Product Development Research

Market Decisions' product development services are delivered by a team of professionals who fuse their collective marketing/analytical experience to confront the most pressing challenges facing your business today -- keeping viable products in front of specifically targeted consumers.

We know that most products fail not because they are not good products; most often products fail because the market's needs are misunderstood, strategies are inappropriate, or the "right" messages don't get to the "right" people.

The Product Development Process

1) Identification of Market Needs and Niches

During this initial, extremely important phase of product development, several key questions must be addressed:
  • What are the needs and desires of my target audience(s)?
  • Does a niche really exist for my product; how should it be positioned against the competition?
  • Is the niche large enough to support the development and marketing costs?
  • Is the product consistent with our corporate image and capabilities?
Answering these questions requires a detailed marketplace analysis. You will define your opportunity; perhaps change your direction or even identify an entirely new product. A QFD (Quality Function Deployment) approach insures all important internal audiences are involved in the research process and automatically includes a thorough analysis of the competition.

At the conclusion of step one you'll know whether or not there is a genuine need for your product and how to segment and target the market. This part of the process provides the cheapest risk insurance you will ever buy; don't cut corners on this step of the process.

2) Concept and Product Development and Testing

During this second research step, information from the initial "needs analysis" is expanded to answer these questions:
  • What is the exact product configuration preferred by target customers?
  • How is our product better than our competitors'? How do we differentiate it?
  • Have we developed a commercially sound product?
  • How do we position for long-term potential?
At this step, the QFD process begins in earnest with extensive input from product engineering and creation of several product concepts for testing. The use of various multivariate and multi-dimensional analyses, like conjoint analysis and interactive classification tree investigation, helps guide final decisions to optimize your product's success in the marketplace.

3) Strategy Development: Marketing & Communications

The third step in bringing a product to market is centered on validating and fine-tuning the current information database and augmenting it with the information needed to communicate product benefits. Questions to answer include:
  • Are we targeting the right consumer; what segmentation is needed?
  • What pricing strategy will maximize earnings and stay consistent with corporate image and direction?
  • What message(s) will best communicate product benefits; what media / communications strategy will best get information to decision-makers?
  • Which distribution channels are most effective in getting product into customers' hands?
During this step, there is no substitute for talking face-to-face with your consumer (usually in focus groups or PA Sessions). See what they look like, listen to how they describe their needs and watch their body language. When you have discovered how your consumer can best understand, feel, experience and internalize product benefits, you are ready to develop marketing and communications strategies. Any other approach is second best.

4) Product Introduction & Strategy Implementation

After product introduction, it is necessary to know:

  • Is the product meeting expectations?
  • Are strategies performing as planned?
All too often, this is where the product development process breaks down. In the excitement (and challenges) of getting a new product to market, we often forget that the marketplace is dynamic.

It is imperative to monitor the performance of the product relative to the competition; to understand how consumers are making choices and their ultimate satisfaction with those choices. This enables you to keep products renewed and extend life cycles, discover line extensions and answer competitive challenges. You will know the marketplace and be pro-active, not reactive.

Product Evolution

As stated earlier, post-entry product evaluation carries with it many benefits far beyond simple consumer satisfaction measurements. When combined with other corporate information, this research allows you to stay sensitive to the needs of your consumers and encourages development of a strategically sound product mix.

We believe that companies viable in the long run are those which have a "mix" of products encompassing all stages of this evolutionary cycle.

A Full Arsenal of Tools

Market Decisions Corporation will provide you with all the necessary research tools you need to answer all these questions. We will help you successfully maneuver through the ever more complex product development process; we'll ensure that your product offerings are never "second best."