What can you do to improve your success rate in new launches?

My recommendation to you is to start looking into new research methods addressing the subconscious mind! There are a number of research techniques that can access or offer insights about how the automatic and subconscious mind responds to new products/designs. These are generally referred as to implicit or indirect research techniques as they don´t rely on direct, deliberate, controlled or intentional self-reporting. It could be techniques like EEG, Eye-Tracking, Biometrics or Implicit Association Testing to mention a few.

At Straylight we have been working with these techniques for more than 5 years and our clients are convinced in the benefits, especially when used in combination with observations and explicit research.

Implicit Association Testing is a vital tool to use when launching new products revealing the subconscious response allowing you to understand how consumers value your new product in terms of Valence, Relevance, Emotions and Attributes without asking direct questions. IAT gives insight into associations and beliefs before processed by conscious thinking. This is valuable information allowing you to fine tune in the right direction.

When launching new products we always advise our clients to use Implicit Association Testing conducted in cooperation with our global partner Sentient Decision Science. It is a very powerful technique generating a high level of prediction.

What does it mean for a brand to fail, and how do you know when it happens?

It’s not an overnight process, unless a company like Enron or Wells Fargo does something so egregious that they destroy all trust in their brand overnight. Instead, it usually happens slowly, over a period of time, until one day customers suddenly feel like a stranger to the brand.

The “suddenly” part is almost always an internal perception within the organization. For customers, especially loyal ones, the failing of the brand is a gradual process, sort of like the end of a long romantic relationship when you wake up one morning and realize you no longer know the person lying next to you.

A failed brand manifests itself in many ways. It becomes outdated. It loses relevance in the market. Consumers get confused about or lose faith in what it stands for. When companies feel their brand cachet slipping away, they often copy what successful competitors are doing. But rather than standing out from the crowd, this “me too” approach makes the brand look like everyone else. When consumers can no longer perceive a brand’s unique value proposition, its failure is inevitable.

BUT WE’VE ALWAYS DONE IT THIS WAY…

Brands can fail for many reasons, most of which have to do with failure to keep up with a changing world. A world where new competitors and industry-changing technologies and concepts spring up every day. These five reasons sit at the top of our list.

Weak Competitive Analysis.

Most businesses pay attention to their competitors to some degree, but it’s usually in the areas of products, pricing, and promotional messaging. They will compare product features and benefits. They’ll track competitive pricing moves. They’ll look at their competitors’ web sites, social media pages, advertising and marketing collateral. All of which provides much useful data.

The issue is that companies with weak brands often overlook how competitors position themselves in the marketplace. When you don’t take the time to analyze competitors’ positioning, you don’t really know what you’re competing against. Understanding your competitors’ brand strategy doesn’t identify what your brand should be. But it does clarify what it should not be.

 Rearview Mirror Syndrome.

Like human beings, brands can get stuck in their comfort zones. This typically occurs with companies that have a track record of success. Things have been good for a long time, profits and growth remain healthy, and the brand continues to be well received by the target market. Over time, the organization holds tighter and tighter onto what made them successful. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? (More on this later.)

When this happens, organizations start making decisions while looking through the rearview mirror rather than at what lies ahead. Management focuses on maintaining the status quo rather than looking at what is changing with customers or competitive business models. They don’t take time to analyze how the organization needs to respond these changes. What was once a vibrant, forward-looking brand soon gets left behind as the business gets stuck in the past.

Look at Kraft Heinz or other consumer packaged goods companies that are struggling against healthy, better-for-you competitors that reflect consumer changes in their diets. And while competitors are inventing ways to deliver more compelling value to customers, brand inactivity leads to the brand becoming out of date in a short period of time.

Complacency.

Complacency often goes hand in hand with the lack of competitor analysis. Only this time it’s not because the company isn’t looking at its competitors, they’re just looking in the wrong places. This typically happens in industries that haven’t undergone major changes in a long time. Competitors look at each other to see how they deliver value to the customers, and everyone is doing pretty much the same thing.

Next thing you know, some upstart, like Uber or Dollar Shave Club, swoops in and totally disrupts the industry with a new way of adding value to the customers. And nobody saw it coming because they weren’t looking in that direction. Netflix destroyed the video rental industry and Blockbuster was late in responding. If you were a video store owner with people still lining up to rent videos on a Saturday night, would you have seen it coming?

Failure to Innovate.

Most companies understand the need to innovate in today’s markets, but don’t know how. There’s a common myth that innovation consists of inventing new and better products, which is partly true. At a deeper level, innovation is the process of reinventing new and better ways to deliver value to your customers. This often involves solving problems for customers they can’t articulate or don’t even know they have. Figure that out and you will know what products or services are needed. Steven Jobs excelled at this and turned Apple into one of the most valuable brands in the world. When Apple launched the iPod, they dethroned long-time mobile music king Sony overnight.

Today’s markets change too quickly to wait until someone else disrupts the industry. Playing catchup to the new industry leader is a frustrating and difficult game. Today’s new motto is: if it ain’t broke, break it! Not just catch up to competition, but leapfrog them…

 Failure to Monitor the Brand.

This may be the #1 reason brands fail. To many, “brand” is an ephemeral concept, hard to define and hard to pin down. So many companies don’t try to measure it. Yet, a brand has metrics that need to be measured and monitored just like sales, profits, operating costs and other key business metrics. Important brand metrics include:

• Brand awareness
• Brand perception
• Consumer confidence and trust in the brand
• Customer loyalty and engagement
• How a brand ranks versus competing brands and why

How do customers relate to your brand? Is it ho-hum or boo-yea!? Do consumers know exactly what your brand stands for and whether you deliver on that promise every time? If you can’t answer these questions, your brand may be in danger of slipping into irrelevance and taking your business with it.

Reasons for Failure of a New Product

 Lack of product uniqueness:

Any product that does not satisfy a unique need of consumers, fails to dislodge more established brands available. Customers must comprehend the new product’s advantages. Unless sound communication strategies support the introduction of a new product, failure usually follows.

A product is likely to be perceived as unique if it satisfies a new function; if it satisfies an existing function in a new ways; if its price and performance give it an advantage over the competitive products. It should be distinctive in one way or the other.

 Poor planning:

Companies must have a game-plan that carries them through every stage and aspect of product’s life. The plan is to care for consumers. Many forces are at work that alter consumer’s needs and wants for products; life- styles change populations, age and preferences change; similarly needs of industrial buyers are affected by changing business opportunities shortage of energy and material, technological advance and so on.

The market potential of the product and the nature of competition must be determined beforehand.

 Poor timing:

The market success depends, to a large extent, on the ability of the company to launch the product at a time when consumer demand is at its highest. Though it may not always be desirable to be the first to enter the market, undue delay or un-opportune time may mean that the demand for the product demonstrated during consumer testing phase might vanish by the time the product is launched in commercialization period. Hence, appropriate time has its strategic importance in product success.

 Misguided enthusiasm:

On several occasions, it so happens that there will be either an under-estimation of the strength of competitors or an over-estimation of one’s own capabilities resulting in over-optimistic calculations which will be shattered very soon by the actual product performance. This can happen when executives want to market a particular product because; it is tied with their personal ambitions in the company.

 Product deficiencies:

Many a times, technical product deficiencies are the common cause of new product failure. Engineers and product technocrats are capable of giving the best laboratory products by over- engineering. This is a good so far as technical superiority is concerned over competitors.

However, an ‘over-engineered’ product costs a lot to the firm and finally to the consumers where competitors have an edge over the firm in question. Technical deficiencies are to be removed but too much should not cost much.

Reasons for Product Failure | Measures to prevent failure

Poor product quality: Obviously, a product, which is of poor quality, cannot be sold in the market.

Higher price: Another reason for the failure of certain products is the price factor. Higher production and distribution costs may lead to higher price. Such a product cannot be sold in a market consisting of middle and lower income buyers.

Poor timing: It is important that a product, to be successful, is introduced in the market at the correct time. If it is introduced at an unsuitable time it may turn out to be a failure.

Example: Publishers of textbooks usually bring out books in the beginning of the academic year.

Inherent defect: There may be an inherent defect in the product, which may affect its market potentialities. Such a product may not be preferred by the buyers even if the defect is rectified later.

Extent of competition: A monopolist may not have any difficulty in marketing his product. In the case of a market where there are a large number of sellers for a particular product, the buyer will have many alternatives. Therefore, in such a condition unless the marketer brings out the product to the satisfaction of the buyers, he cannot be successful.

Lack of promotional measures: Popularizing the brand, particularly, in the introduction stage of a product is essential. Such a step will ensure repeated buying and bring long-term benefits for the marketer. Failure to do so will ‘prove to be disastrous for the product.

Faulty distribution policy: It is important that a product reaches the right market at the right time and at the right price. The faulty distribution policy of the marketer may lead to many problems, i.e., the goods may not be available when required, may lead to higher price and so on.

Unavailability of spare parts: In the case of durable goods like televisions sets, Air-conditioners, etc., and also in the case of two wheeler and cars, easy availability of spare parts is an important requirement. Unavailability of spares may frustrate the buyers. Such buyers would not recommend the product to their friends and relatives.

Poor after-sale service: The quality of after sale service is yet another important cause. Most marketers, particularly those marketing durables, two-wheeler, etc., are courteous while making sale. When the customer requires service later and approaches the seller, the latter may show indifference.

Imitation products: Last, but not the least, the presence of a number of imitation products in the market makes the genuine products vulnerable. An average buyer may not be able to distinguish between the genuine product and the fake one.

Measures to prevent product failures

 The marketer shall ensure that the product he markets is in demand.

 He can determine the price at which the retailers must sell the product to the buyers. This will prevent manipulation of the price.

 Before launching the product, steps must be taker to ensure that there are no inherent defects.

 All efforts must be made to popularize the brand name particularly in the introduction stage.

 The marketer shall select the right distribution network so that there is no delay in the consumer getting the product.

 It is also important to make available genuine spare parts in the market at fair prices.

 The quality of after-sale service must conform to high standards.

 In the case of consumer and industrial goods, it is beneficial to get the quality certified by the Indian standards Institution (ISI) and/or by the International Standards Organization (ISO).

 The product may constantly be updated to incorporate all the features that the buyers expect in it. Taking the case of Maruti Udayog, the company has updated all its models over a period of time, which is probably one of the main reasons for its success.

 Steps must be taken to eliminate duplicate goods in the market. This may be done by cautioning the buyers on spurious goods. The problem may also be legally approached.

Why new products fail

No product point-of-difference

For a new product to win initial trials and then ongoing repeat business, it needs to bring something new to the marketplace. Potential customers need an incentive – such as additional benefits or some form of variety – to be persuaded to try and buy a new product. Without any real point of difference, the new product is likely to fail.

Limited retailer support

Most retailers are pretty happy with their existing merchandising mix and also need to be persuaded that the new product has value for them and their customers. Many new products will fail because they do not obtain the necessary distribution and market coverage to be viable, due to lack of interest from most retailers.

Poor product design

Virtually all products that are put to development and launch sound good on paper. However, during the development phase when final design decisions are made at the product is actually developed and produced, this may not go exactly to plan. The end result is a poorly designed or poor quality product, which is unlikely to generate a large number of repeat sales.

Established customer loyalty in the market

The success of new products will rely upon existing consumers being willing to switch from their current purchases OR entering a market where there are a significant proportion of first-time customers without any established brand loyalty. In many cases, existing customer inertia – the unwillingness to switch brands – will limit the potential success of a new product. Clearly this phenomenon will vary by type of product – for example, many basic supermarket products are bought by consumers who follow simple habitual loyalty and are less likely to switch as a result.