Why Market Research is Essential to Your Product Roadmap Process

Market research isn't just about hearing from your customers after they've purchased your product. It's also about anticipating customer needs and market trends to help you create a plan of action for how you'll evolve your product to meet them.

One way companies plan for the future is with a product roadmap — a tool that lays out new features, enhancements, and extensions you plan to make to your existing product, along with a timeline detailing when these elements will be delivered.

What Goes into Creating a Product Roadmap?

It's vital you build a product roadmap with information gathered through customer research rather than just using your own hypotheses. When it comes to product development, only your customers can tell you what will impact them most.

1. Uncover Unexpected Customer Insights

When you work with your product day-in and day-out, you might forget some customers aren't as familiar with everything it offers. It's not uncommon for companies to survey a user only to find they're asking for add-ons or updates that already exist. You might also be investing in an entirely new module when what customers really want is investment in the existing product for improved optimization.

2. Gain Competitive Intelligence

Product roadmap planning allows you to gain competitive intelligence without specifically soliciting it. When customers answer questions, they almost always compare what they're using now to other options in the marketplace. You may also uncover buyer needs none of your competitors are working to meet, giving you a first-mover competitive advantage.

3. Invest Your Money Where It Matters

Your customers will tell you what they want, and your product roadmap will lay out a budget and timeline to achieve it. Research is one of the best ways to ensure the features you add to your roadmap are the ones that matter most to your customers.

Why Target Existing Customers?

Existing customers can tell you what they like best about your product as it stands and what's missing — from features they would like added to errors they would like fixed or changed.

Why Target Potential Customers?

Potential customers give you insights on gaps in the industry your company can develop offerings to fill. They can also help validate new product ideas and clarify where your company stands relative to competitors.

It's smart to begin product roadmap planning toward the middle of the year. Companies that push planning to the end of the year often don't have enough time to make revisions and stay ahead of the competition.