According to Mr. Clayton Christensen – a Harvard Business School professor, more than 95% of the products that are launched in the market end up failing miserably. But why is this the case? The most common answer to that question is a lack of preparation – or to put it more accurately, a lack of a proper product strategy.
If you are an e-commerce business owner, then you must have definitely witnessed times when your entire team is doing a lot of work, but you still feel that the project is not going anywhere. Unfortunately, this is quite a common occurrence and it often happens when you do not have a product development strategy in place.
What is an ecommerce product strategy?
An ecommerce product launch strategy is nothing but a sophisticated plan that describes what a business is planning to accomplish with its product, and also how exactly it plans to do so. A good product marketing strategy will always address concerns like who the product is going to serve (the target audience/customers), as well as precisely how it will benefit those customers that it’s serving. A product marketing strategy will also encompass the company’s overall goals throughout the lifecycle of the product. Suppose when you are launching products like beauty items which people prefer to shop online, you have to come up with an offer which can attract users.
How to create an efficient ecommerce product strategy?
If you are looking to create an efficient ecommerce product launch strategy then you are in the right place. In this article, we are going to address 5 of the major factors that must be included in your product strategy for ecommerce. So let’s get started;
- Map out your target audience
Since your product is made to be used by people, therefore putting the users and their needs before your product makes a lot more sense. The first thing that you must focus on is understanding who your product is for. Understanding the wants and needs of your customers before you even start developing the product is key in coming up with a great product development strategy.
The question then remains, how to know your target audience? Well, to know that you need to do a lot of research. In fact, user research should be an integral part of your design & development cycle. Understand your user demographics, their lifestyle, places they live, what motivates them, their pain points, challenges, hobbies, fears, etc. Then use that data to fine tune your product according to your customers. Based on that data one can easily project which audience can be targeted in which region. For example after research you can estimate people in dubai who like online shopping.
- Know the e-commerce customer life-cycle
There are 4 key parts in an e-commerce customer’s life cycle, which are; Acquisition, Conversion, Post Purchase, and Repurchase.You must deeply understand the role you play in each of the above life-cycle stages of the customer.
- In the acquisition stage, you must map out how you are going to acquire the customers and what channels you will use to do the same. This could include using social media marketing and SEO & SEM on Google.
- In the conversion stage, you have got your customers attention and now is the time to convince them that your product is the best fit for their wants/needs. This is done by using effective copywriting and making the buying process as seamless as possible. Your ecommerce product pricing strategy plays a major role in this stage.
- In the post purchase stage, you cannot leave your customers in the dark. This is where they expect you to give them accurate information regarding their shipment right until the time that the package reaches their doorstep.
- In the repurchase stage, you have already done the majority of the work such as acquiring and converting the customers. They have now engaged in a transaction with your e-commerce website. Now it is your job to utilize them by promoting more of your products that they might be interested in buying.
- Understand the customer’s problems
It is not possible to create an ecommerce product launch strategy without understanding your customers’ problems. After you map out your target audience and know their pain points, now you must figure out how your product can provide them with a solution to those problems. Make sure that your product is designed in a way that fills the gap in your customers life and provides actual value to them.
- Have a vision for your product
The main purpose of your product strategy is to define an end-to-end journey of your product. As with every other journey that you set out on, you cannot take the first step without having a vision of the destination you want to reach. If you do not have a vision, then naturally, you would end up lost. The same is true for your online shopping product strategy. Mapping out your journey to the best of your ability will also help you to understand the possible expenses and hence formulate a better ecommerce product pricing strategy.
- Define KPIs and success metrics
Although setting a direction is incumbent, it just isn’t enough. You also need to know how fast you are reaching that goal or it will take you forever to reach it. Having a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and other such trackable metrics help your entire team to measure their performance and know whether or not they are on the right track. Some examples of KPIs for your e-commerce product strategy could include – number of sales, number of items produced, number of returns, etc. As you can see, you can also create KPIs limits on negative metrics such as returns/refunds so that you are more aware of your plans.
Final Thoughts
Your product strategy is a major factor that determines your end-user experience, especially regarding online shopping. If you are serious about achieving your ultimate goal; i.e. delivering the right features, to the right people, with the best possible user experience – then an ecommerce product strategy is essential for your success. However, it is not enough to just plan the strategy, what matters even more is the execution. But a product strategy can give you a lot of clarity.