Understanding the market segment and size is essential to making the investment of developing a product. Too many good products have lost money because their audience was just too small or the product was priced out of their reach. Initial research should determine who the customer is, how many of them are in the market, what is optimum pricing, and what are the most effective marketing and sales channels to reach the customer. Metric Lab uses mixed methodologies to gain this understanding, with an emphasis on quantitative approaches to get an accurate understanding of scale.

Need finding requires a deep understanding of the user. Metric Lab uses a combination of qualitative approaches in order to identify problems that users encounter, the context (when and where), the frequency, any adaptations (like workarounds), and the impact. All of this information is necessary in order to determine whether the problem truly deserves solving.

Design and development is all about smoothly integrating into the user’s life. Understanding user context and current processes is the key to developing product concepts that customers will actually purchase and use. An effective product concept takes into account not just the need, but the context of use. Metric Lab identifies current processes, environments, associated tools and technology, and all of the people involved in order to ensure that a product concept is made to fit the user.

The validation process ensures that the opportunity is real and the product or concept truly addresses it. Sometimes we uncover that the product is exactly what it needs to be, but sometimes it needs changes in order to be a success. The key to mitigating risk is understanding what refinements are needed as early as possible in order to prevent investing more resources in a concept that doesn’t have the best chance to succeed.

Part of any go to market strategy should include identifying and responding to issues that emerge during the process. Approaches like customer outreach and Out Of Box (OOB) testing allow companies to identify and respond to these issues before they can negatively affect sales or adoption.