by Gloria Martinez, WomenLed
Businesses release new products and services all the time. Unfortunately, though, many of them fail due to a lack of market research. Put simply, market research helps businesses gain valuable insights into the needs, wants, and preferences of their target audience. Without market research, you risk launching a product or service that your customers don’t want or need, resulting in poor sales and lost profits.
Market research also helps you identify barriers, such as regulatory or legal requirements, that you’ll need to overcome before launching your product. Ready to get started? Here we break down five essential steps to product development market research.
Start with a 3D Model
Starting with a 3D model of your product can help you visualize your product and present it to potential customers and stakeholders before spending money on production. This will allow you to make iterative design changes and find out what people think about your new product idea. Using a 3D modeling tool for product research can enable you to quickly create digital models of real-world materials, test different versions of designs, and observe how changes in texture, color, and shape will affect consumer opinions.
Identify Your Target Audience
Identifying your target audience is a critical step in conducting market research for a new product. It involves researching and analyzing your potential customer base to determine who will most likely purchase and use your product. Understanding your target audience’s needs, preferences, and buying behavior will help you tailor your product to align with their expectations. At the same time, you’ll also ensure your marketing efforts are focused and effective by reaching people who are more likely to be interested in your product.
Assess Demand for Your Product
While you might think there is a market for your new product, your personal opinion is not a realistic representation of what your customers want or need. Assessing the real market demand for your product idea is essential. There are several ways to do this, including conducting surveys, analyzing search engine data, engaging with customers on social media, and testing your product with a focus group. You’ll also be able to use this information to refine your product and adjust your marketing strategy to increase its potential for success.
Evaluate Your Competition
By evaluating your competitors, you can gain insight into what products and services are already available in your market and what gaps exist that you can fill. With this information, you’ll be able to differentiate your product from the competition. There are several ways to conduct competitor research, including examining your competitor’s websites, social media pages, and customer reviews.
Determine Your Pricing Strategy
Finally, you have to price your product. To determine your product pricing, Shopify recommends adding all the costs involved in bringing your product to market and adding your desired profit margin on top. You can use online product pricing calculators to make this process easier. You may also want to use value-based pricing, which involves finding out how much your customers believe your product is worth and charging based on your product’s perceived value. Just remember to continually monitor and adjust your pricing as necessary to remain competitive and maximize sales.
Conducting market research is an essential step for businesses looking to develop and launch a new product. From starting with a 3D model and assessing product demand to evaluating your competition and determining a pricing strategy, each step plays a critical role in ensuring your product’s success!
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