According to latest studies, 93 to 95 percent of the new products fail because they couldn’t solve real problems are the product was not built with the users in mind.
One of the most important one is that startups don’t pay attention to their users. They don’t listen to them, they don’t learn from them and they don’t create products that will satisfy their needs. To succeed, you have to do more than just create a great product. You have to create a product that people will love and buy. Startups launch new products and services, but the success rate of such efforts is quite low. Therefore, it is very important for companies to ensure that they have a solid product before launching it in the market.
It’s not enough that your product is high quality or that it solves a problem—you also have to make sure that it’s easy for customers to use and understand.
Product discovery is a system that helps companies refine their product or service by including evaluations and feedback to iterate before developing further. We have come up with a list of 48 crucial questions you need to ask being a project manager in a product discovery session to develop the product at hand with careful thought and evidential information.
What Problem is your Product focused on solving?
Every product is meant to solve a problem for a specific audience. There can be a series of concerns that need to be addressed to form a relationship between a problem and a solution. These set of questions are geared to help you begin to understand the problem and the solution.
- What is the underlying problem your business or product is solving for your customers?
- What is the size of the audience facing the same pain point?
- Who is your competition? Have they successfully solved the same problem before?
- How is your approach to the problem different than what has been already done by the competition?
- What are the strengths and opportunities you plan to bank on?
- Does your offering provide convenience?
Who are your Users?
Getting well versed with your users is of absolute importance in understanding their needs and goals. In a b2b model it might also add further value in understanding your user’s customers. In order to be a product specialist whose worth their salt, this is pivotal in being able to lay grounds of a functional product that addresses pain points and customer's expectations.
- Who are the people in the process? (Group them in Archetypes or Personas to get to know them better)
- How well do you know your customers as people? What are their job titles, work routines and technical expertise etc.?
- What are they looking to achieve with your product?
- What are the user’s pain points?
In order to understand your users better you will be to conduct user research in order to attempt to solve the above questions better. Here are some research techniques to aid you in the process (Empathy Map, User Journey Maps, Building Personas,). Here is a tool called Miro that we personally use in our process.
The Strategic Positioning of Your Product
Evaluate the current position of the brand/concept/product before diving into further investigations. To bring your customer/product owner on the same lines as you are, use these questions to instigate their thought process- enabling them to refine their product further.
- Why will your target audience choose you in the presence of your already-in-the-market competitors?
- Would your product be sustainable in the market?
- What is your business model?
- Suppose you are launching your product in a few hours. Will your audience buy it?
- Is your offering something that will hook the customers enough to return to you?
- What is your value proposition?
- Is there a single offering or are there more products in the portfolio?
- What is your key differentiator?
Value Addition Evaluation
A business should be able to benefit every stakeholder that’s involved. It should pay off in every dimension to its owners, employees, investors and customers alike. The following questions can help the product owner give a better shape to any raw thoughts or ideas.
- What value can it provide/add to the consumer?
- What value does this product/service add to your business?
- What does your process for problem-solving look like?
- What would the idea process be?
- Does this product align with your business goals?
- What does a solved problem look like? List elements of the solution.
- What is the level of investment risk associated if this product were to fail?
In-house Information Stock
Today’s technologically advanced world allows businesses to stay on top of real-time numbers. This allows them to make prudent and well-informed business decisions based on evidence. The below will help you gain a perspective of what your client plans and also give them a nugget to think about.
- What process are you going to follow to stay on top of numbers?
- How are you planning to manage tasks and capture information?
- How do you plan to inculcate customer feedback in your process or product?
- How do you plan to regulate the industry cost structure as per fluctuating market trends?
Marketing Strategy
While refining the product itself is of utmost importance, having a marketing strategy is also of key importance to your client. Guide them on what message to put forth by asking them the below:
- What key messages are to be communicated?
- How do you want them to associate themselves- what they think, feel and do with the product?
- What would be the communication strategy?
- What are we communicating as our USP (unique selling proposition)?
- What regulations do you plan to follow as per industry best practices?
The User’s Online Experience
A brand’s impression is made in the mind of the consumer in the first ten seconds of their interaction. You want those ten seconds to last on the customer’s mind. Creating a premium digital user experience for the online customer should be an absolute priority.
- Who are the visitors to your websites and what do you think they would be looking for?
- How do you plan to increase customer satisfaction and generate loyalty?
- How will you drive conversions?
- On the website, what kind of functionality is required beyond static content pages?
- What devices are supported for your digital platforms?
Probabilities of Success
There are 50% chances of both; success and failure when the product or concept is raw. You need to work in order to increase the chances of success and these heavy-on-the-heart questions can help determine the probabilities of success.
- Will the user be able to figure out how to use the product?
- Will the user choose this product or buy it as a compromise?
- What kind of customers does this product/service target?
Resolving Product Constraints
Practical limitations that will enforce the boundaries of anything if it gets built are referred to as constraints. The early they are recognized, the more it helps to resonate what the business is prepared to do with how much they want to spend doing it. These questions can help you establish the perimeter of the product and project:
- What frustrations do you currently have with the product itself or the process? Can you solve them?
- What tools or support do you have to improve the process?
- Are there more products or tools that you need to integrate with?
- Does this answer the real needs of your customers?
- Which problem needs the most urgent solution?
- What threats and weaknesses need to be resolved?
Product Discovery is a crucial method in defining the problem and aligning product managers and entrepreneurs to ensure that they are mitigating all the key risks and developing a product with the highest probability of finding a market fit.
However, another key factor in executing this activity with success is – the right team.
Do you need help with your product? Reach out today to get started on building a world-class product https://venturerepublic.net/start-a-project/
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