Launching a new product - The ultimate guide
Launching a new product is the time period when a company introduces its first product or an addition to already existing products into the marketplace.
Product launches involve coordinating many moving pieces across teams. Here’s how we approach work management.
Work Management Made Easy
Summary
- Seventy percent of new products fail in the first year - Even well-thought-out creative ideas fail because entrepreneurs fall in love with their products and ignore objective feedback about whether the market actually wants them
- Four critical failure patterns emerge repeatedly - Companies skip market research and never identify target audiences, fail to educate customers about revolutionary products, rush to launch without building relationships first, and craft marketing messages that customers can’t understand
- Success requires research before excitement - Ask tough questions about whether your product’s actually ready, validate that a market exists for niche products, narrow down your target audience through market research, and listen to answers even when they aren’t what you want to hear
- Momentum continues after launch day - Share customer stories about positive impact, write press releases and blog posts, solicit both positive and negative feedback, track which social media channels converted best, and treat launch as the beginning of a conversation rather than the end. See how Tallyfy manages product launches
Launching a new product is an exciting time for any company. Whether it’s your first product or an addition to already existing products, it’s impossible not to get caught up in the excitement and anticipation of the moment.
But before launching a new product, you’ve got certain steps to follow.
Apple Computer would not have reached its current peak of success if it had feared to roll the dice and launch products that did not always hit the mark. In the mid-1990s, the company was considered washed up, Steve Jobs had departed, and a string of lackluster product launches unrelated to the company’s core business.
— Naveen Jain, CEO of Intelius
Roughly 70 percent of new product launches fail in the first year. And many of these products are well thought out, fresh, and exciting ideas that should’ve been a success.
So why’s it that some product launches succeed while others fail?
In this blog post, we’ll look at why most product launches fail and five tips for successfully launching a new product.
Why most product launches fail
Many people create a new product believing that if they build something amazing, the customers will naturally come ready to buy. Obviously, this isn’t true because truly fantastic products fail to gain traction all the time. Here are some of the biggest reasons why most product launches fail:
- You failed to do market research
Many people fail to do proper market research and never identify their target market. Without thorough market research, even the best product launches can fail miserably.
That’s because you must validate there’s a need for your product before you take it to market.
Who’s your target audience? Is there a pathway to sustainable growth? Finding out the answers to these questions could potentially save your launch.
- You didn’t educate your customers
When you’re developing a new product you’ve got to allow time to educate people about your product before the launch. That’s especially true if you’re introducing a revolutionary product that people may not understand.
Don’t just assume that people will understand the value of your product. You may have to explain it to them repeatedly until they can truly grasp it.
- You didn’t spend enough time preparing for your launch
Think of launching a new product as planting seeds; you can’t just plant your seeds and expect fruit the next morning. You’ve got to allow enough time to plant and water your seeds before you can expect to reap the benefits of your labor.
Launching a new product requires the same foresight and planning. That’s especially true if you don’t already have an established market.
You need to allow enough time to build a relationship with your target audience, inform them about your product and why it’ll help them, and create a sense of urgency.
- Your marketing efforts were ineffective
Many product launches fail simply because the customer didn’t understand the message. People must understand why your product’s different from the competition, how it’ll help them, and why they need it now.
5 tips for successfully launching a new product
No one can ever truly know how their product will be received in the marketplace. Even the most experienced entrepreneurs have had some product launches that were overwhelming successes while others failed miserably.
When you’re launching a new product, you’ve got certain things you must do before, during, and after your launch.
And while nothing will guarantee your launch will be successful, you can take certain steps to increase your chances for success.
Here are five tips for successfully launching a new product:
- Research your product
One of the biggest mistakes many entrepreneurs make is that they fall in love with their product and fail to be objective. They research their product and receive feedback but then promptly ignore the feedback they’ve been given.
They love their product the way it is and believe the customer will see it the way they do.
Something I’ve noticed across industries is that the founders most resistant to feedback are often the ones who’ve spent the longest building in isolation. It’s important to take a realistic look at your product before you release it in the marketplace. Ask the hard questions that’ll help you figure out whether the product’s actually ready to be launched.
Once you’ve asked the tough questions, you must listen to the answers, even if they aren’t what you want to hear.
- Research the market
You already know that you’ve got a fantastic, original product. Now you need to find out if there’s a market for it.
That’s especially true if you’ve created a niche product. Does the market even have a place for your new product?
Market research can be time-consuming but it’ll give you valuable information that’ll guide you during your launch. It’ll help you narrow down your target audience and improve your chances for a successful launch.
- Zero in on a marketing strategy
A successful product launch must have a well thought out marketing strategy. Now that you know who your target audience is you can now develop a plan for how to reach them.
Look at the different advertising mediums available to you and figure out which ones will be most effective.
Is your target market on LinkedIn or on Snapchat? Your strategy will vary greatly depending on which one you use. You’ve got to reach the people who’ll not only be buying your product but also using the sites you’re advertising on.
- Think outside of the box
Think back to some of the most memorable marketing campaigns you’ve seen. You want to generate that same level of excitement in your own customers.
There’s no room for boring, generic marketing campaigns anymore. If you really want to catch people’s attention you need to think outside of the box and stand out. People don’t just want to be sold to online, they want to be entertained.
- Continue the momentum and gather feedback
It may sound counterintuitive, but your work doesn’t end once your product launch is over. That’s probably the hardest part.
Now you can continue the conversation with the public about your product and the impact it’s making in the marketplace.
Share customer stories about how your product has positively influenced them. Write press releases and keep the public informed through informative blog posts and articles.
Continue to solicit feedback from your customers and welcome the positive as well as the negative feedback. Keep track of the social media channels that were the most successful in converting potential customers.
Conclusion
When you’re launching a new product there’s no tried and true recipe for success. However, by following the principles outlined above you can dramatically improve your likelihood of success and make the experience more positive overall. Teams tell us the same thing in different words — the launches that succeed almost always have someone dedicated to coordinating all the moving pieces full-time. We’ve observed that e-commerce teams using structured launch workflows report improved clarity around bottlenecks and stuck points, problems that previously went unnoticed until they caused delays. Launching a new product can be exhilarating, nerve-wracking, and draining all at once. The list of things to do seems never-ending and, from what I’ve seen, it can be hard to imagine how you’ll get everything done. Based on feedback we’ve received, teams who break the launch into weekly sprints with clear deliverables maintain momentum better than those who try to manage everything at once. One company we spoke with launched 4 new products using a repeatable process template — they found that designing the workflow once and running iterations eliminated the chaos of starting from scratch each time.
Launching a new product will require patience and planning but it can be successfully accomplished, even if this is your very first launch. Mid-market and SMB companies represent about 55% of our conversations at Tallyfy, and they often face even tighter constraints that make careful planning essential.
About the Author
Amit is the CEO of Tallyfy. He is a workflow expert and specializes in process automation and the next generation of business process management in the post-flowchart age. He has decades of consulting experience in task and workflow automation, continuous improvement (all the flavors) and AI-driven workflows for small and large companies. Amit did a Computer Science degree at the University of Bath and moved from the UK to St. Louis, MO in 2014. He loves watching American robins and their nesting behaviors!
Follow Amit on his website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, X (Twitter) or YouTube.
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