You’ve launched your product! There’s no time to rest on your laurels though, there is still work that needs to be done.
Business was never about create and launch, it was always about selling more of what you are already selling. It’s time to begin that process. Out the gate there are two different points that have to be measured. Some companies slide on the first one but it’s recommended you do not.
It’s time for post launch analysis. Step 1...
The core of post launch analysis is product measurement. No you don’t want to measure the dimensions of it. Lientz and Rea in Project Management for the 21st Century note that it needs to be determined how good or bad your product is.
This is similar to project testing but there are notable differences. Project testing is internal. Product testing is internal and external and can change over time based on market conditions and the audience.
This is where you look at all the feedback of actual users and make changes from there. Let’s look at an interesting example: video games.
In the realm of video games there is a type of genre called real time strategy which is very similar to virtual chess except instead of turns people are allowed to make moves at any given time. A few years ago there were two franchises in this genre that really stood out: Starcraft and Command and Conquer. Starcraft is published by Blizzard, Command and Conquer by EA. Blizzard is notorious for listening to community feedback and making changes to its games so they remain fair and fun to play by everyone. EA by contrast tends to release games, update them once or twice and then call it good.
It’s probably no surprise then that Starcraft 1 and 2 are enjoyed by audiences on a global level where Command and Conquer simply isn’t. All around the world massive crowds of people gather together in convention centers and even bars to enjoy live competition of Blizzard’s games.
Since Blizzard continually measures its games to ensure they’re the best they possibly can be they have grown to utterly dominate the real time strategy video game scene. Literally no other game on the planet comes close to the sales, community, or support this game has.
That’s why you measure your product, not just internally but externally as well. What would your company be able to do with that many true fans of your products? It should come as no surprise that Blizzard is a dominant player in the video game scene – despite the fact that they’ve released only three games in the last decade.
Let us not forget the reason why we went into business in the first place: To generate profits. Profits are the core of any business venture and beyond all else this needs to be mapped.
So how did the launch go? Did it generate your firm millions or...fall a little flat on projections?
Take the time to figure out why. What went wrong and how can it be fixed for next time. Was it an abject failure or just miss the market a little bit?
If your company was the first to market you likely saw some big advantages for being the innovator. Iyikoey and Qvist in The Timing Of New Product Launch state that the first mover basically finds itself in a monopoly situation where it has the increased ability to benefit from learning curve effects, the possibility of building customer awareness, good reputation, and the ability to lock customers to its product due to switching costs. It has been pointed out by Lee et al. that the earlier a firm enters a market ahead of competition the higher the chances of abnormal profits.
You also had disadvantages in not knowing the exact demand for the product or perhaps you introduced an underdeveloped product. This provides a couple great things for you to check while measuring your product.
Now that you’ve reviewed the financials and measured the product it’s time to make some changes. Where did the product fall short of expectations? Where would your target market like it to be better? What do you need to do in order to boost aggregate sales?
Put everything through a feedback loop. You’ve acted, now it’s time to make corrections so you can sell more and start doing better. Product version 2.0 should come out better than 1.0 and it’s up to you to make it happen.