The Art of
Launching
a Product
1
Table of Content
1. Introduction 3
2. Develop a Product Strategy 7
3. Conduct User Research 20
4. Create Value 28
5. Build a Prototype 33
6. Create Buzz 36
7. Analyse, Learn & Iterate 44
8. The Bottom Line 48
2
Introduction
3
The fact is, your digital product launch
strategy should be a core part of your
original product design and
development plan.
4
That’s partly why the legendary Seth Godin said:
“you can no longer say
marketing is what
I do at the end.
It is what you do at the
beginning”.
5 Introduction
That may explain why (from my experience) many experienced founders now try to
imagine the entire process that’d go into their digital product evolution.
They try to observe trends/behaviors and gather as much data/details as they can,
before taking any serious action towards product development or promotion.
As an emerging founder, you’ve probably imagined that you’d need to:
research your target market
Size up the competition
Assemble a team
And, finally, create your product.
Awesome!
Now, what next?
6 Introduction
Develop a Product
Strategy
Minimize risk, improve viability and impress
the target audience
7
I’ve found that many aspiring/new founders assume that they’d only need to start
thinking about product strategy (and launch strategy) after they’ve finished
developing their products.
This could be counterproductive.
The best time to develop your product
strategy (including your product launch strategy)
is before (not after) you finish developing
your product.
8 Develop a Product Strategy
A product strategy is the evolutionary vision of
the product. Whether you’re building a new product
from scratch or enhancing an existing one, a
well-defined product strategy helps you:
make better product decisions
promotes consistency between teams
and ensures that the product
will bring real value to the market.
In essence, your product strategy needs to
outline the following:
what your product is
where it’s going
why users need it
9 and how you will promote it to users.
This is where the product launch strategy is usually birthed.
Without a clear product strategy in place, you risk giving the product a bunch of
unnecessary features, replicating other products on the market, and/or putting
stakeholders’ wishes above users’ needs.
Basically, the lack of early product strategy may increase the odds of launching a
product that’s bound to fail.
Fortunately, a sound product/product launch strategy is not beyond what any
aspiring founder can put together.
10 Develop a Product Strategy
“By failing to prepare, you are
preparing to fail.”
Benjamin Franklin
11
Four Actionable Steps to
Building a Useful Product
Strategy Framework
As we already explained, having a product strategy in place is pivotal
to the creation of a viable product that would stand the chance to remain
in the market for the long term. Thus,
to develop a solid product strategy
framework, you need to:
1) Clarify your business objectives
2) Get to know your competitors
3) Get to know the intended users
4) Be sure to document your findings
12 Develop a Product Strategy
1) Clarify Your Business Objectives
Conduct stakeholder interviews to learn more about the digital product you’re
creating. Find out about any conflicting views, possible constraints, and practical
solutions.
Questions to ask:
Why are you building this product?
Who is it for?
What problem(s) does it solve?
How is it different from other products?
How will you profit from it?
What is the ultimate goal that this product is designed to fulfill?
13 Develop a Product Strategy
2) Get to Know Your Competitors
Discover direct and indirect competitors who are attempting to solve the same
problem. Analyzing the competitive landscape will help you understand the
product differentiators and achieve unique positioning in the market.
Questions to ask:
Who are your competitors?
What features do they offer?
How much does their product cost?
What are the key differentiators?
How are they promoting their product?
14 Develop a Product Strategy
3) Get to Know the Intended Users
Understand who your users are so you can shape your product to their needs. You
also need to know where they are in the digital world, the common digital products
they typically use, and the kind of influencers and digital tribes they generally be-
long to.
Try to validate your assumptions by conducting user research, which should involve
speaking to prospective users or users of your competitor’s products (more on this
later).
15 Develop a Product Strategy
Questions to ask:
Who are your target users?
Where can you find them online?
Who do they listen to?
How do they behave?
Which similar products (direct or indirect) do they currently use?
How do they typically use those products?
What problems and frustrations do they currently have?
How can your product help them?
16 Develop a Product Strategy
4) Be Sure to Document Your
Findings
Gather everything you’ve learned about your business, competition, and users, and
document it. This way, you and your team will always have something to fall back on
for clarity and direction.
Questions to ask:
What have you learned from the findings?
How will the findings help you improve the product?
Are there any unsolved constraints?
17 Develop a Product Strategy
Note:
The product strategy framework (at this stage) should not impose
specific/final solutions. Instead, it should serve as a reference point to help teams
prioritize tasks, assist in the decision-making process, and strengthen consistency
among teams/units.
Thing is, there’s still a need to go the extra mile in user research before making
concrete decisions on strategy.
18 Develop a Product Strategy
“Don’t find customers for your
products, find products for your
customers.”
Seth Godin
19
Conduct User Research
Gain valuable insight into the behavior/motivations of your
primary target audience
20
You might think you’ve got an awesome product idea. But how certain
are you that people need it, and will be willing to pay for it sustainably?
No matter how good a product is, it’s useless if nobody wants it.
Again, it’s vital to conduct user research early in the
product development phase to determine what users
want and more importantly, need from your product.
This way, you can make quality decisions regarding
your digital product.
21
Four Effective
User Research Methods
Any Aspiring Founder Can
Deploy Quickly
Ready?
Try one or a mix of the following user research
methods to help you better understand your
target audience:
1) Create user personas
2) Conduct user surveys
3) Hold user interviews
4) Observe people using your product
22 Conduct User Research
1) Create User Personas
User personas are a representation of your target user group.
They are a valuable research tool to help you understand how to build and market
your product to a specific group of people.
The aim of personas is to prioritize problems and solutions by predicting user
behavior.
A good user persona incorporates:
the ideal user’s demographic profile
professional background
Motivations
Frustrations
goals
23 Conduct User Research
2) Conduct User Surveys
User surveys are a good way of collecting quantitative data about your users
before a product is designed or released.
To carry out a survey, develop a list of questions that validate or refute any of your
assumptions.
If possible, reach out to existing users or find survey participants via social media
and online advertising. Just remember not to get too carried away with your
questions or else people will skip the survey.
24 Conduct User Research
3) Hold User Interviews
In-person interviews let you gather qualitative data about your users, their
thoughts, and experiences. Since interviews are more flexible, you can delve
into more detail about how users interact with your digital product and
the quality of their interactions.
To get the most useful information out of interviews, avoid leading, closed,
or vague questions that only elicit “yes” or “no” responses.
This way, you will extract more useful information from users.
25 Conduct User Research
4) Observe People Using
Your Product
Another effective way to understand user behavior is to watch how
people use your product.
The goal of this research method is to observe how users navigate
their way toward the successful completion of the task at hand.
Therefore, this method is also ideal for testing the proficiency
of your UX design. To make the most of this user research
method, ask users to perform specific tasks and
encourage them to talk you through the process.
26 Conduct User Research
For accurate results, keep any interference at an absolute minimum.
Also, again, you want to get as much information on your competitors as you can.
What trends are they following
How are they promoting their products
What features do they have?
Looking at how your competitors are positioning themselves in the market is
crucial to launching and positioning your own digital product. You may also use
this new information to update/validate your initial product strategy framework.
Once your product strategy framework and user experience research are in
place, the next thing is to design a process that would ensure that legendary user
experience and enviable customer experience are a core part of your product
delivery.
27 Conduct User Research
Create Value
Define and communicate product value through
an impeccable UX and CX process
28
You cannot launch a digital product without first laying the foundations for
great user experience (UX) and customer experience (CX). Providing a seamless
UX and CX will increase product value and make it easier to achieve your
business goals.
Therefore, you should work hard to fine-tune both your UX and CX strategy
before launching your digital product.
But aren’t UX and CX pretty much the same? No, they’re not.
UX looks at how users interact with a specific digital product and their overall
experience using it. Specifically, UX deals with the design of a product’s
interface in terms of usability, navigation, predictability, visual hierarchy,
and information architecture.
29 Create Value
On the other hand, CX has a broader scope and looks at how users interact
with all aspects of a brand including:
Products
customer service
sales process
Advertising
brand reputation
pricing
And how the user feels about them.
Now that you know the difference between UX and CX, you probably want to
improve yours as soon as possible.
30 Create Value
Five Actionable Keys to Awesome
Customer Experience
For great customer experience, you should focus on:
1) Communication: Simplify communication processes for easier, real time
interactions.
2) Personalization: Let users personalize aspects of their experience.
3) Customer centricity: Put your customers first at every stage of the
customer journey.
4) Speed: Respond to customers’ needs and requests as soon as possible.
5) Proactivity: Be proactive rather than reactive when dealing with customers.
31 Create Value
Once you’re done with the preliminary product/competition/user research,
you’d be able to formulate a clear hypothesis regarding your product’s
viability and the potential impact it would have on the market.
Now it’s time to prove/disprove that hypothesis through prototype testing.
32 Create Value
Build a Prototype
Create a prototype of your intended product and test it
33
A prototype is one of the best ways to demonstrate the value of a product to
prospective users. Releasing a prototype of your Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
before the official launch date helps paint a clearer picture of how users can use
and interact with your product.
Just think about how much easier it would be to sell a product that you can
actually show to users. It requires less imagination and getting
a sneak-peek of the product scraps any doubts that
potential users may have about buying it.
Draw on your findings from your
market research to build a prototype,
and then conduct beta testing on real
users.
34 Build a Prototype
Beta testing lets you confirm launch date
readiness, evaluate customer experience early on,
and more importantly, build product awareness.
By doing so, you can identify any problems and
solve them accordingly.
If your earlier hypothesis is disproved, a flaw is
discovered, or something is found to be wrong
during the testing period, it’s all good. That’s the
time to go back and fix the problem (hopefully)
without a monumental liability. But if all goes
well, then you’re all set to launch. But, between
the period of successful prototype test and
the official launch date is a period that
can be used for pre-launch activities.
35
Create Buzz
Use the pre-launch period to build strong anticipation
for your product launch
36
This stage focuses on what you need to do in the time leading up to your
official digital product launch which is usually weeks
(and sometimes months) in advance.
The pre-launch stage is the perfect opportunity
to stir the waters, spread the word, and prepare
your audience for what’s coming.
37 Create Buzz
If you have done a good job from the onset, you’d find it easier to capture
the attention of your target audience (and their influencers); and credibly spread
your product’s uniqueness (and value) on the right media platforms/channels.
The idea is to create a massive buzz and anticipation that builds up to the
official launch date. At a bare minimum, you need to deploy a mix of
communication tactics strategically in order to have a
successful product launch.
38 Create Buzz
“You can’t sell anything if you can’t
tell anything.”
Beth Comstock
39
Seven Pre-Launch Tactics You Can
Use To Generate Buzz and Build
Anticipation For Your
Digital Product
You can have a super cool product, but without promoting it, no one will hear about
it. Generating buzz is one of the most important elements of taking your product to
market.
Depending on your existing clout, budget and overall marketing strategy, below is a
non-exhaustive list of some effective pre-launch tactics you can use to promote your
product leading up to the big day: A strategic mix of all the entire tactics may create
more buzz.
40 Create Buzz
1) Build Landing Pages
Create a landing page with key information about your product. Add
a countdown timer to generate extra anticipation.
2) Set Up a Pre-Orders System
Set up a separate landing page where users can pre-order your product. Offering
the option to pre-order will tell you if people are actually interested in your product.
3) Distribute Press Releases
Write a press release and distribute it across different news outlets.
This way, you can increase your exposure and outreach.
41 Create Buzz
4) Use Email Broadcasts
Send out a set of email campaigns to your audience. Partners/influencers may
also be engaged to do this as part of the overall strategy. Use emails to inform
people about what your product is about, when it will be released, and how it
will benefit them.
5) Publish Blog Series
Create shareable content about your product and related topics. This will bring
traffic to your website and increase your visibility.
42 Create Buzz
6) Post Social Media Updates
Establish your presence on various social media channels to create even more
noise about your product and upcoming launch.
7) Offer the Early Adapters an Early
Bird Deal
Offer a discounted price for early birds interested in your product. This pricing tactic
can significantly drive sales at launch.But, even after the official release, strategic
pricing models can be used to either drive or control sales at post-launch phase.
43
Analyse,
Learn & Iterate
Review your metrics and reevaluate your methods at the
post-launch phase
44
After you have officially launched your product, you should focus on user
evaluations and gathering feedback.
Here are the questions you should ask yourself post-launch:
How many conversions did I get from my website?
If the number is not what you anticipated, review your UX design
to identify any obstacles in the customer journey.
What feedback did I receive from users?
Take the positive and negative feedback you
receive from users and use it to refine your UX and CX.
What can I do to increase conversions and
generate new leads?
Think of new ways to reach out to users, such as free trials,
demos, resources, and product videos.
45 Analyse, Learn & Iterate
Speaking of conversions and leads, one tried-and-tested way to
capture new leads is to use a conversion-centered design.
The seven main principles of a conversion-centered design include:
Encapsulation. Use a tunnel-like effect to guide users’ eyes to your CTA.
Contrast. Make your CTA stand out by using a color that contrasts with
the background.
Directional cues. Place arrows or pathways to direct users to your CTA.
White space. Use plenty of white space to make your CTA button easier to spot.
Urgency and scarcity. Compel users to make faster purchasing
decisions with triggers.
Try before you buy. Allow users to try your product before buying it.
Social proof. Gain trust from users by displaying testimonials or ratings
from other users.
46 Analyse, Learn & Iterate
But don’t stop here.
Continue to look at your metrics and analytics to understand user behavior.
The data you collect will help you tweak your product and drive even more
conversions further along the road.
47 Analyse, Learn & Iterate
The Bottom Line
48 The Bottom Line
Launching a digital product is nothing short of exciting or terrifying. This
is why it’s essential that you plan accordingly and execute effectively.
The future of your digital product depends on what you do now and the
choices you make to improve your UX. So, make your actions count and
stay ahead of the curve.
49 The Bottom Line
Thank you
Written by Adam Fard, founder & lead UX designer at adamfard a UX design agency,
helping startups & big brands to improve the usability of their products and realize
their business goals.
For more information, visit adamfard.com
or read our UX Design Blog dedicated to Startups, Entrepreneurs & Designers.
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