When it comes to industrial design, every stage is integral for creating a successful product. However, many business owners are quick to undervalue the importance of market research. In these cases, some may opt to not conduct proper research. In actuality, this is a grave error as market research can quite literally determine the performance of the product’s final design. Is your team putting enough effort into this essential step? Here, we’ll discuss what market research entails, how exactly it can elevate your business to the next level, and why you should outsource to an industrial design company to take on this significant task.
Defining market research
Market research is a vast stage in product development. Simply put, it’s the phase in which designers analyze every detail there is pertaining to market trends, pricing, potential competition, the target audience’s habits and needs, and much more. Here, you’ll need to investigate the whys, hows, what ifs, whens, and wheres through qualitative and quantitative methodologies. This includes focus groups, customer satisfaction studies, online surveys, customer reviews, and focus groups. The objective is to get as much information as possible because these details will then be used to guide the ideation, 3D CAD modeling, and prototyping processes. For example, market research helps to deduce what price the product should be sold at, what materials should be used, how the product should look visually, what features should be incorporated or omitted, how the product should be constructed, and much more. Overall, this step singularly paves the way for the rest of the product development process.
How market research can elevate your products
As previously stated, market research is essential because of the information it unveils and how it influences the final product design. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what market research can do for you. That’s to say, there are two major benefits that come with thorough research that can exceedingly improve your product and sales. First, this step reveals what exactly the market’s demands are. Undoubtedly, customers aren’t interested in purchasing a product they do not need or want. By carefully investigating the behavior of the market and the desires of the customers, designers are able to avoid this. Instead, you can manufacture a product that is most suitable to the needs of the market, leading to a greater chance of a successful business. Second, market research can boost your sales by enabling you to dominate a certain market segment. Specifically, research allows designers to uncover the gaps in the market. These gaps represent the unmet needs of the customers, meaning there is a niche in the market that your competitors simply aren’t fulfilling. This information can then be considered while designing to assemble a one-of-a-kind innovation, one that will capture the attention of customers with problems that only your product can resolve, thus giving your business control over that specific market segment. Ultimately, if you want a product that performs well on the market, then research should not be overlooked.
How industrial design companies can help with market research
At this point, it’s no secret that good market research is involved and exhaustive. For this reason, it may be in your business’s best interest to skip handling this work in-house and instead outsource research to an industrial design company like Design Stein Studios. This way, your business will get qualified and credible designers who have years worth of experience in market research working on your project. Of course, this means that these designers have the correct knowledge to execute a successful research campaign, but what exactly does that translate to?
Market research is a delicate process. Bias is prevalent, both in questions and data, which can truly distort your results and hinder your chances of developing a successful product. It takes a certain skill set to be able to know how to pose the right questions, choose the right methodology, interpret the information, and determine what is and is not helpful. Luckily, industrial design companies in California know precisely how to do this. Not only that but these professionals are also assisted by their expertise in product design as a whole. This means they possess exclusive insight in regards to translating information yielded by market research into product design that an in-house team may not be able to replicate. For example, at Design Stein our focus is on using creativity and forward-thinking to develop products that are innovative, dependable, and one step ahead of the competition. With this objective in mind, we know how to incorporate data into our design process to develop a product that encompasses this description exactly, on top of corresponding with market trends. In the end, contracting a third-party design firm to assume this responsibility, as well as the entire design development process, is a wise decision for turning your working ideas into tangible products that sell.
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