Planning to Prototype a Tech Product? Here are 5 Most Important Questions to Ask Yourself

In the fast-moving world, no one wants to stay behind the curve, especially in terms of technology. Even, big brands, including Apple, Samsung, Google, and Microsoft to name a few jump on a tech trend just to do it. In the last few years, we have seen it with smartphones, augmented reality, and now wearables.

Normally, in a hassle to be first, businesses jump right into creating a product without spending enough time to research and understand their audience or skip a thought-process on key details that will make or break a product launch for a customer. However, a contradictory fact is businesses have to maintain their pace in order to keep their brand alive in the senses of their customers as well as to stay competitive in their respective industry. Fortunately, there is a proven way to get a great product to market correctly and quickly and it is by understanding your users as thoroughly, as you know your brand.

When it comes to prototype development for a tech product, GID has framed a list of five most important questions to ask your audience to ensure that the product is useful, usable, and desired.

What are their needs? People buy a product to meet / satisfy one or several needs in their lives. Wearable technology products are no exception. While prototyping, make sure your insight on your audience’s requirements line-up with their real life needs. Build a product prototype in time to conduct user research, and involve your audience while testing the same. Skipping or overlooking this step will result in manufacturing a product with no customers to use it.

Why previous solutions failed? The market for tech product is flourishing, as never before; hence, it becomes easy for an entrepreneur to yield insights for new product opportunities. Use negative and positive reviews and rating of products on the market today to ignite exclusive ideas for future products. Think beyond usual analyst reports, and comb through the ratings and reviews of products on ecommerce websites to explore flaws in the product’s software.

What are your customers’ likes and dislikes? Before prototyping and manufacturing a tech product, do not forget to clarify what category of audience you are going to target. As soon as you have clarified the category of audience you are going to target, spare adequate time to analyze and understand their technology requirements, likes and dislikes. Try to conclude, how many end users have aversions to technology, how many are ravenous for technology, and how many are early adopters. Is your product going to conjure up feeling of “Obtrusive Big Brother” or “Useful Quantified Self?”

How will your customers leverage the product? Knowing how your customers will use your product will help you develop a more durable and tough product. For example, the latest wearable tech products such as Jawbone Up and the Fitbit Flex are great examples of this. Manufacturers knew that some end-users would wear these devices simply to track their daily activity levels, whereas a majority would use them as a comprehensive fitness guide; hence, the product was designed and developed accordingly. Understanding end users’ expectations from your product and their plans to do with your product are the key to successful product development. Another important point to remember is to avoid all sorts of unnecessary features into your product.

What would keep your customers buying your products? Find out, what is more important to your targeted end-users – Are they looking for an affordable product? Are they searching for an aesthetically beautiful product? Is a clunky or outdated product design a definite deal-breaker? Does the functionality trump all? By concluding what is more important to your targeted end-users and creating a product accordingly, you will save your team from hassle and frustration.

Remember, once you have answers to all these questions, you are still at the starting line of a process. A repeated cycle of development and improvement will gradually guide you to a better, more useful and much-awaited solution.

Product prototype development is a complicated process and may take a bit longer time, but, in the end, it will ensure you are satisfying the needs of your audience, which will eventually reward more success in the end.

Importance of Product Prototyping in Plastic Product Manufacturing

The field of plastic product manufacturing has marked a remarkable growth in the last few decades. It involves all forms of plastic production, including extrusion, injection molding, cast molding, and calendaring. Manufacturing plastic products with the help of a professional plastic product manufacturer is profitable and offers a sustainable cutting edge in the business competition. Not only, the products manufactured from plastic are light in weight and cost-effective in producing, but are also durable, safer, flexible, and are aesthetic in appearance.

We are GID, a Plastic Product Development Company located in California, and since our inception, we have witnessed a promising growth of plastic products in different spheres of activity with an ever-increasing per capita consumption. With uninterrupted advancements and developments in manufacturing technology, processing machineries, and cost-effective manufacturing, plastic is the fast replacing the typical materials in different segments.

However, unless you have a thorough understanding, a plastic product manufacturing is not at all an easygoing process. It involves many calculative manufacturing phases, and a miscalculation can lead to an unimaginable tragedy. According to the product development experts at GID, all the hazards can be minimized with the help of product prototyping. A product prototype development is done to help make the modifications and fixes on a product before the final product is mass-produced.

GID states top advantages of prototyping in the field of plastic product manufacturing, and they are as follows:

1.   Allows a Business Owner to Preview the Final Product

As we know, a prototype is nothing but a fully functional, working model of a product to be developed; it includes all the features and functionality to a larger or smaller scale. Prototype development in the plastic manufacturing industry is extremely important as it offers a general picture of products that are still in the beta stage. It allows you to see, touch, test, and discover what works and what doesn’t. A prototype allows entrepreneurs, financiers, and end-users to visualize the product quickly and communicate what insights they have for the final product. You can conclude whether the prototype meets the requirements of potential users and then make modifications before the final product is ready.

2.   Controlled Manufacturing Cost and Time

A product prototyping allows a business owner to test his/her concept of product and discover any flaws. Business owners have the opportunity to correct these imperfections, or emerge with solutions for improving the product. This step reduces the risk of your product failing; thereby, drastically reducing manufacturing cost and time.

3.   Generates Curiosity among the End-users and Financiers

When an entrepreneur develops a prototype, investors and end-users get the opportunity to explore it and give suggestions. Consumers can test the features and functionality of the plastic product and give their valuable feedback. In this way, entrepreneurs have a chance to improve their product and shape it as per customer’s requirements.

Apart from the above-mentioned advantages, a product prototype development in the plastic product manufacturing allows an entrepreneur to easily adjust a product design and fix some features of the products. Prototyping together with the injection molding can really benefit the plastic industry in countless ways.

To know more about plastic product manufacturing at reasonable rates, feel free to contact GID at www.gidcompany.com. GID is a plastic product manufacturer who creates a variety of rapid plastic prototypes and plastic products for different segments of industry. To talk to product manufacturing experts or to share your concept, call them at 714-323-1052.

Product Prototype Development and Whether to Go for Prototyping or Not

Almost every day, a new product hits the store shelves with the aim to earn name, fame, and of course dollars in the commercial market. However, have you ever wondered what went into getting the greatest and the latest slotted into the market place. Every product, before you rest your eyes on them, undergoes a lengthy and vigorous evolution process. There are some quality checkpoints that a product to be developed has to clear on its way to hitting the market, and they are the product design phase, the product prototyping phase, and the final, bulk manufacturing phase.

For entrepreneurs¸ after you have an innovative idea for a new product, you need to determine all the details. Here we would like to share some practical questions, which you should ask yourself before you make any move:

  1. What are the new product’s attributes and characteristics?
  2. What is new in the product that others on the market don’t offer?
  3. What is the purpose or function of the new product?
  4. Do we need any new technology to produce the product?
  5. What is the product’s lifespan?
  6. How and where it will be manufactured, packaged, marketed and sold?
  7. How much will be the manufacturing cost, and how much will people willing to pay for the product?
  8. Are there any issues with the product concerning government regulations, safety, and environmental issues, patent infringements, or other possible hang-ups?

Luckily, if you get the green light from the above questions, you are perhaps ready to begin thinking about developing a product prototype. Depending upon your product design, different types of prototypes can be helpful at different stages of the product development process. If you recognize your product still has some concerns, for a while, you might experience difficulties between modifying design plans and rough prototyping. A product prototype development is extremely necessary before you move on to the final development stage.

Whether to Prototype a Concept or Not?

Product prototyping is nothing dangerous; it is just a process of creating a functional and easily alterable model that allows us to test the expected features of the product to be developed. It can be done at any phase of new product development. Normally, it is conducted before the start of the bulk manufacturing process to conclude whether the idea is achievable, beneficial for the targeted end-users or not.

A product prototype development at the beginning allows product development companies and entrepreneurs to conclude what specifications are required and what features are supposed to be included in a successful product. Meanwhile, by conducting prototyping, product development companies will have a chance to check whether a product is meeting all the features and specifications, and will have the opportunity to upgrade its characteristics for the better output.

Product Prototype Development, when conducted in later stage, helps in determining problems and possible solutions on the functionality of the product’s design. It allows key changes to be made and numerous solutions to be implemented just before the final product version is released. A product prototype can be used to lessen the communication gap between an entrepreneur and the potential end-users and financiers. Ultimately, it improves the chances of success.

Nowadays, prototype is also used to explain misconceptions about the product, guarantee output quality, handle modifications, address various product kinks, collect valid specifications, and to boost user interaction. For now, as the product prototype development is a significant stage in product manufacturing, ensure you do it at the right time and at the right place by using the professional tools to achieve a successful and usable prototype. Remember, only a successful prototype allows you to test the functionality of the product and evaluate a suggested product interface.

Conclusion

It is suggested to go for product prototype development, as it amplifies the rate of success. It allows entrepreneurs to compare different product designs, explore the results of design alterations, identify market requirements and involves end-users and financiers. It is necessary for an out-of-the-box product development.

Product prototyping can bring your product to life in style, as well as help you test the product before moving into the final manufacturing stage. Product prototype development services in California by GID are best for investors and entrepreneurs who want to develop and launch new products into the marketplace. To explore our expertise in prototype development, please visit our portfolio, or to share your concept, feel free to contact us.