7 Steps to Successful Product Planning [+Top Tools]

Good product planning is what separates the products we use from the ones that fizzle into obscurity. 

The best idea will never be more than an idea without a solid product plan in place. In fact, 95% of newly launched products fail. 

So if you're thinking of building a product—or you have already started but don’t have a product plan in place—take the time to build one. This guide is here to help.

What’s in this guide:

• What is product planning?

• Why is the product planning process important?

• How to plan your product step by step

• Who should be involved in product planning

• Top tools to support product planning

What is product planning?

Product planning is the process of defining, developing, and managing a product throughout its lifecycle. It encompasses everything from idea generation and market research to product design, launch strategies, and ongoing management.

The plan becomes the map that guides the product development process and evolution. 

The objective is to ensure that a product meets customer demands and aligns with the company’s objectives.

Why is the product planning process important?

The product planning process is crucial because it provides a structured approach to developing and managing products. It supports the product management process by keeping your focus on the most important goals while minimizing scope creep.

Product planning strategy can also help you identify and navigate potential risks early in the development process—and jump on identified opportunities as well. This reduces the likelihood of product failure.

Lastly, product planning is not a one-time activity. It’s a continuous cycle of planning, feedback, and iteration. Through this cyclic process, product planning allows you to quickly adapt to changes in market conditions, customer preferences, and the competitive landscape. This allows you to maintain a strong market position over time.

How to plan your product step by step

The product planning process involves identifying customer needs, market opportunities, and strategic goals, and then translating these insights into a detailed plan. Here’s a step-by-step process to get your product plan underway.

Step 1. Concept development

The first step in product planning is to develop a clear and compelling concept. Also known as ideation, this step involves brainstorming ideas, identifying customer pain points that need to be resolved, and envisioning potential solutions.

The goal of concept development is to create a rough product concept. Keep the focus on the target audience and the potential to meet market demands. You’ll want to gain more insight into the market and competitors before diving into the details.

Also, make sure you are gathering input from various stakeholders, including customers, at this stage. This will ensure your concept is grounded in real needs.

Step 2. Market analysis

The next step is to conduct a thorough market analysis. This is where you will validate the demand for your concept and identify potential customer segments. Market analysis involves:

• Researching customer demographics and behavior

• Analyzing market trends and growth potential

• Identifying and segmenting the target audience

• Evaluating economic factors that may influence demand

• Assessing potential barriers to market entry

• Determining the size and scope of the market opportunity

Through the market analysis, you’ll gain the insight needed to refine your product concept and ensure it is aligned with market needs and opportunities.

Step 3. Competitive research

With your product concept refined through your thorough market analysis, it is time to understand the competition. Competitive research is how you’ll understand. It will define the arena in which your product will compete. 

For each potential competitor: 

• Analyze all their products

• Identify their strengths and weaknesses

• Understand their positioning in the market

• Review their roadmap and recognize their trajectory

By understanding what competitors offer, you can identify gaps in the market and opportunities to differentiate your product. And, understanding their trajectory will make sure they are not two steps ahead of you with the same concept.

Step 4. MVP development

With market and competitive insights in hand, the next step is to develop your Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The MVP is the simplest version of your product. It includes only the essential features necessary to solve the core customer problem. 

The goal of the MVP is to prove the practicality of your concept by beta testing the product with real users. This is where you’ll gather feedback and make data-driven improvements before committing to full-scale development.

A successful MVP will also captivate your target market and win them over to your brand even while you are still creating a fully functional SaaS application.

Step 5. Product launch

Once the MVP has been validated and refined, it’s time to prepare for the product launch. This step involves:

• Developing a go-to-market plan

• Creating product marketing strategy

• Establish the sales plan

• Aligning all teams on the launch objectives 

The launch phase is critical for generating initial traction and setting the stage for the product’s success. It’s important to have clear metrics in place to measure the success of the launch and adjust strategies as needed.

Step 6. Lifecycle management

After the product is launched, the focus shifts to lifecycle management. Lifecycle management ensures that the product remains competitive, meets evolving customer needs, and continues to deliver value. 

Lifecycle management involves:

• Continued monitoring of the product’s performance in the market

• Obtaining customer feedback 

• Making continuous improvements

• Managing updates

• Enacting enhancements

• Implementing potential expansions 

Step 7. Product sunsetting

At some point a product may reach the end of its product lifecycle. This can be the result of declining demand, market saturation, or the introduction of new technologies. Regardless of the reason, if the time comes to wind down your product don’t just pull the plug.  

Product sunsetting is the process of phasing out a product in a way that minimizes disruption for customers and the company. This achieve this make sure you:

• Plan the discontinuation

• Communicating with stakeholders

• Ensuring that support and transition plans are in place for existing users

Who should be involved in product planning?

Product planning is a team effort. When developing or maintaining a plan be sure to include:

• Product Managers: They will lead the product planning process, define the product vision, and ensure alignment with business goals.

• Designers: Contribute to the concept development and user experience design. Ensure the product meets customer needs aesthetically and functionally.

• Engineers/Developers: Provide technical input on feasibility and contribute to the development of the MVP and final product.

• Marketing Team: Develop the go-to-market strategy and ensure the product is effectively positioned and promoted in the market.

• Sales Team: Offer insights into customer needs and competitive pressures. They help shape product features and sales strategies.

• Customer Support: Provide feedback on customer pain points and needs. They help with product improvements and lifecycle management.

• Executives: Ensure that the product planning aligns with overall company strategy and allocate resources accordingly.

Top tools to support successful product planning

There are many product planning tools available to help you organize your ideas, gain customer feedback, establish priorities, and plan your trajectory. Here are the top four tools we have found to really help out in the product planning process.

1. Idea boards

Idea boards are essential for capturing, organizing, and prioritizing product ideas. They allow teams to visualize and collaborate on potential features, improvements, or new product concepts. 

At Frill, we offer a robust idea management tool that enables teams to gather ideas from internal stakeholders and customers, prioritize them based on impact, and track them through the development process.

2. Whiteboards

Whiteboards are crucial for brainstorming sessions, mapping out product concepts, and visualizing workflows. They provide a flexible space for teams to collaborate, sketch out ideas, and iteratively refine them. 

There are many whiteboard apps to choose from. Each option has their pros and cons, so consider what features are important to you before evaluating your potions.

Miro is a popular option for digital whiteboards. Here’s an example of a whiteboard built with Miro:

3. Roadmaps

Product roadmaps are strategic documents that outline the vision, direction, and progress of a product over time. They help align the team around shared goals, communicate the product strategy to stakeholders, and make the users feel heard and appreciated. 

There are many product roadmap templates available. We offer an intuitive one that enables product teams to plan, share, and update their product roadmaps. This ensures transparency and alignment across the organization.

4. Prioritization matrix

A feature prioritization matrix is a tool used to evaluate and prioritize product features or tasks based on factors like impact, effort, and urgency. This tool helps product teams make informed decisions about where to focus their resources to maximize value. 

Frill makes prioritizing your feature requests simple. After setting priority values for the different feature requests, the matrix automatically groups requests by key words/phrases and incorporates feature voting as well. This makes assessing and ranking feature requests easy. 

Ready to start your product planning? With Frill you can gain many of the tools to support the continued success of your product planning. Get started today.