Making sure your digital product launch hits the mark – and meets a clear need
The last 18 months have seen consumer and lifestyle behaviors change, with an increasing reliance on digital
The opportunity is huge, as both the need and the appetite for digital capability is strong. Yet simply launching a digital product or service does not guarantee success. In fact, most new digital products and services result in failure. But companies who take the right approach and follow the right guidance can maximize their chances of taking a web or native application successfully to market.
Think beyond the idea
Firstly, the hunger for digital products means your company won’t be the only one working on a launch. Numerous companies will have leapt upon the opportunity, making it challenging to achieve cut-through and reach a commercially viable adoption rate in a crowded market. You only have to dip into internet and app stores to find poorly conceived commercial flops – an eye-watering 71% of mobile apps lose their appeal after three months.
So, a great idea is not enough. To be successful, you need to be innovative, you need to work hard and you need to plan. You might even need a small dose of luck.
Be realistic
It is always useful to be aware of a phenomenon called ‘survivor bias’, which arguably skews many of the start-up statistics. According to the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, “Small brands are able to post higher percentage growth... because any growth is from a low sales base. But they are also more likely to fall completely out of the market than big brands. ‘Survivor bias’ can cause another error in analysing growth: it’s only the shares of surviving small brands that are tracked so the average performance of small brands is inflated.”
Deliver on people’s fundamental expectation
Consumers expect, at a minimum, that your product will look great and be easy to use. So, distil things right down: the key to success is to ensure that you validate what makes your product viable with your target audience as soon as possible, and with the least amount of resources. Be strategic about how you do this, ensure that measurement is baked into your product early on, and don’t be afraid to change tack quickly if the signs aren’t good. Data-led, agile experimentation will allow you to quickly measure and understand what really works (and what doesn’t). Remember, many successful products are the result of a pivot.
Avoid others’ common mistakes
Drawing on our experience, there are seven digital product horrors to avoid:
- The white elephant – The big idea that doesn’t solve a problem or fulfill a genuine customer need.
- The empty Kool-Aid – When founders have so much trust in their instincts that they don’t bother with research or expert advice.
- The Swiss Army spork – The product with too many unvalidated features, wasting time and money.
- The smashed piggy bank – Unrealistic revenue projections often result in the cash running out before commercial success can be achieved.
- The missing measure – When teams prioritize features over analytics, they soon find there’s no way to improve their product other than guesswork.
- The nodding dog – Taking a product to market requires a diverse set of skills and experience – make sure you don’t surround yourself with yes men.
- The leaky bucket – No amount of marketing and PR can make up for failing to build growth and retention- orientated features early in the product roadmap.
What we’ve learnt
At Mediablaze we’ve been lucky enough to spend the last 11 years helping to create digital products for a diverse range of clients, from global brands to start-ups. We’ve overseen, and been integral to, many success stories, as well as witnessing projects that have failed. But we’ve never stopped learning.
As the need for digital products and services continues to grow, we have drawn on this experience to create a whitepaper to help companies to bring their ideas to fruition. It looks at understanding the needs and journeys of your target audience – what are their passions? – before defining their problems, conceiving possible solutions, and working out how to measure success. Companies can then begin the ongoing loop of prototyping to test their hypotheses and optimise based on results – continually identifying opportunities to ensure that what you do will drive ongoing growth and efficiency. Then you can start to scale, through content creation, product delivery and amplification.
The guide aims to make you aware of some of the common pitfalls involved in product development, and shares practical guidance on how to make sure you don’t fall victim to them.
Produced by our specialist team of product strategists, our whitepaper reveals the secrets of launching a successful digital product.
Don’t launch before you’ve read it…