Top challenges of creating and launching a digital product

Creating a digital product? Here's what to consider

Bringing a new digital product into the market is by no means an easy task — it's a complex process, and many things will go wrong if you don't plan properly.

Tens of thousands of various types of digital products are launched annually, but just a fraction of these products succeed — and that's no coincidence. Successfully launching a digital product is a skill, and it goes beyond maintaining focus and other generic advice you may see online.

Don't get it twisted — focusing on your goals is a great piece of advice, and doubling down on what matters is a sure way to eliminate things that may sidetrack you from doing the important stuff. But make sure to focus on what's truly important, and you'll quickly see that launching your digital product won't be that much of an issue for you and your team.

Regardless of what kind of work you'll want to show the world, here are some top challenges of successfully launching a digital product. And first — let's start with the basics.

Understand your users

It's alright to believe that you've built the best possible product — but you've got to understand that you and your team created it for the users. And it's them who will decide whether your innovative product will be a success.

Here come the big questions — who are your users, and what do they want? Answering these is not enough — it's whether you will act upon your findings that will determine if you'll record a successful launch. If you create a digital product for everybody, it will be loved by nobody. Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs learn the hard way — but you're not one of them, and that's why you're here.

As you're creating a digital product, make sure to look at it from the perspective of the user to understand who you're creating for. You've got to think like your digital product's users and develop an emotional connection with their position in order to see what they want and look for in a digital product you're about to introduce to the world. Also, before releasing the product, first, the company should use its product in-house. This way, they would have a first-hand experience of how their product works. Regardless of how fancy the technology behind your product is, users and their needs should always come first. Simply put, companies that prioritize their users before intricate, but overly-complicated technology, almost always get it right.

Making space in your project for product experience analysis is vital in understanding your users. Once the product is released, there are still ways to apply fixes and updates, all based on user-generated response. But for this response to happen, you have to prepare the product beforehand. Ask yourself: how do your users feel about the product experience? How do they behave within the product?

Here the issue can be viewed two-fold. Tracking the user's behavior is relatively easy — all you've got to do is come up with how to measure in-app activity. The problem lies in knowing how the user feels about the product experience — and that's why you've got to provide a simple-to-use and easy-to-understand user feedback feature, through which users will be able to voice their opinion and suggest changes. You'll be surprised with the amount of valuable feedback you can get this way — and that's why building user feedback natively into your product is of the essence.

Use your resources wisely

Deciding how to allocate resources is a challenge for anyone who is looking to build and launch a digital product. That includes even the most skilled of Project Managers! The importance of establishing a project's framework and scope of operation should never be undervalued. In today's age, it especially makes sense to come forward and offer a remote option to meet a client, e.g. through a video or audio call. Remotely talking through the most important parts of a project effectively minimizes wasted time.

Let's say you want to dive into the world of e-commerce. You've got to figure out the e-commerce platform that will work best for your business. If you're serious about your venture, going for the wrong platform, or failing to set up one in a timely or money-saving manner, is a recipe for disaster — and it's a sure way to waste your resources in the long run.

Every Project Manager should know, that when it comes to resource-savvy projects, especially worth noting is the compromise between time and budget. Not even the biggest corporations can take the strain of having to wait excessively long for a project to be completed. The same, obviously, goes for the money, which is hardly ever unlimited, and should be spent wisely. That's why it's always a smart decision to ask a professional digital product agency for help.

Embrace feedback

For creators of digital products, receiving feedback is necessary in order to know what to focus on. When launching a new digital product, you will most likely get feedback from the stakeholders, client company's employees, investors, Quality Assurance Specialists, and other parties.

Taking suggestions, opinions, and even sometimes criticism is an important skill, regardless if you're a Project Manager, Designer, or Developer. At the same time, being able to provide a response and defend your methodologies, design ideas, or coding solutions, is of equally high importance, and it takes dedication and experience to hone this quality in yourself. For example, discovering meaningful ways to give constructive design feedback alone is a huge topic, deserving its own blog post. It's a recommended read for both Project Managers and Designers alike.

Getting feedback is the easy part, but you've got to act on it, for example by establishing action points and priorities. Finally, while it's on the Project Manager to make the final call, make sure you listen to all the parties involved in your project. And that involves going through all the feedback and sharing feedback-based input back with your team, sometimes many times over. You should always remember that in the end, your product is built to suit the customer, and as such, their feedback is of great importance. By embracing their suggestions, and turning them into reality, you will be able to greatly improve your product and develop a better offering that meets the market's and the stakeholder's demands, ensuring a successful product launch.

Find the right people

With the right team, you are more likely to create the right product. In a professional world, nothing beats assembling a symbiotic group of like-minded, inspired people, who are ready to invest their energy and enthusiasm into a professional digital product. Finding the right people is, however, a huge task. It is arguably the biggest challenge any Founder or Project Manager will face — it could be the one thing that makes or breaks your product launch.

Let's say you want to build a website for your business. The first step is to find a team with a thorough website design and development process. The team should involve skilled Web Developers, UX/UI Designers full of creativity, and of course, a talented Project Manager to handle the direction of the project and its more general aspects. If you've got a solid hiring process, you could look out for these professionals individually and get them to work on your project in-house. Alternatively, you could opt for an already established agency like us to handle everything for you.

Going with an agency has its advantages. First, you'll be sure that veteran talents will handle the job, and that you won't have to go through the stress of managing everything yourself. If you give us a try, all you've got to do is have a call with our CEO Kuba Luty to discuss your project details. The time frame, budget, and everything in between will be stipulated before your project begins for maximum transparency.

Research your niche well

When it comes to digital product launches, focusing on your area of expertise is of utmost importance. Despite the ambitious ideas of aspiring Projects Managers, who wish to launch a product that everyone in the world will like, having a niche will help develop a deep connection with the userbase. And if you're just as passionate about your product as your audience, then you know you've hit the bullseye.

Niches are another opportunity, where a professional digital product agency will be of great help. Based on a company's input, we will be more than happy to help you find the niche that's aligned with your company's mission, goals, and values. This way your new digital product will be discovered by niche-specific sponsors, influencers, advertisers, and marketers, which is great for business and product life. In general, most of the decisions that revolve around your product will be dependent on your niche of choice. Decisions regarding product pricing and marketing can easily be established if your niche is adequately researched. It's something you should definitely not overlook, as creating and launching a digital product that's not niche-specific is akin to creating a product designed to be liked by every single person in the world — as there's little chance anyone will truly like it.