How Not To Get Into The Trap of Losing New Products In The Technology Market

Every year, there are 30,000 new products launched and approximately 90% of them fail. Therefore, the idea of introducing a new product shouldn’t be limited only by the desire to do something or earn more money. 

Innovation, diligence, and strategic planning are three pillars of a successful product launch and an indispensable part of the development process. Sometimes even one false move can lead to unfavorable consequences. To prevent undesired outcomes and ensure outstanding results of your hard work on a new product, it’s essential to study all the risks and opportunities you may encounter in this difficult way.

According to Fortune, 9 of 10 startups fail during the first year after their launch and their founders indicated the main reasons why new products fail in the market:

• No market need
• Lack of funding
• Wrong team
• Lack of beneficial features over competitors
• Wrong pricing
• Poor product
• Ill-chosen time

It’s a bit hard to miss the main cause of an unfortunate product lifecycle – no market need. Actually, this is one of the most important issues to keep in mind when making your first steps towards new and cool products. Thus, what process to follow and not to get into the count of that 90% of businesses that fail? 

Before putting the list of actual issues to consider, we cannot but emphasize the role of the communication with the team during the product launch process. As a matter of fact, internal communication is everything! It’s the foundation of all the further points to put since the understanding of the product goal by the team and the usage of its features is a guarantee of the successful functioning of the product. That’s why think about the methods of fostering the employees’ interest in product planning, strategy, and launch, and provide them with clear guidance to ensure your common victory. 

No doubt, every product is unique by its nature and you may wonder how the list can be exclusive for different products. Well, any new product introduction requires a certain list of activities, and the points prepared by us may come in handy for businesses involved in different industries.

1. Study the needs of the market
   By being aware of your segment’s needs you’ll be able to suggest solutions that address your audience challenges. That’s where market research will help you. This tool will be useful not only for the better offer for your customers but also for standing out among your competitors.  
2. Bring value
   After studying the market needs, you’ll be aware of the customers’ pain points and be able to deliver a valuable product. To define what features could benefit the society, organize the meeting with your team – including your sales, marketing, product, and even development departments and make a list of all the possible ways of solving your customers’ challenges. After that, you may come to the right decision and switch to the development strategy part.
3. Follow the product roadmap
   To have an agile development plan means to provide all the stakeholders with important data on product strategies. The roadmap ensures the effective work of the whole team and the productive allocation of the current and future resources. 
4. Be realistic about timelines
   Do not try to bring yourself to set short timeframes. Calculate all the actions involved in the process of product introduction and leave some extra time just in case of any holidays or crashes.  
5. Make sure you work with the experienced team
   Most new products require a piece of certain knowledge and the driving force here is a knowledgeable team. So, if you work with the development team remotely, then verify whether their background includes working with the projects from your market and whether they are able to deliver a clear and efficient code.
6. Create a powerful project management environment
   The best option here is to ensure that your development team works with the same project manager they’ve already cooperated with. Thus, the project manager as well as product one should know the product goals inside out, be able to bring the main ideas to the development team, and use each team member’s strengths in the right way so you could get better results. Another important skill for project managers is being able to define and manage potential risks and, consequently, plan more wisely. 
7. Expect “surprises”
   If you see that something goes not as it was planned and unexpected issues of development appear, then remember: it’s okay! The main thing here is not to panic and make sure that your team doesn’t give up at this point. Arrange an additional meeting with your team, make sure that all understand their tasks, and the main goal you all are trying to achieve, and don’t forget to encourage them, of course. On the other hand – if everything goes smoothly then this thing should make you suspicious because there’s no product development process that went with no bugs, crashes, or misunderstandings. 

Steps involved in developing a new product:

It can’t be denied that each product is special but, in general, each technology product launch introduction leads to the same steps. What’s more important – all of them are driven by market needs, and, based on the issues above, we can define stages of new product development. Even if the process differs from one company to another, these steps may be effectively adapted to your company’s needs, goals, and common practices.

– The new product development process starts with idea generation. But how to develop a new product idea? It may not be as easy and fast as it seemed to you for the first time. The process includes the usage of various research methods, regular discussions, and brainstorming with your team. As a result, you come with a superior solution that may help you beat your competitors and deliver greater good to your customers. 

– Then you switch to the next stage – detailed concept development. So, you may be wondering what’s the difference between idea and concept development? The concept involves the detailed description of all the features, resources to be used, budget, and hypothetical testing of all the possible solutions. 

– When all the concepts are agreed upon, it’s high time for the most vital part – strategic planning. This one should include all the business risks, challenges, and business objectives that should be taken into account as well. One of the main questions you should ask yourself – whether this very product development fits into our company’s long-term goals and vision. By answering this question, you’ll be able to assess the idea fairly, plan better, and prove your allegiance to your company’s goals.

– It’s high time for the most exciting part – product development. At this stage, you identify features and attributes to be generated, production and product costs, and develop a prototype, of course. Creating MVP helps you check whether your product meets the market needs, improve some of its points, fix bugs, and delete unused features. 

– Here we are, the final stage of product launch. Now it’s time to commercialize your product and verify the product development strategy. Absolutely, that’s not the end – the market challenges will be transforming and you should transform your product, as well: optimize it  constantly, add new tools and be ready to invest for the sake of better results.  

Summary

The best ideas appear when we don’t expect it but when there are certain circumstances to this. That’s why never stop broadening your horizons, studying your market, and come up with great ideas that will solve somebody’s challenges. Do not forget that not all the creators knew that their products were impossible to develop before them. Maybe, it’s your turn to become the inventor of that “impossible” and think about introducing a new product?