Be proactive, not reactive.

The product launch. This is the result of all of your efforts.

Well, you’ve done it – your brand has just launched a new product into the market. Congratulations!

Product launches are both exciting and stressful. Rest assured, if you’ve completed all of the steps in the product development cycle, you be going to the market with confidence and have a good feeling about how your product is going to be received when it launches.

Now it’s time to start considering what’s next.

Product development is cyclical – one project begins when one project ends. So, when your product finally hits the market, you should already be thinking about its enhancement, replacement, or a complementary product that could live alongside it in the market. This may sound a little defeating – why should you be looking at sunsetting the product you just launched?

Because that’s how you stay viable in a competitive market.

Now is the time to start considering feedback. You can either wait for it to come to you or you can seek it out. Just keep in mind that you want to be focusing on the right feedback.

The Right Feedback

The most time-consuming part of your day, once your product hits the shelves, is diving into the mountains of feedback. After launching your product, you’ll probably want to read every online review. The reality is that those can derail you quickly. We’re not recommending you ignore that feedback. In fact, you should glean as much of it as you can. But it’s important to understand the limitations of those feedback channels. A lot of feedback online is uninformed. Sure, the person might be familiar with your brand or the product, but a few questions come up:

  • Are they using the product as intended?
  • Are they using the product where it was designed to be used?
  • Are they really a customer of yours?
  • Does their feedback only represent a strong opinion?
  • How heavily have they been influenced by other comments?

The problem with relying solely on online feedback is that there are too many variables. You need to be able to rely on this information to be able to make critical decisions. These decisions will help determine the product’s lifecycle, its replacement, or the scheduling of any other project you have in the hopper.

As we’ve said all along, the product development cycle is cyclical. Where one project ends, another begins. When collecting feedback, you’re looking at how you’re going to take your next step.

Now it’s time to reach back out to your core customers.

Talk to the Right People

The best way to get to where you need to be in the feedback process is to reach out to your core customers; they are your control group. If they were involved in the development process, they represent the portion of your customer base that knows the intent of the product and how to use it. They also have some insight because some of the information they’ve provided you with previously may be reflected in the final product.

Now that your product is in the market, this unique control group is getting to see how people react to it. If you’ve been using the MESH01 platform, your core customers are looking to see just how much of their input you recognized and applied. They are bouncing this off of the information they’re getting from the marketplace.

By using their feedback as your basis for comparison, you not only will start to see patterns emerge, but you’ll be able to easily weed out the uninformed and outlier feedback.

The MESH01 Platform – Post Launch

If you used the MESH01 platform during the Design Phase or for Pre-Launch Product Testing, then your team is already ready and waiting. By creating a post-launch survey, or by reaching out for general feedback, you can obtain the information you need that will help you decide and navigate your next steps.

Engaging your product testers post-launch is the true litmus test. They’ve been a faithful ally to this point, so there’s no reason to believe they’re not monitoring what’s going on with your new product now that it has launched.

The MESH01 platform is a powerful tool during this part of the process. If you’ve been taking the opportunity to use the platform, then you’re now acquainted with your test team. You should have no problem reaching out to them to get their opinion of your final product.


For the first half of 2024, we’re going to be releasing informed content related to the Product Development process. We feel that there’s never been a better time than right now to share the tenets of this process, as well as our experience with it and how we’re prepared to help your brand take it on, head-on.

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