The most crucial aspect of SaaS marketing is to understand who your customers are and to focus on their problems. However situations may arise where the product caters to the needs of the identified target group, but the product does not generate outputs or perform as expected. 

The answer to this uncanny behavior of getting unexpected results despite following the checklist lies in understanding the Product Adoption Curve. It is important to understand that the consumers won’t adopt the product at the same time. The reason to use the product may differ for each one of them. The driving force behind using the product depends on what phase of its life cycle the product is in. 

The Product Adoption Curve depicts a model which simplifies how and when to target specific groups from the consumer base. 
Customers lie in one of the categories described in the product adoption curve namely 

- **Innovators**
- **Early Adopters**
- **Early Majority**
- **Late Majority**
- **Laggards**
 
 

### Stages of Product Adoption Process

![5 Stages of Product Adoption Process](https://i.imgur.com/KPN0AOU.png "5 Stages of Product Adoption Process")

`THE INNOVATORS`
 
This is a relatively small group of people and will be one of the first ones to invest in your product. They are not looking for a solution to any problem but are interested in technology. They are open to taking risks and trying new products. 
This group is instrumental in giving a lot of feedback on the product. The product doesn’t need to be perfect before rolling it out to them and instead can be used to improvise based on the feedback received from these customers. 
This group does not want to spend a lot of money on your product. A freemium model can be used in this stage to gather feedback for your product. It is important to determine what improvements in the product should be made for better market penetration at later stages.
 
 
`THE EARLY ADOPTERS`
 
This is a comparatively larger group of customers who are keen on trying new products. They not only use your products to test waters but also because they have a problem that the product solves. 
These people might not mind paying a price for your product but will expect some level of customisation and a solution to their problem. 
They will give importance not only to the diverse features that the product offers but also to the customer problems that the product solves. 
Reviews and testimonials from these customers can be used in later stages of the curve to entice new customers. Additionally the suggestions provided by these customers can be used to improve the product.
 
 
`THE EARLY MAJORITY`
 
A third of the users belong to this group. This is the stage which offers maximum market size and potential to grow. Reaching this stage signifies that the product has a place in the market. The sales of your product is good from the previous two phases and after various iterations and improvements the product is also stable. 
The customers in this phase are open to change and innovation provided their pain points get solved through the solution that the product offers. They can be motivated to use the product with the help of case studies and testimonials from the customers of the previous two stages. These people would like to use the products which have been thoroughly tested and have provided value to other people. They are not very tolerant of technical issues with the product.
 

![Chasm in Product Adoption Curve](https://i.imgur.com/zj7c9ay.png "src : https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Technology-Adoption-Lifecycle.png")
> While crossing from the **Early Adopters** stage to the **Early Majority** stage , there is a divide between the two stages which is to be crossed for the product to establish its roots concretely in the mainstream market. This divide is called a **CHASM** and exists mainly because of the gap in expectations between the customers of the two stages. 
> The most integral part of crossing the chasm is Product positioning. The product has to go from being marketed to visionaries and technology enthusiasts to users who will use the product to solve their problems. The perspective has to change from higlighting all the cool new exciting features the product offers to highlighting how the features of the product solve the problems of the customers. 
> This can be achieved by using testimonials collected in the previous two stages (**Innovator & Early Adopter**), showcasing the success other people have had with the product and highlighting the features that solve the problems of this user base. The feedback received from the first two groups becomes very integral to improvise the product, so that it becomes fit for the non technical users to use.


`THE LATE MAJORITY`
 
This stage sees as many users as the Early Majority stage. However these users are more hesitant in opting for new solutions and technologies and only start considering your product once the product has managed to create a name for itself in the market. They want to be sure that the product is tried and tested before using it themselves. 
They will use your product not out of curiosity but out of need. They will not want to miss out on an opportunity to use a product that their competitors (from the Early Majority stage) might already be using. 
It is somewhere between the early majority and late majority phases where the sales of the product will be at its highest. It is very important to showcase to the consumers how the product solves their problem and the advantages that the product will provide them over the competitor product. 
 
 
`THE LAGGARDS`
 
The size of this group is considerably large,, making it an important stage for the success of the product. This group of people will be the last to buy your product. They are opposed to change and feel threatened by it. They are skeptical about your product and only start considering using your product once all of the buzz about the product is starting to quiet down. The popularity of the product does not convince them to adopt it and they only do so once things start becoming difficult for them by not using the product and are forced to adopt it.
 
 

### Conclusion

The product life cycle starts at a stage where no one or a very few people know about the product and may gradually reach a stage where everyone knows about it. As the product ages , the way it is promoted to the customers should also change. The message that you put forward at every stage should change according to the customer. **Innovators and Early adopters** will seek **uniqueness** whereas the **Early Majority** would want to know **what others think about your product.** 
The Innovators and Early Adopters are showcased the features of the product and the benefits it offers. On the other hand for the later stages, testimonials and reviews can be used to appeal to the customers and end their skepticism towards the product. 
Product Adoption Curve is a difficult concept to implement in your product lifecycle but can be very rewarding if mastered. If you pay attention to `WHICH customer needs WHAT and WHEN`, you can create an awesome product which is adopted by different customers at different stages. The key is to know who your customers are and what they want from your product.

What is Product Adoption Curve?

Building a competitive product involves a lot of steps. Among these myriad tasks , it is very easy to lose focus and go off track.  To make sure that the product is being built in line with the vision , a detailed product strategy acts as a constant guiding source.

![Steps involved in building a product](https://i.imgur.com/VfcMmzV.png "Steps involved in building a product")

Product strategy entails a high level plan focussing on what a business plans to accomplish, the kind of market the business operates in and explains what steps should be taken to accomplish that business goal.

It is very important to be mindful of

- **WHO** the product will serve (Personas)
- **HOW** will the product benefit them
- **WHAT** will be the goals to attain that
 Before diving headfirst into building a roadmap and developing features, it is important to define a larger goal with the intent to provide real value to the customers.
 
 

### Why is strategy important?

1. **Clarity** 
 Having a product strategy lays down the answer to every question about the product (**Whom is the product being built for, who are the competitors, what will be the product features, etc**) and helps the stakeholders have a clear idea about the product they are building. 

 A designer who does not understand the audience the product is being built for and what problems it intends to solve won’t be as efficient and clear about the product being built. For marketing and sales people , a product strategy makes them understand the what and who of the product which helps them convert a potential user to a retained user. Customer success teams would understand the features and use cases better and thus be able to provide better support in solving and understanding customer problems.

2. **Prioritisation of roadmap** 
 Instead of directly jumping the bandwagon and defining features and epics on the roadmap, it is important to understand the goals of the product. There might be cases where wrong feature items may be prioritised because of unclarity of what the goals for the product are. It is therefore extremely important to consult the product strategy before making any decisions that impact the product. A strategy lays down what is to be accomplished through the product, giving one a clearer picture and thus helping to build more reliable, efficient and accurate roadmaps.

3. **Make tactical decisions** 
 The initial product roadmap is not followed all the time as situations may arise where the priorities may need to be changed. In order to make decisions about adjusting or changing your plans, a product strategy acts as a reference point to make decisions regarding the product.
 
 

### Components of Product Strategy

Product strategy is all about defining the direction you want your product or service to take in the future. It therefore becomes important to define whom the product is for, what are their pain points and needs ( this gives the problem to which the product provides a solution), why would they want to buy and use this product, what gives an edge to the product over their competitors and what are the business goals of the company. Business goals help to define how the product will be beneficial to the company, what kind of and how much revenue the product will generate, etc.

A product strategy should primarily answer :

- `Business goals`

- `The market the product will be launched into`

- `What are the needs and problems of the users that the product aims to solve`

- `What differentiates the product from similar products (Unique Selling Point)`

![](https://i.imgur.com/cxiNBUN.png "Components of Product Strategy")

#### WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE?

* **_Product Vision (The WHY behind the product)_** 
The vision should be concise and should include what the product aims to achieve. The vision of the product should not change. 
It is important to conduct a thorough market research, understand the customers and the problems you are trying to solve for them and know the strengths and weaknesses of your company to define a clear vision. 
For example the vision statement of IKEA is `To create a better everyday life for the many people.`
This vision statement is short, concise and to the point and clearly states that the company wants to offer products which can improve the lives of people, in their case in terms of affordability as well as quality furnishings.

 

#### FOR WHOM IS THE PRODUCT BEING BUILT?

* **_Product Positioning_** 
Defining where the product fits in the market and what differentiates the product from other similar products **(Unique Selling Point/ Proposition)** is very important for the product to succeed.
This drives the market go-to plan and plays a crucial role in driving the marketing strategy as well. 
A thorough understanding of the target audience and a detailed analysis of the market where you wish to launch your product is extremely integral in making the product successful.

 

#### HOW DO YOU WANT TO BUILD THE PRODUCT

* **_Product Goals_** 
Once the vision is defined - the next step to follow is defining high level goals which play an important role in prioritization of the product roadmap. 
Goals should be `specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound (SMART)` 
They represent the to do checkpoints needed to turn vision into reality. Product goals should ideally have a fixed time frame.
For example-

1. `Increase downloads by 100% in the next one year`
2. `Double the revenue in the next one year`


* **_Product Initiatives_** 
Initiatives are objectives which can be broken down into actionable tasks. An Initiative comprises of different epics, features, requirements. Product initiates are efforts that need to be made to accomplish each goal. Initiatives can be established at company, product line or product levels. These tend to cross multiple sprints and releases and include many features and user stories. 
For example-
`Enhancing user onboarding experience` - This initiative could have various features or requirements like including progress bars to indicate the level of completion of user registration process, giving a virtual product tour, etc.
 
 
Once the product strategy is made it is translated to a product roadmap. Product Strategy is not constant and grows with the product. It should continue to evolve as the product moves through different stages in its lifetime. Strategy to launch the product in the market can be very different from strategy to maintain the product performance and sustain growth till it declines.
Once the growth of the product stagnates, the product life cycle can be extended by taking the product to a new market or can be left to decline and die.

What is Product Strategy?

Building a new product can be confusing with a lot of uncertainty considering the different processes involved. This may lead to an inefficient product development process which might in turn also affect the product.

New Product Development Process is a process to convert an idea into a workable software product, consisting of various stages from conception of an idea to launching a software product in the market.

It involves the following stages — **_Idea Generation, Idea Screening, Concept Development and Testing, Marketing Strategy Development, Business Analysis, Product Development, Market Testing and Commercialisation._**

> The process has the term **New Product** as it deals with creating new products, adding new features to an already existing product line, adding new product lines to an already existing product and improving already existing products.

 

**_Idea Generation/Discovery_**

This is the first phase and is important in order to gather ideas which will in turn become the possible features of the product.

It is important to identify the customer problems and then brainstorm solutions focussed on those problems. The problems can be classified on the basis of
1. if they actually address customer problems or fill in any existing gaps in the solutions already being provided to the customer
2. the extent to which the problems need to be solved and how urgent it is to solve the problem
3. if there are any other solutions in the market already solving the same problem.

The ideas/solutions don’t have to be concrete as this phase only revolves around coming up with as many ideas as possible.

There are many sources that can be referred to for ideas like
* requests from customers
* brainstorming with the internal team
* analysing customer feedback on competitor products
* suggestions, reviews and complaints on social media platforms for an existing product.

The solutions can introduce already existent solutions to a new market, adding new features to an already existing product or improving already existing features of a product.

 

**_Idea Screening_**

Once the ideas are gathered, it is important to filter and categorise them and select the ideas that seem to showcase the highest potential.The ideas are evaluated on the basis of whether they align with the vision and goal of the company and if they are feasible in financial and technical terms. Based on these criterias the ideas can be grouped into three categories — ideas which look promising, ideas which can be implemented but don’t lead the board and ideas which can be discarded.

![](https://imgur.com/ulHNlvb.png "Idea Screening")

 

**_Concept Development and Testing_**

The idea is converted into a concept in this stage. The idea is elaborated in detail identifying the functionality (use case) it meets and how it solves the problem.

> Some important information about the kind of customers who will use the product and when they will use it, the benefits and pain points the product will bring to them, performance of the competitor product in the market — the good solutions they bring to the table, where they lack and the problems they have not addressed is important to gather as well.

Once the most valued features/concepts are identified, they can be validated through customer feedback. Different sources of data can be used (qualitative and quantitative) like surveys, competition research, focus groups, interviews, reports, data from previous projects to identify the direction.

The main insights to come out of this process would be the focus groups , what they think about the suggested features and alternative features which maybe preferred by focus groups.

 

**_Marketing Strategy Development_**

A marketing strategy is created for the features/ concepts that have a positive feedback in the concept testing phase. It is a way to reach out to the target audience.

It is important to identify the needs and demands of the market(focussing on the customers) the product will be rolled out in. It is also important to analyse the current market scenario and the kind of competition the product is likely to have.

The Marketing Strategy is based on 4 Ps of Marketing.

![src: https://images.yourstory.com/cs/wordpress/2016/10/4-ps-marketing-outdated.png](https://imgur.com/Bcs6lFV.png "4 Ps of Marketing")


`Product` — The product should stand out in the market either because of its unique features or features which are better than the already existing features in the market.The product is finalised based on the concept testing phase results.
 
`Price` — Many factors such as the price of competitor products, cost of materials and production, market fluctuations are taken into account while determining the price of the product or service.
The company might also inflate the price to increase the value of the product to build customer loyalty.
 
`Place` — Where and how the customer is exposed to the product. This factor is important in determining where should the product be sold how should it be delivered to the market. It governs strategies such as if the product is localised or global, distribution strategy, etc.
 
`Promotion` — This P helps in uniquely distinguishing the product through creating brand awareness, social media marketing, etc building an interaction with the consumer regarding the product.


The marketing strategy is the reviewed and revised according to need. Market research can be performed using the online data available online. Various sources online can be used to collate and build a tentative market scenario for the product.

 

**_Business Analysis_**

This stage focuses on analysing if the product is feasible to build from a financial perspective. A detailed business plan is built which includes estimating selling price based on intensive market research of competition and customer feedback. It analyses how the product will fit in the market and estimates the financial model on the basis of assumptions made on market share.

Pricing can be done in 3 different ways —
* **_Price higher than the market_** for solutions which solve an urgent problem of the customer
* **_Price equivalent to the market_** which is a safe move but needs better marketing to perform better than the competitor
* **_Price lower than the market_** to build a loyal customer base


The business plan also looks into the investment during product development and the associated costs once the product is launched. Break even analysis helps identify the point at which the product becomes profitable.
If the business plan is in alignment with the goals of the company, the Product Concept moves to the Product Development stage.

 

**_Product Development_**

The Product concept is now developed into a physical product.

Based on the gathered solution to the problem , wireframes and prototypes are built which can be later refined according to the need and response. It is an iterative process. The prototype/ wireframes are then tested with the customers. The test results are analysed in the form of
* customer responses and feedback
* how they reacted to the product
* how they used it
* the difficulties they faced while using the product
* whether they were able to perform the actions the product intended them to perform.

Testing can be done in formal groups or informally with existing customers. The product is also validated in terms of market and seen if it would be financially viable.The data yielded from the testing provides valuable input to what features should be kept and what features should be dropped or if there are any transitions that can be made to the existing features. Analysing the data can be helpful to make modifications to the final product that will be rolled out.

This process gives way to a well defined product. This is also where a roadmap is made to define the journey of the product and the goals that are to be achieved. It showcases the conceptual as well as technical benchmarks that are to be achieved through collaboration between the different stakeholders of the product team.


Training — Once the final product is made, training is important to inform the users internally and externally on how to use the product.

 

**_Market Testing_**

The developed product is now tested in a market setting to check the viability of the software product.

* **Alpha Testing** - The test engineers in the organisation test the product on its performance and validate the software for missing features, features not performing according to requirements, etc. This gives way to Beta Testing.

* **Beta Testing** - The target groups use the product and give their feedback to the organisation on usability and functionality of the product.

* The product can also be tested with intended customers. They are allowed to use the product and their feedback is collected.

* Once the alpha and beta testing is done, the product can also be tested by placing the product for sale in certain areas and observing the performance against the initially laid out marketing plan.

 

**_Commercialisation_**

If the results of market testing are positive, the product is decided to be launched on a larger scale. The launch is planned with details like **WHOM,WHEN,HOW,WHERE.**

The product can also be launched in waves i.e gradually launching the product in different areas.
Commercialisation involves production, distribution, marketing, sales and customer support strategies to ensure the success of the product. Without these, the product cannot be successfully launched into the market. performance and validate the software for missing features, features not performing according to requirements, etc. This gives way to Beta Testing.

 

The New Development Product Process brings out a systemic approach to innovation.It proves to be very important in the lifecycle of building a product. It not only helps to streamline processes into a smooth flow but also helps in identifying challenges early on in the process of building the product. It involves better management of ideas and solutions into product features and ensures faster time to market.

Anvi Puri

Results for "product management"

What is Product Adoption Curve?

What is Product Strategy?

Introduction to New Product Development Process