The Five Secrets of a Successful Launch

WHITE PAPER

From BetaSphere

The Five Secrets Of A Successful Launch

The Five Secrets Of A Successful Launch

By Michael Shoppel and Philip Davis Each year, millions of dollars are wasted when products enter the market ill prepared to meet customer expectations and requirements. Insufficient customer feedback and lack of customer involvement during the development process are the key reasons for unsuccessful launches. Conversely, feedback from customers in your target market is the number one factor leading to successful product and website introductions. Customer-oriented development organizations have long championed the principle of active collaboration with target users during the development process. But even the most ardent promoters of bringing customers and partners into the product development process confront challenges when attempting to migrate the concept into practice. Early access programs, alpha and beta programs, pilot programs, and field trials are examples of customer feedback programs. These programs have both quantitative (e.g. find and fix bugs, assess interoperability, evaluate performance, etc.) and qualitative goals (e.g. market readiness, user acceptance, feature set completeness). These programs are logistically complex, and require a high degree of interaction with customers and your development team. While product teams are in many cases well prepared to manage the complexity of developing products, they are typically untrained, unequipped and unprepared for simultaneously managing customer feedback. Successfully validating your product with feedback from your target market will maximize market acceptance and minimize post launch costs. In this white paper we will explore the five key factors leading to successful customer feedback programs. These are the five secrets of a successful launch.

1.

Recognize the value of customer feedback during development

Return on investment (ROI) in customer feedback programs can be...