8 Considerations for Your Product Launch

95% of product launches fail

Source: Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen

YIKES! That’s a terrifying stat. 

So if you’re in the boat of wanting to launch something new, you’d want to make sure you’re not in that 95%, right?

I know I would if I think about all the time, effort and money that goes into launching something new.

There are multiple reasons that that 95% failed, but don’t let a lack of consumer understanding be it. 

8 key questions to ask yourself about your product before you launch

We’ve taken the years’ of experience we have in conducting product and early-stage concept tests and distilled that into these key questions you should be able to answer about your product (from your customers’ perspective, NOT YOURS!):

1. What consumer need does your product meet? What issue or challenge do they have for which your product can swoop in and be the knight in shining armour? How does your product improve their lives?

2. What is the occasion when they would buy your product? This isn’t relevant only to FMCG products like soft drinks; for example if you sell fridges, are they buying your fridge as a replacement to a broken one, as part of a remodelling project or is it their first fridge when they buy their first home?

3. What is unique or innovative about your product? Why would they buy your product over another? Over a competitive product? Or over another product in your portfolio? (Note, if you can’t think of a reason that they would buy this new product instead of an existing one in your portfolio, you may want to rethink what value your business gets out of launching the new one).

4. How do you talk about your product that is convincing to your target customers? In other words what’s your “reason-to-believe” (RTB)? What are you doing to reinforce that message, for example in your packaging, promotions and communications?

5. Do your target consumers believe the RTB? If yes, what part resonates? If not, why not? What needs to change for them to believe it or for it to be relevant?

6. Is your product appealing to your target customer? Which parts? Which elements are less appealing? Can you remove/amend these? If not, how will you deal with these less appealing factors?

7. Is your product priced right? Have you priced it too cheaply that it undermines its quality? Or is it so expensive that it’s not worth even considering? Do you know your pricing sweet spot?

8. And then finally, after all of this, does your target customer want to buy your product? If not, why not? Can this be changed?

Nailed that?

Key Question Shortcut

What consumer need does your product meet?

What is unique or innovative about it?

What is your reason-to-believe (RTB)?

Do vour target customers believe that?

Is your product appealing?

Is your product priced right?

Does your target customer want to buy your product?

Well, here are some bonus questions about packaging (and if you’re a service company don’t dismiss packaging so fast!):

• With everything you have answered above and know about your product, what’s the ideal format for it? 

  • For product-products, think about size, material (plastic, glass, cardboard, etc), single serve versus multi-serve, re-use/reseal, recycle, storage (can they stack or not), etc. 

  • For service-products, consider the format of your service, for example fully bespoke versus off-the-shelf, customisable templates, community, subscription or one-off service, whether you can scale it (for example training), etc.

• What does your packaging say about your product? Does it scream what it is, or what need it meets?

• What does your packaging say about your brand? E.g. that it’s premium, quirky, fun, energetic etc (in other words, does your packaging reinforce your values)?

• Is your packaging appealing?

• Does your packaging make target customers want to buy it? If not, why not?

If you’d like help gathering feedback on your product or product-concept from real-life consumers, don’t hesitate to give us a shout