7 Stages of Product Development Process

Bringing a new product to life can be challenging, especially, if you do not have a certain route to take your idea from birth to customers. You are sure that your product has a huge potential and can bring value to a target market, but you may not even know where to begin. The product development process is a fool-proof blueprint which means a strategy that will help you create and successfully launch a brand-new idea to market. In this article, we discover what the new product development process is and break it down into seven product development process steps.

What is the New Product Development Process?

The new product development process, also known as NPD, is the process of converting an idea into a workable product at its ultimate launch. This can apply to developing a newfound product, improving an existing one, or bringing an old product to the market. There are such NPD as Trello, Zoom, Figma, and so on.

The new product development process comes in handy when a software company is looking for a proper disciplinary approach to make a new product successful. The purpose of it is to humanize technology to satisfy the requirements of customers. These are the following results of effective NPD:

• building new business prospects and expanding existing ones;
• increasing margins and capacity;
• enhancing client experience.

The right product development process steps are important for companies as there are so many functions that need to be coordinated.

Benefits of the New Product Development Process

The two main advantages of the new product development process are:

1. Grab opportunities. Customers’ preferences and interests change over time, and new product development can help businesses capitalize on opportunities to market to these changing tastes and interests.
2. Keeping up. A product line that stays unchanged over time may seem worn out and stale to consumers in a world where the majority of customers cannot keep up with the rapid introduction of game-changing innovations. A business can remain relevant in the quickly changing market of today by developing new products.

All businesses should get started by clarifying the problem they are going to solve. It is vital to keep looking for competitors and their products. Remember it when businesses develop new ideas.

What Are the Seven Product Development Process Steps You Should Learn?

These may be difficult to map out correctly, but over time when you scale a product you can get a better idea about the stage of product development, it is in. Additionally, with added innovation and new features, the modern product development process becomes increasingly complex. However, it helps to understand the nuances between stages and how products are affected by their industry trends.

The process of product creation in different companies differs depending on:

• industry and its specificity;
• type of product;
• timing of its implementation.

These are 7 product development process steps that you can formalize that will keep you innovating in the most flexible, sustainable, and profitable way.

Step One: Idea Generation

You have got to start somewhere, right? Even if it is on a bar napkin or in the Notes app on your phone. Just recall the story of Apple starting in garages.

Product development process step №1 is the generation of a good old-new-fashioned idea. The goal of this stage is to get as many viable ideas as possible. How do you make the most out of your idea-generation sessions? You need to start by identifying genuine customer needs. You should answer fundamental questions such as Who is your customer? What specific needs will the new product satisfy? How can you communicate the product’s value?

Step Two: Idea Screening 

The generated ideas must go through a rigorous screening process to evaluate and eliminate concepts that will not work. Oftentimes there may be too many ideas generated. Some ideas will have to be prioritized, others not. Thus, idea screening comes in handy.

The appropriate decision-makers should select the most useful idea. Remember: even if someone like Elon Musk pitches an idea, the company should still be cautious with it.

Step Three: Prototyping

The prototyping stage of product development breathes life into your idea. The developers’ team should focus on creating a mockup or Minimal Viable Product (MVP) that reflects the final product.

The essential of MVP is to launch with something that works well enough for early adopters, so you can figure out if anyone would pay for your product. The completed prototype should provide enough detail for you or your engineering team to start building the product.

Step Four: Product Development

Based on customers’ reviews you can apply some improvements and tweaks to your prototype. The next stage of product development is product creation itself. 

It entails turning the idea concept into its actual design and manufacture of the physical product. At this stage, your product development team combines tons of research, discussion, and planning.

Step Five: Proof Testing

Then comes the proof testing, the process of piloting the new product with a small group of target users to iron out technical issues or add in-demand features. There are four ways to get feedback on your new product:

• focus groups;
• monadic testing;
• surveys;
• comparison testing.

Testing is not a one-time process. You will likely need to modify it several times before you get a manufacturing-compatible concept.

Step Six: Launching

Now, the exciting time has come to launch your product. You need to make sure that your customer support, sales, marketing, and product teams are in place to guarantee success launching.

As your product has been launched, do not suggest your work is all done. One will still need to monitor and measure the progress of your product. The business environment is ever-changing, so you need to bring changes to stay up-to-date.

Step Seven: Commercialization

Commercialization is an umbrella term that entails varied strategies to ensure the success of the new product. At this ultimate stage, you introduce your products to the market. It is the culmination of previous product development process steps, where end-users can finally try what you created.

Here, the business launches its promotion campaign for the new product. The market research conducted during the conception stage influences the timing and location of the product launch.

Conclusion

The basic stages of product development are in the sections above. Of course, there are no two products and no two teams alike. And as you move through each stage of product development, you may find that your process looks a bit different than was outlined here. You can turn an idea into a marketable product by understanding each step and its objectives.Companies usually turn to specialists to develop NPDs. It seems costly, but as a result, you will save much more, both money and time. Here at GrandySoft will help you launch a new product on the market and attract users. If you want to find out more, you can give us a call at +380939227888 or simply contact us today. Send us your request, and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Let’s make your business a success!