Launching a new product can be tricky. After all, there is virtually no guarantee of the degree of success it will encounter. This can be further exacerbated if your business has little to no knowledge of product development. However, in our experience as an industrial design company, we have learned that there are several qualifications a product must meet in order to stand a chance of being well received on the market. Interested in learning more?
Here are five signs that can signal the potential profitability of a new product:
1) Does your product fulfill its promises?
It’s no secret that customers are drawn to making purchases with promises. No matter what the claims may be in your own case, it’s integral that your product follows through, or else you risk disappointing the user. This is key to creating happy customers who would consider repurchasing from your business, as well as writing positive reviews and recommending the product to their friends, thus building up your momentum on the market.
2) Did you conduct thorough market research?
Market research is the first step in product development. This is where your business will need to complete an investigation on market trends, consumer habits, rival companies, materials, pricing, and more through surveys and data collections. Market research is imperative, as it reveals invaluable information about product design and what exactly it would take to develop a product that customers would be willing to purchase. In other words, it directly tells you how to sell in your given market, meaning this certainly is not an area you should neglect.
3) Does your product solve a new problem?
Most often, customers are influenced to make a purchase when they have a problem that needs to be solved. If you wish to outsell your competition, your business will need to find what problems exist within the market that your competitors simply aren’t addressing. In doing so, you can develop something that only your business can provide to its users, thus securing a dependable and loyal customer base. On the flip side, if your product isn’t much different from other similar options and brings nothing new or inventive to the market, there’s a good chance your business will be overlooked by customers.
4) Is your product of high quality?
It goes without saying that the quality of your product can certainly affect its reception on the market, but why is that? Customers are able to discern when a product is made of high quality versus low-quality materials. The concern here is that quality can convey certain messages about your business practices and ethos, whether they’re true or not. A product made of low-quality materials may imply that your business is only concerned about making a profit rather than satisfying the customer. On the flip side, high-quality products suggest that your business is truly passionate about its mission and improving the lives of its users. Of course, it’s quite easy to determine which of the two most customers will prefer to purchase from.
5) Did you test different prototypes?
Prototyping is crucial in product development. Here, you can learn what features and functions of the design are or are not working. The objective here is to uncover any issues with the product before drafting production documents and sending them to be mass-produced. Essentially, this is the test stage, so it’s best to take your time and test many different prototypes in order to find what works best for your vision. If not, you run the risk of releasing a subpar product on the market.
Industrial design companies design with these questions in mind
There’s no doubt that building a successful product can prove challenging. Product development is a niche process that requires plenty of knowledge, creativity, innovation, and, above all, experience. The above tips may lead you in the right direction, but if you still feel unsure about your own or your in-house team’s ability to execute a functional and popular product, then it may be in your business’s best interest to outsource this work to one of the many reputable industrial design companies in California, like Design Stein Studios. Equipped with combined decades worth of design experience, we create products specifically with these 5 questions in mind on top of our insider perspective, knowledge, and honed skills. This is all to say, an industrial design company knows exactly what it takes to make a good product fit for the market and increase your business’s chance of reaching success.
Are you looking to outsource product development? Contact Design Stein Studios at (714) 375-4846 to inquire about our industrial design services.