Let’s Talk About Launching a New Tech Product
The global tech industry is growing at an exponential rate. Statista has estimated that the total spending on tech across the globe in 2019 was USD 3.8 billion. The industry has been flooded with numerous new technologies and new companies with novel products. This tech industry has a huge potential to transform technology as well as its implications on human lives.
However, many feel that going ahead with a new product launch might be difficult. Irrespective of whether you are introducing a new software feature, new app, or an entire software as a service (SaaS), each of the product launch ideas needs to be backed by a new product launch strategy. To ensure that your offering gets a perfect product launch, you need to bring in individuals with appropriate skill sets.
A majority of the professionals in the tech product marketing field opine that a new tech product launch is tedious as compared to a physical product, and requires a well-thought-out product launch plan. Today the world of the internet has made available an array of digital channels which make the launch of a new product seamless. However, it can be difficult to get your audience to notice your new product.
You might have often wondered, how to launch a product successfully? To help you out, I have framed a few product launch steps, which will give you a clear idea regarding the necessary things to do while launching a product. By the end of this article, you will be able to formulate an effective product launch checklist. So, without further delay, let us dive in.
1. Human Capital Is Vital
It is very important to have an able team in place before you set out to create a launch strategy for your tech products. The technical team will form the core of your organization, hence, make sure that you have experienced professionals with appropriate skill sets, at your disposal. Your developers should be able to write consistent and clear codes; after all the quality of your product depends on it.
Apart from the technical team, other teams such as sales, marketing, project, and leadership are also very important. These all teams play a huge role in the success of your product, so ensure you have experts who know how to tackle obstacles and take advantage of your product’s strength.
2. Understand Your Product
You might have a wonderful product however you also need to understand the problems or issues your product is solving. This will assist you in clearly communicating the products’ attributes and features to your customers and target audiences. Concentrate on the very reason you created your product, and which is the customer base that can benefit from it.
Survey your customers, to gauge their lifestyles, and what made them realize the problem they have, and the desire to resolve it. Then you can ponder upon if your product can solve their problem, and carry out any alterations to your product to better suit your customers’ needs. After this is done, you can then gauge how well can you convey the attributes and features of your product to customers. All of these questions need to be resolved before you go ahead with the launch of your product.
3. Zero-In On Your Target Audience
Once you have acquired a clear understanding of the issues that your product resolves, you need to research to know which is the exact customer base that needs your product. In addition to this, you also need to understand your audience, the news they hear, the channels via which they communicate, and the language they use, among others.
One way to go about this would be to formulate a buyer persona. A buyer persona is usually a made-up fictional character, to whom you can assign a role of being your target customer. You can incorporate details such as behaviors, specific needs, socioeconomic background, gender, and age, among others.
4. Analyze The Customer Journey
The journey of a customer has a lot to offer in terms of learnings for product owners. Customer journey is a detailed step-by-step process, which the customer goes through, before finally purchasing your product. This process can be initiated via an advertisement, which leads the customer to your product website.
Although this process seems plain and simple, there are various hurdles a customer needs to pass before they can reach a page, where they receive a thank you message from your organization. Hence, it is important to understand all these steps, to make the process seamless for your customers.
5. Define Goals and Metrics
You should have clear goals set before you choose to go ahead with your product launch. Clear metrics will help you to keep a check on your goals and your progress towards them. You need to develop a checklist for setting your goals, and to ensure that they are smart:
- Timely
- Realistic
- Achievable
- Measurable
- Specific
6. Keep Testing Your Product
Marketing professional often suggests that testing is a crucial aspect of the product launch process. Apart from testing the core product, organizations should also invest in testing their approach to get in touch with the market and customers. These minor steps will assist in minimizing future failures and making the processes efficient.
Many companies and startups might consider their product to be flawless based on their previous market studies. However, you should consider testing your product via mock users, as customers will always find something that can be modified to better suit their needs.
7. Act on the Feedback
Getting feedback from customers is one of the final steps. However, after you have garnered feedback from your customers, you should utilize the obtained information to further improve your products as well as the customer experience you are providing. You can choose to eliminate the concepts, which are disliked by your consumers, thus making room for value-adding features.
Conclusion
The launch of a product does not stop at the steps mentioned over here. You have to keep learning from the feedback of customers, and continuously improve your product. And while doing so, you need to be flexible in your approach, ready to modify any features, and keep following industry trends. And if your product becomes a success, then gear up for some stiff competition, as there will several spin-offs popping up.
In every product launch, you need to be ready to take action, listen, and be vigilant. And always remember, that preparation is crucial for attaining success.
