Creating a new product is a long, difficult and expensive process, and it can sometimes be very tempting to rush your company’s latest offering to market. However, introducing a product to the public before it is ready can lead to poor customer experiences and lost business. Here are four steps you should be taking to make sure your awesome new product is fully ready for your customers.
Put It Through Focus Group Testing
One of the best ways to make sure the public will love your product is to let real consumers try it out. Put together a small focus group of people who might have use for the product in their everyday lives and get their opinions about it. Listen carefully to any criticism or suggestions, as these can help you to improve your product before releasing it into the market.
Make Sure Your Packaging Looks Great
The product itself is, of course the most important element of a product release, but you’ll also want to make sure its packaging will catch the eyes of consumers. Hire a professional graphic design or screen printing company, such as Schilling Graphics, to help you develop your packaging. You can also try split-testing different packaging options to see which one is the most visually appealing.
Give a Few Units Away for Free
Before it shows up in stores or retail websites, give some units of your product away for free. This will not only give you real-world feedback and reviews of your latest product, but will also help to generate buzz around it for the official release. This kind of giveaway can also be leveraged as a social media giveaway contest to build an eager audience of potential buyers who can be marketed to when the product actually hits the shelves.
Get Distribution and Retail Set Up
Having a product to sell isn’t all that useful if you can’t actually manage to get it into stores. Start setting up your distribution channels and partnering with retailers before the product launch so that you’ll be able to start selling immediately. Remember, until you’re making regular sales, you’ll never be able to recoup the money you spent developing the product.
Bringing a product to market is one of the most exciting parts of being a business owner, especially if you’re doing it for the first time. If you want your product to be a hit, however, make sure you have everything you need lined up before you present it to the public.
