Hatching the Chicken from the Egg
Image from LiveScience.com
Making a product and getting user feedback may feel like a chicken or an egg problem (where you need the egg to get the chicken but you need the chicken to get the egg). It may seem like you need to make development and manufacturing decisions long before you have a product for people to react to.
How can you learn about THE THING before you even have THE THING? As a product researcher, I’ve faced this challenge many times. Here are some things I’ve heard:
“I have a prototype, but it’s not ready to be used on a job site. How can I learn what contractors think?”
“I have a concept, but I don’t have a product yet. How can I figure out what features the product should have?”
“We have a product that we’re putting on Kickstarter to raise money for production. How can we make sure our video is talking about the right benefits?”
“I have a patent and just recently got funding. How can I make sure my invention is really different from what people are using in a hospital?”
These are all real situations that I’ve encountered. For every single one of these, we were able to devise a plan to get early feedback BEFORE we had a real, invested-in, tooled, manufactured product.
With research, you don’t need THE THING to get feedback. We can be clever in our approaches to learn about the product before it’s fully manufactured.
Not ready for job site use? Let’s build an example structure, recruit the right type of contractors, invite them to a central location, provide the prototype (& other tools they’ll need), and watch how they use it. In 4 cities. All with Spanish interviewers.
Strong hypothesis learned: A fair number of contractors tear tape with their teeth, even when tape companies put so much effort into making tape able to be torn by hand.
Not a product yet? Let’s put together some ‘found’ images to describe the major benefit over competitors. We can even use your competitor’s images to get us 50% of the way there! Let’s just see who’s interested and we can evaluate how different features & benefits could add value.
Strong hypothesis learned: Consumers say they WILL pay quite a bit more for ‘discretion & security’--way more than we’d initially thought.
Not sure how to show the typical use case in a video? Let’s show some product images, describe how it’s used and interview & survey a select group of people to see who finds the most value in this product. Once we know the WHO, we can see what their typical day is like to show how the product will most likely be used.
Strong hypothesis learned: Keeping this item in your car is not a ‘lazy’ behavior in the US. In fact, it seems to be the ultimate way of being prepared.
Not sure how competitive products are used in a medical setting? Let’s set up some observations and interviews in different medical facilities and see how it’s currently done. Let’s make sure your invention really does offer a better benefit. And if it doesn’t, let’s figure out how it can.
Strong hypothesis learned: While other products do similar things, no one is doing ‘this’ well. If we could solve this one challenge, your product could be lightyears ahead of the current products.
It doesn’t have to be a chicken or an egg problem. With smart research, you can learn so much even before THE THING has been made.
If you’d like to chat about your unique product development questions, let’s set up a call!
