Product discovery is the process of identifying and validating a product idea that meets the needs and wants of a target market. It involves a combination of market research, customer feedback, and analysis of competitors to determine the feasibility and potential success of a product.
Effective product discovery is crucial for companies that want to remain competitive and meet the evolving needs of their customers. It helps organizations avoid developing products that are not in demand or that do not address real customer problems. It also enables companies to identify and fill gaps in the market, potentially leading to new revenue streams and business growth.
There are several key steps involved in product discovery. The first is to conduct market research to understand the needs and wants of the target market. This can involve surveying customers, analyzing industry trends, and studying competitors. The goal is to identify areas where you can differentiate your product and offer unique value to customers.
Next, gather feedback from potential customers to validate the product idea and ensure it meets their customer’s needs. This can be done through focus groups, prototype testing, and other methods. It is important to get input from a diverse group of people, including internal experts in your company, customers, and prospects. This is because different perspectives can help identify potential issues or improvements.
Once the product idea has been validated, it is important to analyze the competition to understand how the product compares to other offerings in the market. This can help you identify unique features or benefits that set your product apart, as well as areas where it may need to improve to be competitive.
Once the product discovery is complete, the results should shape the product roadmap. This will include detailing the steps needed to bring the product to market. It should also include plans for marketing and sales efforts to ensure that the product is effectively promoted and reaches its intended audience.
Example of product discovery in the wild: Nest Labs
An example of effective product discovery is the development of the Nest Learning Thermostat. Nest Labs, a company founded by former Apple employees, identified a need for a more user-friendly and energy-efficient thermostat.
To validate their product idea, Nest Labs conducted market research to understand consumer behaviour and preferences when it comes to controlling home temperatures. They also gathered feedback from potential customers through focus groups and user testing.
Based on this research, Nest Labs developed the Nest Learning Thermostat, which was released in 2011. The thermostat was a hit, with many customers praising its intuitive interface and ability to save energy. In 2014, Nest Labs was acquired by Google for $3.2 billion, highlighting the success of the company's product discovery efforts.
Example from my career: NewMotion (Electric vehicle charge points)
As a product manager at NewMotion, a company that specializes in electric vehicle charge points, I was tasked with creating a brand new dashboard for businesses that owned and managed multiple electric vehicle charge points. I knew that this was a crucial step to ensure that our product remained competitive and met the evolving needs of our customers. I quickly realised this was a complicated task, with many different ways to design and develop this feature. I used product discovery techniques to learn the best way to creat this feature.
I kicked off the discovery process by conducting market & competitor research to see what options were available on the market & how other companies have designed dashboards for B2B customers. This helped me understand the current offerings in the market and identify areas where we could differentiate our product and offer unique value to customers.
Next, I conducted a design sprint workshop, to align with internal stakeholders and test ideas and hypotheses using prototypes with our real customers. The workshop allowed me to gather feedback from a diverse group of people including internal experts and customers. This was important because different perspectives helped me identify potential issues or improvements. For more details on design sprint workshops see my article Empowering Product Teams by Scaling up Design Sprints.
After the workshop, we iterated & improved the prototype and tested it again with B2B clients. This helped me validate the product idea and ensure it met the customer's needs. The final result was a prototype that was ready to be developed by the engineering team.
Together as a team, we figured out how to roll out this new feature and make sure the analytics are set up to measure our success. We also planned for marketing and sales efforts to ensure that the product is effectively promoted and reached its intended audience.
This is how I used the product discovery process to identify and validate a new product idea that met the needs of our customers and was likely to be successful in the market. By conducting market research, gathering feedback, analyzing competition, and creating a detailed product roadmap, we were able to increase our chances of developing a successful dashboard feature.
Actionable takeaways
- Conduct market research to understand the needs and wants of the target market and identify areas to differentiate your product and offer unique value to customers.
- Gather feedback from a diverse group of potential customers to validate the product idea and ensure it meets their needs.
- Analyze the competition to understand how your product compares to other offerings in the market and identify unique features or benefits that set it apart.
- Create a detailed product roadmap that includes the steps needed to bring the product to market, as well as plans for marketing and sales efforts to effectively promote and reach the intended audience.
- Continuously validate and gather feedback to improve the product
In summary, product discovery is a crucial step in the product development process. It helps companies identify and validate product ideas that meet the needs of their customers and are likely to be successful in the market. By conducting market research, gathering feedback, analyzing competition, and creating a detailed product roadmap, organizations can increase their chances of developing products that are in high demand and drive business growth.
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