How to make strategic product decisions with Pretotyping

When it comes to developing a new product, it's essential to make strategic decisions that will set your product up for success. One powerful tool for achieving this is pretotyping. 

Pretotyping is a process that allows you to test your product idea with minimal resources before committing to a full-scale launch. By using pretotyping, you can gather valuable insights about your target customer, identify the problem you're trying to solve, and make data-driven decisions about your product. 

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Making Data-Driven Decisions vs. Relying on Opinions

One of the key benefits of pretotyping is that it allows you to make data-driven decisions about your product, rather than relying on opinions. While opinions can be valuable, they are often based on personal bias and can be misleading. On the other hand, data is objective and allows you to make decisions based on facts and evidence.

When you pretotype, you gather data by testing your product with real customers. This data  comes in the form of behavioural feedback, landing page usage statistics and funnel conversion rates. This information can help you understand how your target customers will interact with your product, what features they value, and what problems they are trying to solve when it is developed and launched.

It's important to note that data doesn't always provide a clear-cut answer. Sometimes, the data may be inconclusive or contradictory. In these cases, it's important to interpret the data in context and make a decision based on the most relevant information. This is also why Pretotyping works perfectly to validate your opinion-based research, giving you quantifiable insights that are reliable.

When gathering data, it's also important to keep in mind that it's not the quantity but the quality of data that matters. A small sample of highly relevant data can be more valuable than a large sample of irrelevant data which is where Pretotyping shines. Because you gather your audience from social media, you have unparalleled access to the exact target group you are looking for, in a more natural environment vs. finding a panel to fill in a survey.

Making data-driven decisions is essential for making strategic product decisions. Pretotyping is a powerful tool that allows you to gather data from real customers, which can help you make more informed decisions about your product. Always aim to gather relevant data and interpret it in context to make the best decision possible.

Aligning product goals to strategic goals

When developing products, it's important to ensure that the product goals align with the overall strategic goals of the company. This alignment is crucial for the success of the product and the company as a whole.

Before starting the Pretotyping process, it's important to define the strategic goals of the company. These goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART goals). Once these strategic goals are defined, the product goals should be developed in alignment with them.

For example, if the strategic goal of the company is to increase revenue, the product goals should focus on creating a product that will generate significant revenue. Similarly, if the strategic goal is to expand into a new market, the product goals should focus on creating a product that is tailored to the needs of that market.

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Consumer-centricity at it’s heart

One of the key purposes of Pretotyping is consumer-centricity, which means keeping the customer at the center of the process and understanding the needs and wants of your target customer so you can design your product to meet those needs.

To achieve consumer-centricity, it's essential to gather information about your target customer. This includes understanding their behaviors and preferences towards your products. Once you have this information, you can start the development.

During the product development process, it's important to involve your target customer in the testing and feedback process. Pretotyping perfectly embraces this methodology by involving customer behaviours and actions towards your products in a real-world environment, helping you to truly understand what the consumer wants.

Consumer-centricity is also important when it comes to making decisions about the final product. When faced with conflicting feedback or data, it's essential to prioritize the needs of the target customer over other considerations.

Pretotype BEFORE prototype

One of the key advantages of Pretotyping is that it allows you to validate your product idea before committing to a full-scale prototype. This can save a significant amount of time and resources, as building a full-scale prototype can be a costly and time-consuming process.

Pretotypes are quick and inexpensive to create and can provide valuable insights into how your target customer will interact with your product. By Pretotyping before prototyping, you can validate your product idea and identify any issues that need to be addressed. This can include identifying features that are not relevant to your target customer, identifying pricing points, or even discovering that the product idea is not viable.

Pretotyping also allows you to gather feedback from your target customer, which can be used to improve the final product. By involving your target customer in the pretotyping process, you can ensure that the final product meets their needs and addresses their pain points.