95% of New Products Fail: How to reduce your risk

[djbaxter]

95% of New Products Fail: Successful SMB SaaS Products Must Solve Real-World Problems
by Bill Dinan, LSA Insider
May 6, 2019

According to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, of the 30,000+ new products that are introduced yearly, 95% fail. A percentage this high indicates that companies aren’t performing the necessary steps to conduct proper product market research.

Product managers, whose sole responsibility is orchestrating the development of various products, often times let their strategy fall to the wayside. In fact, a survey from Pragmatic Marketing Inc. revealed that only 28% of product managers spend any time strategizing, while the remaining 72% spend their time on tactics and execution. This lack of planning could explain why many new products often don’t succeed in their respective markets.

Rather than make assumptions about what you believe your SMB customer needs, take the time to discuss it with them directly. This can be done through customer surveys and focus groups. Consider the following questions:

• What problem(s) will this new product ideally solve for them?
• What capabilities are they looking for in a new product?
• What products are they currently satisfied with and why?
• How can those products be improved?

Read more...

See also: 95 Percent of New Products Fail. Here Are 6 Steps to Make Sure Yours Don't | Inc.com

I would argue that it's not just new products: the same applies to services and eCommerce websites. ~ djbaxter

 

[VirtualGlobalPhone]

It is true that today's customer is not only overwhelmed by the choice but also worried if the product or service purchased can at-least complete the life cycle of warranty / Guarantee period. e-Commerce is one such biggest vertical.

Having said, this is a time where more of industry level consolidation is happening so many new companies are jumping to get a bigger pie.

At the end of the day its run of Opportunist towards consolidator to seek there interest and attention.

 

[ckyap]

I blunder into good products sometimes forgetting them, they weren't that good, but you get what you pay for most of the time in a mature industry. I remember prune yogurt tastes like rum and raisin but didn't see anyone advertising it, it tasted great!

 

[ideasunlimited1]

I blunder into good products sometimes forgetting them, they weren't that good, but you get what you pay for most of the time in a mature industry. I remember prune yogurt tastes like rum and raisin but didn't see anyone advertising it, it tasted great!

That's interesting. I would be interested in seeing how you could market from that angle, since prune has such a connotation of being an 'old people' food, especially in my country.

 

[ckyap]

hahaha ... isn't rum n raisin everyone's favourite ice cream flavour?

 

[Julia Sta Romana]

This is why we often tell people to put most of their business planning efforts in marketing and research. Most business owners don't have unlimited resources. You need to be sure that there's a market out there for your product and they WANT to buy their product, even before you start selling.