If you want to pursue the business world, of course Erzedka Friends must have a "product" that will be sold and offered to the public. Therefore, a product can be analogous to the heart of a business. Up-to-date and innovative products can lead a company to long-term success.
The development of the era that continues to move quickly makes global competition increasingly heated. If the products you create cannot keep up with the changing times, it is certain that your consumers will continue to slowly erode.
So innovation, creativity and fresh ideas are needed to continue to develop products so that they remain relevant in a changing market share. These three things can be found in Product Development.
Product Development is also needed to improve company branding. Consumers will continue to feel satisfied and interested if the products they buy are kept up-to-date and up-to-date.
Get to know Product Development
Before we discuss in more detail about how to increase business turnover through Product Development, we should first get acquainted with the ins and outs of Product Development itself. Come on, see more in the discussion below!
1. What is Product Development?
Literally, the notion of Product Development according to the Product Plan is all the steps taken to develop a product that comes from an idea or concept through market release and other stages.
So, if simplified, Product Development is a series of processes that function to develop products until they are ready to enter the community. The process referred to in Product Development is brainstorming ideas, creating concepts, product designs, determining marketing strategies (social media marketing strategies and conventional marketing), to the process of market release and rebranding.
There is also the term "New Product Development" which means the whole process in creating a product or service starting from the idea, background, concept, market positioning, marketing psychology, design, prototype, to the marketing stage.
In creating a Product Development strategy, it usually requires an in-depth understanding of the following three concepts:
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Maybe Erzedka Friends was curious, who is actually responsible for running the Product Development process? In general, Product Development is the responsibility of the Product Strategist team led by a "Product Manager".
To be able to incubate a good Product Development strategy, Product Managers usually have to prepare a PRD (Product Requirement Document) first. PRD can contain all design prototypes of products to be released, mockups and previews, user interface (UI), product functionality, expected output, UX Flow, to Usability Testing plans.
2. Example of Product Development
One of the tips in designing Product Development is to produce products that are timeless as much as possible (continued to be needed by the community so that they are not eroded by the changing times) so that you don't have to bother with continuous product updates.
An example of a timeless product is sports shoes or sneakers with a simple design and neutral colors. Or create body care products that can attract consumers to continue using them and repurchase when the products they buy run out.
One example of Product Development is an open ordering platform for Indonesian dishes available on websites and apps that are being developed by KapanLagi Youniverse. The platform is named ManisdanSedap. This product departs from complaints from MSMEs or small home businesses who have difficulty marketing their merchandise.
Through mature innovation involving digital technology, ManisdanSedap seeks to develop a segmented system for each city in Indonesia to help MSMEs and micro businesses in marketing their products. In terms of business model, the team has also conducted research to find an efficient and effective business model to stay in line with KapanLagi Youniverse's vision and mission.
From the Product Development example, the important elements can be identified, namely:
- Desirability (User): MSMEs, micro businesses, and Indonesian people who want to try various Indonesian specialties.
- Feasibility (Technology): Responsive websites and apps with User Friendly UI/UX making it easier for the buying and selling transaction process to take place.
- Viability (Business): A business model that can help MSMEs but still in accordance with the vision and mission of the developer company.
3. Product Development Tools
So, after learning about the meaning and examples of Product Development, now is the time for us to explore the tools that are commonly used by Product Managers.
a. Trello
Trello is an online platform for Product Development that enables a team to plan, monitor and manage their work in a practical and measurable way.
Trello can also help you in tracking the progress of product development that is being carried out. Some of the interesting features that Trello has are to-do-lists, chat features, team management tools, CRM, and features to connect with Spreadsheets, Excel, Google Calendar, Google Drive, and others.
b. Proto.io
Proto.io can assist the Product Development process in creating a design prototype or UI/UX design mockup. This one tool really helps Product Managers to convey product ideas and concepts through interactive and attractive design previews.
c. Typeforms
When a new product has been launched, of course we want to know the public's response to the product, right? Well, Typeform can be used to help collect user feedback in order to monitor product success and determine the right Product Development strategy in the future.
d. Hotjar
Hotjar is an analytical tool to assist the process of collecting qualitative data from website visitors. Hotjar is very helpful in the Product Development process because it can find supporting data that is very useful in the next product development process.
Apart from the four tools above, there are actually many other best and useful tools that really help in the Product Development process, including Monday.com, Slack, Zoho, Mixpanel, Craft.io, Clubhouse, Pendo, Planview, Favro, Amplitude, and SurveyMonkey.
Product Development Strategy
After in the previous section Erzedka Friends learned about basic concepts in Product Development starting from understanding, examples, to tools that are commonly used, this time we will learn about their functions and roles in a business.
1. Characteristics of the Company Requires Product Development
There are several characteristics that indicate a company should immediately launch a new product or implement a Product Development strategy.
a. Business Escalation Slows Down
The first characteristic of a company needing Product Development is that the business is stuck or there is no significant growth within a certain period of time.
The first step to overcome this is brainstorming to find pain points that cause business to slow down. Then after finding the cause, then do desk research to compare with competitors and analyze the best product ideas that match the current market conditions and the desired target consumers.
b. Demand for Products Continues to Reduce
Companies must be vigilant and start to worry when the demand for a product continues to decrease significantly. The loss of consumer interest and interest in your product is a signal that Product Development must be carried out immediately.
Indeed, the decline in sales conversions can occur at any time. However, if the decline occurs continuously over a long period of time, then there is no longer any reason not to update the product or create new products that the market may prefer.
c. Listen to Customer Feedback
It could be that product sales conversions from your company are still stable, but actually customers are starting to feel bored and want change. Well, this is the point why a brand must often listen to the voices of their consumers.
Loyal consumers who start to feel bored and no longer interested in the product are fatal. This can be overcome by updating products through innovation and creative ideas so that the products launched remain fresh and attractive in the eyes of consumers.
d. New Competitors Begin to Emerge
Keep your eyes on the competitors. Indeed, in the business world, competition is a natural thing. However, continuing to update and develop products so that they still exist in the market share is a must do.
A company must continue to monitor the condition of competitors or competitors. If new competitors have started to appear, then this is a sign that Product Development needs to be carried out immediately so that loyal consumers remain loyal to the products you offer.
2. Product Development function
Come on, complete your understanding of Product Development by knowing what its functions are and their important role in business! Check out the full explanation below, OK!
a. Opening Wider Market Share Opportunities
The function of the first Product Development is to be able to expand market share. If you update or launch a new product, the company's market reach will automatically become wider. That way, more and more new users will be acquired and prospected to subscribe to the product.
Erzedka Friends can also apply the Marketing Funnel concept to get maximum Lead Generation from the implemented Product Development strategy.
b. Increase Sales Conversion
By carrying out Product Development routinely and periodically, potential customers who are the target market will be more curious and interested in the product. Products that are the same without any innovation will easily make consumers bored and switch to competitors.
So that through qualified Product Development and soft-selling strategies, it is hoped that sales conversions can continue to be significantly increased.
c. Closer to Consumers
The hallmark of a good product is that it can solve the problems faced by our target consumers. Of course to produce these products requires in-depth research first. Now, through Product Development, we can continue to improve product utilization and efficiency so that we are able to address all consumer needs.
That way, the bonding between brands and consumers is even more closely intertwined because companies are considered capable of understanding the needs and desires of consumers.
d. More Superior than Competitors
By continuously developing and updating products on a regular basis, consumers will not get bored quickly and will continue to be interested in the products we offer. This can be an added value compared to competitors.
The results of research conducted by University College London through the statement "When we see something new, we see it has a potential for rewarding us in some way." Consumers have a tendency to feel interested and curious every time a company releases a new product or service.
3. Product Development Stages that Must Be Known
Well, now is the time for us to discuss the stages needed to produce a good Product Development process.
a. Determine Product North Star and Product Vision
Prior to the idea brainstorming stage, there is one step that must be carried out first, namely determining Product North Star and Product Vision. The product team led by the Product Manager can run sharing sessions to equate thoughts and opinions regarding the product targets to be achieved, vision, mission, output, goals, and others.
This stage can also be accompanied by sharing user voice or user feedback so that the determination of Product North Star and Product Vision can be right on target.
b. Brainstorming Ideas
The next stage is brainstorming ideas to determine suitable feature updates or product development to increase sales conversions and user engagement.
The idea brainstorming stage can be carried out through the Lightning Decision Jam process to find the Pin-Point of the problem you want to solve. You can also use the Crazy Eight Solution method or other methods that are interesting and suitable for brainstorming.
c. Impact Effort Analysis
From the ideas collected, the Product Manager can classify them through the Impact Effort Analysis method. Product ideas with high impact and low effort (can have a big impact but the process is not too difficult) can be executed first.
Whereas ideas with low impact, high effort can be put aside in advance or postponed because they require a difficult process but the results are estimated to be very small.
d. High-Fidelity Design Prototype
Within the scope of Product Development, there is a term called "High-Fidelity Prototype". This type of prototype describes the product idea in the form of a mockup that resembles the original form of the product idea to be worked on.
The mockup can be in the form of a User Interface Design on a smartphone or website. The goal of the High-Fidelity Design Prototype is so that the design team and engineering team can estimate whether the product can be done within the specified deadline before it is released.
e. Usability Testing
Usability Testing is often referred to as the "Phase Discovery" stage. This stage is to validate that the new product to be launched is truly in accordance with the wishes and needs of consumers.
Usability Testing can be done by inviting some loyal consumers to try the new product first. They can assess and provide feedback on products according to the user experience they feel.
Feedback from these consumers can be used as a parameter to measure how effective and efficient the product is before it is launched.
f. Measuring Product Growth with the AARRR Framework
The final stage of the Product Development process is monitoring and measuring how efficient the new product that has been released is. The process can be carried out through a framework called "AARRR".
AARRR stands for Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral and Revenue. The AARRR framework is the five most important metric stages used to measure a product.
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Conclusion
Product Development is a product development and updating strategy to ensure that the company's products continue to exist and can compete in the market share. Product Development which is carried out regularly can also maintain relationships with consumers so that they do not switch to competitors.
Then, what exactly is Product Development? Product Development, namely a series of processes that function to develop products until they are ready to enter the community. Erzedka Friends must understand all the ins and outs of Product Development starting from understanding, examples, tools that are often used, functions, stages, and their important role in business.
Well, that's enough discussion this time about the important role of Product Development. Hope it is useful..!!