If you need a refresher – or first lesson – on the new product development process, you’ve come to the right place.
When I tried to understand on my own how to generate and bring a new idea to market, I encountered so much vague advice that I decided to reach out to product development professionals to summarize their tips for success.
And with a wealth of information, the path to taking a product from idea to market became much clearer.
The first important lesson I learned from the pros is that developing new products is a long and winding road, whether you are a small business owner developing your first idea or a successful company entering a new market want.
And that’s exactly why you need a step-by-step strategic process – like the one I’m about to describe – to get the vision out of your head and into the real world, where it can be picked up and bought by the right People.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the steps, how to implement them, and the mistakes you should avoid. I’ll also discuss some real-world examples of new product development and the lessons I can take home from examining their successes and failures.
Table of contents
What is product development?
Before we delve too deeply into this, let’s first define “product development.”
The easiest way to think of it is as a life cycle. It is the journey of developing a product, from conception to launch and even beyond when you measure its success.
New product development (NPD) is the journey of a completely new concept to the market. This is different from improving an existing product or building a product based on an idea that has already proven successful.
In any case, the goal of product development is to find solutions that meet customer needs.
When do you need an NPD process?
Every time you develop a new product, you need a robust and strategic process to organize your workflows and teams and ultimately contribute to success.
This allows you to break tasks into parts, ensure you don’t miss any important steps, and collaborate across teams so all the expertise at your disposal isn’t wasted.
It doesn’t matter whether the product you’re creating is a physical object or is designed for e-commerce, as the process is largely the same.
It’s about identifying a market need, developing a concept, designing a model and bringing a product to market – with lots and lots of research and iteration at every stage along the way.
That’s why one of the biggest pieces of advice I heard from people on the ground was to bring all your teams together and have them work together as early as possible in the process.
Who should be involved in the new product development process?
So who exactly should you get to work with? This depends on the product you are creating and the size of your company. However, in general, you should include marketing, design, engineering, manufacturing, development, and sales teams.
Additionally, you will likely need a product manager to lead the entire NPD process and oversee cross-team tasks. And if the project is large, you may also want to bring a project manager on board to track goals.
“I involve all relevant teams from day one, from development to marketing.” John RussoVice President of Healthcare Solutions OSPtell me. This can help you avoid subsequent communication failures.
Additionally, “isolated teams hinder innovation.” Simon LeeCEO of Viewadds. “Early on when we were building our first app, I brought in a marketing expert to help craft user personas and messaging.” This type of collaboration can go a long way toward developing products that resonate better with users.
Remember that developing a new product is not only a strategic but also a creative undertaking. So this is the type of collaborative team you want to foster before you even start.
Finally, you need to involve potential users at every stage of the process. Because users are the focus of NPD, their feedback can determine the success of your product.
What is the new product development process?
As I learned from the experts, there can be big differences in how the new product development process is carried out depending on the industry, company size and product.
But as I said, Every company – large or small – goes through seven essential phases to develop a new product.
If you follow the steps below and learn from the ups and downs of people who have been through this before, you can be sure you’re on the right path.
However, as I discovered, the NPD road is bumpy. There will certainly be hiccups – but that’s just part of the process.
Remember that while product development can be a lengthy process that requires iteration, everything is done to ensure your product is the best it can be before it goes to market and reaches your customers. It’s about solving their needs in the best possible way, and this process will help you do that.
Now let’s discuss the different phases of the new product development process.
7 phases of the New Product Development (NPD) process
- Idea generation
- Research
- planning
- Prototyping
- Test
- production
- marketing
1. Idea generation
The new product development process begins with idea generation, where you brainstorm an idea (or ideas) that will help you solve a customer problem in a new and innovative way.
When developing ideas to help you solve customer needs, it’s important to have a solid understanding of your target market and the pain points you’re trying to solve.
But how do you get to know your target market and their pain points? That’s the question I asked the pros and they had all sorts of advice.
“Social listening,” he says Michael Nemeroffthe CEO and co-founder of RushOrderTees“is a great place to start if you’re getting into NPD and don’t know where to start.” This is the practice of using social media conversations as data to see what’s happening online about your company and the competition is said.
“You can observe what’s working and what’s not working for customers in the current market, so you can improve and differentiate new offerings,” says Nemeroff.
John Russo has a different tactic. “I often lead brainstorming sessions by analyzing new trends, customer feedback and technological advances. The key here is brainstorming from the user’s perspective – what problem do they want to solve?”
“Immerse yourself in the customer environment,” Simon Lee advises me. “Spend time where your users live or work. For example, while developing a productivity app, I visited local coworking spaces to observe behaviors and interactions.”
And this first-hand observation demonstrated an urgent need for a new tool.
The important point here is that you cannot develop ideas in a vacuum. Even if you’re just throwing out ideas, you’ll still need a little research to get started.
2. Research
Once you have developed and selected one or two product ideas, the next step is to conduct more in-depth research to flesh out those ideas. To do this, you can take various steps such as:
- Market research to understand the current sentiment in your industry and find out if there are gaps where your product fits or if there is a demand for it.
- Competitive analysis to understand whether customers think there are things that your competitors’ products or services are missing that you can incorporate into your product to better meet the needs of your target market.
At this stage, you should also get more feedback from customers about what they think of your ideas before creating a final definition for your product.
This type of validation is designed to ensure you don’t waste time, money, or energy on a product that won’t sell.
One of the best ways to get this feedback from existing customers is through surveys, where you can easily and quickly collect information.
A high quality tool like Lucky orange can help you create these surveys, asking multiple-choice questions about types of products they might be interested in, or open-ended questions that give you more insight into customers’ opinions.
This phase will likely require some repetition, as your research may show you that you need to refine your original ideas and adjust your research scope before moving on to the next phase.
When I asked Rob StevensonFounder of BackupVaultRegarding his approach, he replied, “My first NPD experience made me realize how easy it is to get excited about product features without fully understanding the problem you’re trying to solve.”
While his team initially focused on adding tons of features, “users really needed simplicity and reliability.”
After this shift in focus, user decisions at each stage were based on user needs.
3. Planning
The third phase is planning, where you clarify your final product idea/definition and start developing plans to bring it to life. This step can look like a blueprint or a sketch where you specify all the details.
For example, if you are creating a physical product, this is where you need to source the necessary materials or find production partners to help you create it.
Planning also includes consolidating your marketing strategy so that you can market your product effectively once it is completed. Which pricing models make sense? What do customers pay?
Now is the time for what matters. However, you can make this step easier by automating your marketing efforts with HubSpot Marketing Hub to unify customer insights and help you generate leads.
However, having a plan doesn’t mean it’s set in stone.
“Build flexibility into your development process,” Rob Stevenson tells me. “A rigid roadmap can actually limit the potential of your product.”
4. Prototyping
In the prototyping phase, you design a sample product to demonstrate what will result from mass production. In this phase, your idea goes from 2D to 3D.
Your prototype – which is a very rough sample – will help you identify risks before you begin full production.
It’s also something tangible that you can show to stakeholders and potential users to get them on board, as Nemeroff emphasized to me. Even if you have a small team, “learn CAD and 3D print your prototype,” he recommends.
This prototype will later become your Minimum Viable Product (MVP), the most basic version of your tool ready for release. Prototypes can help you get a sense of how your product works and identify any areas that need improvement before building a more expensive product.
You may create multiple prototypes and go back and forth between this phase and the testing phase before you have a finished prototype.
“The biggest lesson I learned in the NPD process is a systematic approach to prototyping,” says the product developer Gavin Yi talks about his experiences as CEO of Yijin Hardware.
“Prototyping is the time for experimentation, but some product developers get too carried away and spend too much time in this phase. Prototypes should not focus on perfecting the design, but rather on testing assumptions and validating solutions.”
5. Testing
Before you launch your product, you need to test it to ensure that it works as advertised and effectively meets your customer needs. In this phase, you share your prototypes with target audiences and ask for actionable feedback on how the product works.
Essentially, you want your product to be used in situations that resemble real-world use cases, so you know exactly what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes the results of your testing require you to go back and make changes to your prototype, as mentioned above.
“One thing I learned was that going too fast sometimes means cutting corners, which can be painful in the long run,” notes Rob Stevenson. When you release early versions of your product to collect feedback, make sure you maintain a certain level of quality.
“If the product is defective or doesn’t deliver as promised, early adopters won’t come back. “Finding the balance between speed and quality was something we had to master quickly,” he tells me.
Once you feel your prototype is finished and ready to meet your customers’ needs, start production.
6. production
In this phase, the final product is created, which will be commercialized upon completion. You use the insights from testing your prototypes to put the finishing touches on your product and begin mass production.
Depending on the type of business you have, you probably have a different production process. For example, if you are a SaaS company, your internal Software development or programming teams will likely work to complete the code.
When you create a physical product, you can outsource the labor for certain components and assemble the final products in your warehouse.
Regardless of your process, your planning phase should have helped you determine the flow of the production phase.
Especially for small businesses Brooke WebberMarketing Manager at Ninja patchesreminds me that it is important to determine the manufacturing details early to avoid delays. The slightest changes at this stage can increase production time. Changing “even a simple stitch,” she says, can throw off your schedule.
7. Commercialization
The final phase of your new product development process is commercialization, where you bring your products to market. This is the culmination of your brainstorming, research, and iteration, where your audience can finally use what you’ve created.
You implement your marketing plans to make your target groups aware of your new product and initiate campaigns that entice them to become customers.
Although this is the final phase, many companies launch their products and return over time to make improvements to their products based on customer feedback and market changes to ensure they always provide the best possible customer experience.
“Adopt the MVP mentality,” advises Lee. “Focus on bringing the simplest version of your product to market that solves a core problem.” This way, consistent iteration is built into the process.
And it’s important to remember that sometimes the market just isn’t ready for a new idea. Russo tells me that “a very common pitfall is underestimating or overestimating market readiness.” Don’t be discouraged. It might just be the wrong time for your new and great idea.
Examples of new product development
My favorite approach to understanding expert advice in practice is to look at real-world examples. And case studies – especially when they are well-known – are the perfect way to discover patterns and learn from the past.
To that end, I’ve compiled three classic cases of products that succeeded or failed in epic fashion in the market. And while not every product will be such a headliner, the lessons from these cases can be applied to any NPD process (even yours).
Amazon Kindle
Although Amazon didn’t produce the first e-reader, it was the first to achieve widespread success. In 2007, the year the first Kindle came out, Amazon was an online bookseller – not a hardware developer. Still, it knew its target audience (readers) and knew that reading online was an unpleasant experience.
The goal was to develop an e-reader that was thin, light and comfortable to hold (like paper). It included a dictionary, search function and built-in Wi-Fi – a unique feature at the time – making almost 90,000 titles instantly available.
The new device was like reading a book, but with thousands of titles.
The first Kindle sold out just five and a half hours after its release. But despite its great success, Amazon continued to develop the product. Each package included a thank you note with an email address where you can provide feedback. And this later gave rise to new functions desired by users, which cemented the Kindle’s place in the market.
My most important findings: Know your users’ pain points inside and out. Build a product that addresses these vulnerabilities and only add features that build on the specific solution. And even if you’re successful, you still need to iterate and listen to feedback to continue that success in the future.
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Nintendo has released countless products over the years, but 1983’s NES changed the face of video gaming by shifting its design, marketing, and overall concept to the US market.
In the early 1980s, U.S. consumers were saturated with video games, making marketing a new gaming console difficult. To combat this, Nintendo moved away from video game marketing and referred to its new product as an “entertainment system.”
As household computers were on the rise and on everyone’s lips, this trend continued with a gray, blocky design (reflecting early home computers) and cassette tapes that were inserted into the console in a similar way to VHS tapes being inserted into a VCR (technology, the… was both familiar and state-of-the-art back then).
Every time Nintendo tested its product with consumers Aadapted its concept to get closer to the final product before its launch, which ultimately marked its place in history.
My most important findings: Flexibility and adaptation to the market can determine the success or failure of a product. Understand not only what users need, but also how to appeal to the larger market to find where your product fits. Be prepared to adapt at every level, from concept and design to branding and market approach.
Google Glass
Achievements are not the only (or perhaps even the best) way to learn by example. Sometimes looking at a massive failure can teach a meaningful lesson.
In the case of Google – with its much-lauded smart glasses that failed to catch on with consumers after several new releases – there were problems with design, technology and marketing from the start.
Google Glass was released several times from 2013 to 2023 and was eventually finally scrapped.
The technology was worn on the face like any pair of glasses and offered, among other things, an integrated camera and hands-free computing, such as the ability to look at an object and identify it via an automatic Google search.
However, the problems began when the prototype was presented to a small, high-profile group with the intention of winning over the press. Early on, users noticed short battery life, poor photo quality, and discomfort while wearing the product.
Additionally, without proper marketing, there has been a flood of privacy concerns about the product’s features. Given the technical and design problems, the high price, and the lack of public understanding of the purpose, users were not ready to buy.
My most important findings: Understand your users’ core needs and don’t rely on assumptions. The coolest product in the world won’t sell if it doesn’t solve a real problem.
From brainstorming to reality
So now you can get started. By following the new product development process, you can put your brainstormed ideas into action and create a product or service that meets a customer need.
And if you succeed, you’ll have developed a valuable replication strategy that will help you continually innovate and develop new products to give your customers the delightful experiences they want.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2021 and has been updated for completeness.