How does Research help in Product Development
According to Harvard Business School, the biggest problem companies encountered when launching a new product is a lack of preparation. Hence, it would be completely fair to say that the success of a product or service can be directly proportional to the amount of groundwork done around the idea, user experience, and exploring the market they wish to enter.
Spending time on Research may sound tedious at first, but starting with research gives a head start to companies in understanding how their product or service is different from the one available in the market, how it helps customers, or what problem it solves for them.
At Outdesign.co where we help companies develop new products, we undertake design research as an integral part of our product design process.
As an example, Segway Inc. launched its two-wheeled personal transport device in December 2001. An inspiring technology that presented the world with the first self-balancing, an electric motor vehicle which was anticipated to be a huge hit when released into the market.
“According to Forbes, Segway Inc. founder, Dean Kamen, predicted the company would sell 10,000 units a week and reach 1 billion in sales fastest in the history ever. But, instead, they sold less than 24,000 units in the first 4 years”.
There are several reasons to what made Segway fail in the market where it was supposed to be the next biggest revolutionary invention after Macintosh:
- No Specific Regulations: When the product was launched, the authorities could not decide whether it should be allowed to run on sidewalks or streets as it did not fit into any existing categories of vehicles.
- No unmet needs resolved: Sure, Segway looked cool but it did not solve any problem for the customers. You could use it to travel from point A to point B, but people were getting around that with available modes of transportation just fine.
- An expensive product: When the product first arrived, it was sold at a whopping price of $5000. One could get a reasonably used car at this price.
- No User Experience considered: During the whole development process, the Company did not consider how the users would interact with the technology and react to it. Instead, they launched the product without performing overall user research.
Hence, We can say that the failure of Segway PT was not its marvelous technology, But, the lack of research and understanding of the market. A product that was predicted to be a huge hit is now mostly used as a vehicle by the mall securities.
Some of the reasons to conduct comprehensive research:
1. Know the target audience:
This is the time when organizations get to explore who the target consumer would be, what problems they face in day-to-day life and how the product helps them quickly overcome those issues.
Not only does study help you figure out the right questions to ask but also helps in finding out answers to some tricky questions beforehand.
2. Save the money and resources:
Extensive and thorough probing provides insights into the trends of the market. In addition to it, this assists companies to make efficient and effective changes to the idea at an early stage before converting it into a product which would not stand up to customer’s requirement and eventually fail in the market, making companies lose tons of money, time and resources.
3. Gaining an edge over competitors:
Having done substantial research provides key information on how the product can outperform the competition in the market and eventually leads to the formation of an advanced product.
Getting to know the competitors, their product, and how your product can solve problems for consumers that your competitor could not is what we wish to achieve through rigorous research of the competition in the market.
4. Setting up for realistic goals:
“I would like my car to fly and make me breakfast, but that’s an unrealistic expectation”- Jack Tretton
Spending time on research at the start provides organizations with data that helps in constructing goals for product or service which are achievable.
Failing in setting up viable goals results in running out of resources, getting delayed for other stages, and failing before even getting started.
Over the decades, There have been several products that failed drastically in the market even after being launched by big organizations. This proves that customers do not blindly buy products by the name of the brand; instead, they want the product that solves their problem.
Few highly hyped products that failed dismally:
1. Google Glass
Made public in 2014, Google Glass created hype before coming to the market, but it could not perform as expected and failed miserably. An optical head-mounted display device that could use voice commands and display information in front of the person’s eyes. It had a camera and a Touchpad on the side to control the device.
- Privacy Breach: People could take pictures of you without you even knowing it. This was a complete violation of privacy.
- What was the use: Customers could not understand the purpose of the product and what problem did it solve for them
- Huge Price tag: For a product that was not helping the customer in any way, $1500 was huge a price for it.
2. Microsoft Zune:
Launched in 2006, Microsoft Zune was a portable media player. Performing the same function as an iPod, Microsoft Zune just couldn’t beat Ipod, as iPod had already acquired the market 5 years early in the game and later Zune was discontinued in 2012.
- Nothing new for the customers: Microsoft Zune was similar to the iPod in many ways, And there was no innovation with the Zune which could excite Customers enough to switch to it from an iPod.
- Was Too late to market: Zune was introduced to a market where customers were already familiar with an existing product that was similar to it in many ways.
In Conclusion, I believe that research done at the starting stage of product development impacts the performance of the product hugely.
A product(no matter the brand or the technology) would not succeed until and unless it is helping customers with a solution to the problem they have been facing for a long time. And, to be successful, Organizations should focus on research( whether it is user, market, idea, or competition)
