How an Effective Product Roadmap is the Key to Success for a Business

Product teams are crucial in helping companies determine what delivers the most value to customers and the business. Therefore, having a strategy to prioritize certain products or features over others is essential for effective product planning and development. This is where product roadmap prioritization comes into the picture. It helps product teams focus on what matters most, ensuring resources are used efficiently.

In this article, we dive deep into product roadmap prioritization and walk you through some useful product prioritization strategies.

In this blog, you will learn:

1. How can Indian businesses prioritize their product roadmap effectively?
2. What is product prioritization, and what are some data-driven approaches to product prioritization?
3. How can statistics be utilized to support product roadmap decisions?
4. What are the key factors to consider when creating a product roadmap for Indian markets?
5. How can businesses leverage market analysis and competitive landscape research to prioritize their products?

How Can Indian Businesses Prioritize Their Product Roadmap Effectively?

Getting product roadmap prioritization right is a challenge that every product team faces. But here are some ways in which product teams can effectively prioritize product roadmaps.

1. Always focus on specific goals that align with the company’s overall vision and product strategy.
2. Involve key stakeholders in the product road-mapping process to ensure the roadmap aligns with their expectations.
3. Continuously review and update the roadmap to ensure that it remains relevant to the audience and stays aligned with the company’s objectives.
4. Product teams can use data-driven decision-making to identify product trends, gaps, and opportunities that can be leveraged to gain a competitive advantage.
5. Prepare a flexible roadmap that allows product teams to make changes and adjustments based on feedback, market changes, and other external and internal factors.

ALSO READ: A Complete Guide on Product Roadmap & Its Techniques

What is Product Prioritization, and What are Some Data-Driven Approaches to It?

Product prioritization is a strategy that product teams employ to determine which products or features should be highly prioritized. Each decision in product prioritization involves evaluating customer needs, business objectives, and team limitations to establish the order of work.

Here are some ways in which product teams can determine which features or products to prioritize.

1. Customer Feedback and Insights

Customer feedback plays a pivotal role in product development. It helps product teams better understand their target audience’s likes, dislikes, and pain points.  As a data-driven approach, it allows product teams to enhance product features, make improvements in products based on target users’ needs and preferences, and enhance customer satisfaction. Product teams can gather customer feedback through surveys, user testing, and social media channels.

2. Kano Model

The Kano Model focuses on understanding features that can increase the customer satisfaction level. It plots two sets of parameters along the horizontal and vertical axis to determine customer satisfaction for each product feature. This way, product teams can prioritize product features of high user value.

On the horizontal axis, there are implementation values, that is to what degree a customer’s need is met. These values are classified into three categories, namely:

• Basic features are core product features that solve customer problems
• Performance features are features that enhance the performance of a product and customer satisfaction
• Excitement features are pleasant surprises that evoke delighted customer response

On the other hand, the vertical axis is the customer satisfaction level. In the Kano method, product teams gather customer data via questionnaires.

3. Story Mapping

Story mapping is a simple product prioritization technique followed in agile and traditional product teams. It focuses the most on user experience while developing a product or feature. Along the horizontal line, the product teams plot different points representing each stage of the user’s journey when using their product. Meanwhile, on the vertical line, product teams place product tasks in the order of importance, from top to bottom. This allows product teams to prioritize features at different user journey stages.

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What are the Key Factors to Consider When Creating a Product Roadmap for Indian Markets?

1. Product Vision

Product teams should clearly understand the product’s vision, outlining its features, potential, and direction for development. Additionally, it serves as a roadmap for the product’s evolution and growth.

2. Product Plan

A product plan is a necessity and should include specific timeframes, tasks, and resource allocations on a roadmap. Moreover, clear objectives, timelines, and responsibilities for developing and launching a product steer the product development process in the right direction.

3. Affordability and Accessibility

Price sensitivity is crucial in the Indian market. Therefore, companies must ensure that their product is affordable and accessible to a broader segment of the population to maximize their reach.

4. Infrastructure and Technology

When developing a product for the Indian market, product teams should determine the infrastructure and technology they will use to manufacture and market the product.  Determine the delivery channels for customers and transport suppliers, and identify the information, machines, and people required to develop a product. This will help product teams identify bottlenecks that might arise during production or distribution.

5. Competition Analysis

Product teams must analyze India’s competitive landscape to identify market gaps. This will help product teams capitalize on the opportunities and stand out from the competition.

ALSO READ: A Guide to Product Development Process 2023

How Can Businesses Leverage Market Analysis and Competitive Landscape Research to Prioritize Their Products?

Market analysis and competitive landscape research help businesses understand their market, customers, and competitors. They help companies identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, enabling them to build and prioritize a successful product strategy.

Here are two ways in which businesses can leverage market analysis and competitive landscape research to prioritize their products:

1. Understand the Market

Businesses need to have a clear picture of who they are serving, the issues they are resolving, and the value they are providing. Additionally, evaluating customer needs, preferences, and behaviors can help them understand the market’s size, growth, and prevailing trends. Furthermore, it helps product teams align their offerings with market demands and effectively deliver value and relevant solutions to the target audience.

2. Identify and Prioritize Key Competitors

Businesses can identify and prioritize their key competitors by compiling a comprehensive list of companies offering similar products or services to their target customers. Moreover, they can use industry blogs, social media, online reviews, and customer feedback to understand their competitors’ strategies. This will help businesses assess their competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, identify gaps and opportunities and exploit them for competitive advantage.

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Learn How to Align Product Roadmaps With Emeritus’ Courses

Emeritus offers product management courses that teach aspirants to collect and analyze customer feedback, market trends, and competitor strategies. These courses from the world’s best universities also equip aspiring product management professionals with deep knowledge of product roadmaps and prioritization.