building ideal customer profiles, but product research is about discovering where your potential customers are located in the market and which trending products to take note of. If your audience is already using a similar product, this means finding out: Which one? Why? Are they willing to switch to a different product? What would it take for you to get them to switch?

“Analyzing the market lets you determine which areas could be ripe for disruption or creation. By analyzing existing products and doing conceptual thinking you can build a picture of how you can get your product to gain traction in the market and offer something new, nuanced, or better than the current options,” says Nick Simpson , Head of UX at Airteam.

Challenge your assumptions and anticipate problems

When Prerna worked at Walmart Labs, her team introduced a feature for users to scan products in the Scan and Go app. “We initially believed that all of our inventory was available in a common database and accessible through the app. However, during research and user testing, we identified that some rare products were not in the online database,” she explains.

This caused test users to drop off the app, so her team had to take a step back and prioritize fixing inventory issues before launching the product. Without conducting product research, you can be left guessing at the cause of user problems, or wondering why they prefer a particular product. Research offers your team a chance to challenge what you think you know, and pre-empt what you don’t.

Product tip 💡

You can use Maze to conduct multiple tests on your product through development, such as Five-Second Tests or Content and Copy Testing , or get insights on your live product through Live Website Testing .

Product research methods

There are many different product research and UX research methods , all of which offer different kinds of data and insight, depending on your objectives. If you’re looking to conduct product research to better understand your users, market, or competitors, here are eight product research methods you should consider to help you build winning products.

1. Customer interviews

Interviews can take place at any take of the product development process and consist of direct conversations with current or potential customers. You may choose to conduct interviews with a market panel during concept testing and idea screening to validate your ideas, or you may want to speak to current users after the product goes live to gather post-launch feedback. Interviews are a varied and flexible product research method.

During customer interviews, you should ask open and unbiased research questions to gather insights about customer needs, preferences, and experiences regarding their pain points, your product, and competitors.

2. Voice of customer (VoC) analysis

Gauge what current and potential customers are saying about your products or competitor products online. You can do this using VoC tools , by reviewing what people post on social media, looking at Google Trends, or reading reviews on websites like G2.

You should conduct customer voice analysis continuously throughout the lifecycle as it can help you gain a competitive advantage. “Review what’s publicly published, check feature requests, and ask sales, customer success, or support teams for feedback coming from the user,” adds Matthieu.

For example, if a competitor gets acquired by a bigger firm and users start to complain about them removing a feature, you can use the opportunity to develop a similar functionality or improve the one you have. You can also make it more visible on-page and get the sales and marketing teams to use the information to advertise your product.

3. Diary studies

Diary studies involve users self-reporting behaviors, habits, and experiences over a period of time. This is often used during the discovery phase with a competitor product, or later down the line with a prototype. By observing how users feel prior to, during, and after using your (or a competitor) product—and their experience throughout—you can gather valuable, in-the-moment insights within a real life context.

You can conduct diary studies on paper, video, or online on a mobile app or a dedicated platform.

Data from diary research can turn into new product ideas, new features, or inform your current project. For instance, if you have a social media scheduling tool and you identify that users open a time zone calculator when they’re scheduling posts, you instantly have a new feature idea, to add a widget with different time zones.

Learn more about the types of diary study and how to conduct diary research here.

4. Competitive analysis

Analyze competitors' products and strategies to identify what works for them and identify any gaps in the market. The idea behind competitive product analysis is to explore your competitor’s products in-depth, sign up for an account, use them for a while, and take notes of top features, UX, and price points. You can run competitive analysis during the discovery, concept validation , or prototyping stages with direct and indirect competitors, or aspirational businesses.

Matthieu Dixte, Product Researcher at Maze, notes the value of competitive analysis is in understanding your users perspective: “We conduct a lot of competitive analysis at Maze because it's really important for us to understand if the market is mature regarding a particular topic—and to identify the current ground covered. This helps us understand the pros and cons our customers perceive when they choose between our product or another tool.”

Surveys can be a great way to get feedback or gather user sentiment relating to existing products or future concepts. You can also use them to dig deeper into the data gathered during other tests, and understand user issues and preferences in context.

For example, if you ran an A/B test and discovered that certain copy was causing potential users to churn, you could follow-up with a survey with targeted questions around their demographics, preferences, and personal views. This would help add qualitative insights to your quantitative data, and help understand what your users are looking for from your product.

Remember, you can create surveys at any stage of the product development to collect data from users in small or large volumes. You can use different types of surveys and survey principles to validate or debunk hypotheses, prioritize features, and identify your target market. For example, you could ask questions about your product, competitors, and prices or even your customer’s preferences and market trends.

Surveys can have a high drop-out rate, harming the validity of your data. Check out our survey design guide to discover the industry’s top secrets to an engaging survey which keeps users hooked.

6. Usability testing

Since conducting product research is also about understanding how well your customers navigate through your product and if they find it usable, you can run usability or prototype tests . Usability testing evaluates the usability of your product by asking test participants to complete tasks on your tool and seeing how they interact with it.

While typically conducted as a pre-launch check, usability testing is now widely understood as a building block of continuous research. Conducting regular usability tests is crucial to staying familiar with users, taking the pulse of your product, and ensuring every new product decision is informed with real data.

Conduct usability tests on a product research tool like Maze and record your participant’s audio, video, and screen with Clips . This offers you a mix of quantitative and qualitative data to learn why participants take certain actions to complete test tasks.

7. Fake door testing

The fake door testing method, also called the ‘painted door method’, is a way to validate whether your customers would be interested in a particular feature. “It works by faking a feature that is not actually available and implementing a tracker to know how many people click on it,” explains Matthieu.

When people click on the feature, they see a message explaining it’s not available at the moment. If the click-rate is high, you can assume there’s interest in the feature and conduct further research to identify how to design and develop it.

While it’s a quick way to gauge interest, fake door testing runs the risk of frustrating users, so if you’re using this method on a live product, you should be cautious and set a short testing period to avoid creating false expectations in your users.

8. Focus groups

Focus groups are when you gather a group of users to try your product and discuss their thoughts on the design, UX, usability, or price. You’ll offer them prompts or ask a series of user research questions to spark conversation, then observe and take notes.

This can be an expensive or admin-heavy method, as you need to rent a space, find participants who are willing to attend, and compensate them for their time. However, you can also conduct focus groups remotely through video conferencing tools. These groups are a good way of generating new product ideas or gaining deep insight in a short space of time, as you can hear directly from your users and adjust your questioning to follow up on important topics or opinions which participants mention.

When to perform product research

Source: 2023 Continuous Product Discovery Report

According to our 2023 Continuous Product Discovery Report , most teams conduct research at problem discovery (59%) and problem validation (57%), with only 36% researching post-launch.

The consensus is that product teams don’t think that’s enough—78% think they could research more often: which means there’s a big opportunity for you to implement regular research at all stages of the product research process .

Here’s when to conduct research on your product:

• At problem discovery stage to outline a hypothesis based on user insights
• During problem validation to prove your hypothesis
• During solution generation and concept development to see if you’re moving in the right direction
• As you’re screening different ideas for prioritization to identify the ones your users value most
• At solution definition and once you have your initial design to test early wireframes
• After developing a prototype to see assess usability and direction
• During validation and testing to review changes made to previous prototypes
• After development, and post-launch to get feedback and plan your future steps
• Before launching a new feature or doing product optimization to gauge users’ perceptions

Best practices for effective product research

If you only have time to consider one best practice for product research, we’ll keep it short. Just start.

Any research is better than none, and there’s a wealth of knowledge out there waiting to be discovered. If you don’t use it, your competitors will.

Now, here are six other best practices to help you improve your results and get the best insights possible:

1. Conduct research continuously

Your product is never done, at least not while the market, your customers, and technology are evolving. So, for your users to keep choosing you, you need to grow with them, adapt to trends, and keep iterating on your product. The right way to make product iterations is by conducting continuous product research, having frequent communication with your users, and actively listening to the market.

Did you know that user-centric organizations achieve 2.3x better business outcomes? 📊

By putting customers' needs front and center, research-mature organizations are driving better customer satisfaction (1.9x), customer retention (2.4), and increased revenue (4.2x). Learn more in our Research Maturity Report .

2. Focus on the business problem when presenting to stakeholders

It’s easy to get so involved in the product that you forget to mention how it helps the business when presenting research findings. To get stakeholders on board and to build great products that are profitable, always keep the business needs in mind. There’s no product without business success, so always align with your stakeholders and bring it back to team KPIs and business metrics. To convey your story, it’s a good rule of thumb to start each cross-team meeting by presenting the business problem, then sharing how adding a certain feature decision will help you solve it, before getting into the data that backs this up.

3. Embrace your curiosity

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in product research is letting cognitive biases take over the process. Work in teams and ask questions out of curiosity—consider research a way to disprove your hypothesis or challenge your assumptions, rather than a way to prove them right. As Prerna Kaul, Product Lead for Alexa AI at Amazon explains, you often gain more insight from an answer you don’t want to hear. “A huge trust-buster is when researchers sell an idea to customers and reinforce their pre-existing beliefs.” Doing so makes the user tell you what you want to hear but not what you need to know. It’s better to know that you have the wrong assumptions early on and build products that solve the right problem.

It’s non-negotiable to ensure that you are solving the right problem for the customer. Your solution is a painkiller, not a vitamin.

Prerna Kaul , Product Lead for Alexa AI at Amazon

4. Focus on the end goal rather than specific features

When you work closely with a product you’re passionate about, it’s only natural to think of all the possibilities, and minute details and features of the product. However, it’s crucial to understand that, while you might be the one making the internal decisions, the user will have the final call. Getting hung up on specific features will get you frustrated if users disagree, or lead you to make biased choices. To overcome this, you can write a research statement explaining the big problem you’re trying to achieve with the product. Come back to this before and after each decision, to keep your choices grounded in what’s best for the user.

“We always ask: Are we solving the right problem by creating this product? Is it going to have a measurable benefit to people?” says Nick Simpson, Head of UX at Airteam. “Then, we try to answer those questions through research methods to determine whether this investment will be worth it, to both business and users.” By thinking of the overall end goal at all stages, you get to build profitable products and features that really respond to that intention.

5. Take notes of everything

This one might go without saying, but it’s crucial to keep track of everything. Not just to inform future research and remind yourself where decisions came from, but to democratize research and bring the entire organization into your research process .

Set up a centralized research repository that anyone can access, and share it with your wider organization. Within the product team, keep a record of all user insights, even if they sound impossible to achieve at first. “These ‘futuristic’ thoughts or ideas are the ones that can either inform future iterations of the product or that you can creatively turn into something more feasible to design and build,” explains Nick. Keeping an organized information bank enables everyone on the team to get to know the user, the market, and why you’ve made certain decisions in the past.

6. Combine user feedback with data

While your users should be at the center of your business, don’t rely solely on their comments without checking other data. In reality, not everything people say is exactly what they do . Research participants can be influenced by any number of factors, mostly unconscious, so it’s important to use qualitative and quantitative data to reinforce each other.

For example, the users you interviewed might tell you they love a certain feature, but when you contrast those comments with heatmap data and time on page, you see that only a small percentage of your customers actually use it. Consider what research can be conducted to ascertain why this is, how you can improve those metrics, or whether it’s more helpful to refocus efforts on a different feature with a higher profit margin.

Keep learning about product research

In this chapter, we’ve covered a lot about product research:

• What product research is (and what it’s not)
• How researching your product is beneficial to your business
• The different methods you can use to conduct product research
• When to conduct product research
• Best practices for your research

Now, it’s time to kickstart your product research process in the next chapter. We’ll also talk about how to conduct product experiments and competitive analysis, so stay tuned.

Product research process

• Client Center

12 Steps to a Powerful New Product Development Process (NPD Process)

Every large company has a system for new product growth. And yet, it’s often pushed aside, not understood, and taken for granted .  Some view it as too technical. Some see it as complex. Most don’t recognize the potential energy it could release. What is this critical system? It’s the new product development process (or NPD process) .   The heart of the enterprise, hiding in plain sight.

Imagine that we renamed the NPD Process to be the “Profit-Generating Process” instead.  Suddenly… it seems more interesting. After all, executives want investor meetings to be exciting. Celebrating wins is more fun than excusing losses.  

And yet, it’s easy to forget the importance of the humble new product development process, the system that aligns the gears of the growth machine. Making the innovations, the growth, the profits – all possible. And yet, with so much at stake, and despite a thirst for new product success, company leaders spend little time here. By and large, they don’t understand the new product development process well. And so, they’re generally not involved with improving it.

How much attention does the new product development process merit?

Is it possible that executives don’t need to be familiar with the new product development process? Maybe the instinct to keep it at arm’s length is the right one . Maybe the process is the process; and there’s just not much to be done. Maybe ours is like theirs. Which is the same as everybody’s. Therefore, it presents no opportunity for competitive advantage. No more value in improving it, than say, there would be in improving HR policies or accounting templates.

Watch a short video to see how New Product Blueprinting integrates with your new product development process

But hang on. Peter Drucker reminded us that “Business has only two basic functions – marketing and innovation. All others are costs.” Not to disparage HR, but it happens to be part of the “ all others.” Meanwhile, the new product development process is THE governance for innovation. What if.. . just what if… we could improve its effectiveness by 10%? What about 25%, 50%, or even 75%? What would the impact be?

On the other hand, what if the new product development process has been actually degrading over time? Say… getting 2% worse per year? What would the compounding impact be?

It’s time to better understand the new product development process

Clearly, for new product growth, leaders must be familiar with it. They should certainly… understand their company’s own system. And, they should know what “good” looks like.

In fairness, the new product development process isn’t taught within most MBA programs. It’s not a white-hot conference topic. We don’t have pieces on the Wall Street Journal’s front page. Or even the back page. There’s been little treatment within the Harvard Business Review. The business world at-large doesn’t even know who the NPD gurus are. Not in the same way it does Steve Jobs or Elon Musk.

And this is the good news. The world’s ignorance can be your advantage. Therefore, don’t despair if thinking, “Yikes! Actually, I don’t understand our new product development process myself!” Give yourself a break! Again, it’s not often taught or talked about. And so, let’s begin with a discussion of basics. What’s involved with a new product development process?

New Product Development process: The Basics

A new product development process is a system for bringing new products to market. It begins with customer discovery, followed by idea generation. It flows through various phases, concluding with product launch. To move from one phase to another, a project must pass through a “gate.”

At the gate, a project team presents their case during a “gate review”. At these reviews, a committee judges if it can proceed. There are many models for NPD processes, and every company has its own variant. However, Dr. Robert Cooper, founder of the Stage-Gate® system, produced the most common template.

DR. COOPER’S STAGE-GATE® NPD PROCESS

If looking across the new product development processes of many companies, you’ll find from five to nine stages. (Five or seven are most common).  However, Dr. Cooper’s Stage-Gate® is the DNA within most. Therefore, to understand the new product development process, a great starting point is Stage-Gate® itself.

In his 2001 book, Winning at New Products , Dr. Cooper laid out the stages as follows:

Discovery:   Pre-work designed to discover and uncover opportunities and generate ideas

Scoping: Quick, preliminary investigation of the project

Build the Business Case: Detailed investigation involving primary research – both market and technical – leading to a business case, including product and project definition, project justification, and a project plan

Development: Detailed design and development of the new product, and the design of the operations or production process

Testing and Validation: Trials in the marketplace, lab, with aims to verify and validate the proposed new product and its marketing and production/operations

Launch: Commercialization – full operations or production, marketing and selling

THE NPD PROCESS GATES

There’s a “gate” between each stage of the NPD process. The development team prepares and presents documentation at a “gate review.” At these reviews, the project may proceed to the next stage if approved. Or, it may be turned back for additional work. Alternatively, a project may be delayed or even canceled altogether. A gate-review committee will serve as judge, using preset criteria.

Why do companies need a new product development process?

Companies need a system for new product development because there are many functions to coordinate. Marketing, engineering, design, finance, manufacturing, public relations, and more. Lots of people involved. Lots of task dependencies.

Therefore, the advantage of having a process should be self-evident. However, here are some specific reasons:

Predictability:  Checklists of items that each function group must accomplish, and by what date, ensures everything that should be done will be done.

Speed:  Clarity keeps teams moving. They have a planning roadmap.

Objectivity: Established criteria removes emotion.  Inspiring confidence.

Communication: Gate reviews are formal “check-ins” for leadership. It’s their opportunity to be informed. Additionally, leaders can ask questions, provide guidance, etc.

Continuous Improvement: As a defined process, the company can tweak over time.

Nobody will dispute the need for a new product development process. However, beyond that common ground, or perhaps because of it, companies are reliably poor at execution. It’s time that we stopped taking it for granted. It’s time to optimize the new product development process as the innovation engine that it should be.

12 Steps to Build a Powerful New Product Development Process

1. an executive should own the npd process.

This isn’t to say that a C-level person must be the one tinkering with it. Conducting reviews, etc. However, in reality, most are far too removed from it. This isn’t ideal. Executive-level oversight and familiarity, by itself, will elevate the process.

Who generally owns it in practice? Often, it’s an engineer or process pro. They’ll create presentations. Perhaps conduct training. Across the company culture, the NPD process can start to appear like just another engineering tool. When of course, it’s so much more.

However, to be realistic, maybe ownership doesn’t go all the way to the C-suite. Nonetheless, let’s elevate it as high as we dare. Let’s have the most senior person possible be responsible for the care and feeding of the new product development process.

2. The NPD Process should include Phase Zero (So that it doesn’t begin with an idea)

“Phase Zero” is almost a joke amongst innovation pros! Why is that? It’s because when a company created their initial new product development process, the first stage probably began with idea. Or maybe a product concept.

Eventually, a huge mistake became evident. The input should have been customer needs instead of a concept. But of course, by the time a company realizes this, they’ve already created their process, beginning with “Phase 1.” So, do they rename all the phases? Not normally!  Instead, they just create a new one, “Phase Zero.”

Hopefully, your company has already corrected this. If not, begin there!

3. Scale the NPD process to the project (using risk assessments)

After adding Phase Zero, what’s the most common new product development process snafu? It’s failure to scale the process. “Scaling” means that early on, we examine all the tasks we might do. And then, we “scale out” a set of them.

That’s right. We decide what we’re not going to do . All projects are not equal in risk, investment, or strategic importance. Think about it this way, if you were going to walk a mile in your neighborhood, you wouldn’t need the same level of planning than if going to walk the Continental Divide Trail, from Canada to Mexico.

Moreover, a common complaint is that the process “takes too long”. There are several prime suspects for this. Failure to scale is one.

HOW DO WE DETERMINE WHAT TO SCALE OUT?

Begin the NPD process with a risk assessment. The riskier the project, the more tasks must be kept in. If bringing a totally new technology to a new market , you’ll include nearly everything. But what if you are taking a blue widget and just making it green? And then selling the green widget through your normal channels? In this case, then you can likely scale out many things.

Clearly, the team can go faster if it does less things. Speeding up the process. Bringing new products to market faster. 

By the way, if your company does not have a risk assessment tool, consider AIM’s Minesweeper® software.  Click here to learn more. 

4. Challenge the document requirements of the NPD process

The advantage of scaling out tasks, as listed above, will accelerate new product development. Speeding up the process. However, consider this, some tasks should be removed altogether. As in, some shouldn’t be required for any project.

Just like with project “scope creep”, a new product development process is vulnerable to “requirement creep.” This happens because it’s easier to add requirements/tasks than it is to remove them.

Imagine that when your company’s NPD process was written in 1993, there was a requirement to “List customer benefits.” But then later, in 2018, your company wisely committed to New Product Blueprinting . As a result, you added the requirement to “List the customer’s desired outcomes” due to the new method. However, now your new product development process has two redundant tasks.

So, how does one get removed? In practice, this “feels risky” to the company. Especially when the redundancy may not be obvious. Continue this “requirement creep” for a couple decades, and the new product development process becomes unwieldy.

Therefore, on a continual basis, revisit the process. Cull out items as you can. Think like a minimalist. In particular, take a closer look when adopting sub-processes, such as New Product Blueprinting.

5. People run the NPD process, not the reverse

When executing the new product development process, two archetypes of people emerge. The first wants all the documents filled out perfectly, as if for a student project. The second is more interested just in what each stage should accomplish. Less concerned with checking every box.

It’s generally an advantage to have both perspectives and meet somewhere in-between. But not in the exact middle. The mentality should be closer to the second person. It’s better to focus on the broader purpose of each requirement. The spirit of the requirement is more important than “the letter of the law.”

Keep in mind that many systems are built on outdated processes such as QFD. In fact, most new product development processes conceived in the 1980’s or 1990’s were built using methods from Six Sigma. This wasn’t bad at the time, but there was a flaw in the heart of this well-intentioned idea: It presumed that an NPD process could have similar variance as a manufacturing process. Clearly, it will have more. 

PEOPLE-POWERED FLEXIBILITY GETS THE BEST RESULTS

An effective new product development system must allow for variability. Unfortunately, the early NPD architects leaned a bit towards a simplistic view . That is, a simplistic view about how people actually produce great products.

For example, consider the creative process of adding features.  Early processes handled it by assigning a task, such as “Execute an ideation session to generate features.” With this assignment, the team was supposed to schedule a 2-hour session, and then everyone would just suddenly be brilliant. You know, for those two hours . Creating the new features. This didn’t allow for the reality that people think of ideas all the time. Not just during the session. They might think of ideas while driving or in the shower.

That’s why it’s a mistake for the first archetype to dominate the execution. The new product development process isn’t the Magna Carta. It’s not the US Constitution. And it wasn’t handed down on stone tablets.

The people run the new product development process. Don’t let the NPD process run the people!

6. Adopt a common value proposition template

When new product development processes require many deliverables, why call out one in particular? Why mention the value proposition by name? Because it’s the most critical. The most important artifact of the NPD process.

The value proposition specifies the customer problems the new product will solve. In addition, it indicates how it will solve them. Further, it spells out the relevant competition.

Within the value proposition, everything comes together.  More so than any other device of the new product development process. It’s critical to get it right. And you’ll want the power of a common template.

WHY A “COMMON” TEMPLATE?

Ideally, all the devices of a  new product development process will be as “common” as possible. All of them. In fact, standardization itself provides advantages. There’s a reason that “standard work” is at the heart of lean manufacturing.

But why is it even more important for the value proposition? Two reasons. First, those on the gate review committee must quickly understand the value prop. It will help them to ask better questions. Better questions about the market, about customers, about competition. And of course, about the product . Additionally, this will be the most shared artifact across the company. For example, it’ll be used in promotional marketing – from PR to advertising. Also, it’s integral for training. Training of all types. Training for sales, distributors, call centers, etc.

So, spend a little time ensuring there’s a great value proposition template. There’s one based on jobs-to-be-done theory in Chapter 8 of Statue in the Stone: Decoding Customer Motivation with the 48 Laws of Jobs-to-be-Done Philosophy.

Additionally, you can download a Market Case sample, which demonstrates how to present a market case within the context of a presentation (using Blueprinter software) at www.marketcasesample.com .

7. Make gate reviews safe – for making hard decisions

As a professor at North Carolina State University, Mitzi Montoya, (currently the Dean of the School of Management at The University of New Mexico) performed an interesting research project. She assembled teams, pretending to guide a concept through a new product development process.

They were assigned an imaginary concept.  The exercise was like a role-playing game. As it progressed, the teams made decisions about their project. The game was played in rounds. In each one, they were given a narrative about something that had changed. One narrative might be the results of a market research study. Another, about a competitive move. Another, a concept testing report. Some contained updates about technical challenges or advances.

Continuing on, students were to make recommendations. Recommendations about whether to continue the project or kill it.

Here’s what the students didn’t know about the narratives flowing in: they became progressively negative.   All new information would continually present the case that the project should be halted. Starting as a whisper. Ultimately as a shout, “Turn back! This project must be stopped. It’s doomed to fail!”

AND SO, WHAT HAPPENED WITHIN THIS FICTIONAL NPD PROCESS?

The teams never quit.  Never. They persevered. Always wanting to continue .

Consider this, if imaginary teams can’t kill their projects, how much harder will it be for real ones? When they’ve worked on the project for months? Or years? Also, how much harder will it be for leadership to stop the project, when the company has spent millions of dollars?

To be honest, projects shouldn’t be killed at a high rate once the new product development process has begun. However, it’s normal for changes to be made. Most commonly, launch dates need to be moved. Leadership is reliably guilty at pressuring teams to push ahead, to hit those launch targets. The cost of this pressure? Bad decisions. Resulting in bad outcomes, from culling out important features to setting the stage for quality issues.

The goal of a gate review isn’t to approve a project. It isn’t to kill a project. The objective is to review the work the team has done. It’s to listen to their recommendation. It’s to make the best decision.

8. Allow conditional acceptance at gate reviews

The original new product development process creators often framed gate reviews as primarily “go/no go” decision points. However, allowing for only those two doesn’t allow for real-world complexity.

“Complexity” means that the new product team will have members from nearly every business function: marketing, engineering, supply chain and operations. In a more advanced new product development process, the team will be even broader. With contributors from accounting, marketing communications, and perhaps more.

When the team arrives at a gate review, it’s likely that most functions have finished, but some activities may be lagging behind. In these cases, allow the team a conditional acceptance. Let the project pass with the condition that the additional requirements must be completed. In these circumstances, it can be helpful to later allow full approval via email, or with a special session. The NPD process must allow for this flexibility.

9. Ensure strong product management

Good product managers are critical. Consider that product managers are often called “mini-CEO’s”. Why is this? Because they have the most strategic role on the team. It’s their job to understand the market and competition.  Ultimately, they’ll craft the value proposition. Therefore, within the team, they also should also have the last word on SKU and feature decisions.

Click here to learn more about building the product manager role within your B2B firm

Moreover, the product manager will be involved throughout all phases of the new product development process. Although, their activity level will not be equally divided amongst each. In the early NPD process phases, product managers are heavily involved with customer research, creation of product ideas/features, and specifications. Once development begins, they evaluate trade-offs between costs and benefits as issues emerge.

Along the way, the product manager will champion concept testing with customers. And finally, the product manager will be involved with training the broader organization, especially marketing communications, distributors and salespeople. By the way, how mature is your product manager organization? If you feel it needs some work, this PDMA article (Product Development and Management Association) is a good place to start.

10. Allocate resources with portfolio management

“Portfolio management” is the process of allocating investment resources. For a company counting on future returns, it must have a system to fund new product development projects.

Just like with any financial portfolio, this will include a diverse set of investments. “Low risk” projects will be upgrades, line extensions, and product refreshes – all targeting current markets. “High risk” projects could have any combination of potential hazards. Perhaps using new technologies or targeting adjacent markets. The newer something is to the company, the riskier the venture. Good portfolio management keeps the NPD process focused on corporate strategy.

HOW DO PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS FLOW INTO THE NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS?

A common complaint about the new product development process is that it’s “too slow.” That projects “get stuck”. Could this be an issue with the NPD process itself? Sure. However, it’s more likely that portfolio management is at the root.

If working well, portfolio management only funds a new project if resources are available. However, too often, the number of approved projects exceeds capacity.  When this happens, all projects stall. For this reason, poor portfolio management will grind the new product development process to a halt.

By the way, as part of portfolio management, ensure that you’re using effective metrics. Measures that are predictive and precise. As a result, you’ll  be able to better anticipate future growth. Click here to learn how to improve your innovation metrics. 

11. Separate the portfolio management meeting from the gate reviews

Speaking of portfolio management, there’s naturally some overlap with the new product development process. For instance, in the early phases, an idea shouldn’t enter the system without available resources.

However, after this initial phase, keep the meetings for portfolio management and the new product development process separate. As much as you can. After all, they serve different purposes.

Portfolio management determines which projects to fund. It’s a strategic exercise. It gazes out years in the future. Good portfolio management takes many dynamics into account. Technologies, competitors, and your firm’s strategy. It’s explorational. Aspirational. Analytical. Additionally, it monitors the resource pool (including when new resources will come available).

Meanwhile, the new product development process manages execution. “Execution” of on-going, approved projects. It begins with the assumption that “we’re doing this project.”

12. Ensure the “lessons learned” session occurs

For any new product development process worth its salt, there’s an après launch task, the “lessons-learned” event. However, in practice, even the best of companies may skip it.

But why? For one, leaders are keenly interested in the launch. That’s good and to be expected. However, they likely don’t have the same enthusiasm for a process retrospective.  And therefore, may be unmotivated to press the team for a debrief. Meanwhile, after launch (or even before), leaders waste no time distributing team members to other projects. And the team members themselves now have new pressing concerns.

Also, of course, a project probably had some missteps along the way.  Mistakes. Errors. Problems. Moreover, nobody’s going to be motivated to re-assemble for an event that could make people look bad.

However, the lessons-learned event is important. We need to learn from our experiences. Make it a safe place. It’s about the process, not about the people. There’s rarely a decision that just a single person made anyway. The team shares in both glory and defeat. And afterward, it should debrief for the benefit of future projects. With a little discipline here, the NPD process itself will self-improve over time.

Where do we begin, to improve the new product development process?

The previous twelve steps should help you to get a sense of where to start. You’ll probably see areas to improve your new product development process. To go deeper, Stage-Gate® International maintains a complete library of resources on the topic You can find these by clicking here. 

In particular, anyone responsible for the new product development process should have Dr. Cooper’s books Winning at New Products and Portfolio Management for New Products at a minimum.

However, while reading is one thing, to get the fastest results,  it may be best to bring in an expert. In which case, you might contact Stage-Gate® International directly. They have a variety of services to get things moving, including an auditing process called Benchmarker™.

Improving the New Product Development Process is itself, a process.

With such obvious importance, why do companies not have more enthusiasm for improving the new product development process? Before going there, consider that companies also criminally underinvest in customer insight. Even though, new product failures invest less than half as much as compared to successful ones.

Possibly, it’s lack of knowledge, but more likely, it’s lack of patience. An investment in either customer insight or the new product development process pays off in the future. But of course, isn’t that the nature of any worthwhile investment, that it pays later?

Therefore, it’s actually not bad news that most companies fail to bolster their NPD process. Let it be your competitive advantage!

Five years ago was the best time to renew your new product development process, but the second-best time is today! Make sure you understand what you have now within NPD. Then go deeper with the resources listed here. Consider bringing in an expert. Your future employees, and current stockholders, will thank you.

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Research and development (R&D) and the product lifecycle

Imagine a young boy searching through the December edition of Intertoys , the Dutch version of the Toys-R-Us magazine. The magazine has over 150 toys, including molding clay, step bikes, board games, M.A.S.K and G.I Joe action figures, Transformers, ThunderCats, and tons more.

His eyes are focused on the pages dedicated to LEGO. The boy finds himself overcome with joy, thinking about all the possibilities to expand his LEGO city. Will he ask for the police station, the gas station, or maybe the medieval castle? He tries to imagine how each enhances his city and the additional stories they can bring.

This young boy was me back in 1986.

LEGO delivered on its mission to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow. How do I know that to be true? Well, here I am as a product leader who is curious and enjoys experimenting and trying new ways to devise, innovate, and to meet and exceed customer needs.

LEGO is a prime example of a company that recognizes the value of being customer-obsessed, researching, observing, experimenting, and trying over and over again to build what excites and inspires generations to come. It truly harnesses the power of research and development (R&D).

In this guide, we’ll explore what R&D is, the different types of R&D, and how it can inform product development. We’ll also show you how research and development influence go-to-market and help determine whether a launch is successful.

What is research and development (R&D)?

Research and development (R&D) refers to activities and investments directed toward creating new products, improving existing products, streamlining processes, and pursuing knowledge.

The main purpose of R&D is to promote innovation and, in doing so, drive growth and increase competitiveness. Additionally, by improving processes and finding efficiency gains, R&D can lead to cost savings.

In some industries, R&D is necessary for regulatory compliance and to maintain or improve product quality.

R&D example

For an example of how R&D can impact a company’s growth, let’s look a LEGO’s research and development process.

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LEGO works to create new building block shapes and designs and endeavors to improve their performance and safety on an ongoing basis. One of LEGO’s primary R&D efforts aims at developing sustainable production methods.

In 2015, the company invested nearly $150 million into sustainable materials R&D . It’s important to its mission to leave a positive impact on the planet for future generations to inherit.

We’ll refer to the LEGO examples throughout this guide to show what research and development efforts look like in the real world.

Research and development (R&D) vs. product development

It’s tempting to say that R&D and product development are one and the same, but while they overlap, not all product development is R&D.

To qualify as true, authentic, and real R&D, an activity must meet specific criteria that make it SUPA (yes, I just created that acronym).

SUPA stands for:

• Systematic — R&D must follow a systematic approach to solving problems or creating new products
• Advancement — R&D must involve either the creation of new knowledge, a significant improvement to existing knowledge, or a significant advancement in overall understanding
• Purpose — R&D must have the primary purpose of creating new knowledge, improving existing products radically, or creating new ones
• Uncertainty — There must be an element of uncertainty or risk involved in the work. This means you can’t always anticipate the outcome with confidence

As a product manager, most of the above should be familiar. As Marvin Gaye would have said, R&D and product management work together just like music .

R&D and the product development lifecycle

Research provides you with the necessary information and insights to inform and guide your product design. Development helps you bring ideas to life, validate them and then build and commercialize them.

The product development lifecycle is as follows:

• Ideation and concept development
• Design and prototyping
• Development
• Launch and commercialization

Let’s zoom in on each stage to see how R&D plays a role in every aspect of product development.

1. Research

The research phase involves systematically gathering market data, understanding the competitive landscape, and assessing customers in their current use of your product and their unmet needs. R&D helps you find the next big thing or game changer that gains you more market share.

2. Ideation and concept development

This step focuses on generating new ideas and concepts that push the boundaries of what you know. It requires looking at new ideas at a high-level and evaluating their potential feasibility.

3. Design and prototyping

Dip your toes further into the development waters — but make sure not to step on a LEGO while doing so.

The design and prototyping stage is where you create your hypothesis, conduct experiments, create designs, and prototype solutions to validate the assumptions made.

4. Development

During the development stage, any prototypes that fail to deliver advancements are abandoned. Those passing the validation are ready for development consideration.

5. Launch and commercialization

The activities described above will aid in making informed decisions about the product launch , pricing , and go-to-market strategy .

Example: How does R&D influence go-to-market?

Let’s refer back to our example:

LEGO was hugely successful through R&D when bringing the LEGO Mindstorms line to market.

This line empowers users to build and program robots using LEGO bricks and a microcomputer. The creation of the product line involved a multidisciplinary approach. It combined expertise in product design, software engineering, and electronics.

The R&D process started with research that identified the need for a product that allowed users to experiment with and learn about robotics.

LEGO then went through intensive ideation iterations and decided to work with experts in the field to design a system that would be easy to use and accessible to people of all ages and skill levels.

The design and prototypes were thoroughly tested and proved to validate assumptions .

The resulting product was a great success.

3 types of R&D

There are several types of research and development that you can pursue. Each type requires different approaches, resources, expertise, and generates different outcomes.

You can choose to focus on one or more R&D types, depending on your strategic objectives, resources, and capabilities.

Let’s have a look at the three major types of R&D:

Basic research

Applied research, experimental development.

Basic research aims to increase knowledge and understanding of a particular subject, with no immediate application in mind.

LEGO continuously explores new methods for connecting building blocks to each other. This research could involve looking into new materials or design principles that could improve the strength and stability of the connections between the blocks.

Applied research focuses on solving specific practical problems and developing new or improved processes, services, or products.

To reduce its carbon footprint, LEGO is researching a new plant-based plastic for its building blocks. This new material, made from sugarcane, replaces traditional petroleum-based plastic.

Experiment research involves designing, building, and testing a prototype to evaluate the feasibility and potential of new processes, services, or products.

LEGO is developing building sets that incorporate augmented reality (AR) technology. The R&D effort combines applied research with experimental development, as the company seeks to create a new product that utilizes AR to enhance the building and play experience.

How to incorporate R&D into the product development process

So you want to incorporate R&D into your product development process. Kudos to you!

Practice makes perfect. Before looking at a few ways to do this, it is important to remember that incorporating R&D into your product development process is a continuous endeavor and requires adjustments along the way.

The following strategies will help you incorporate R&D:

Prioritize R&D

Foster a culture of innovation.

• Embrace experimentation

Build user-centered

Collaborate with external partners.

The obvious one here is to ensure that R&D is a priority within your company and resources are freed up. This could include dedicating a portion of the budget, allocating capacity, or setting aside dedicated R&D time.

Encourage a culture in your company that values and supports innovation, experimentation, and risk-taking. It could include encouraging employees to pursue their own interests and providing them with the resources to do so.

Embrace experimentation, prototyping, and testing

R&D-ers love experimenting and testing their assumptions through building hypotheses, prototyping, and testing. It allows you to validate ideas, refine designs, identify and address any issues or limitations before bringing a product to market. As a product manager, you probably already have incorporated some of these practices. If not, I highly encourage you to do so.

To find an opportunity you will need to discover and unravel a need. User-centered building helps ensure that products and services are designed with the end-user in mind, leading to better, more effective problem-solving, and solutions to meet the needs of the people who will be using them.

Consider partnering with external organizations, such as universities, research institutes, or other companies, to help drive R&D. This can provide access to additional resources, expertise, and perspectives.

Example: How does R&D influence product development?

Referring back back to our example:

LEGO places a strong emphasis on user-centered design. It conducts user research to understand their needs, preferences, and behaviors and incorporate those findings into product design and development.

LEGO also collaborates with a variety of external partners, including universities, research institutions, and other companies, to drive innovation and R&D. For example, it has worked with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on several projects.

LEGO uses rapid prototyping and testing to iterate and improve its products and encourage employees to be creative and innovative. It does this through the LEGO IDEAS program, which provides a platform for employees to submit and vote on new product ideas.

How to analyze and interpret the results of R&D

It goes without saying that analyzing and interpreting the results of research and development is crucial. How else will you validate or disprove hypotheses, determine the success or failure, and inform future R&D decisions?

Here are some steps that will help you out:

• Define the objectives and hypothesis
• Gather and organize data
• Analyze the data
• Interpret the results
• Validate the results
• Communicate the results
• Use the results to inform future R&D decisions

1. Define the objectives and hypothesis

When you want to analyze results, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of what you set out to achieve and what you expected to see.

2. Gather and organize data

Collect all relevant data and organize it in a way that allows for easy analysis and interpretation.

3. Analyze the data

Use appropriate statistical methods to analyze the data, such as hypothesis testing, regression analysis, or analysis of variance (ANOVA).

4. Interpret the results

Based on the analysis, interpret the results and draw meaningful conclusions. This may involve identifying patterns, correlations, or relationships between variables.

5. Validate the results

Validate the results by checking for consistency, accuracy, and reliability. It may also be necessary to perform additional tests or experiments to confirm or refute the results.

6. Communicate the results

Communicate the results of the R&D project to stakeholders, including management, investors, customers, and employees. This may involve presenting data, charts, graphs, or other visual representations of the results.

7. Use the results to inform future R&D decisions

Use the results of the R&D project to inform future R&D decisions, including what to research next, what to improve, and what to commercialize.

Proper analysis and interpretation of R&D results are crucial to make informed decisions and drive innovation and growth.

There are various strategies you can implement in your product process. It is key to define your objective and expected results and have a structured process to validate R&D success.

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New Product Development Process : Stages, Examples, and Tips

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned product manager, the process for new product development hardly ever gets any less exciting – or stressful. According to the Standish Group's 2020 Chaos Report, 66% of new software products fail. The troublesome development process of a new product might entail insufficient preparation, underestimated production costs, delays and unpredictable deliveries, and high costs of modification. Because of this, around 20% of new products die unremarkable and unnoticed death before they are even launched. Not exactly optimistic.

Still, launching new products is not something you can avoid if you want to stay afloat and grow. According to various reports spanning across the last decade (the latest being McKinsey one), more than 25% revenue and profits come from launching new products .

So, how do you build the developing a new product process in a way that isn't setting you up for failure from the very beginning? In this article, you'll find specifics, step-by-step stages breakdown, and some helpful examples. Let's dive in!

What is new product development?

Before we're ready to get into the nitty-gritty details of the new product development process , let's cover the basics first.

When it comes to growing your business and staying ahead in the market, introducing new products is a must. That's where new product development (NPD) comes into play. NPD covers everything from generating ideas to getting those shiny new products out there for people to enjoy. The goal? To expand product offerings, attract new customers, and boost those revenue numbers.

Now, let's talk about the different flavors of new products. Here are some common types you'll come across:

New-to-the-world products

These bad boys are true innovators, breaking new ground with never-before-seen ideas or technologies. They're the ones that turn industries on their heads and create entirely new product categories . Think back to the first personal computers, electric cars, or those game-changing smartphones when they first hit the scene.

New-to-the-firm products

These products might not be brand-new to the market, but they're new to a particular company. It's like a company finding a treasure chest in a market segment they've never explored before. Think of Netflix . Known initially as a DVD rental service, it expanded its offerings by venturing into original content production. It created a new product line within their existing streaming platform. Obviously, Netflix didn't invent TV shows, or even streaming them. Still, with popular shows like "House of Cards," and "Orange is the New Black," Netflix became a trailblazer in the world of online streaming and original programming.

Additions to existing product lines

Sometimes, it's all about expanding the family. This happens when companies introduce new versions or variations of their existing products. It's like adding more flavors to the ice cream parlor or releasing a smartphone with a better camera or upgraded features. It gives customers more options and keeps things fresh.

Improvements and revisions of existing products

Ah, let's not forget about those improvements and revisions! Here, companies take their existing products and make them even better. They might tweak the design, add fancy new features , or use the latest tech to give their offerings a fresh glow. For instance, a software company releasing an update with improved user-friendliness and extra functionalities.

Repositionings

Moving on, we've got the repositionings. This is when a product decides to change its vibe and target a whole new set of customers. Let's think of Slack. Originally designed as an internal communication tool for a gaming company, Slack underwent a repositioning to become a comprehensive collaboration platform for teams across industries. Recognizing the need for efficient and streamlined communication in workplaces, Slack expanded its scope and transformed into a go-to platform.

Cost reductions

Last but not least, let's talk about cost reductions. One effective approach is optimizing the software development process itself. By streamlining workflows, adopting agile methodologies, and leveraging automation tools, companies can significantly reduce development time and costs . This allows to lower the price for the consumers and engage new audiences . Now that we know about the "whats," let's move on to "whys" of developing new products.

Why do you need to develop new products?

We've already talked a bit about staying ahead of competitors and those revenue percentages. Still, at the first glance it might seem that introducing new products is more pain than gain. So, let's explore the benefits of new product development .

Increased revenue and market share

By introducing new products, you have the opportunity to tap into additional revenue streams . Expanding your product portfolio allows you to attract new customers, retain existing ones, and ultimately increase your market share. Innovative and desirable products can stimulate customer interest, drive sales growth, and enhance overall profitability.

Competitive advantage and differentiation

In today's fast-paced and highly competitive business landscape, standing out from the crowd is essential. NPD enables your company to differentiate itself from competitors by offering unique, innovative, and superior products. Continuously introducing fresh offerings positions your business as an industry leader, capturing the attention and loyalty of customers who constantly seek the latest and most compelling products.

Customer satisfaction and loyalty

By developing new products that meet the evolving needs and preferences of customers, you can significantly enhance customer satisfaction . Addressing unmet needs, resolving pain points, or providing innovative solutions strengthens your customer relationships. Satisfied customers are more likely to become loyal advocates for your brand, leading to increased customer retention, repeat purchases, and positive word-of-mouth referrals.

Market expansion and diversification

NPD provides an avenue for market expansion and diversification. By introducing products that cater to different demographics, lifestyles, or geographic regions, you can unlock new growth opportunities and mitigate risks associated with relying heavily on a single product or market segment. Market expansion and diversification allow for sustained growth and reduce vulnerability to market fluctuations.

Technological advancement and industry leadership

Development of a new product often involves incorporating technological advancements, pushing the boundaries of innovation within your industry. Embracing emerging technologies enables your company to position itself as a pioneer, driving progress and shaping industry trends . Technological advancements not only enhance product performance but also streamline operations , improve efficiency, and create a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Brand enhancement and reputation

Successful innovation and new product launches contribute to building a positive brand image and reputation. Companies that consistently deliver high-quality, innovative products are perceived as trustworthy, reliable, and forward-thinking. A strong brand reputation fosters customer loyalty, attracts top talent, and opens doors to partnerships and collaborations, further fueling business growth.

From our experience, this should have convinced you that NPD is not something you can forego if you want your business to flourish . But then the next, practical question arises: how to develop a new product? For you to be able to tailor a viable strategy for new product development , we'll walk you through the process step-by-step.

Stages of the new product development process

To bring a new product to market successfully, businesses follow a structured and iterative process known as the new product life cycle development process. This process consists of several stages, each playing a critical role in the overall NPD journey. Let's delve into the key stages involved.

Stage 1: Idea generation

The first phase of new product development is idea generation, where potential product concepts are generated and explored. Idea generation can be sourced from both internal and external sources.

New product ideas from internal and external sources

Internal sources of new product ideas involve tapping into the creativity and expertise of individuals within the company. Employees at all levels can contribute ideas based on their industry knowledge, market insights, or customer interactions. These ideas can stem from R&D departments, marketing teams, sales representatives, or even customer service staff who have a deep understanding of customer pain points and possible solutions .

External sources of new product ideas include gathering insights from outside the company. This can be achieved through market scanning, competitor analysis, value analysis of existing products , customer feedback, and industry trends. External sources might also involve partnerships, collaborations, or acquisitions that bring in new ideas or technologies.

Product discovery

During the idea generation stage, it is essential to focus on product discovery. This involves exploring unmet customer needs, identifying market gaps, and understanding emerging trends. By analyzing customer problems, preferences, and behaviors, businesses can gain valuable insights that drive the creation of innovative and impactful product ideas .

Customer problems

A key aspect of idea generation is identifying customer problems and pain points. By empathizing with customers and understanding their challenges, businesses can develop solutions that address their needs effectively. This customer - centric approach ensures that the new product is aligned with the target market's demands and provides value. Analyzing customer feedback, conducting surveys, and observing market trends are some ways to uncover customer problems and generate ideas that cater to these needs.

Stage 2: Idea screening

Once a range of potential new product ideas has been generated, the next one of the new product development stages is idea screening. Idea screening involves evaluating and selecting the most promising ideas for further development. This stage aims to filter out ideas that are not aligned with the company's strategic objectives or do not have sufficient market potential.

One commonly used method during the idea screening stage is conducting a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). This analysis helps assess the internal strengths and weaknesses of the company, as well as the external opportunities and threats present in the market. By evaluating the fit between each idea and the company's capabilities and market dynamics, the SWOT analysis enables informed decision-making and the identification of ideas with the highest potential for success.

Product validation

Next in the list of the steps in developing new product is product validation. This involves conducting preliminary market research, concept testing, and gathering feedback from potential target audience. By seeking input from the intended users, businesses can validate whether the proposed product idea addresses their needs , solves their problems, and provides value. This stage helps ensure that the selected ideas have a strong market demand and are worth investing resources in for further development.

The following stages require a team. Linkup Studio is a Ukrainian outsourcing team, and in the video, we share how to integrate an offshore dev team into your business successfully .

Stage 3: Concept development & testing

After the idea screening stage, the selected ideas move into the concept development and testing phases in new product development . This stage involves translating the chosen ideas into well-defined product concepts and conducting concept testing to gather feedback and assess their viability.

Consideration

During concept development, careful consideration is given to refining and shaping the selected ideas into tangible product concepts . This involves clearly defining the product's features, benefits, target market, positioning, and pricing. The goal is to create a compelling and comprehensive description of the product concept that captures its essence and potential value to customers.

Product concepts

Product concepts are the tangible representations of the selected ideas. They provide a clear vision and description of the proposed product , including its unique selling points, functionalities, and overall value proposition. These concepts serve as the foundation for further development and testing, providing a reference point for evaluating the product's potential.

Concept testing

Concept testing involves gathering feedback and reactions from a target audience to assess their perception, interest, and acceptance of the product concept. This can be done through surveys, focus groups, interviews, or online platforms. The feedback collected during concept testing helps validate the viability and appeal of the product concept, uncover potential concerns or improvements, and guide further refinements in the development process.

Practical tips:

To have some practical tools for this stage, consider morphological analysis . This problem-solving technique helps identify and explore different possible combinations of features or attributes for a new product or solution. It allows teams to systematically break down a complex problem or product concept into its constituent parts and then generate a range of potential solutions by combining different attributes or features.

Concept-test surveys are another research method used to gather feedback and evaluate the viability and appeal of a new product concept or idea. These surveys are designed to assess consumer perceptions, preferences, and purchase intent regarding a proposed product before it is fully developed and launched.

Stage 4: Marketing strategy development

Once the product concepts have been validated through concept testing, the next stage is developing a new product strategy. In this phase, businesses define their marketing approach and formulate a comprehensive plan to introduce and promote the new product effectively .

During this stage, several key activities take place:

Target market identification

Businesses identify the specific target market or customer segment(s) that will be the primary focus for their new product. This involves analyzing market research data, customer demographics, and psychographics to understand the characteristics and preferences of the target audience. By clearly defining the target market, companies can tailor their marketing strategies and messages to resonate with the intended customers.

Positioning and differentiation

Positioning the new product in the market is crucial for its success. Companies determine how they want their product to be perceived by the target market and identify unique potential value propositions that differentiate it from competitors.

Marketing mix development

The marketing mix comprises the elements that businesses use to influence customer perceptions and drive product adoption. These elements include product, price, promotion, and place (distribution) . During this stage, companies develop strategies for each element of the marketing mix to create a coherent and compelling marketing approach.

Sales and revenue forecasting

During these steps of the new product development process, businesses also forecast sales and revenue projections based on market research, customer insights, and competitor analysis. This helps estimate the potential demand for the new product and provides insights into the financial implication s and expected return on investment . Sales and revenue forecasting guide resource allocation, production planning, and overall strategy of new product development.

Stage 5: Business analysis

Once the marketing strategy has been developed, the process of new product development progresses to the business analysis stage . During this stage, businesses conduct a comprehensive assessment to evaluate the financial and operational feasibility of introducing the new product. Business analysis might include:

Cost and profitability analysis

Businesses analyze the costs associated with developing, producing, marketing, and distributing the new product. This includes evaluating the expenses related to research and development, manufacturing, packaging, advertising, sales, and ongoing support. By estimating the costs and projecting potential revenues, companies assess the profitability and financial viability of the new product.

Sales projections and demand forecasting

Building upon the sales and revenue forecasting conducted in the marketing strategy development stage, businesses refine their projections and make more detailed assessments of anticipated sales volumes and demand. This includes analyzing market trends, competitors, consumer behavior, and any potential factors that could influence the demand for the product.

Risk assessment and mitigation

Businesses identify and evaluate potential risks associated with the new product. This includes assessing market risks , such as changes in consumer preferences or increased competition, as well as operational risks , such as production challenges. By identifying and understanding these risks, companies can develop strategies to mitigate or minimize their impact, ensuring a smoother product launch .

Market entry strategy

Businesses also determine the most appropriate market entry strategy for the new product. This involves considering factors such as distribution channels, sales force requirements, pricing strategies, and competitive positioning.

We covered the product discovery phase of the new product development process in detail in the video.

Stage 6: Product development

In this video on our YouTube channel, Linkup Studio’s CEO, Andriy Sambir, has discussed things to consider before building an app .

Only now in our stages in the development of a new product we move to, well, actual development. In this stage, businesses focus on transforming the concept into a tangible product through various activities. This includes prototyping and the creation of a minimum viable product (MVP).

Businesses create prototypes, which are early-stage models or samples of the new product . Prototypes allow for testing and evaluation of the product's design, functionality, and performance. They provide an opportunity to identify any design flaws, make necessary improvements, and ensure that the final product meets the desired specifications. Prototyping helps businesses refine the product before proceeding to full-scale production, saving time and resources in the long run.

According to an older McKinsey report , 60% of the companies prototype quite late in the development stage and only for internal use. However (and the 2022 report confirms it) rapid prototyping and introducing the users early on allows to develop a product with the better product-market fit and nip in the bud many issues.

Minimum viable product (MVP)

In addition to prototyping, MVP is often used during the product development stage. An MVP is a version of the product with the limited set of major product features required to meet the needs of early adopters and gather feedback for further development. By launching an MVP, businesses can test the market, gather valuable user insights, and iterate on the product based on user feedback. This iterative approach allows for continuous improvement and ensures that the final product aligns with customer expectations.

Our CEO gave grounded basics of MVP : its benefits, tips to use, and successful examples in the video:

Testing and iteration

Process for developing new products also involves rigorous testing and iteration to refine the service or app. This includes understanding product usage through conducting usability tests, functionality tests, and performance tests to ensure that the product meets quality standards. Feedback from internal testing teams and external beta testers helps identify areas for improvement and guides the iteration process.

Stage 7: Deployment

On these stages in new product development process, businesses focus on implementing and launching the new product into the market.

Technical implementation

This step includes finalizing the product design, integrating any necessary software or hardware components, and ensuring compatibility with existing systems or infrastructure. The technical implementation phase aims to ensure that the product is ready for production and can be effectively deployed to customers.

Resource estimation

Resource estimation is crucial in the deployment stage as it involves assessing the resources required for the launch, promotion, and support of the new product. This includes estimating the workforce, equipment, and facilities necessary to meet production demands and deliver the product to the market.

Requirements publication

Publishing the product requirements is an important step in the deployment stage. This involves documenting and communicating the product specifications, standards, and expectations to internal stakeholders, such as manufacturing teams, and customer support personnel.

Engineering operations planning

This step is aimed to ensure smooth production and delivery of the new product. This involves creating detailed plans and workflows, coordinating activities among different departments or teams, and addressing any operational considerations or challenges.

Scheduling and supplier collaboration

Scheduling plays a vital role in the deployment stage. Businesses establish timelines and milestones for production, distribution, and customer delivery. This includes coordinating with external teams you might work with.

Resource plan publication

Similar to requirements publication, businesses publish a resource plan. This includes documenting and communicating the allocation of resources, such as personnel, equipment, and facilities, to relevant stakeholders.

Program review and monitoring

Regular program reviews and monitoring activities are conducted during the deployment steps of developing a new product to assess progress , identify potential issues or bottlenecks, and ensure adherence to the deployment plan. This includes monitoring key performance indicators, tracking production and delivery metrics, and conducting periodic reviews to evaluate the effectiveness of the deployment process.

Contingencies (what-if planning)

Contingency planning is an essential part of the deployment stage . Businesses identify potential risks, challenges, or disruptions that could impact the deployment process and develop contingency plans to mitigate these risks. This includes conducting "what-if" planning scenarios to anticipate and address unforeseen circumstances.

Stage 8: Test marketing

Once the product has been deployed, businesses often undertake test marketing as a critical step before a full-scale product launch . Test marketing involves introducing the product to a limited market segment to evaluate its performance, gather feedback, and identify potential areas for improvement.

Alpha testing

During the test marketing steps in development of a new product, businesses may conduct alpha testing. It involves testing the product within an internal or controlled environment . It allows businesses to closely monitor the product's performance, functionality, and user experience in real-world scenarios. Feedback from alpha testing helps identify any bugs, issues, or usability concerns that need to be addressed before the product is introduced to a wider audience.

Beta testing

Beta testing is another key component of the test marketing stage . It involves releasing the product to a select group of external users, often referred to as beta testers or early adopters. Beta testing allows businesses to gather valuable feedback on the product's performance, usability, and overall customer satisfaction. Beta testers provide insights into their experience with the product, uncover any potential issues or glitches, and offer suggestions for improvement. This feedback is invaluable for identifying and resolving any remaining issues before the product's full-scale launch.

Stage 9: Product launch

At this point in time, from 6 to 18 months have passed, and you're finally ready to reach the final new product development steps : actually bringing your baby into the wider world.

Commercialization

Commercialization is a crucial aspect of the product launch stage. It involves the strategic planning and execution of various activities to maximize the product's market potential and generate sales. Businesses develop comprehensive marketing and promotional campaigns, determine pricing strategies, finalize distribution channels, and create compelling messaging to communicate the product's value proposition to the target audience. Commercialisation activities aim to create awareness, generate interest, and drive customer adoption of the new product.

The launch itself is a significant milestone in the new product development process. It involves orchestrating a well-coordinated effort to introduce the product to the market . The launch typically includes activities such as public announcement, press releases, product demonstrations, events, advertising campaigns, and social media promotions. The goal is to generate excitement, attract customer attention, and drive initial sales momentum. A successful launch sets the stage for the product's market penetration and long-term success.

There are few bonus advice on how not to lose intellectual software property rights in our video .

Here are 5 more thoughts on building digital products from successful founders we've talked to in our Building Digital Product podcast episodes.

Examples of new product development process

That was quite the journey! Now, let's take a look at how this process (or at least bits of it) works in real life with some famous products.

Airbnb spent a lot of time on preliminary research to identify pain points in traditional accommodation options and designed a user-friendly interface that streamlined the booking process. They prioritized creating a seamless experience for users, incorporating features like real-time availability, secure payment systems, and robust search functionality.

Figma started off in 2012 as the first professional-grade browser-based UI Kit. Since then, it has launched an app and became a major market player. At Figma , the team actively uses brainstorming for the ideation stage. However, an even more important lesson you can learn from their idea screening process. To narrow down the brainstormed ideas, their product manager uses a "buy a feature" exercise. The employees start with a certain amount of "currency," and then have a limited amount of time to “invest” in different product ideas or focus areas.

Asana follows roughly the same steps in new product development process that we discussed above. However, during their ideation stage they also use the SCAMPER method.

Known for products like Jira and Confluence, Atlassian follows an iterative and customer-centric product development approach . They emphasize continuous improvement, user feedback, and rapid iteration.

The same can be said for Google . It is known for its "Design, Develop, and Deploy" approach to product development. They prioritize user-centric design , rapid prototyping, and continuous iteration. Google is also an example of a company that heavily relies on A/B testing.

At Linkup Studio, we built Alleo , the AI tool to help people optimize their lives. In just nine months, we made an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) that was a big help for our client to get enough funding. This tool, called the ALLEO app, lets our customers break into the US market as a life-optimizing tool - it was a real game-changer in managing tasks. Plus, its design and quality checks make it easy and quick to upgrade to new versions. Read the full case study.

Final thoughts

As you can see, developing a new product is quite a lengthy and demanding process. What's worse, the longest part of it is actually devoted to the preliminary research, strategizing, and design. However, we don't advise you to skip these stages. Obviously, speed is of essence for any startup. Still, most companies that fail do cite lack of preparation as the major reason for it. It's better to spend more time on ideation, research, and finding the right product-market fit than for your product to fall into those 80% that don't survive two years after their launch .

To develop new products successfully, research, iterate, and, most important, don't forget to listen to your users an all stages of the journey.

Get the 7 key takeaways from Linkup Studio after 100 digital product launches in the video .

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What Is Product Development? 7 Steps to Making a Product (2024)

Learn everything about the product development lifecycle as well as tactics to improve your workflow to help bring your vision to life.

Even for the most successful ecommerce businesses , the journey to a finished product rarely resembles a straight line. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, the product development process might even seem shrouded in mystery—how does an idea in your head become a 3D object you can hold in your hands?

Effective product development involves market research, product management, and plenty of trial and error. While every story is different, there are a few best practices founders take on the road to starting a business and shipping a finished product.

In this guide, learn everything you need to know about the product development lifecycle as well as tactics to improve your workflow to help you bring your vision to life.

What is product development?

Product development refers to the complete process of taking a product from idea to market. It also describes the process of renewing an existing product or introducing an old product to a new market. This includes identifying market needs, conceptualizing the product, building a product roadmap, launching a product, and collecting feedback.

New product development (NPD) specifically refers to creating a new product from scratch and bringing it to a market. The process doesn’t end until the product life cycle is over. And, you can continue the product development process after launch by collecting user feedback and iterating on the product and developing new versions.

Who is responsible for product development?

How to create a product development plan

A product development plan (or product development strategy) is the methodology that a business will use to guide its product development. It is a detailed plan with milestones and checkpoints that keeps a multi-disciplinary team on track and heading toward the same goal until product launch.

Before starting any stage of product development, put your plan to paper. Ask: How long do we need? What are the deadlines? How often will we meet? What are our goals?

Later on in this guide, we’ll walk through the product development process. You can use this as an outline to map mini-goals, ways of working, and areas of responsibility to each stage.

Get your free product development worksheet

Create a product that meets your customers' needs with our easy-to-follow, seven step product development worksheet.

Why is a product development plan important?

A product development plan is a critical stage in the process for the following reasons:

• It aligns the team. Having everyone on the same page from the get-go ensures that team members can have autonomy and move quickly toward the same end product.
• It creates checkpoints. Your plan should have a meeting cadence and goals to reach at each stage. This allows the team to come together periodically to stay on track.
• It eliminates risk. Having a plan in place that accounts for all competitive research, market research, and target audience research means you’ll leave no stone unturned.
• It contains success metrics. How do you know if your process is successful? Your plan sets out exactly what success looks like and how it will be measured.
• It lets you get more creative. With guardrails in place, you don’t need to micromanage the process. The teams will have clear guidelines to innovate within. 

📦  Read more: How To Create a Successful Product Development Strategy

The 7-step new product development process

• Generate an idea.
• Conduct market research.
• Develop a plan.
• Create a prototype.
• Source materials and production partners.
• Determine your costs.
• Launch your product.

Although the product development process differs by industry, it can essentially be broken down into seven stages: idea generation, research, planning, prototyping, sourcing, costing, and commercialization.

Use the following development framework to bring your own product idea to market.

1. Generate an idea

Many aspiring entrepreneurs get stuck on the first stage: ideation and brainstorming. This is often because they’re waiting for a stroke of genius to reveal the perfect product they should sell. While building something fundamentally “new” can be creatively fulfilling, many of the best ideas are the result of iterating on an existing product.

The SCAMPER model is a useful tool for quickly coming up with product ideas by asking questions about existing products. Each letter stands for a prompt:

• Substitute (e.g., faux fur for fur)
• Combine (e.g., a phone case and a battery pack)
• Adapt (e.g., a nursing bra with front clasps)
• Modify (e.g., an electric toothbrush with a sleeker design)
• Put to another use (e.g., memory-foam dog beds)
• Eliminate (e.g., get rid of the middleman to sell sunglasses and pass the savings on to consumers)
• Reverse/rearrange (e.g., a duffle bag that doesn’t wrinkle your suits)

By considering these prompts, you can come up with novel ways to transform existing ideas or even adapt them for a new target audience or problem. Using insights from business analysis can also be helpful to better understand the opportunities in the market.

📦  Read more: Find New Product Ideas in These 16 Places

2. Conduct market research

Starting production before you validate your idea can lead to failure. Product validation ensures you won’t waste time, money, and effort on an idea that won't sell. There are several ways you can validate your product ideas, including:

• Sending out an online survey to get feedback.
• Starting a crowdfunding campaign.
• Performing test marketing by releasing your idea to a very small group of your target market.
• Researching market demand using Google Trends.
• Gauging interest via email opt-ins or pre-orders.
• Asking for initial feedback on forums like Reddit.
• Running a feasibility study to assess whether your proposed idea is worth investing in.

It’s important to get feedback from a substantial and unbiased audience. Be wary of overvaluing feedback from people who “definitely would buy”—until money changes hands, you can’t count someone as a customer. Asking advice from your family and friends (unless they have prior experience in your industry) is also something to avoid.

Validation research will also involve competitive analysis . If your idea or niche has the potential to take up market share, there are likely competitors already operating in that space.

Researching competitors will help you understand how they attract customers and make sales. Ask your potential customers what they like or dislike about your competitors to define your competitive advantage.

The information compiled from doing product validation and market research will gauge the demand for your product and the level of competition before you start planning.

3. Develop a plan

Since product development can quickly become complicated, it’s important to take the time to plan before you begin to build your prototype. At this stage, it can often be helpful to have a clear product roadmap.

The best place to begin planning is with a hand-drawn sketch of what your product will look like. The sketch should be as detailed as possible, with labels explaining the various features and functions.

You don’t need a professional quality drawing, since you won’t be submitting it to a manufacturer at this stage. However, you can outsource this stage to a technical illustrator. Dribbble and UpWork are two sites that list freelancers for hire.

As part of your diagram, create a running list of parts or materials needed. For example, a purse design could be accompanied by this list:

• Zippers (large and small)
• Metal clasps
• Leather straps
• Protection pouch
• Embossed label
• Interior wallet

Your plan should also answer the following questions to inform pricing, brand positioning , costs, and marketing strategy:

• Will the product be an everyday item or for special occasions? 
• Will it be a luxury or price-accessible product?
• Will it use premium materials or be environmentally friendly ? 
• What will the packaging and labels look like?

4. Create a prototype

Prototyping difficulty depends on the type of product you are developing. The least expensive and simplest cases are products you can prototype yourself, such as:

• Food recipes
• Cosmetic or personal care formulations
• Some fashion and jewelry designs

However, more often than not, entrepreneurs will work with a third party to prototype their product. If you’re starting a clothing brand, work with local seamstresses, cobblers, or pattern makers. These services usually can be found online by Googling local services or reaching out to design or fashion schools for prototyping help.

For objects like toys, household accessories, electronics, and many other hard-exterior objects, you may require a 3D rendering in order to make a prototype. Use UpWork or Freelancer to find artists or engineers who are trained in computer-aided design and drafting (CAD) software. Or, try SketchUp , Tinkercad , or Vectary to create 3D models on your own.

With the innovation of 3D printing, digital designs can be turned into physical samples at a much lower cost and quicker turnaround time than the traditional method of mold-making.

The first usable version of your prototype (or minimum viable product) can be released to a small test group to gauge interest and test price sensitivity and messaging. The feedback gathered at this stage allows you to create iterations of the product and build something more valuable for your target market.

Founded in 2019 by childhood friends Charlie Bowes-Lyon and Freddy Ward, Wild wants to eliminate plastic and single-use waste from bathrooms across the world.

🌸 Podcast: Why Perfecting Product Design Was Key to This Brand's Success

5. Source materials and production partners 

Once you have a product prototype you’re satisfied with, it's time to start gathering the materials and securing the partners needed for production. This is also referred to as building your supply chain : the vendors, activities, and resources needed to create a product and get it into a customer’s hands. 

When finding manufacturers or suppliers , follow these sourcing best practices:

• Factor in storage, shipping, and warehousing partners.
• Find multiple suppliers for the different materials you will need to compare costs and create backups.
• Attend trade shows dedicated to sourcing. Discuss materials and build a personal relationship with suppliers, which can be valuable when it comes time to negotiate prices.
• Compare advantages and disadvantages of sourcing locally or internationally.
• Look for Alibaba listings with similar products to your own and then contact the factory to see if they can produce your specific design.

6. Determine your costs

You should now have a clearer picture of what it will cost to produce your product. Costing is a business analysis process where you take all information gathered to find your cost of goods sold (COGS) and determine a retail price and gross margin.

Your calculation should include raw materials, factory setup costs, manufacturing costs, and shipping costs. Factor in other costs such as shipping, import fees, and any duties you will need to pay in order to get your final product into the customer’s hands. These fees can have a significant impact on your COGS, depending on where you’re producing the product.

If you were able to secure multiple quotes for different materials or manufacturers during the sourcing phase, you can include different columns for each line item that compare the cost. Another option is to create a second version of the spreadsheet, so you can compare local production versus overseas production.

Once you have your total COGS calculated, you can come up with a pricing strategy for your product.

7. Launch your product

At this point you’ve got a profitable and successful product ready for the world. The last step in this methodology is to introduce your product to the market. At this point, a product development team will hand the reins over to marketing for a product launch.

If you don’t have the budget for expensive ads, don’t sweat it. You can still run a successful go-to-market strategy by using the following tactics:

• Sending product launch emails to your subscriber list
• Working with influencers on an affiliate marketing campaign
• Getting your product featured in gift guides
• Enabling Instagram Shopping
• Gathering reviews from early customers

📦  Read more: 25 Alternatives to Running Paid Ads to Promote Your Business

Product development examples

In the based-on-a-true-story 2023 film BlackBerry , the founders of Research in Motion (RIM) assemble a crude prototype of their mobile smart phone to accompany a pitch to investors. Although the final product looked nothing like the first iteration, the prototype serves as a proof of concept and a jumping off point to get funding or test the market. 

Product development became a key part of RIM’s (later named BlackBerry) business in the race against Apple, which the company ultimately lost by failing to understand the market and racing to the final product without adequate testing.

Don’t make the same mistakes—understand your industry and market. The product development cycle will naturally vary by industry, so let’s take a brief look at what you might have to consider with case studies for each.

Fashion and apparel development

In the fashion industry, product development usually begins the old-school way: with a hand-drawn sketch or the digital equivalent made using a program like Procreate .

A sketch is then developed into a sample using a pattern maker or seamstress. During the prototyping phase, a size set is created, which means a range of samples with different measurements for each size you want to sell. 

Production will either be handmade by the designer, produced by a factory, or printed by a print-on-demand company (in the case of graphic t-shirts or accessories). 

Other factors to consider:

• Hang tags: The branded tags that hang from a garment and usually contain information like price, size, etc.
• Labels: The fabric tags sewed or stamped into a garment that usually contain information about fabric contents and care instructions.
• Wash tests: Putting your product through wash tests to understand whether it holds up over time and how it should be cared for.

👗 Case Study: From Sketch to Sample to Successful Business

Sarah Donofrio dedicated her life to fashion working for major brands before launching her own clothing line. 👉 Read Sarah's story

Beauty and personal care development

From makeup to bath products to skin care , much of the beauty industry’s hottest new labels started in a kitchen. Founders experiment with ingredients, some even launching handmade products, before mass producing through a manufacturer.

White labeling is also popular in the beauty and cosmetics industry. It’s the process of finding an existing product or manufacturer, then packaging and branding the products they already produce. Whichever route you decide to take, mass manufacturing for cosmetics is usually done by working with a lab and a chemist to make sure quality stays consistent at scale.

• Labels and warnings. Identify all materials used in the product and any potential reactions.
• Laws and regulations. Research FDA regulations and how they pertain to your product and packaging, both where they are produced and where you intend to sell them.
• Shelf life. Conduct tests and add necessary expiration dates to products.

🏭 Case Study: Making the Leap to Manufacturing

In this guide to starting a skin care line, Meghan Cox discusses the early days of starting her business, Amalie. While she launched on handmade formulations, she eventually made the move to manufacturing—and then opened her own lab. 👉 Read Meghan’s story

Food and beverage

Food and beverage products are among the easiest to start developing at a low cost from home. Creating a new energy bar can be as simple as buying ingredients and tweaking the recipe in your own kitchen, like Lara Merriken did when she started Lärabar .

In order to move from recipe to packaged goods you can sell in stores or online, you will need to find a commercial kitchen that is licensed to produce food and has passed a health and safety inspection. These are manufacturing facilities that specialize in processing raw materials and producing food and beverage products at scale.

• Labels and warnings. You will need to display ingredient lists and nutritional information.
• Laws and regulations. Many countries have regulations around dietary information, allergen warnings, and health claims that you will need to comply with.
• Expiry dates. You will need to understand your product lifetime and how you will produce, package, and stock the product to accommodate this.

☕ Case Study: A Beverage Brand's Humble Roots

Hannah Mendoza spent a year in her own kitchen honing her recipe for Clevr Blends, a brand of superfood plant milk lattes. 👉 Read Hannah's story

Wrapping up the product development cycle 

During product development, each journey to a finished product is different and every industry has its own unique set of quirks involved in creating something new.

If you find yourself struggling to figure it all out, remember that every product that came before yours had to overcome the same challenges. By following the steps in this guide, you can better manage the overwhelming task of bringing a new product to market.

No matter what you’re developing, by putting in all the necessary preparation—through researching, planning, prototyping, sourcing, and costing—you can set yourself up for a successful final product.

Feature illustration by Pete Ryan Infographic design by Brenda Wisniowski

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Product development FAQ

What is the product development process.

The product development process refers to the step a business takes to bring a product to market. It can be a completely new product, renewing an old product, or introducing an existing product to a new market. It involves concept development and testing, prototyping, costing, and commercializing the product by marketing it online.

How can I come up with new product ideas?

• Brainstorming
• Customer reviews
• Test marketing
• Examining your competitors
• Audience surveys
• Social media
• B2B wholesale marketplaces
• Concept testing
• Online consumer trend publications

What is the difference between product development and product management?

Product development refers to the conceptualization and creation of a new product of the product life cycle. It involves a specific product strategy to bring an idea to life. Product management is responsible for guiding all product teams toward creating a usable product customers will buy, as well as the product roadmap. Both the product management and product development departments work together to plan and build the product roadmap that will bring the product to market.

What are the 7 stages in the product development process?

• Idea generation
• Prototyping
• Commercialization

What is a minimum viable product?

The minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of your product with just enough functionality for early customers to use. It helps validate a product concept early in your product development process. It also helps product managers get user feedback as fast as possible to iterate and make small, incremental improvements to the product.

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8 Stages of the New Product Development Process with Examples

Ideation: brainstorming product ideas, conducting a market research.

• 2 Focus groups
• 3 Interviews
• 4 Observation
• 5 Secondary research
• 1 Limited budget
• 2 Limited access to target customers
• 3 Data collection difficulties
• 4 Competitor analysis challenges
• 5 Interpreting market trends

Developing a Concept and Testing

• 1 Physical prototype
• 2 Virtual prototype
• 3 Wireframe
• 4 Storyboard
• 5 3D rendering
• 1 User interviews
• 3 Focus groups
• 4 Usability testing
• 5 Beta testing
• 1 Lack of technical expertise
• 2 Limited resources for prototyping
• 3 Insufficient feedback gathering methods
• 4 Difficulty in capturing user requirements
• 5 Overcoming biases in user feedback

Approval: Product Concept

• Developing a Concept and Testing Will be submitted

Drafting Marketing Strategy

• 1 Social media advertising
• 2 Content marketing
• 3 Email marketing
• 4 Influencer collaborations
• 5 Traditional advertising
• 1 Limited budget for marketing activities
• 2 Identifying the target audience
• 3 Creating compelling marketing messages
• 4 Measuring marketing ROI
• 5 Adapting to changing market trends

Developing a Business Case

• 1 Market analysis
• 2 Competitor analysis
• 3 Financial projections
• 4 Return on investment (ROI) analysis
• 5 Risk assessment

Approval: Business Case

• Developing a Business Case Will be submitted

Product Development

• 1 Concept design
• 2 Engineering design
• 3 Prototyping
• 4 Manufacturing
• 5 Quality assurance testing
• 1 Resource constraints
• 2 Technical difficulties
• 3 Design iteration delays
• 4 Manufacturing complications
• 5 Ensuring product compliance

Testing the Product Internally

• 1 Alpha testing
• 2 Beta testing
• 3 Quality control checks
• 5 Functionality testing
• 1 Durability
• 2 Reliability
• 3 Functionality
• 4 User-friendliness
• 5 Compatibility
• 1 Limited testing resources
• 2 Ensuring comprehensive test coverage
• 3 Identifying hidden defects
• 4 Overcoming biases in test results
• 5 Ensuring test objectivity

Approval: Internal Testing

• Testing the Product Internally Will be submitted

Market Testing

• 1 Limited release
• 2 Pilot release
• 5 Competitor analysis
• 1 Sales figures
• 2 Customer feedback ratings
• 3 Market share
• 4 Customer satisfaction surveys
• 5 Repeat purchase rates
• 1 Obtaining representative customer sample
• 2 Measuring customer satisfaction accurately
• 3 Competitor interference
• 4 Interpreting market feedback
• 5 Ensuring data privacy and protection

Approval: Market Testing

• Market Testing Will be submitted

Technical Implementation

• 1 Hardware setup
• 2 Software installation
• 3 Data migration
• 4 Integration with existing systems
• 5 Network configuration
• 1 System compatibility issues
• 2 Data loss or corruption
• 3 Integration complexities
• 4 Infrastructure scalability
• 5 User training and adoption

Approval: Technical Implementation

• Technical Implementation Will be submitted

Commercialization

• 1 Cost-based pricing
• 2 Competitive pricing
• 3 Value-based pricing
• 4 Penetration pricing
• 5 Skimming pricing
• 1 E-commerce platform
• 2 Retail stores
• 3 Wholesale distributors
• 4 Direct sales force
• 5 Online marketplaces
• 1 Determining optimal pricing
• 2 Building brand awareness
• 3 Securing distribution partnerships
• 4 Channel conflicts
• 5 Customer acquisition

Approval: Commercialization

• Commercialization Will be submitted

Product Launch and Marketing

• 2 Email marketing
• 3 Content marketing
• 5 Product demonstrations
• 1 Creating effective marketing messages
• 2 Timing the launch for maximum impact
• 3 Managing customer expectations
• 4 Competitor response
• 5 Measuring marketing effectiveness

Post Launch Review and Perfect Pricing

• 1 Sales revenue
• 2 Customer satisfaction ratings
• 4 Return on investment (ROI)
• 5 Customer retention rates
• 1 Evaluating customer feedback effectively
• 2 Analyzing market trends and competition
• 3 Identifying opportunities for improvement
• 4 Adjusting pricing strategies
• 5 Adapting to changing customer needs

Approval: Post Launch Review

• Post Launch Review and Perfect Pricing Will be submitted

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Product Development Process: The 9 Stages (with Examples)

Without product development, product ideas will remain as ideas and never get launched into the market and reach the organization's target audience.

Before a company’s market launch, the product development process must happen from the brainstorming session where ideas are generated till the finished product is successfully launched.

Ensuring that an idea comes to life, becomes a widely accepted product in the market, and meets customer needs is the desire of every product manager. The product development process makes this achievable.

This article will discuss various aspects of the product development process and the factors that influence it.

Let's get started.

What is Product Development?

Product development refers to the strategic process of building a new product from start to finish. It is a vital aspect of product design. The product development process begins from the initial idea generation phase or brainstorming session till the product launch.

Furthermore, the product development process refers to all the activities and steps an organization takes to bring a product into the market successfully. It covers other aspects like introducing an old product to a new market and renewing an existing product.

Successful product development entails identifying a market need, building the product roadmap , conceptualizing the product, launching the product into the market, and collecting customer feedback.

Some of the best product roadmap software that helps you take a product from initial conception to development and launch include Monday.com, ClickUp, and Wrike.

New Product Development Process

The new product development process is a vital aspect of product design and does not end until the product life cycle is completed.

In simple terms, the new product development process involves bringing an original product idea to market. You can use the best product management tools for visual product planning and effective product process management.

9 Stages of Product Development

Different organizations use different product development techniques, but the product development process is broken down into nine stages.

1. Idea Generation (Ideation)

The first stage of the product development process is the ideation stage. Many entrepreneurs have issues moving beyond this sage; most get stuck here and either come up with unscalable ideas or no idea.

Product development begins when a new product idea is generated or birthed.

The ideation stage can also be called the product innovation stage, where you thoroughly brainstorm certain product concepts based on market research , concept testing, and customer needs.

The following factors should be considered when initiating a new product concept.

Target Market

Your target market is your potential customers. A target market is essentially the customer profile built specifically for your product.

Identifying your target market at the early stage is vital so that you can customize your product concepts in line with your target market from the start.

Existing Products

Accessing your existing product portfolio is important when you have a new product concept.

Some factors you must consider within your product portfolio include:

• Do your existing products provide solutions to similar problems?
• Do your competitors offer a product that does not permit market share?

If the answer to these questions is positive, you must consider whether your new product concept is substantially different enough to be viable. Acquiring the right answers to these important questions will guarantee the success of your new concept.

Functionality

You need to have a general idea of what functions your product will serve to the user and how it will benefit your customer.

At the initial stage, it is not compulsory to have a well-crafted report of the product's functionality is not compulsory. Having a general picture of its core functionality will go a long way.

You should consider why a potential customer will be interested in purchasing your product, what it looks like, and what esteem benefits it provides.

SWOT Analysis

Building the best version of your new product concept is feasible when you have considered every important factor and analyzed your product’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats early in the development process.

A proper SWOT analysis will ensure your product solves the market gap and is distinct from competitors.

SCAMPER Method

With brainstorming techniques like SCAMPER, you can refine your product ideas properly. SCAMPER is an acronym for substituting, combining, adapting, modifying, putting to another use, eliminating, or rearranging your product concept.

Documenting your generated ideas as a business case will further validate your product concept. With this SCAMPER strategy, your team members will clearly understand the original product features and the new product launch objectives.

2. Preliminary Idea Validation Using Market Research (Idea Screening)

After successfully generating your product idea, you should research before going into production, as most entrepreneurs do. Failure to validate your idea may result in various issues and problems.

Validating your idea (product validating) eliminates the constraints of producing a product that is not fit for the target customers. It prevents you from investing your precious time, money, effort, and resources on an idea that will not sell.

Producing a product your target audience will not be willing to pay for is counterproductive to the business goal of making a profit.

Here are some idea screening techniques to validate your product ideas.

• You can get useful and early feedback on your idea by sending an online survey using online survey software tools .
• You can start a crowdfunding campaign.
• Sharing your idea with friends and family is also a good way to validate your idea.
• You can ask for feedback on forums like Reddit, where you will get detailed insight into your idea's viability.
• With Google Trends, you can thoroughly research market demand and compare the information with your idea.
• You can get early user feedback and gauge the interest of potential customers via email opt-ins or pre-orders.
• Ask the opinions of people with strong industry knowledge in your target niche.

In validating your idea, you must be conscious that you require feedback from an unbiased and substantial audience concerning why they will buy your product or not.

You can implement an effective marketing strategy by running a technical feasibility study or carefully accessing the idea to know if it will generate a good return on investment ( ROI ) or not.

Product validation guarantees that you create a product people will be willing to purchase. A major aspect of validation research is competitive analysis. If your idea can take up a market share, inevitably, competitors are already operating in that space.

You can acquire relevant information to validate your product by visiting competitors’ websites and signing up for their email lists. These actions will give you clear insight into how your competitors attract customers and make sales.

Another step you can take is to gather information from your potential customers about their opinion of your competitors’ products. This information will be of great help when you want to define your competitive advantage.

All the information gathered from the market research you conducted and product validation will help you effectively project and gauge the demand for the product. You will get insight into the competitive landscape before you proceed to the planning phase.

3. Product Definition

Product definition means concept development or scoping, and the main focus is to refine the product strategy successfully.

Here are some specifics that you must define in this stage.

Business Analysis

The business analysis includes e-commerce strategy, effectively mapping your distribution strategy and more in-depth competitor analysis. Effective business analysis enables you to start building a clearly defined product roadmap.

Value Proposition

A value proposition describes what exact problem the product is solving. You should compare the difference between the product and other products in the market.

This value is useful for developing your market strategy and conducting market research.

Success Metrics

Clarifying your success matrices should be done early in the development phase for you to measure and evaluate success after launching your product.

Certain key success metrics you should consider are key performance indicators ( KPIs ) like average order value or custom set goals which are more direct and relevant to your organization.

Marketing Strategy

Start a brainstorming session to develop the perfect strategy that fits your need. Consider the best platform for promoting your product, such as a blog post, SMS marketing , or social media.

You may have to change your strategy eventually, especially when the finished product is out and ready to be launched. Still, it is best to be prepared and plan concerning what marketing strategy you will implement.

4. Prototyping

The prototyping stage entails intensive research and documentation of the product by the product development team.

Prototyping is done by constructing the product and creating a more detailed business plan. It involves creating a sample, release, or model of a particular product to evaluate a process concept.

An advantage of creating a prototype is that it helps you identify major risk areas associated with the product before it is created.

Here are the areas of focus in the prototyping phase:

Feasibility Analysis

Evaluating your product strategy based on feasibility is the next step in this process. You must eliminate assumptions and ensure the workload and estimated timeline are achievable.

After the analysis, if you discover that these parameters are not achievable, you can make the necessary adjustments by changing the dates accordingly and requesting assistance from stakeholders.

Market Risk Research

Before your product is created, you must analyze any possible risks associated with the product’s production process. Identifying the potential market risks prevents your product launch from derailing from the original business plan .

Document the information derived from the research in a risk register which is a useful tool for communicating risks to your team.

Development Strategy

At this stage, you begin to work through your development plan, which means you assign tasks, and the timeline of these tasks will follow. The critical path method can help you effectively plan tasks and estimate timelines.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

The prototyping stage's minimum viable product (MVP) is the outcome. An MVP is a product with the necessary structure required to launch and nothing above what is required for the product to function.

One of the advantages of creating an MVP is that it helps your team execute the product launch faster than when they have to build all the necessary features, which can extend the launch timeline.

The desired features can be added later when bandwidth is available. For example, an MVP motorbike would have features like breaks, fuel tanks, wheels, and seats without a basket or bell.

5. Initial Design

The initial design phase is characterized by project stakeholders working together to produce a product caricature of the product based on the MVP prototype.

While creating the design, you should make every decision with the target audience in mind. Consider the necessary features to meet your target audience's needs and complement your product's key functions.

A successful product design entails several activities that may require repeated interaction to get the design perfect. It may involve communicating with several distributors to acquire necessary materials.

Producing the initial product design involves:

Source Materials

To successfully design the initial product mockup, you must source relevant materials. Source materials may entail ordering equipment, working with various vendors, or creating your product.

Documenting your sourced materials in a shared space where they can be referred to later or when needed is important because these materials were sourced from various places.

Connect with Stakeholders

Communication Is a key component for any project to be successful. Regarding creating the initial design, keeping a tight communication channel is important to verify if your initial design is still on the right track and has not derailed.

You should share daily or weekly progress reports to keep the stakeholders updated and get approval as needed.

Receive Initial Feedback

After completing the design, you must request initial feedback from the senior management team and relevant stakeholders.

With the feedback acquired, revise the product design as required until the final design has come to the point where it can be developed and implemented.

You will then move to the validated phase once the senior management team and stakeholders have approved the product for final testing before launching the product.

6. Validation and User Testing

Before launching a new product, you must validate and test it first. The validation and testing process ensures that every aspect of the product, from the development to the marketing, is functioning before it is marketed to the general public.

The validation and user testing process entails:

Validation Testing

Validation testing is the process of confirming that the product meets its proposed use and that its features can meet the various beads of its users, resulting in the users being satisfied with the product.

Concept Development and Testing

After developing your product prototype, you need to access the prototype and provide viable solutions to issues encountered in the physical production or software development process.

You can test the product’s functionality by enlisting the help of beta testers and team members to assure development.

Front-end Testing

During the front-end testing phase, you are required to test the front-end functionality of the product to access risks with consumer-facing errors or development code.

Front-end testing also includes checking the eCommerce functionality and ensuring it is stable for launch.

Test Marketing

Testing your market plan for functionality and errors is crucial before you start the production of the final product. Ensure all necessary camping equipment is properly set up and ready to launch.

7. Sourcing (If It’s a Physical Product)

Before going into production, you must gather all the materials and secure the necessary partners. Build an efficient supply chain that includes the vendor's activities and resources required to create a product and market it to the right customers who will purchase it.

The sourcing phase is characterized by activities like finding suppliers and manufacturers and associated factors like storage, warehousing, and shipping.

Finding multiple suppliers and different potential manufacturers for the materials required for the product will enable you to compare costs to pick the one best suited for your needs.

Diversifying your supply chain has the added advantage of creating a backup option when one supplier fails to deliver.

Additionally, having multiple supply options helps to protect and safeguard your business for the long term.

During the sourcing phase, you will have to decide if you will produce your product locally or internationally. Both options have pros and cons; you should access them diligently before deciding the best fit for you.

8. Costing and Business Case Development

A clear picture of what it will cost to produce your product is essential in the development process.

Costing is a fundamental business analysis in which you compile all the acquired information and sum up your cost of goods sold ( COGS ) to determine the gross margin and retail price.

You can calculate the product cost by creating a spreadsheet with each extra cost broken out as a separate line item. Items within the spreadsheet should include your factory setup cost, all of your raw materials, shipping cost, and manufacturing cost.

An extra cost can significantly impact your cost of goods sold (COGS). These expenses include import fees, shipping, and any duties you may pay to make your product available to your consumers.

The amount you are expected to pay is largely dependent on the location you are producing the product.

Suppose you secured various quotes for materials or manufacturers while sourcing necessary resources. You can add different columns for each line item that compare the cost.

You can also create another spreadsheet version, comparing local and international products.

You can create your pricing strategy for your product after you have successfully calculated your total cost of goods sold (COGS) and subtract it from that price to get your potential gross margin, or profit, on each unit sold.

9. Commercialization

After creating a profitable and successful product ready for the world, the next step is to commercialize it.

Before you reach this stage, you must have quality tested your development and marketing efforts and finalized your product design. Checking off these activities should boost your confidence in your final iterations and be ready to produce your final product.

Here are the factors you should pay attention to in this stage.

Product Development

Product development involves physically creating the product you intend to launch or release to your customers. At this stage, you may require additional development for the software concept.

You should give the development team the MVP interaction and final prototype to produce the product to the perfect specifications.

Ecommerce Implementation

After the product has been successfully developed, it is time to launch. Your development team will transfer your eCommerce materials to a live state.

You may have to do additional testing to ascertain that your live product performs as it was designed to function during the previous front-end testing phase.

After every other important step has been carried out in the development process, the final product is then introduced to the market. The marketing team completes this step after the product development team has completed its job.

When it comes to marketing, you do not necessarily have to spend too much to run ads. Instead, you can use the following tactics for effectively marketing your product to the right audience.

• You can run chat marketing campaigns.
• Use gift guides to display your product features and increase awareness
• You can run an affiliate marketing campaign by working with major influencers
• Enable Instagram shopping
• Send product launch emails to generated leads
• Run chat marketing campaigns

Product Development Examples

The product development cycle is different for various industries. Since you have acquired an adequate understanding of the new stages of product development, let us look at real-world examples where they can be applied.

Let’s consider two popular and well-established industries: beauty & cosmetics and food & beverage. Here are some well-documented case studies about how the product development processes of these industries function.

Beauty and Cosmetics

Within the beauty and cosmetics industry is a wide range of products constantly expanding due to self-care and wellness trends. These products range from skincare products to makeup to bath products.

Additionally, reasonable beauty and cosmetics brands diversify into all-natural ingredients and sustainability, making it feasible and easier for you to craft a product using the readily available ingredient.

A relevant example is white labeling, which involves the strategic process of sourcing for an existing product or manufacturer and packaging and branding the product they produce with your brand name.

Whatever strategy you use is acceptable, but certain constants exist concerning mass manufacturing cosmetics. You would require a lab to carry out the manufacturing process and a chemist to ensure the quality stays consistent at scale.

Other factors to consider include:

• Shelf Life: You must conduct the necessary quality tests and include the product's expiration date.
• Labels and Warnings: You must identify all the available ingredients used in the product's manufacturing process and highlight the possible reactions.
• Laws and Regulations: You should thoroughly research FDA regulations and their relevance to your product and packaging. Factors considered include where the products are manufactured and where you intend to sell them.

Food and Beverage

The food and beverage industry is a major player in starting a business easily and developing at a low cost from the comfort of your home.

You can create a new soft drink business in the comfort of your home by sourcing the recipe you can purchase online and also market and sell online and in various stores within your reach.

To produce food that the FDA would approve and to move from mixing recipes to packaging the product and selling in stores or online, you would have to get a licensed commercial kitchen to produce food that has passed all the necessary health and safety inspections.

To set up your kitchen, you will require ovens and various cooking equipment to accommodate large batches.

Suppose you plan to produce in mass and packaging. In that case, you will require a co-manufacturer and a manufacturing facility specializing in processing raw food and beverage products on a large scale.

Here are some other factors you should also consider:

• Laws and Regulations : Within various countries are specific regulations concerning allergen warnings, dietary information, and vital health claims that you must comply with.
• Labels and warnings: Displaying the ingredients used for manufacturing and the nutrition information is vital.
• Expiry Dates: A clear understanding of your product life cycle helps make the right decisions about how you package, product, and stock the product to accommodate the expiration dates.

Who is Part of the Product Development Team?

The product development process is not successful without the input of many stakeholders and development teams who assist in ensuring the process's smooth sailing.

Among everyone involved in the process, the major leader is the product manager. Product managers oversee all product tasks related to idea generation, research, development, and product launch.

Here is a list of relevant stakeholders involved in the product development process.

Product Manager

A product manager is primarily responsible for overseeing all areas of the product life cycle and ensuring regular and constant communications between internal and external teams.

The product manager is responsible for initiating product creativity, new product launches, and relevant market research. He is responsible for all product management roles.

Project Manager

When it comes to cross-departmental communication in product development, the project manager plays a vital role.

Project managers assist product managers with task delegation , role and project management, and goal tracking. Every project manager must have the essential project management skills to manage projects successfully.

Design Team

The design team plays a vital role during the design and prototyping phase regarding the visual product concept.

Connecting UX best practices with product design and brand guidance is crucial for successful product development.

Development Team

The development team's responsibility is to make the implementation of your product on your website possible. In most cases, a team of developers collaborates to build the new product offering depending on the complexity of the concept.

Marketing Team

Before launching the product, the marketing team is responsible for creating and testing an effective marketing strategy. The marketing team measures the success of the marketing initiative.

The sales team collaborates with the project manager to develop a crafted sales strategy and a detailed report on the success metrics after product implementation.

Senior Management

Before the product can launch, the senior stakeholder has to access it and give the final approval.

Apart from these roles, other teams involved in the developmental process include finance, engineering, and other key stakeholders.

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Anastasia has been a professional blogger and researcher since 2014. She loves to perform in-depth software reviews to help software buyers make informed decisions when choosing project management software, CRM tools, website builders, and everything around growing a startup business.

Anastasia worked in management consulting and tech startups, so she has lots of experience in helping professionals choosing the right business software.

7 stages of the product development process (flowchart example)

So, maybe you’re a budding entrepreneur, looking to create a product for the first time. Or perhaps your business struggles with launching new products because of disorganization. Whatever your situation is, everyone can benefit from using the new product development process.

What is the new product development process?

The new product development (NPD) process is a 7 stage practice to help you create a product, from idea into reality. In the software world, one can turn an idea into workable software, as either a stand-alone product, or an addition to already existing software. For each step there are certain methods or practices that will help you get the results you want.

Make your own flowchart with Gleek .

The 7 stages of new product development

Stage 1 – idea generation.

During this brainstorming stage, the goal is to get as many viable ideas as possible. How do you make the most out of your idea generation sessions? Consider these two sources for potential ideas.

Internal sources – These ideas come from within the company, through employees and their ideas or feedback.

External sources – The other place to look for new ideas is outside the company, in the form of competitors, or other entities associated with the business, such as suppliers or distributors. By far, the most valuable source of ideas is from the customers themselves.

Stage 2 – Idea screening

After you’ve come up with dozens of ideas and thrown out the ones that don’t fit, it’s time to screen the ideas, to further eliminate concepts that won’t work. Here are some common ways to know whether an idea can become a viable product.

Customer interviews – By asking the customer what problems they have with an existing product, or what they need, you gain valuable insight into the market.

Product analysis – What’s missing from the current product or software?

Competitor analysis – Is this concept already on the market? If so, how can you make it different or better?

Prioritization – Some consumer needs or problems are less important than others. Does this idea solve an urgent issue, or is it something not many people are concerned with?

Stage 3 – Concept development and testing

During this stage, several different concepts for the product must be made, with the customer in mind. The point of creating multiple concepts is to present the product to the customer in a way that will make them want to use or buy it. Two types of research are needed in order to create the best possible concepts.

Market research – The state of the economy and the target audience are important when considering the launch of a new product.

Consumer research – This type of research is to gauge how the consumer will react when presented with the product. It can be in the form of a survey, focus group, or through customer feedback.

Then comes the concept testing. Here are some ways to get feedback on your new concepts.

Focus groups – a group of people, usually more than 30 but fewer than 100, are left alone to discuss the concept and provide feedback.

Monadic testing – Like a focus group, the test subjects are left to discuss things on their own. However, each focus group receives a slightly different concept to look at.

Surveys – Asking the public questions that pertain to the concept, to gauge their feelings about it.

Comparison testing – Comparing your concept to products that already exist in a ranking system with parameters your company sets.

Concept testing and development is not a one time thing. You will likely have to make changes more than once before you get a concept that is compatible for production.

Stage 4 – Market strategy development

When information about concept testing is gathered and analyzed, the next step is to make a marketing strategy. This stage is split into three parts.

Target market, product positioning

The outcome of this part of the strategy development is to identify the target market, decide how to advertise it, and where to distribute it.

Price, budget, and distribution

The price of the product, marketing budget, and plans for distribution in the first year are set.

Long term analysis

Expectations for beyond the first year, such as profits, sales goals, and more.

Stage 5 – Product development

Finally, it’s time to create a product for demonstration purposes. This is what you will show to investors, stakeholders, and any other relevant parties. There are a few things you need to have before this stage is complete.

Minimum viable product – This is your product or software in its simplest, yet fully functioning form.

Finalize features – All of the features of the final product must be decided on.

Manufacturing cost – The cost of making or developing each unit must be calculated.

Stage 6 – Test marketing

When there is a working product that has passed all functionality tests, then it’s time to see what the customer thinks. There are a few ways to gather this information.

In house use testing – by giving people who would actually be using the product access to it, they can test it in real time and provide feedback. These potential testers can be within the company, or outside of it.

Alpha testing – Similar to in house use testing, the product is put through its paces by the development team and other employees.

Beta testing – To further work out bugs and gain feedback, testing is opened to people outside the company. Especially with games or new software, there will be plenty of volunteers willing to try out the product.

Stage 7 – Launch and commercialization

The final step is launching and commercialization. Issues such as sale price, distribution, manufacturing, and advertising are all included in the launch and commercialization. While techniques for launch vary between industries, here are some tips and techniques that can make a launch successful.

Marketing campaigns – Develop a direct marketing plan as well as an advertising strategy several weeks or months before the product launch to get the public excited and informed.

Creativity – Creativity is an important part of the launch process. The more creative your marketing and branding, the better the launch will be. Utilizing social media is a cost effective way to reach much more of your target audience.

Customer support – When a new product is available, it’s likely that there will be some issues. Having a robust customer support network helps give your company a good reputation, even if there are some bugs.

We visualized 7 stages of the product development process flowchart via Gleek:

Product development flowchart

The new product development process is a tried and true method that will make innovation and creation go smoothly, and boosts your chances of success on the market. With all business comes the need for charts and diagrams. Gleek is a text-based diagramming tool used by software developers and other business professionals to quickly create easy-to-read diagrams. Get started for free here . Looking for more flowchart examples? You can find them in the 20 editable flowchart templates blog post.

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New Product Development: Stages and Methods

Presented by TRC Insights

TRC identifies the best methods for each stage of the product development process, from Idea Generation through Feature Development, Product Development and Product Testing.

The new product development process has the potential to be haphazard because of the inherent uncertainty in the process, as well as the myriad methods available for product development. Setting up an organizing framework to identify the stages in the process, and the methods applicable to each stage, should help in bringing order to the process.

Our purpose in this article is to lay out a framework and identify key methods that are most likely to be useful in each stage. The focus here is on methods that use quantitative data collected mainly through the web thus bringing more validity and flexibility to the process along with speed to market.

We envision the new product development process as an iterative multistage process as shown in Figure 1.

This is a straightforward way of looking at the process that starts with idea generation, moves to development of individual features and then to full product development and finally into product testing. Of course, this is one example of how the process can be viewed and not a rigid framework. There has to be considerable fluidity in the system to accommodate feedback, skipping of stages, use of new methods and perhaps introduction of new stages.

Idea Generation

Many methods are available for the idea generation stage such as brainstorming, Delphi and focus groups. The basic approach is to harness creativity in some form for the development of new ideas. While there is much to recommend for the more qualitative approaches, one of the drawbacks is the lack of quantitative validity to the ideas at this stage. That is, the ideas have not been shown to have popularity in the constituency that matters – the customers. We have found that the Smart Incentives approach can provide both creativity and validation in the same step. Respondents to a survey compete with each other to produce ideas thus introducing creativity into the process. The generated ideas are then evaluated by a peer group to provide the required market validation. This approach can be useful for generating ideas on both whole products and individual features.

Feature Development

Feature development is the process of identifying features that would be of interest to customers. Traditional methods such as Importance Scales can be used, but may not provide sufficient discrimination between features. Pairwise comparisons of features are a straightforward method for identifying feature importance. The task is simple, but can be tedious if a large list of features needs to be culled. More recently developed methods such as Max-Diff scaling can provide a better alternative. Max-Diff is similar to pairwise comparison, except that more than two features are evaluated at a time (3-5) and the most and least preferred alternative is chosen from each set. Some advanced statistical analysis on the back end provides a score for each feature that is generally more discriminatory than a regular importance scale.

Another alternative is the Kano method where the positive and negative aspect of each feature is rated in order to distinguish the “must have“ features from the “nice to have” features. The final method in this stage (that straddles this and the next stage) is the Self-explicated Method (SEM). Respondents rate the desirability of each level of each attribute as well as the importance of each attribute. Combining these two pieces of information gives attractiveness scores (similar to conjoint utilities) for each attribute level. Although all attributes and levels are rated by respondents (as in conjoint analysis), since they are presented individually, this method may be more appropriately seen as useful for feature development.

Product Development

In this stage, combinations of features are used to build or evaluate the product. The Configurator allows survey respondents to build their ideal product by selecting from a list of available features. Usually prices are provided at the feature level to ensure that respondents make realistic decisions. As respondents build their own ideal products, the most popular features and feature combinations rise to the surface, resulting in the automatic development of preference based market segments. The Optimizer is different in that respondents make choices from among fully formed products. Information from their choices is taken into account in creating successive products that are more preferred till the process finally converges on the respondent’s ideal product. This method is more appropriate when the design and packaging (i.e. the visual element) is more important. As with the Configurator, the market segments itself into preference based segments.

The various flavors of conjoint (such as traditional, discrete choice, adaptive) can also be used in this stage to identify feature importance. But care has to be taken to ensure that the basic assumptions are met and that the right type of conjoint is used.

Product Testing

Conjoint analysis can be fruitfully used in this stage also to estimate the interest in various product combinations and especially in running market simulations. The latter ability is very important in cases where a strong competitive market exists and reasonable estimates of take rates and ability to choose the ideal combination for the market are requisites. Concept testing is much more limited than conjoint and is usually used when the product is almost set except for perhaps one or two questions, often relating to price.

In short, the chaos of the product development process can be structured, and appropriate methods applied, to gain maximum benefit at different stages.

This article was written by Rajan Sambandam of TRC , a full-service market research provider located in Fort Washington, PA.

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The 7 Stages of a New Product Development Life Cycle

March 24, 2023.

Written By:

Laura Anthony | Content Design Manager

A new product development life cycle is a systematic approach used to guide the development and launch of new products. It is a roadmap that outlines the various stages a product goes through from user understanding to launch.

The human-centered product development life cycle that DISHER employs includes stages like user research, idea generation, concept development, engineering design, testing, and launch.

DISHER facilitates Innovation Workshops and Whiteboard Events to ignite the product development process with clients who are ready to bring new products to market quickly.

Manufacturers, product development teams, and entrepreneurs’ partner with product development experts for new product development to ensure that their efforts are efficient, effective, and optimized for success. By understanding user needs and identifying potential problems early, organizations reduce risk, mistakes, and rework.

A proven product development process will help your company save time and money and reach your business objectives.

Creating a New Product Development Process

Creating a product development process requires careful planning and coordination. We recommend alignment on the following before your new product process begins.

• Define objectives and goals: Establish clear and measurable goals including timelines, budgets, and key performance indicators.
• Assign roles and responsibilities: Identify your key players and assign clear roles and responsibilities to each team member.
• Establish a product development timeline: Develop a timeline that outlines the key stages of the product development process and the dependencies between each stage.
• Determine the resources required: Identify the resources that will be required to complete the product development process, including funding, personnel, equipment, and facilities.
• Develop a risk management plan: Identify potential risks that could impact the product development process and develop a plan to mitigate or manage those risks.

The size of your organization, the industry you’re in, and the resources you have available will impact your product development process. For example, large organizations may have more complex approval processes with global considerations, and a greater emphasis on collaboration between departments.

In smaller organizations, the product development process may be more streamlined and agile. In certain industries like automotive and medical device, the product development process takes longer due to regulatory compliance, safety and quality standards, and additional testing/validation before commercialization.

We have found that organizations of all sizes can struggle with the human resources and expertise needed to move a new product through the various stages of the product development life cycle.

The Stages of the Product Development Cycle

The process typically includes seven stages, each with specific objectives and tasks. Having individual stages enables organizations to review and assess progress and identify any issues early to reduce the risk of costly mistakes and rework. A structured process also keeps everyone aligned and moving in the same direction and ensures the new product meets the needs of the target market. This is the process that DISHER uses for new product or feature development.

1. Research

The first step in human-centered product development is understanding the user. To solve problems with innovative solutions, we must understand the user’s pain points. This takes research. Too often, organizations skip research and start ideating solutions. After spending considerable time and resources, they realize the need for user research and problem definition. Gathering information and data to support the development of a new product is critical.

The research process typically involves input from a range of stakeholders including customers, product development teams, and marketing teams. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months to gain valuable insights. DISHER offers both secondary and primary research services to our clients where we seek to understand the users, target market, competitors, and the problems that need to be solved.

Market research involves gathering data about the target market like demographics, purchasing behavior, and attitudes toward the product concept. Customer feedback is used to validate pain points and the needs and wants of the target market. Competitive analysis involves researching and comparing the products of competitors to identify strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities for differentiation. During this stage, a patent search may also be conducted to both protect new ideas and avoid any intellectual property entanglements.

For Example: A company developing a new line of healthy snacks may conduct research to understand the target market, gather customer feedback, and analyze the competitive landscape. Based on this research, the company may determine that there is high demand for snacks that are high in protein and low in sugar, and that there is an opportunity to differentiate itself from competitors by using unique and natural ingredients.

2. Ideation

Ideation is the next stage of the product development process. It involves generating and evaluating ideas for new products based on a solid understanding of the user’s needs. It sets the stage for the rest of the process.

Ideation is typically a collaborative effort, involving input from a diverse range of stakeholders, including product development and engineering teams, marketing teams, and customers. There are various ways to brainstorm. We facilitate Whiteboard Events and Innovation Workshops to help our clients create and vet the best ideas. The ideation stage can take anywhere from a few days to several months, depending on the complexity of the product ideas and the resources available.

Industrial designers and conceptual engineers can help organizations generate as many potential product ideas as possible. Ideas can be formed through brainstorming sessions, market research, benchmarking, and user feedback. We then evaluate and prioritize the ideas based on their potential for success through the lens of user desirability, production feasibility, and commercial viability. When we have a clear and compelling idea for a product, it is time to move to the next stage of concept development and prototyping.

For Example: A company specializing in outdoor camping gear may brainstorm ideas for new products by speaking with outdoor enthusiasts, researching trends in the industry, and considering the needs of customers. After evaluating and prioritizing the ideas generated, the company may move forward with developing a concept for a new, high-tech camping tent.

3. Concept Development & Prototyping

Ideas from the previous phase may not be realistic for many reasons. Stage three is all about bringing concepts into physical reality and maturing them into something demonstratable. DISHER builds minimal viable physical or digital models of product concepts to evaluate their design and functionality. Again, this can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months, depending on the complexity of the product and the resources available.

The concepting and prototyping stage typically involves input and feedback from a range of stakeholders, including product development teams, engineering teams, and customers. DISHER provides prototyping services of varying degrees of fidelity (physical and digital, works-like, and looks-like) to identify any product features or functions that need to be improved.

For Example: A company developing a new line of smart home thermostats will need a physical prototype developed to install and test for functionality and usability. Based on the results of the testing, the company may make modifications to the design, such as adding a larger display or simplifying the user interface.

4. Concept Testing

During or shortly after concept development, there may be usability studies done to determine the desirability of a product or a feature. Marketing or viability studies may be conducted to see what consumers are willing to pay. DISHER often performs a design of experiment (DOE) during this phase to understand some technical aspect of a design or prove a hypothesis.

During this stage, the product concept is evaluated to determine whether it works as intended, meets product requirements, and satisfies user needs. It is common to cycle between this stage and the concept and development stage until the concept is verified. Concept testing typically involves input from a range of stakeholders, including product development teams, quality assurance teams, and customers.

For Example: a company developing a new line of electric vehicles will conduct concept testing to ensure that the ideas being considered can meet the regulatory performance, safety, and quality standards. This may include evaluating the vehicles for acceleration, top speed, and range.

5. Engineering Development & Testing

The engineering development and testing stage involves transforming the prototype into a detailed design that meets all the requirements, has been tested, and can be manufactured. This stage can take anywhere from a few months to several years, depending on the complexity of the product and the resources available.

Engineering and testing involve input from a range of stakeholders, including product development teams, manufacturing engineering teams, and suppliers. The objective of the engineering development stage is to create a detailed design, typically a 3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD), of the product or feature that can be manufactured and assembled in a cost-effective way.

The DISHER engineering team brings our clients exceptional CAD product design and development expertise and software acumen. In addition to creating detailed 3D drawings of products or features, DISHER engineers can help optimize the manufacturing process.

We help manufacturing teams optimize their output with quality and lean systems, new or updated equipment, tooling/fixture design and development, automation integration, capital project management, and manufacturing layouts. We also can validate that manufacturing processes are capable of consistently producing quality parts in a cost-effective way.

At this stage, there is typically industry standard testing and validation requirements. DISHER engineers can design, develop, and conduct tests to ensure that the new product or feature meets all performance, safety, and quality requirements. Performance testing checks that the product meets the required specifications like speed, accuracy, and reliability. Safety testing ensures the product meets specific safety standards and does not pose a risk to users. Quality testing evaluates the product’s durability and reliability. Regulatory requirements also require rigorous testing.

For Example: A company developing a new line of smartphones will require detailed engineering design and testing of the devices. This may involve creating CAD for the devices and testing the devices to ensure that they meet performance, safety, and quality standards. Then the smartphone design will be analyzed for how feasible and cost-effective it is to produce.

6. Marketing

While marketing is involved throughout every phase of new product development, in this strategic stage marketers are focused on generating awareness and demand by communicating the product’s features and benefits to the target market.

New product marketing involves input from a range of stakeholders, including marketing teams, product development teams, sales teams, and customers. DISHER’s marketing team is equipped to come alongside your team and build your brand by developing targeted campaigns and creative resources that enable you to meet your business objectives.

New product marketing organizations can assist with a range of activities, including market research, product positioning, pricing, and promotion. Market research increases understanding of the target market and identifies the features and benefits that are most important. Effective product positioning will set your product apart from the competition. Determining the optimal price for the product is key to meeting ROI objectives, and a well-crafted promotional strategy will communicate the product’s features and benefits to the target audience through the right channels and tools.

For Example: A company launching a new medical device will engage in product marketing strategies to create demand for the product. This may involve market research to confirm the features and benefits that are most important to the doctors and hospitals using them, creating unique positioning for the product, determining a profitable and marketable price, and communicating the product’s benefits to the target audience through specific sales channels.

Product launch is the final stage of the product development process and involves bringing the product to the market and making it available for purchase.

Launching a new product or feature involves input from a range of stakeholders, including marketing, product development/engineering, sales, and logistics teams.

Clients often ask DISHER for program and project managers to coordinate the complex process of product launch in manufacturing environments. The objective of a successful launch is to achieve smooth commercialization and generate healthy demand for the product.

Activities like manufacturing training for machine operators, product training and demonstrations for sales teams, and advertising take place prior to and during launch. Product training is important to ensure that sales teams are equipped to answer customer questions and promote the product effectively. Product demonstrations provide customers with a hands-on experience and allow them to see its features and benefits first-hand. Advertising is used to generate demand for the product and communicate its features and benefits to the target market.

For Example: An appliance OEM is launching a new line of high efficiency washing machines. The launch may involve manufacturing/assembly line training, product training for sales teams, new feature demonstrations for distributors, and communicating the product’s benefits to the target market through advertising.

Post-Launch and Improvements

After a product is launched, continuous improvement practices should be put in place. DISHER offers our clients Value Analysis/Value Engineering (VAVE) to increase product quality and performance while reducing cost and waste. This stage begins after a product launches and continues for the life of the product.

Organizations should review and assess their products to identify areas for improvement and to ensure that the product continues to meet the needs of its target market. This can include customer feedback, market research, and sales data analysis. The information gathered helps organizations make updates and improvements to the product. Types of improvements may include bug fixes, feature enhancements, product design changes, or manufacturing process upgrades. The objective is to maintain the competitiveness and profitability of a product in the market and to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of the user.

For Example: A company launching a new line of athletic footwear may conduct a post-launch review of the product to gather feedback from customers and assess its performance in the market. Based on the feedback, the company may make changes to the shoe, such as improving the materials, updating the design, or adding a new feature.

Product Strategy Help from DISHER

DISHER’s advanced product development team offers a full range of services to support your new product strategy with any stage of the product development life cycle. Our expertise and experience in product development, design, and engineering bring our clients great outcomes. Not only do we bring the cross-functional skill sets and multi-industry backgrounds to the table but positive, flexible, and collaborative soft skills. The breadth of our new product development work allows us to provide valuable insights, innovative solutions, and practical guidance for our clients.

How can We Move Your Ideas Forward? Connect With DISHER Today!

What stage of the new product development life cycle is slowing you down? We invite your organization to boost your creativity, increase speed to launch, and garner greater success in the marketplace with DISHER’s new product development team . Contact Us Today!

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Everything You Need To Know About New Product Development (NPD)

In this article, we will take a closer look at the process of NPD and some of the stages involved.

What is New Product Development?

New Product Development (NPD) refers to the process of delivering a new product, service, idea, or technology to the market. The process usually follows a structured approach that involves several stages, from ideation and concept development to market research, product launch, and post-launch evaluation.

NPD is a crucial product development process for any company that wants to stay competitive and grow its business. It is a complex and iterative process requiring the involvement of several different departments, from design and engineering to marketing and sales.

Why is it Important?

New product development is important for a number of reasons, as it helps businesses:

• Keep up with the latest technological advances and trends
• Stay ahead of the competition through innovative solutions
• Diversify the product offerings and create new revenue streams
• Keep their employees engaged and motivated

New product development is not without its challenges, but the rewards can be well worth the effort. By carefully planning and executing a new product development strategy, businesses can reap the many benefits that come with successfully bringing a new product to market.

Benefits of New Product Development

4 Benefits of New Product Development

New product development is essential for any company that wants to stay competitive and relevant in today’s market. By constantly innovating and developing new products, companies can remain at the forefront of their industries and continue to grow and thrive.

There are many benefits of new product development, including the following:

• Increase Revenue – Developing new products is a great way to boost a company’s revenue. By bringing new products to market, companies can tap into new markets and capture new customers.
• Improve Brand Recognition – Launching new products can also help improve a company’s brand recognition. When done correctly, new product launches can generate a lot of buzz and media attention, which can help expose the company to new audiences.
• Enhance Customer Loyalty – New products can also help build customer loyalty. When customers see that a company has high-quality products, they tend to trust it and consequently become loyal consumers.
• Create Job Opportunities – New product development can bring new job opportunities, as companies need people to help research, develop, and market new products. All these positions require skilled workers, which can help boost the economy.

What are the Stages of New Product Development?

7 Stages of New Product Development

Stage 1: Idea Generation

Idea generation is the first stage of the NPD process. In this stage, businesses generate ideas for new products that they think will be profitable and appeal to their target market. This can be done through brainstorming sessions, customer feedback, market research, and other methods.

Stage 2: Idea Screening and Evaluation

After generating a list of potential ideas, businesses must then screen and evaluate them to see which are worth pursuing further.

This evaluation is important as it helps businesses focus their resources on the most promising ideas and avoid wasting time and money on those not likely to be successful. Factors that are typically considered during this stage include market potential, technical feasibility, and manufacturing cost.

Stage 3: Concept Development and Testing

After completing the screening and evaluation process, it is now time to move on to concept development. This is the stage wherein a detailed version of the idea is built to create a concept related to the user stories.

This stage ensures that problems or issues are discovered early on in the process and that teams can provide solutions to problems early. This also helps to stop technical debts from accumulating.

Create Your Own Product Development Inspection Checklist

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Stage 4: Business Analysis

Once a business has identified a promising product idea, it will need to conduct a thorough analysis of the opportunity. This includes assessing the needs of the target market, understanding the competition, and developing a business model.

This stage of new product development is important as it provides insights that can help determine whether or not the product is likely to be successful.

Stage 5: Product Development

In the product development stage, the product and production process is finalized. The stage starts with creating a product prototype followed by a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). After this, the product is then designed and created. Lastly, test marketing and the business analysis are finalized. All that remains is to produce the product and get it into stores.

Stage 6: Deployment

Once everything is finalized, it is now to shift to deploying the product to the market. This includes the following stages:

• Alpha Deployment
• Beta Deployment
• Production Deployment

Stage 7: Commercialization

The last and final stage of new product development is commercialization. This is when the product is finally launched into the market. All products must go through a successful commercialization stage in order to be profitable and make it to store shelves.

The commercialization stage includes:

• Achieving index test marketed
• Product launch planning
• Demand planning and creation
• Sales forecast

Examples of NPD Initiatives

To better understand the concept of new product development, we have provided some examples to give you an idea of how it is applied to businesses.

Let’s say you are the head of a small business that sells cosmetics. You and your team have decided to branch out and begin selling skincare products in addition to your current inventory. This would be an example of new product development.

New product development can also take the form of expanding into new markets. For example, if you currently sell your products exclusively online, you may decide to open a brick-and-mortar store in order to reach a wider customer base.

Below are some examples of new product development on popularly known businesses:

• Taco Bell: adding new items to their value menu
• Samsung: releasing a new smartphone model with updated features
• Macy’s: adding new brands to their repertoire

Successfully Develop New Products with SafetyCulture

Why use safetyculture.

When it comes to developing new products, the key to success is to create a process that is efficient, repeatable, and scalable. That’s where SafetyCulture comes in.

SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor) is the world’s most widely used inspection software and can help streamline your new product development process. With SafetyCulture, you can create custom inspection templates, track progress and results, and generate reports—all from your mobile device.

Let’s take a look at how SafetyCulture can help you streamline your new product development process and bring your products to market faster.

• Assign actions to specific people to address them and resolve problems in product development by designating Issues and Reports.
• Provide a Heads Up to your assigned team for important announcements for clear communications with the team.
• Integrate other workflow software programs for a more seamless experience of transferring or analyzing product data.
• Generate professional reports to better understand your product development process.
• Create and customize your own digital new product development checklist with no programming required.
• Input product data directly into your mobile phone or tablet anytime, anywhere, even if there’s no internet connection, and your data will automatically sync to the cloud once you become back online.

SafetyCulture Content Team

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8 Stages of New Product Development Process

What is new product development.

There are two ways through which a firm can obtain new products; viz., acquisition and new product development. The acquisition involves buying a company, patent, or license to produce a product for someone else. However, New Product Development is a process in which a new product is brought to the market. New Product here means original products, product improvements, product modifications, and new brands that the firm develops through its own research and development efforts. Although the process of new product development can be time-consuming as it undergoes several changes, it is meant to ensure that the product is as good as it can be before it reaches the consumers and meets their demands in the best way possible. 

Table of Content

New Product Development Process

1. idea generation, 2. idea screening, 3. concept development and testing, 4. marketing strategy development, 5. business analysis, 6. product development, 7. test marketing, 8. product launch.

When a company develops a new product , it cannot just hope that the product will be a success in the market. It is essential for the company to understand its customers, markets, and competitors before developing a product to deliver superior value to customers. For this, the company must carry out a strong new product development process. The eight major steps of the new product development process are as follows:

Idea generation refers to brainstorming new product ideas or strategies to innovate an existing product. The different internal and external sources through which a company generates ideas for a new product are customers, distributors, suppliers, competitors, etc. Before creating any product, companies evaluate market conditions, perform studies, understand the users’ wants and needs, and then suggest possible solutions. SWOT analysis is a very effective technique to discover the weak aspects of the product as well as to explore where significant opportunities exist. A SWOT Analysis is a framework to evaluate the organisation’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. At last, this stage aims to generate as many ideas as possible which are feasible and deliver value to consumers. The need for high-quality photography among consumers, for instance , can inspire a mobile phone maker to develop the idea of a smartphone with a novel camera system.

The second stage is called Idea Screening. This stage involves screening and reviewing all of the ideas generated in the first step and selecting only those with the best probability of success. Many factors are kept in mind while deciding which ideas to accept and which to reject. These factors include projected advantages to consumers , necessary product innovations , technical viability, and feasibility for marketing. The stage of idea screening is best performed within the company. Experts from several teams also assist the company in assessing the requirement of resources, the need for technology, and the marketability of the proposal. For instance , an automobile manufacturer may evaluate potential concepts for electric vehicles before manufacturing electric cars while considering factors, like the availability of batteries, their affordability, and how well they would appeal to consumers.

After all the ideas pass through the stage of idea screening, these ideas are evolved into concepts. A product concept is a detailed version of the product idea and contains a precise explanation of the idea. It should highlight the target audience, the pricing for the product, and the characteristics and advantages of the product that could be valuable for the customers. Generating various product concepts assist the companies in determining how attractive each concept is to buyers and selecting the one that will bring them the most value. Once the concepts are generated, they are tested within a select group of consumers. Concept testing is a great technique for validating product ideas with users before committing time and resources to develop them. For instance , any business producing sportswear products might create a concept for a light running shoe and seek opinions from athletes concerning the product’s comfort, toughness, and design.

A product idea, product concept, and product image are different from each other. A product idea is an idea for a possible product a company can see itself offering to the customers. A product concept is a detailed version of the product idea and contains a precise explanation of the idea. However, a product image is the way customers perceive a potential or an actual product. 

Once a concept is selected and well-validated, it is essential to develop a preliminary marketing strategy to launch the product to the market based on the product concept and assess the worth of the product from a business point of view. The marketing strategy helps in deciding pricing, positioning, and promoting the product. A marketing strategy statement includes three parts:

• The first part of the statement describes the target market, the firm’s planned value proposition, and its sales, market share and profit goals for the first few years. 
• The second part of the statement includes the product’s planned price, its distribution, and marketing budget for the first year.
• The last part of the statement consists of the planned long-run sales, marketing mix strategy, and profit goals.

Once the marketing strategy has been developed, product management can assess the economic desirability of the product.

Once the marketing strategy has been developed it is important to assess the worth of the product from a business point of view. An assessment of the sales projections, estimated expenses, and anticipated profits are included in the business analysis . And, If they meet the goals of the company, the product can proceed to the product development stage. For instance, a food company would assess the profitability of a new snack by looking at the expenses associated with ingredient sourcing, production, packaging, and distribution.

The next stage is Product Development. In this stage, the R&D or engineering department converts a product concept into a physical product. This step involves a huge jump in investment as it shows whether or not the product idea can be turned into a workable product. The R&D Department tries to design a prototype to satisfy customer needs and excite them in buying the product, and can also be produced quickly and within budget. For this, the department runs tests on one or more physical versions of the product concept. Development of a successful prototype may take time (days, weeks, months, or even years). The companies can do product testing on their own or can outsource testing from a third party/firm which specialises in testing. For instance , a tech business might create test versions of a new smartwatch, evaluate how well it works, and then make design changes that can satisfy the customer’s needs.

The next step is Test Marketing. Test Marketing refers to the process of testing the product and marketing program in realistic market settings. With this step, the marketer can have the experience of marketing the product in the market at a small scale before spending huge money on its full introduction. Simply put, test marketing lets the organisation test its product and its marketing program including targeting, positioning strategy , distribution, advertising , branding , pricing , packaging , and budget levels. 

The cost of performing test marketing can be high, and as it takes time, it can give The need for test marketing and the level of test marketing varies with the product. When the cost of developing and introducing the product is low, or when the management is confident about the product’s success, the company may do no or little test marketing. However, when the introduction of a new product requires a big investment, risks are high, or when the management is not confident about the product and its marketing program, it may do a lot of test marketing. For instance. a cosmetics company might launch a new skincare product in a particular area and collect information on consumer reaction, usage trends, and sales.

At the final stage, companies are now prepared to launch the new product onto the market. For a successful launch, a company must ensure that the product, marketing, sales, and support teams are well-placed and should keep good track of its performance. Companies must frequently monitor and evaluate the success of the product launch and make modifications if it fails to accomplish the expected goals. For instance , a software provider might monitor sales, client feedback, and user satisfaction polls to assess the effectiveness of a recently introduced productivity tool.

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Product Launch Process: 8-Step Guide from Planning to Execution

Product launches don’t happen overnight. They can take months, even up to a year. They involve a lot of planning, coordination, and fine-tuning, and there are many steps to ensure everything goes smoothly.

In this article, we’ll guide you through eight major steps. From planning to execution, we’ll cover everything you need to know to launch your product successfully.

Step 1: Research and Planning

Is your product really ready to be launched publicly? Or should you launch it in different areas at different times? Consider your product’s readiness. Sometimes, a staggered launch can help iron out any issues and gather initial feedback.

You probably know your target audience since you’re in the launching phase. If not, now is the best time to find out.

Make sure you have your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and buyer personas ready. Share these documents with your sales enablement team so they can use them later.

Is your product truly ready for a public launch? Or should you launch in different areas at different times?

You’ll need two types of research: primary and secondary.

Primary research involves gathering new data directly from your target audience. This can be through surveys, interviews, or focus groups. It gives you firsthand insights into what your potential customers want and need.

Secondary research involves analyzing existing data from various sources, such as industry reports, competitor analysis, and target market trends. It helps you understand the broader market landscape.

Step 2: Setting Goals and Objectives

Product launch goals give you direction and help you measure success. To set clear goals, start by answering these questions:

• What do you want to achieve with this launch?
• Who is your target audience?
• What is your sales target?
• What is your timeline?
• How will you measure success?
• How much market share do you want?

Once you have answers, you can set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals.

Next, work on objectives. These are the steps you need to take to reach your goals. This is where teamwork comes in.

• Marketing teams might work on creating buzz and generating leads.
• Sales teams focus on converting those leads into customers.
• Product teams ensure everything is functioning as expected.

Regular meetings and project management help everyone stay on track and address any issues promptly.

Step 3: Building a Launch Team

Each team member should know their role and responsibilities. Here are some key roles and why they’re important:

• Project Manager: This person oversees the entire launch. They coordinate tasks, set deadlines, and ensure everything stays on track.
• Product Manager : They know the product inside and out. Their job is to communicate the product’s value and features to the rest of the team.
• Marketing Team: They create buzz around your product through social media campaigns, email marketing, and press releases.
• Sales Team: They convert leads into customers. To sell the product effectively, they need to understand the product and its benefits.
• Customer Support: They handle any questions or issues from customers. Good support can make a big difference in the customer experience.
• Technical Support: If your product has a tech component, this team ensures everything runs smoothly. They fix bugs and handle any technical challenges.
• Designers: They create all the visual elements, from the product packaging to the marketing materials. Good design can attract attention and communicate your brand’s message.
• Content Creators: They develop all the written materials, like blog posts, product descriptions, and user guides. Clear and engaging content helps inform and persuade potential customers.
• PR Specialists: They manage public relations and media outreach. They aim to promote your product in media outlets and generate positive coverage.
• Analysts: They track the performance of your launch. They analyze data to see what’s working and what’s not, helping you make informed decisions.
• Finance Team: They manage the launch budget. Keeping finances in check ensures that the project stays within the marketing budget and maximizes ROI.

For particular B2B products, you may also need PR specialists, legal experts, etc.

Step 4: Develop a Marketing Strategy

Here comes the main part of your product launch: market strategy. This is where you create excitement and drive awareness for your product.

For B2B companies, it’s essential to use a mix of marketing strategies during the launch phase to reach your target audience effectively. Here’s a breakdown of different types of marketing strategies and why they’re important:

• Content Marketing : Creating valuable content like blog posts, whitepapers, and case studies helps educate your audience about the product. It positions your company as an industry thought leader and builds trust with potential customers. Idea generation can be done through competitors’ existing successful products.
• Email Marketing: Sending targeted email campaigns to your existing contacts can generate interest and inform your audience about the launch. Personalized emails can drive higher engagement and conversion rates.
• Social Media Marketing: It is crucial to use platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to share updates and engage with your audience. Social media can amplify your message and reach a broader audience quickly.
• Influencer Marketing: Collaborating with industry influencers can lend credibility to your product. Influencers can introduce your product to their followers, increasing visibility and trust.
• Paid Advertising: Running ads on platforms like Google, LinkedIn, and industry-specific websites can drive targeted traffic to your product launch page. If you’re looking for quick awareness and leads, paid ads must be in your marketing plan.

Step 5: Product Positioning and Messaging

Why does positioning matter? You might think you could just state what the product does and call it a day.

But positioning goes beyond that. It’s about creating a unique identity for your product in the minds of your target audience. Good positioning makes your product stand out in a crowded market.

Here are some ways to create strong and unique positioning for your product:

• Solve a Specific Problem: Position your product as the best solution for a particular problem your target audience faces. Highlight how your product specifically addresses this issue better than any other option.
• Highlight Product Features: Emphasize the features that make your product different from competitors. For example, if your product is faster, more durable, or more user-friendly, make these points central to your positioning.
• Create an Emotional Connection: Position your product in a way that connects emotionally with your audience. For instance, if your product helps people achieve a personal goal or dream, make this emotional payoff a key part of your message.
• Differentiate by Price Point: If your product is premium, position it as the high-quality, luxury option worth the investment. If it’s more affordable, highlight its value and cost-effectiveness.
• Align with Values: Position your product to align with the values of your target audience. For example, if your product is eco-friendly, emphasize its sustainability and appeal to environmentally conscious customers.
• Geographic or Demographic Focus: Position your product as the best choice for a specific region, industry, or demographic group. Tailor your messaging to resonate deeply with this particular segment.

Step 6: Pre-Launch Activities

B2B companies typically start by creating a detailed launch plan, which includes timelines, key milestones, and assigned responsibilities.

Teams often conduct internal training sessions to make sure everyone understands the product, its features, and its benefits.

Additionally, companies focus on building buzz and generating anticipation for the launch. This can include activities like social media teaser campaigns, email marketing to existing customers, and reaching out to influencers and media outlets for early coverage.

Pre-launch activities also involve:

• Concept testing.
• Setting up business analytics.
• Tracking systems to monitor the launch’s performance and gather feedback in real time.

Step 7: Launch Day Execution

As a marketer, launch day is the culmination of all your hard work and planning. It’s the moment when your product finally meets the market, and first impressions are crucial.

Here’s a list of specific activities for launch day as a product marketer:

• Ensure your website’s product page is up and running with all relevant details and purchase options.
• Announce the launch with engaging posts across all social media platforms.
• Send out a scheduled email to your subscribers announcing the product launch.
• Conduct a live demo or Q&A session to introduce the product and answer any questions from the audience.
• Release an official announcement (press release) to media outlets.
• Actively respond to comments, questions, and mentions related to the product launch.

Step 8: Post-Launch Analysis and Follow-Up

The work is not done after the launch. The post-launch phase helps you understand what worked well and what needs adjustment.

Analyze Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Start by examining your KPIs to measure the success of your launch. Look at sales numbers, website traffic, conversion rates, customer satisfaction, and social media engagement.

These indicators will show you how well your product was received and where there might be room for improvement.

Assess Competitor Landscape

Competitors might react to your launch by revamping their product development process. Monitor their activities to see how they respond.

Make Product Updates

Use the data from your KPI analysis and competitor assessment to make informed product updates. Customer feedback is especially valuable for new product ideas.

Address any issues or suggestions that customers have provided to enhance your product’s value and usability.

Being a B2B business owner or a marketing head, managing these tasks can be overwhelming. Handling everything alone or with a small team can divert your attention from your core business activities.

Instead, trust a product marketing agency like Aventi . With extensive experience in launching products, we ensure every step of your product launch is executed flawlessly.

Ready to make your next product launch a success? Contact Aventi today!

Nima Chadha

Nima Chadha is a results-driven marketing executive with over ten years of experience in marketing management, business development, and strategic partnerships. With a background in sales, marketing, and project management, Nima specializes in creating and executing strategies to drive growth and revenue for B2B tech companies across North America.

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Understanding the new product development process.

17 min read Discover the product development process from start to finish - how it works and how you can utilise it to improve your bottom line.

The business world is full of stories about exciting new products hitting the market and revolutionising industries — from cutting-edge technologies like quantum computing and robotics to solutions that empower people’s everyday lives.

Organisations often spend years researching new products and solutions before bringing them to market, but while the process might seem complicated and arduous, it’s fairly structured and based on solid research and insights.

Not to say that some instinct doesn’t play a big part in the product development process — it definitely does.

In this guide, we’ll take you through the product development process from start to finish to give you a fresh look at how it works and how you can utilise it effectively.

Let’s start at the beginning.

What is product development?

Product development is the process of taking a new product to market from start to finish. This includes idea generation, concept development, identifying your target audience, building a marketing strategy, promotion, and more.

Developing a new product requires a considerable amount of research — and further still, it’s a continuous process that doesn’t end even after your new product has launched.

Indeed, leading brands ensure that they continuously improve and iterate on their products and experience, using customer feedback to identify areas of improvement and new product opportunities based on customer segments.

Let’s look at the key steps you should take to develop new products that have a great chance of success in the market and with your target audience.

Start turning your products into obsessions with Qualtrics ProductXM

The 7 steps to product development success

Before we get into the new product development process, let’s talk quickly about who needs to be involved on your product development team.

When it comes to developing a product, it’s important to include the right stakeholders to ensure you create a marketable product. While market research can give you insight into what people want and need, technical engineers, for example, can tell you whether or not it’s possible to deliver on customer expectations. Similarly, your finance team can help you to understand the costs of production, ongoing development and delivery, marking your costs against forecasted profits to see if it is an opportunity.

Also, leverage both qualitative and quantitative market research to get the most accurate opinions from your audience and customers. This kind of information will help you to build products that always meet market needs.

Ultimately, the product development process requires input from multiple people across the business to ensure you come up with a marketable, great and financially sound product idea.

Now, let’s look at the different stages of the new product development process:

1. Idea generation and research

The first stage of the product development process is idea generation. During this stage you and your team will brainstorm new ideas and start to build a product concept based on market research and customer needs.

Now, there are a few factors to keep in mind during the idea generation stage of your product development, including:

Your target market

While you’ll no doubt have buyer personas built out, remember to always think about how you can deliver value to your customers. What exactly do they want or need? Market research will help you to uncover buyer intent and if there are gaps in the market you could address.  

Existing products and competitors

Before you decide to create a new product, look to see if it exists already. If there are competitor solutions out there that meet the need you’re trying to solve for, can you improve on them? If not, can you create something new to satisfy a similar or different need?

Success metrics

Even if you come up with an idea, how will you measure its success once you bring it to market? Key performance indicators, such as average order value, deal size or something more specific such as customer lifetime value as you bring purchases in, can help you to understand just how fruitful your efforts are — and justify doing the same in the future.

If you’re stuck for product ideas, another great way to quickly come up with them is to use the SCAMPER model, which is:

• Substitute  — can you swap one part of a product with another?
• Combine  — can you bring together certain features? E.g. a phone case and battery pack
• Adapt  — can you innovate on the product? E.g. adding automation to action feedback
• Modify  — can you change an existing feature? E.g. making a processor smaller but more efficient
• Put to another use  — can you make it possible to use the product elsewhere or for a different market? E.g. adding features to a HR product to allow other teams to benefit from it
• Eliminate —  can you get rid of barriers to sale and deliver savings to consumers?
• Reverse/rearrange  — can you rethink your product to do something else?

With the SCAMPER model, you can revise your products and transform them into something new or even adapt them for a new target audience or problem.

Similarly, you can use a  SWOT analysis  — which is a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis technique. It’s widely used by everyone from large organizations to small businesses to develop and bring to market new products.

If you want to learn more about developing more user-centric products, our guide on how to  solve your users’ problems with the design-thinking process  can help.

2. Idea screening and product strategy

Once you’ve come up with a product idea, the next stage of the product development process is to check its validity using product scoring models, checklists, market research and insights. This is the screening phase — and there are a few things to do here.

Align your product idea with your overall goals

During idea screening, you should also ensure your new idea fits in with your brand identity and overall corporate strategy. For example, if you produce and are known for sneakers and t-shirts, transitioning into microprocessors might not be the best idea. You should have a clear business case and value proposition, e.g. the why and for who.

Assess market trends and where you fit in

As well as product-market fit , what market trends are happening in your industry and where does your product idea fit in with them? For example, if you produce travel storage solutions — such as suitcases, backpacks — what about using more sustainable materials? Not only will you appeal to the trends of the day, you’ll do your bit to help improve the environment.

Establish a marketing and pricing strategy

And what about marketing? So you’ve identified the value proposition of your ideas and agreed on your success criteria, but how will you advertise your new product to the masses? What’s your core messaging and what platforms will you use? At this stage, it’s worth tasking another team to brainstorm the marketing strategy so that it aligns with your product’s USP and your overall goals.

Typically, the best and most straightforward approach is to follow the 4 p’s of marketing for a new product:

This kind of business analysis will help to determine if your product idea is worth the financial investment — and time.

If you need help with product pricing,  check out our guide on pricing a new product .

Evaluate the technical feasibility of the product

Finally, you should assess the technical feasibility of your idea and whether your company can produce the product you’ve come up with. This is where your finances and people resources come into play. You may need to hire more experts to help develop your product, or you might have to scale back on certain features (or other areas of your business) to afford it.

Whatever the situation, the research you do during your idea screening will help with the next phase of your product development: Product concept testing.

3. Product concept development and

In this stage of the product development process, you validate your  best and most promising  product ideas from the screening process using concept testing.

Concept testing allows you to capture real-time feedback on product concepts early in the development cycle by evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your ideas. It’s super valuable as you can identify [customer] perceptions, wants and needs associated with your product or service.

It’s important to bear in mind that concept testing is not a replacement for the ideation phase. Instead, it tests the basic ideas that come out of the ideation phase, whether they’re fully formed or not.

After you’ve validated your new product concepts, you should have a minimum viable product idea that you can start to prototype.

4. Prototyping

During this stage, you extensively research and document your product by creating a detailed business plan and developing a “prototype”.

These early-stage prototypes could be as simple as a drawing or as complex as a computer-rendered design, either way — these prototypes will help you to identify areas of risk (or opportunity) before you create the final product.

What you’ll want to do at this stage is work on the following:

• Feasibility  — Determine the workload and estimated timeline and whether you have the resources to achieve your goal.
• Market risk  — Determine if there are any barriers to the new product development process before it’s created. Eliminating these barriers will ensure that your product is launched on time.
• Development strategy  — Who will do what? Assigning responsibilities to certain tasks and setting them against a timeline will hold people accountable and keep your project on track. One way to plan effectively is to use the critical path method.
• MVP  — You’ll want to come up with a product concept that’s the minimum viable product that you can launch with. In other words, functions as intended but without all the bells and whistles.

Once you’ve conceived a prototype and tested it against the variables above, next up is the initial design.

5. Initial design and testing

Following the MVP prototype, it’s time to produce a mockup of the product. Ideally, you’ll want to involve key project stakeholders to ensure your initial product design meets all of the previously specified requirements. You’ll also have to keep tight communication with them so they’re aware of progress and potential roadblocks (which they may be able to help with).

When the design is complete, ask everyone to pitch in. Feedback is essential if you’re to create the best possible product for launch. Revise the product design as needed until you arrive at a final design that everyone’s happy to develop and launch with.

You may have to make several versions of your initial design before you get it right. Once the design is approved and ready for hand-off, you can move onto market testing.

6. Market testing

This product development stage is critical to ensure the long-term viability of your new product.

Some companies will carry out their market testing by going through a ‘soft launch’, where they’ll release their new product to a small fraction of the market to test how it works and how it’s received.

Alternatively, they’ll send out their product to select individuals to essentially review and provide feedback on the product before it’s shared with the wider market. Something like a “beta” test or an “early access” preview. These individuals will usually put the product through its paces to see if there are any issues or areas for improvement.

At this stage, you can use several internal and external sources to test your product to understand how likely it is to perform and become a successful product after launch.

You should also look to finalise your marketing strategy in preparation for your product launch.

7. Commercialisation and product launch

This is the final stage of your product development and revolves around making a success of it.

By now, you’ll have finalised the design of your product and tested it rigorously and constructed a robust marketing plan — not just for the launch of your product , but for its ongoing promotion.

At this stage, you should be working on product development and improvement through constant iteration. You should have feedback cycles set up every quarter or half-year so that you can review progress.

Product iteration and development

From initial uptake and usage, what are you seeing that needs improvement? Or perhaps there are features that you can add to address the needs of a specific target market? Either way, post concept development you can start to work on the existing product. In the software space, organisations typically have updates or “patches” that improve the functionality of the software and add new capabilities.

Distribution

As part of your marketing efforts, you’ll no doubt have a platform through which to advertise and promote your new product and its availability. For software solutions, ‘availability’ isn’t so much of a concern as it is for brands or organizations that sell physical items, e.g. computer processing chips, laptops and so on.  Therefore, you’ll want to think about how you distribute your product if it’s a physical item.

Customer service and support

Every new product launch requires a dedicated customer service team for those interested in the product, as well as for those who have purchased it. As well as customer service, there should be a support team for any technical issues or inquiries.

Sales measurement

As mentioned above, you should have a sales team set up to measure performance against your key performance indicators outlined in the earlier stages of the product development process. Furthermore, the sales team should help drive deals and purchases by leveraging marketing collateral and messaging. Ultimately, they are your best tool in getting your product out there and into the hands of customers.

Create products your customers will love

A key stage in making a success of your product ideas is to ensure you generate thorough research to understand the needs and wants of your existing and potential customers.

Understanding these needs of your customers can help guide the development of your products so you know you’re giving your customers what they want — before you even start the product development stage.

With Qualtrics’ ProductXM , you can understand what the market and your customers want before and during launch, and during the full product life cycle .

Qualtrics research solutions can help you understand everything from market research and product pricing through to developing concepts and gathering customer experience feedback. You can identify the features users want, shorten development lifecycles, and drive usage and loyalty — all on one easy-to-use platform.

And there’s more — if you need help creating a market research project to support idea generation and concept testing, as well as ongoing product feedback, our research services team is more than equipped to facilitate your needs.

Related resources

Product Development

Product Development 13 min read

Product analysis 12 min read.

Product Pricing

Pricing Strategies 24 min read

How to handle price optimisations 12 min read, product management 15 min read.

Product Testing

Concept Testing Questions 10 min read

Product presentation 9 min read, request demo.

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