Kormac Insights
Smart Product Design
Solicit Early Input from Customers, Suppliers & Manufacturing
Imagine the disappointment: You’ve built a technically brilliant product that few customers want to buy. We recently helped a robotics firm reduce unit costs following product design challenges. Their innovative prototype looked promising on paper and dazzled during demos. Unfortunately, their design was costly to produce.
They soon learned from customers that the product was “too expensive for what we need.” Their “gold-plated” features did not align with what customers valued, so their product missed the mark.
The client asked for our assistance in reducing costs, and we helped them cut materials costs by more than $50K per unit. Meanwhile, competitors entered the market with simpler, cheaper, more focused solutions.
When we support product design at the outset, we adhere to the wisdom of eight-time entrepreneur and Stanford professor Steve Blank, “There are no answers in the building, so get outside.” We recommend deep “Voice of the Customer” research and VAVE analysis to understand:
• What customers need
• What features customers value
• What price customers are willing to pay
• How customers will compare the product to alternatives
To avoid the gold-plated product problem, product design requires ample input from customers, as well as early involvement by suppliers and manufacturing teams. Technical brilliance must be anchored to market and production realities.