How to Implement Product Updates Organization and planning are the keys to continually providing customers with the products they want and need.
By Ben Casnocha
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
If you're in the business of selling products, then the ideaof updates and upgrades shouldn't be a foreign one. In fact,customers expect-and demand-constant evolution,especially in a marketplace where the barriers to entry are low orwhen there's competition.
If your product remains the same with no upgrades, the chancesof someone else surpassing your products through better quality,lower prices, new add-ons and the like are pretty good. And keep inmind that "upgrades" doesn't just mean addingon-it can mean subtracting functionality if that creates abetter user experience. So to keep up with customer expectations,you just keep upgrading your product, right? Well, not exactly.
The key to rolling out product upgrades is to establish asystematic structure for a) determining which upgrades to makebased on customer feedback, b) prioritizing the "wishlist" of your customers, c) maintaining a shared list of theupgrades so everyone involved can be on the same page, d) managingengineering teams to implement the upgrades, and e) effectivelyoffering the upgrades to your customers.
While there's obviously some variation to this process basedon the industry you're operating in, the premise remains thesame regardless. Let's briefly touch on all the above keypoints.
Determining which upgrades to make based on customerfeedback shouldn't be anything new. Constant interactionand discussions with your customers should quickly reveal the mostimportant upgrades needed to keep old customers coming back and toattract new ones.
Prioritizing is a bit tougher. Inevitably there are goingto be certain customers who want certain features that othercustomers don't care for. Balancing these competing agendas canbe a challenge. Be sure to keep in mind your return on investmentfor each new upgrade. For example, if you spend $5,000 on buildinga new feature into your widget, how many new customers would thathelp you attract or keep?
Your third goal, inter-communication among everyone involvedin producing the upgrades, can be difficult, especially if youmaintain a virtual organization where not every person works in thesame office. To that end, it's good to establish an intranet orsome other form of shared online work space to keep an updated listof upgrades and the status of development for each.
Once you have a prioritized list, you need to directengineering to make it happen. The hard part here is balancingyour ability to think strategically about your business objectiveswith your ability to communicate effectively with your techemployees. The few in the world who possess the intellectualbrainpower to know technology like the back of their hand and alsoknow business have been hugely successful (a la Michael Dell ofDell Computers, among others). Unless you can do this well, yournext bet is to make sure you have consistent, documented andmilestone-based communication between you and yourtechnology/manufacturing folks.
If you can get to the last step, rolling out the upgrade tothe customer, count yourself lucky. Many companies butcherproduct upgrades due to a breakdown of one of the above steps.Often this stems from misaligned expectations between the company,the customer, programmers, investors, analysts and anyone else whohas a stake in product development. When you're ready todeliver your new product version, your first instinct may be tomake a grand announcement about it and invite the press orcustomers to the announcement. I'd generally warn against thisand opt for a more low-key announcement and a press release ifnecessary.
Marketing people talk about a lot of things when it comes tobeating the competition: Strategies like positioning, productdifferentiation, pricing and so on all receive significant ink. Butat the end of the day, I'm a believer that a decision about twocompeting products will factor significantly in the strength of thefunctionality and ease of use of the product. And to stay on thecutting edge, you need to be thinking "upgrades" all thetime. If you take a breath, your competitors will pass you by andnever look back.
Fifteen-year-old Ben Casnocha is founder and chairman ofComcate Inc., a San Francisco firm focused on providing technologysolutions for local governments. His work has been profiled in morethan 50 magazines, newspapers, radio stations, TV outlets and Websites nationwide. He was recently named #6 among "The 25 WhoAre Changing the World of Internet and Politics." Gotsomething to squawk about? Write to Casnocha at ben@comcate.com.
