Learn six steps to design and test your product idea with customers in mind. Create a product that solves a real problem, delivers value, and delights your target audience.

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You’re developing a new product. How can you ensure it’s a hit with customers?

You’re developing a new product. How can you ensure it’s a hit with customers? It’s a question that every product developer faces, whether you’re working on a software app, a physical device, or a service. You don’t want to waste time and money on something that no one wants, needs, or likes. You want to create something that solves a real problem, delivers value, and delights your target audience. But how can you achieve that? Here are six steps to help you design and test your product idea with customers in mind.

1 Understand the problem

The first step is to identify and validate the problem that your product aims to solve. Who are the people who have this problem? What are their pain points, needs, and goals? How do they currently cope with the problem? What are the gaps and opportunities in the existing solutions? You can use various methods to research and empathize with your potential customers, such as interviews, surveys, observation, personas, and journey maps. The goal is to gain a deep and nuanced understanding of the problem from the customer’s perspective.

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Sean Patrick Coon

Product Design & Research @ PrescriberPoint
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Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass. Eat grass.

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Soumya Routray

Product | Digital Lending | Fintech | XIMB
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Crafting a successful product requires meticulous market research, innovative design, strategic marketing, and unwavering commitment to quality. Understanding customer needs, prototyping, seamless UX, rigorous testing, and engaging with the audience are crucial. Launching with anticipation, stellar support, and continuous improvement ensure enduring success.- Example - Zomato Veg Fleet , while everything was in place what it lacked was that the assumption that the non TG base will not be affected and the thing that it superseded was - Immediate Implementation and continuous open channel feedback

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Ratnesh Pathak

AI/ML Product Manager
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A couple of years back I was working with an organization which was more of a sales driven organization in transition towards Tech & Product driven. We wanted to think of a product that will solve some underlying problems in the higher ed & International ed. space. To validate whether the problem actually existed and whether it was a sizeable problem, we conducted a large scale survey via varied media such as Survey forms, Social media and also Interviews. Upon studying the results of the same ... we stumbled upon much bigger area of opportunities than we initially thought of. So indeed I would spend the most amount of time as a Product manager, in understanding the problem and validating the opportunities that could arrive out of it.

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2 Generate possible solutions

The next step is to brainstorm and generate as many possible solutions as you can for the problem. Don’t limit yourself by feasibility, cost, or technology at this stage. Just let your creativity flow and come up with different ways to address the customer’s needs and wants. You can use techniques such as mind mapping, sketching, prototyping, or ideation sessions to explore and visualize your ideas. The goal is to generate a diverse and rich set of options that you can evaluate and refine later.

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3 Select the best solution

The third step is to select the best solution from your pool of ideas. You need to consider various criteria, such as customer value, market fit, technical feasibility, business viability, and competitive advantage. You can use tools such as scoring matrices, SWOT analysis, or lean canvas to compare and rank your ideas. The goal is to choose the most promising and viable solution that aligns with your product vision and strategy.

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4 Build a minimum viable product

The fourth step is to build a minimum viable product (MVP) that represents the core features and benefits of your solution. An MVP is a version of your product that has enough functionality to test your assumptions and hypotheses with real customers, but not more than that. You want to avoid overbuilding or overdesigning your product before you get feedback from the market. You can use agile methods, such as scrum or kanban, to plan and execute your product development process. The goal is to build a product that you can launch and learn from quickly and iteratively.

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Ratnesh Pathak

AI/ML Product Manager
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Out of all the possible features that resulted out of the Brainstorming followed by the discussion around survey results, it was really important to identify the 3-5 most important features that would really address bulk of the problems. I like to relate with the Pareto principle here that 80% of the problems could be addressed by 20% of the most important features. This helped us narrow down to what exactly we needed to answer the most important questions and we arrived at a list of 4 features for our product. This then went into development and we had our working MVP. The MVP helps us gauge the initial acceptance from the users and saves previous development time which could potentially be wasted if the users dont really relate with it.

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5 Test and validate with customers

The fifth step is to test and validate your MVP with real customers. You need to collect and analyze data on how customers use, perceive, and value your product. You can use various methods to test and validate your product, such as usability testing, beta testing, A/B testing, or customer interviews. The goal is to measure and evaluate your product’s performance, usability, desirability, and fit with the customer’s problem.

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6 Iterate and improve based on feedback

The final step is to iterate and improve your product based on the feedback and insights you gathered from testing and validation. You need to identify and prioritize the areas of improvement, such as adding new features, removing unnecessary features, fixing bugs, or enhancing the user interface. You also need to validate the changes you make with customers to ensure that they actually improve the product’s value and satisfaction. The goal is to continuously improve your product until it meets or exceeds the customer’s expectations and needs.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Ratnesh Pathak

AI/ML Product Manager
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May be not a top secret, but what I would keep an eye on is conducting cohort analysis once the Product / MVP is life for testing. I have noticed that cohort analysis gives us more feedback than what the users can report themselves. For eg : I studied the journey of a cohort that registered for our platform from week 1 to week 2 and thereafter and this helped me realized some areas of improvement centered around increasing the stickiness of our product.

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You’re developing a new product. How can you ensure it’s a hit with customers?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Understand the problem

2 Generate possible solutions

3 Select the best solution

4 Build a minimum viable product

5 Test and validate with customers

6 Iterate and improve based on feedback

7 Here’s what else to consider

Product R&D

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You’re developing a new product. How can you ensure it’s a hit with customers?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Understand the problem

2 Generate possible solutions

3 Select the best solution

4 Build a minimum viable product

5 Test and validate with customers

6 Iterate and improve based on feedback

7 Here’s what else to consider

Product R&D

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

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