What are the most common product launch issues and how can you address them?

In new product launches, short-term results are often overvalued leading to decisions that jeopardize long-term success. Yes, adoption is essential early in the launch, but most products are meant to live in your ecosystem for many years ahead. One example is selling to your current customers where a rush for rapid adoption might mean you over-communicate, make a mess of your messaging and spend resources selling to ineligible customers. Design an adoption strategy for the coming year or two, beyond the first quarter.

You must understand how ongoing technology innovation affects your product, within your target market. Can the product keep up with rapid shifts in market expectations.

Product launches could be done well with 2 simple steps: 1 - Invest more time in discovering what pains your product aims to solve. 2 - Start with an MVP and adapt it with the perspective of those who would pay for your product.

In my experience with B2B product launches, there are areas which are most always forgotten: 1) only focusing on the "push" factor & ignoring the "pull" approach 2) not giving tangible & substantiated "reasons to believe" in the value proposition of the product 3) lack of time & effort spent to accurately identify get the customer insight needed for a robust value proposition 4) lack of effective communication to relevant internal stakeholders, e.g. customer service, technical service, etc., before attempting at external communications 5) lack of resources & unwillingness to pull the plug/put hold on the product development when interest at customers seem to wane

I would add the following : - Do a Product x Sales Channel Matrix to get the right placement plan. - If you have significant MODERN TRADE contribution to sales, set up training sessions on PRODUCT USP / DELIVERABLES / RTB to Promoters. - Set up a sampling plan to widen the awareness of the new product.

Two key principles for launching a successful new product are applicability and scalability Before launching a product, it's crucial to identify a genuine customer pain point. This pain should not be limited to a single customer but should impact a significant number of individuals Furthermore, assess whether this pain point can be replicated across other customers. If the pain is specific to a particular customer, the new product may not be viable Strategies to identify genuine customer pain points: • Surveys among potential customers • One-on-one interviews with existing customers. • Sales & customer service data analysis to find patterns & recurring issues

This is a critical pitfall. Without proper market research, you risk developing a product that doesn't align with customer needs or market demands. Thorough market research and validation are essential not just in the initial stages, but throughout the development process. By intertwining rigorous market research with ongoing validation, we can significantly reduce the risk of a misfired product launch. It's about being customer-centric and data-driven in every aspect of product development and marketing. This way, we not only meet the market's current needs but are also well-positioned to anticipate and adapt to future changes.

I found doing market research is much easier with outside help. Someone like a startup mentor or a guide can help you with another pair of eyes. I know you could easily do it by yourself, but we have a strong confirmation bias when it comes to our products -> We will believe what we want to believe. I have seen it happen in practice. When a founder wasn't getting the answers they expected in an interview, they subconsciously started asking leading questions -> so they could confirm their idea. Eventually the interviewee caved and said "I think that's a great idea", the founder got the confirmation, yet the reality was quite different. Make sure your market research is objective and relevant.

I believe this step is critical and it even comes before any other step. Before going to develop or launch any product we have to make sure that this particular product is actually going to solve a painpoint or problem for its users. For this step there are multiple different tools and techniques. One that I usually suggest in digital products is to use Mom test. Mom test is basically a type of interview in which we can make sure that our target audience will buy and use our product and services without forcing them to say yes in the interview.

One sure way to fail at product launch is insufficient or inadequate market research. This will lead to poor planning and strategy, misalignment with the needs of the customers, ineffective communication like unclear messaging and wrong channels, ignorance of competitive landscape, ineffective positioning. Comprehensive research is pivotal for a successful launch, ensuring strategic positioning and clear market entry.

Product launches can take a page from agile project management and incorporate a fast fail approach. Instead of setting rigid launch plans and timelines, the idea is to structure it in phases or sprints, so you can see what worked/what didn't and iterate for the next sprint. In today's world of hyper fast innovation, competition and customer demand, launch plans should reflect the dynamic nature of bringing a product to market. This can eliminate an 'uh-oh' moment that could occur after spending 6 months to a year heads down on a launch only to find that too many things have shifted.

Having a defined launch plan is important for sure. Assigning roles and responsibilities, setting milestones and deadlines, and tracking and monitoring progress with regular stakeholder meetings is key to success. But also important, and not a lot of orgs do this, is defining phase gates along the way. These are hard stops in the launch timeline after key milestones like testing, sales training, etc. where the team checks on the progress of the launch and if the milestones are being met, and has a "no/no go" vote before continuing on to the next phase. This keeps everyone honest, and allows for adjustment of the launch date, if needed.

One of the most common errors companies and teams make in launching a new product is the lack of planning and a strong timeline. It's not only important to quantify these measurements, but also anticipate the possible delays and make decisions ahead of time on the priorities and necessity of meeting which priorities in order to launch effectively. There are times that a launch must balance business needs with GTM priorities.

Timing to launch the product is crucial, you have to determine which target group of customers are you targeting and when is the best season to attract their attention. For example, if you are targeting a corporate executive, you will try to avoid launching your product in a period where most of them will be on vacation leave. When working out your plan consider every detail and have a contingency plan in case things don't work out as planned.

Something not mentioned here is the importance of failing smart. You want to avoid creating grand plans that cost too much to realize at the end that due to some forgotten or not well thought issue it was all for nothing. I recommend to: - Use phases - Start with a "soft" launch, targeting friendly customers to get early feedback, and - Create Minimum Viable Products to start with.

One thing I find 99% of the companies often forget is: Testing strategies against the company. We know we have to test the strategies against the market (will the strategy work in the real world?) But we often forget that we need to test the strategy against the company as well. Ask yourself: - Can the team execute the strategy? - Do we have the budget to execute the strategy? - Do we have the assets needed to execute the strategy? If the answer is "no" -> simplify the strategy.

There always seems to be conflict or disagreement over adequate resources so it is critical to get all disciplines involved to debate and ultimately agree that available resources and cost and timing goals are realistic and achievable. And, since many project teams consists of individuals that report to a different functional managers, they should have candid conversations with their leaders on the goals. Lastly, what I have seen is that consequences on not meeting launch goals are not well understood. Unfortunately in many organizations, chaotic launches are the norm, often due to demanding schedules so the chaos becomes a way of life and seems normal.

I always believe marketing spending has to justify the sales and placement.Deep pockets are not possible with startups and small size companies. Marketing budget is crucial and should be spent wisely to make it happen.

While budgets will depend on the total A&P contribution derived from the GM% of the product, it is necessary to have a budget for product sampling, built in. The more you get the samples out, the more feedback you get, which can help to prioritze your activities accordingly or undertake course correction, wherever necessary.

It seems that many times it is the budget that dictates the marketing activities, while it should be the other way around. We should define the necessary activities for launching and find the budget for it. One way of going about this is by asking yourself the question: if it were my money, what would I choose to spend it on? Very quickly you will see what the prime marketing activities should be. The results of the activity must be monitored in order to excecute better or change strategy or tactics.

Two way timely communication is critical. When individual team members see their part of the execution having challenges, you need a culture that welcomes them to openly discuss the issues and seeking resolutions. Too often, teams wait too long to raise red flags, hoping for a miracle or even worse, hoping something else will bubble up so that their issue becomes secondary. A product launch team must have regular, clear and honest discussions and evaluations on progress.

When it comes to a product launch is like and baby born at the first day. From my experienced in Cambodia market, most of them has no clear communication which is the launch communication became a sale messages which is not considered as the brand launch message or so call brand USP. The launch idea is not campaignable enough and ran piece by piece not consistency. This, might came from the internal team has not aware of the long term brand strategy or how to kick off the brand right. This, might came from the internal managment has no clear about their business and brand objective or the agency partner might has no enough experience of the first product launching and creativities.

The hope of every new product launch is that it’s trying to solve for a customer’s pain in a better way than its competitors. The starting point of this process of explaining to the end user, are the internal champions or employees within the organisation. They need to be very clear about the product, its features and the selling points. Every member of the internal team should know and speak the same language. Thereafter the external or channel partners and customers need to be articulated the same thing very specifically. The important part is that the communication should be sticky so that even if the sale doesn’t happen, the prospect remembers the message communicated.

From my experience in the restaurant and coffee industry, within the communication and collaboration aspect, training the team on preparing the item the same way that it looks and is described in the content is key. Content is our promise to the customer. We are promising that you will get this fresh and juicy burger for example. If they buy it and they get a burnt patty, the wrong sauces, and stale vegetables, simply, they will not come back. Training the team on making the "promised" item is key and will go a long way in retaining customers and having them use word-of-mouth to advertise your brand.

Launching a product is a team effort. As such, you need to make sure that everybody shares the same vision, understands the goals and has clear responsibilities. And every team needs a leader that will steer all efforts to the desired direction. Select your leader wisely!

A lack of post-launch evaluation and improvement can lead to several negative consequences for a new product, such as Missed Opportunities for Growth, Decreased User Satisfaction, Stalled Product Development, Increased Costs nd Competitive Disadvantage,

We are quick to jump on new things. As Barney said in How I Met Your Mother, "New is always better". It's how our brain works. We complete a strategy and would want to quickly jump on another one. Adding a new feature, or creating a new marketing campaign. It's important we analyse the results from the previous campaign though. It's the only way to learn about what was good and what wasn't. By not analysing the strategy we just executed, we are bound to repeat the same mistakes again in the future strategies, leading us to run in circles.

A simple reality: only 20% of startups make it past their second year. This survival rate isn't just about having a great idea; it's about pursuing evolution. Key to this journey is listening, consisting of genuinely hearing what clients need, even when it pushes your product into uncharted territories. Innovative startups take this a step further. They sell features yet to be built (like Larry Ellison at Oracle), leveraging the sales cycle's duration to develop them. This strategy is about constantly reshaping your product to tap into broader markets, ensuring that innovation isn't a one-off event but a continuous process. It's a game of anticipation, where each client's feedback is a stepping stone to a more resilient, dynamic future.

If you've done adequate research, you should have a pretty good idea of the customer segments that you think will drive results and help you achieve your targets. With a measurement plan, you can monitor performance and course-correct if you need to make any changes to achieve your launch goals (and maybe inform improvements for future launch plans!).

This is crucial for recovering from poor launch performance, and for improving the results of the next launch. Be critical, no holds barred. If the launch underperformed, why, what stage would need improving? Market research (missed the mark), product design (feature creep? poor product performanc?), under funded in engineering or marketing? And most importantly, if the new product launch was a smashing success, identify why exactly so you can sure to repeat that next time.

One thing to consider, especially in B2B hi-tech, is the role industry analysts can play in a product launch. Often, organizations only want to share information about products that are fully baked to show evolution, roadmap checkmarks, and continued investment. Those things are good and necessary but getting the analysts input while you're still in the launch planning phase can reveal areas for improvement that you haven't thought about. I've heard product leaders say things like, "we don't want to get dinged by the analyst if this product doesn't work out." Any reputable analysts will reward you for including them in the product process, not just sharing the shiny, blinky object that is the end result.

Getting customers through the entire user experience as fast as possible and tracking their reaction every step of the way is an important aspect of the launch process too. It can provide quick meaningful insight on the buying process and surface any unexpected hurdles faced by the customers, help identify strong and weak features of the product and guide the development teams to streamlining users' journey to success. Ultimately, an important part of the launch team should commit to creating customer success stories - the reference that eventually will bring more people in.

Even if you have lined up all of the above (points 1 through 6), when you launch you must be able to tell the story to your prospects about how your new release improves their life, can be trusted to better/best solve their challenges and help achieve their ultimate goals. Even if you listened to your users and surveyed the field, developed the greatest features and made all the right product management moves, if you can't tell "the" good story you won't be successful.

Speaking as a Product Marketer, the coordination between Product and Marketing is crucial. The best technique is to create the press release for the launch at the beginning. That becomes a shared vision of the GTM launch message. It will change during development and testing, but think about it this way. While code is being written, PMM can validate the market and prepare draft messaging. Revise at launch time vs. create from scratch.

To me, the most common product launch issue is more foundational: Unclarity about three things: 1) The problem: What's the big problem you're addressing with this release/product. The one thing that people have been waiting to solve for too long. 2) Who's it for / not for: Who's suffering most from this problem and why? 3) The promise: How will their life be different once these people adopt your new product. Too many launches fall flat because of that - no matter how well they're organized.