Today, the e-commerce environment is very saturated, forcing every seller to develop products that address customer needs. By conducting product development research, online store owners could gather insights into market demand and their potential customer base and choose a niche that will yield high sales.
The goal is to understand the market, identify what people do not like, and catch up with new trends. This brings to light various unexplored market opportunities and shows you how to differentiate yourself from your rivals.
This guide is designed to help product development professionals become research masters at creating the products or services that truly fuel growth. You will be able to create content that resonates with your users and makes your brand stand out from the rest.
Table of Contents
Product development research at a glance
How to conduct product development research
Stages in product development research
Summary
Product development research at a glance
Here’s what you need to know about designing and developing an optimum product that appeals to customers.
In a broader sense, product development research involves studying product information to implement its practical application in products and services. At this stage, you must research the market closely, gather information about your competitors, and study industry trends keenly.
A Product Development and Management Association study found brands that benchmarked product development research achieved 29% increased profit margins and 22% greater market share than competitors.
Indeed, the process helps match products with market needs, which makes it easier to get it right when choosing a niche. This helps garner customer loyalty while lowering business risks and development costs.
Gartner’s report further establishes a link where organizations that invest in user research and testing when creating their products reap a 16% improvement in customer satisfaction, besides witnessing a 6% decrease in development costs.
It should serve as a practical guide to managing customer preferences and developing relevant value propositions that would differentiate them in the eyes of customers.
How to conduct product development research
Developing a product that resonates with people takes more than just a cool idea—you’ve got to lay the groundwork to ensure a legit market base for your product idea. Here’s the rundown on properly validating your concepts:
1. Do market research
First of all, you have to grasp the overall market environment. Make sure to analyze whether the targeted market is growing or declining, as well as what new trends might be effective for you in the future.
Some of the areas that need to be probed include the customer base’s age, gender, and purchasing power, the level of demand for similar items, and the buying behavior of customers in this segment.
In this step, smart market research approaches include surveys, focus groups, and using social media for raw and genuine feedback.
2. Conduct user research
The ultimate goal is to gather specific user research and understand how potential buyers perceive the product or service. This is the point where one is able to identify genuine pain points and gaps in solutions that your product may address.
Usability tests are used to identify design issues, talk to customers, and observe how they use and engage with the product. It can provide you with valuable information on how to make your product even more appealing to consumers.
3. Run a feasibility study
To achieve this, we need to adopt a simple and realistic approach that involves asking people we know or potential customers whether they will be willing to purchase this proposed product.
This assessment is not restricted to the technical, operational, or financial aspects, but encompasses any other aspects one might think of.
Core Qs: Will there be enough of the target market interested in the product to encourage purchases? Is it possible to produce it with what we have, or will we have to spend two or three times our budget?
It is also useful to track inputs that don’t produce profits when exceeding certain costs, which are frequently not considered at the onset of a product launch.
4. Prototype testing
To begin with, at least make some simple prototypes, also known as the “minimum viable product,” in order to create a sketch that can be presented to the audience.
Try out those first prototypes with to-be users, investors, advisors—anyone who will ensure that the final product meets the market’s expectations. This allows you to define issues when the never-ending ping-pong between the architect and the developer can be a nightmare.
5. Competitive analysis
When you’re choosing a niche product to sell, you should consider the competition in the market. Understand what competitors do, where they fail, how they manage pricing and communication, and where they can be challenged by creating value for potential shoppers.
Stages in product development research
There are 4 research stages in product development. Once you have your idea and are looking to build it from scratch, it’s worth going in-depth right from its preparation to the launch date.
A multi-level research approach reduces risks, reinforces the belief that you will solve that customer’s problem, and informs where to invest your capital and time.
Here are the four research phases:
1. Conceptualizing your idea
This stage is about checking if your idea is suitable for an audience or not. To assess the market and competitor environments, it is appropriate to conduct surveys and interviews with potential customers and leverage user experiences.
This way, you can develop sympathy for the audience’s needs, their frustrations, actions, and demographics.
2. Designing and prototyping the product
Do not let great insights about the customers sit idle and unused! They can be translated by design and prototyping into features that users can engage with.
If the budget allows, hire the best UX designers to create sleek, modern, and easy-to-navigate e-commerce interfaces. Wireframing and prototyping are useful as they help fetch feedback early on and make iterations before fully developing the site.
3. Development and testing phase
You need to construct and test your concept intensely to guarantee that your product is ready to enter the market. Your quality control measures are usability tests, beta pilots, and field tests.
Get information on how the product actually works and fine-tune it before launching it to the public.
Communication with users shows how the system will be used, how effective it is, and what problems may arise. After the testing phase, you can also move on to the final stage of fine-tuning and enhancing the product, getting it ready for market release.
4. Commercializing your product
The final task is preparing your product for its grand entrance into the market! Pricing, marketing, supply chain management, and distribution are all about getting your product into the hands of customers.
Market research and analysis of competitors provide an understanding of the price that should be set, target audiences, and relevant marketing messages. Implement a pilot for the product to test changes at the last stages before the launch of the final product.
Summary
Product development research is a never-ending process (for as long as your product is on the market).
Therefore, while researching throughout the process, you discover the key characteristics of customer needs, test your hypotheses, and lay the foundation for a rapid launch.
This research model shows you how to develop products that people love, maintain momentum in the marketplace, cultivate a passionate customer base, and watch your competitors struggle to keep up.
