What’s extra thrilling than developing with a game-changing concept for product improvement? Not a lot. From the thrill of inspiration to that breakthrough “aha” second, there’s nothing like lastly getting the readability you want to knock product enlargement or a brand new model partnership out of the park. 

However efficiently taking an concept from first thought to completed execution doesn’t occur in a single day.

It’s necessary to grasp the right way to get from level A to level B with a transparent course of. 

On this weblog we’ve put collectively an entire product improvement course of information you should use as your roadmap to carry your budding concepts to full blossom. 

Able to develop? Let’s get into it. 

1. What’s product improvement?
2. What goes into the product improvement course of?
3. Product improvement with GWI
4. Product enlargement: A step-by-step information with GWI
5. GWI in motion: How Sony used customized insights to steer technique
6. How massive manufacturers are nailing their product improvement course of
7. Why having a stable product improvement course of issues 
8. Product improvement course of FAQs

What goes into the product improvement course of?

Product improvement is like constructing a home. There are a variety of essential steps to observe nevertheless it all comes right down to beginning with a powerful basis earlier than you progress onto the larger stuff. 

Right here’s your blueprint. 

Thought era

Think about you’re a marketer attempting to give you a brand new meals product that not solely will get shoppers excited, but additionally aligns along with your general strategic objectives. Right here’s the place the magic (and countless brainstorming) occurs. That is the time to gather, filter, and overview preliminary ideas to see what sticks so you may in the end launch a standout product. 

Analysis and planning

After digging into the newest client knowledge, you begin to study which shoppers will use the product, how the product will attraction to them, and what present merchandise you may enhance on with your individual improvements. Utilizing insights from GWI, you uncover 56% of avid gamers say they like chips (5% extra seemingly than the typical client) and resolve to formulate the right savory snack to carry this perception to life.

Product prototyping

Take into account this the experimental section. Now it’s time to develop just a few recipes primarily based in your most promising concepts so you may perceive what works and what wants enchancment. The aim throughout this stage is to create a possible product primarily based in your idea, analysis, and planning to make use of as a pattern. 

Product testing

When you’ve developed a product you’re happy with, it’s time to check it with the individuals who matter most – your audience. That is the place you collect real-time suggestions that both validates your product or sends you again to the drafting board – or on this explicit instance, kitchen. Relying on what occurs, you could have to return to the prototyping stage to good the main points.

Product creation

When you’ve discovered the recipe that works greatest, you can begin making a remaining product primarily based on the insights you bought from testing your prototype. That is what you’ll be placing in the marketplace when you’re completely positive your audience will adore it, setting the stage for a profitable launch.

Product launch

When the massive day arrives, it’s time to place all that analysis and planning into motion by introducing your new snack utilizing no matter gross sales channels are most fitted to your product and trade. Since you keep plugged into the most important client tendencies, you not solely know the right time to enter the market, but additionally the right way to sustain with modifications so your product stays aggressive, up-to-date, and in demand.

Product improvement with GWI

Product enlargement and model partnerships are integral to new product improvement (NPD). They’re methods that diversify your online business, strengthen your id, and create new development alternatives – particularly once you’ve the info to again them up. 

If you wish to develop your present product suite, break into unexplored markets, or join with new shoppers, the following part reveals you ways.

Product enlargement: A step-by-step information with GWI

1. Outline and create your audience 

Let’s say you’re a high-value client tech model contemplating launching a brand new model of your principal product at a cheaper price level. 

Step one is defining and creating your viewers. For this instance, we’re smartphone engagers, however to get a transparent view you will be extra particular and solely embrace shoppers who say their cellular is their most necessary and most utilized machine.

This may assist you to determine the individuals who really feel their smartphone is a vital and thought of buy. 

2. Construct and discover charts

Subsequent, you’ll wish to construct a chart to dive deeper into the main points. After making use of your saved viewers, you may discover the revenue segmentation tab to see the place your viewers sits throughout excessive, low, or medium earners. This may assist you to resolve if a decrease worth product is related to your goal group. 

Primarily based on the chart above, you may see that round 65% of your viewers are both center or low earners, which validates your concept {that a} cheaper model of your smartphone could be match given their decrease disposable revenue. 

3. Make data-led choices

You may go even deeper by extra charts round attitudes, way of life behaviors, and buy behaviors to essentially drive your level residence and uncover extra insights to energy your technique.

GWI in motion: How Sony used customized insights to steer technique

When Sony Hong Kong needed to create and roll out Korean TV drama content material within the US, the crew turned to GWI to get tailor-made solutions straight from the shoppers they had been focusing on. 

As a result of Korean drama content material hasn’t traditionally aired on nationwide linear US tv, there was no conventional laborious knowledge on their audience, what they had been watching, or how a lot they had been watching.

To beat this problem, Sony ran a customized GWI survey and never solely found attention-grabbing viewers profiles, but additionally uncovered deeper insights like why American shoppers watch Korean dramas within the first place, how they wish to eat them, and what viewers worth most. 

The crew was in a position to again up their speculation that they need to be producing extra Korean dramas to export exterior of Asia, utilizing dependable knowledge to level their technique in the suitable course. 

How massive manufacturers are nailing their product improvement course of

A model partnership will be an efficient method to construct a product that works for a lot of totally different segments, serving to to spice up gross sales, enhance model recognition, and enhance credibility.

With the insights to again you up, you’ve extra room to be inventive, daring, and distinctive.

Hermès and Apple Watch

This good collaboration is what occurred when tech met luxurious. The Apple Watch/Hermès partnership is a superb instance of strategic co-branding. These corporations took what labored for them individually and mixed the facility of their repute and top quality merchandise to create an genuine, on-brand product that faucets into Hermès’ equestrian roots. 

It could appear to be a random alternative for a French luxurious items model to crew up with a know-how firm, however there’s knowledge to backup this resolution, with clothes patrons within the US saying they’re 25% extra seemingly than the typical client to have shopped at an Apple retailer within the final 3 months.

Balenciaga and Bang & Olufsen 

A style home teaming up with a high-end client electronics firm might appear to be one other unlikely pair however what they’ve created is much more distinctive. These manufacturers got here collectively to design a limited-edition speaker purse, and to take it up one other notch, they solely launched 20 baggage worldwide which may solely be bought completely on the new Balenciaga Couture retailer in Paris. 

Sounds loopy, nevertheless it labored. Luxurious patrons have their eyes set on the newest tech and so they’re 45% extra seemingly than the typical client to say they purchase new tech merchandise as quickly as they’re out there, with sensible residence merchandise particularly taking their fancy.

Fendi 

Fendi is into espresso – like, actually into it. First the Italian luxurious style home opened a pop-up cafe in Harrods in 2020. Now they’ve brewed up two modern espresso carriers for his or her Spring/Summer season 2024 menswear assortment. Excessive-end beverage caddies and occasional store takeovers may appear to be a weird enterprise transfer however they’re proper on the cash, giving shoppers a contact of luxurious and class mixed with practicality. 

Luxurious clothes patrons stand out for visiting espresso retailers month-to-month. Within the UK they’re 28% extra seemingly than common to say they’ve visited Caffè Nero and 18% extra prone to have visited Costa Espresso.

Why having a stable product improvement course of issues 

The massive takeaway right here is that when a model creates one thing excellent, it’s inevitably the results of a course of primarily based on actionable insights, clear tips, and objectives for each stage.  

Nice merchandise and efficient launches are the results of a step-by-step plan.

From ideation to commercialization, the product improvement course of is essential, supplying you with the possibility to spice up buyer satisfaction, create model loyalty, and stand out towards the competitors. 

Product improvement course of FAQs

What number of steps are within the new product improvement course of?

The precise quantity can fluctuate in fact, however the traditional product improvement course of makes use of six steps to carry concepts to market: concept era, analysis and planning, prototyping, testing, improvement, and launch. 

After a brand new product is launched, what’s the following step of the product improvement course of?

It’s necessary to overview a product’s efficiency by measuring gross sales and amassing person suggestions to assist develop new variations that align even higher along with your audience.

What’s co-branding?

Co-branding is when two manufacturers strategically collaborate to extend enterprise worth, enhance consciousness, and break into contemporary markets with new merchandise.