Every year, over 30,000 new products are introduced to the market — but around 95% of them fail. Show
As markets become saturated with similar products and services, it’s increasingly difficult for new offerings to make an impact. Most fall at the first hurdle due to not having a solid product launch plan, while others fail to position themselves well enough for prospective customers. For product managers, then, the question is: how do you create compelling products that offer value to your customers and ensure you stand out in a highly competitive market? Your product might tick all the right boxes, but do you have a robust and comprehensive product strategy to make the right impact from the start? In this guide, you’ll find out what types of product launches there are, what product launch strategy is, and how you can use our template and checklist to get your product ready to go. What is a product launch?A product launch is a coordinated effort to bring a new solution to the market. The goal? To build excitement for and awareness of your product. Product launches involve several teams, including the sales team, the customer support team, product teams, product marketing, event management, and even managers. Each team aligns and works together to maximize launch potential — building anticipation, interest, brand recognition, and momentum in the process. Some product launches are more memorable and successful than others. When Apple releases a new iPhone, for example, they distribute several press releases and stories before unveiling the new design at their annual conference. This creates so much excitement and hype that would-be users queue overnight at retail stores to get the device. A successful product launch not only leads to greater interest and sustained sales-generated revenue, but it can also boost your other products if they’re bundled into launch packages. A failed product launch can result in more than lost sales opportunities: it can create a bad impression of your brand as a whole and provide little to no return on your investment. When should you think about a product launch?Before getting to the product launch stage, most product development teams go through a few stages: ideation, product concepts, and testing. They then work with marketing teams and sales teams to come up with a product launch strategy for release. This includes: Identifying unmet needs
Ideation and brainstorming
Concept testing
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Launch readiness
eBook: 12 business decisions you can optimize with conjoint analysis Now let’s look at what’s included in a project launch plan and then move on to the three types of product launch. What is included in a product launch?There are five key parts to a product launch plan:
What are the three types of product launch events?You can choose from three types of launch events, each having its benefits:
Defining your product launch strategyTo ensure the success of your product launch, you need a document that outlines key objectives, activities, goals, performance indicators, teams, and responsibilities (this includes everything mentioned thus far). By having a clear product launch plan, you ensure that your teams are on the same page, aligned, and ready to do their part. You should also consider documenting post-launch activities, such as customer support, training (where necessary), and continuous improvement of the product. To help you, we’ve put together a brief template below. By filling in this launch template, you can formulate the skeleton of your plan. Product launch templateTo get you started, here’s our easy product launch template for your product launch planning. Just fill in the sections below in as much detail as you can. The product:
The customer:
The goals:
The launch event:
The timeline and milestones of the product launch:
The product marketing and communications plan:
After filling out the document, create a concise summary to share with executives. This will provide them with a high-level overview of your project and the main elements, such as key messages, goals, metrics to monitor, and requirements for the product launch. This document is also useful for those who want to get up-to-speed with a project quickly and don’t necessarily need to know the details of each operation. Examples of successful product launches in different industriesUnder Armour (performance sports clothing brand)To support the launch of the HOVR Infinite shoe, Under Armour wanted to scale its product testing to get actionable insights, faster. The problem was that Under Armour only had 100 product testers and they didn’t have enough representation across the countries it operated in. With a centralized directory on the Qualtrics platform, Under Armour quickly went from about 100 product testers to over 10,000 and had greater representation across the globe. This helped shorten the feedback loop, enabling Under Armour to conduct more rounds of testing than ever before and refine the HOVR cushioning platform quickly. The testing helped make a product that professional runners were praising in glowing terms. Within weeks of its product launch to the public, the HOVR Infinite received a 2019 Runner’s World Recommendation Award. Read more YamahaWhen you want your products to be as innovative as the artists who use them, you need an insight platform that’s fast and flexible enough to put the customer’s voice into every step of your product launch process. Using Qualtrics, Yamaha runs hundreds of quick-turn studies during product development to ensure they catch potential product misfires before prototypes hit the development floor — or the finished product goes to market. They use Qualtrics’ survey capabilities to survey customers, receiving rich, detailed feedback and insight in a matter of hours — something that might’ve taken a week or more to deploy and discuss internally. Now, they’re able to conduct projects and continue producing amazing products with incredibly fast turnaround times. Read more Want to see some more examples?Read how working with Qualtrics helped:
Finally, your launch checklist — a great way to ensure you’ve ticked all the boxes. Product launch checklistHave those examples got your creative juices flowing? We hope so! Before the big day, cover your bases by using this product launch checklist:
How can Qualtrics help?Having the right system in place can mean the difference between a successful product launch or a failure. With an all-in-one system of action for product concept testing, market research, panel management, segmentation, and more — your product management team has everything they need to ideate, test, create, improve and deliver successful products. Here are just a few things you can do using Qualtrics’ solutions:
And you can go a step further using Qualtrics Design XM™ — our solution that offers:
It’s not just about creating great products. It’s about creating great experiences to go with them. If you want to find out more about how Qualtrics Design XM™ can benefit your product team, pre-launch, during, and post-launch, why not sign up for a free, personalized demo? Just click on the link below! What is it called when an organization groups those product lines into specific market targeting strategy groups?Market segmentation is a marketing strategy in which select groups of consumers are identified so that certain products or product lines can be presented to them in a way that appeals to their interests.
What is the marketing mix strategy?The marketing mix in marketing strategy: Product, price, place and promotion. The marketing mix is the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that a company uses to produce a desired response from its target market. It consists of everything that a company can do to influence demand for its product.
How do you introduce a new product to the market?Below are 13 tactics for introducing your company's new product :. Define a selling point. A selling point is a reason your customer may buy your product. ... . Gather support. ... . Show enthusiasm. ... . Train your team. ... . Let your team demo the product. ... . Schedule a launch date. ... . Control your product's life cycle. ... . Prepare a mission statement.. What is marketing mix and types?A marketing mix includes multiple areas of focus as part of a comprehensive marketing plan. The term often refers to a common classification that began as the four Ps: product, price, placement, and promotion. Effective marketing touches on a broad range of areas as opposed to fixating on one message.
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