Design your very first product prototype in just 5 steps
Are you ready to transform your concept into something your clients are going to love? Here's how to create a prototype for your digital product in just 5 steps.
You don't have to wait for your completed your product to be able to answer any of these concerns.
In fact, you can't afford to put off all that time.
If you don't create something that solves a real problem for your audience the product you've created won't ever get out of the ground.
Prototyping is the way to go. This may sound complex or intimidating, but creating prototyping and testing prototypes can be less expensive, simple and more efficient than you think.
Before we begin, let's go over the essentials.
What is a prototype (and why should you create one)?
A prototype is any product however basic -- that can help you get feedback on the product that you're working on.
From mobile apps to tangible product, people across different industries build prototypes to test out their ideas. The main purpose of your prototype is to learn the needs of your clients to create products that people love.
At the end of your prototyping phase the product will be the minimum viable product (MVP). An MVP is an extremely simple prototype of your service that allows you to measure the feedback of your audience and gain insight into your customers.
Your MVP shouldn't include every feature under the sun. You won't know what functionality customers want and require until you test your MVP.
Prototyping quickly can also help you save time and resources later on. It's quicker and cheaper creating a prototype than to build the full-blown product.
The process of prototyping is essential to the success of the UX design process. The purpose of effective UX should be making it as simple and enjoyable as possible to users of your product. This will improve the overall customer experience.
In 2013, an Walker report predicted that by the end of 2020, customer experience would overtake pricing and quality as the key brand differentiator. Their prediction has come real.
Gartner has found over two-thirds of companies compete primarily based on customer experience, which is up from 36% in 2010. In addition, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for an experience that is better for them.
Bottom line:
Building and testing a prototype will allow you to collect the crucial customer feedback that you require to provide a fantastic user experience, regardless of whether the ultimate product is an online class, digital download, or anything else completely.
If you've understood what prototyping is all about we can now get to what's the "how" of it all.
5 steps to create the first prototype
Step One: Define the problem your product will solve
First and foremost, your product needs to solve a real-world problem for the customers you serve. 30% of startup are unsuccessful due to the lack of a demand for their product or products or.
Also, there's no commercial or product to match .
Your product-market fit is how well your product meets consumer demand.
An example of an excellent product-market compatibility is Casper. Philip Krim founded Casper after noticing that there were only two major mattress brands in the marketplace and there were huge possibilities for innovation.
In the same way, Sara Blakely got her idea for Spanx undergarments when she couldn't find something that was flattering and comfortable for wearing under white trousers.
The first step is to determine what result you want to offer your customer, then work in reverse to figure out the best way to achieve this result. That's your unique selling proposition (USP).
Your USP answers two questions:
What issue am I attempting to solve using my service or product?
What differentiates my product from my competitors?
Your USP can be described as the "special sauce". It's what separates you from other businesses and what makes prospective customers select the brand you represent. It can also help you figure how you can market your service.
Step 2: Conduct customer research
In the process of designing your prototype it is crucial to determine:
What problem you want to address.
If your solution is something your customers will be willing to spend money on, then you have a chance.
Take a look at forums and communities on the internet that are related to your product topic. You can ask yourself:
What is my target public speaking about?
What questions are they asking each other?
What are the challenges they have to face?
What new skills do they need to master?
Reviews are another great source for qualitative insights into the public. Look for other items in your field, and then go through the reviews.
Through these review You learn that beginners at-home pasta cooks need visual aids in helping them learn. You now know it is essential to incorporate photos and diagrams in your design.
If you already have an audience, or online community, don't be shy to ask them directly what they're seeking in a product.
Tiffany Williams, the founder of Rich Girl Collective , learned what the audience wanted by listening to their comments and questions.
"I will simply inquire with my audience what they want, the things they would like to know and, if the answer is what I've done that I've succeeded with, I will teach them the concept."
It is possible to collect your customers' comments by sending surveys to your mailing list. Find out their biggest pain points and what they're looking for to solve their problems.
Survey instruments like SurveyMonkey , Typeform as well as Google Forms help you create and send out surveys a breeze.
Another option is to connect with customers through social media.
Take creator John D. Saunders For instance. John asks his Twitter audience to provide feedback on his first concepts before releasing or selling an online course.
In this tweet message , John explains how the audience is involved in the course creation process:
(P.S. It makes it simple for creators like John to create and market online courses, digital downloads membershipsand much more. Join to get a free account now .)
While you are gathering information about your audience and get feedback from them in this stage, be sure to note down all the information that you can regardless of how small the information. More information you can put together will be more efficient our subsequent step will be.
Step 3: Sort out your information and thoughts
When you've collected all the customer information possible, you'll need to organize your data, so that you can turn your research into a prototype. This is the time to concentrate your attention beyond a general idea, to an actionable sketch of your MVP.
If you're not sure where to begin, you can try making your own affinity graph.
Affinity diagrams, also called cluster maps, are a UX design tool to organize qualitative information into different categories or themes. This visual aid can help determine which data is closely related to each other and when various themes appear.
It can look a little something like the following :
Here's the method to make an affinity diagram :
Keep track of all your ideas as well as observations on sticky notes.
Seek out similar ideas, after which you can group them.
Give a definition and a name to the group. What is the main aspect that every note in the group shares?
Make sticky notepads into categories until all notes have been sortable.
Determine which categories are the most essential to consider in your prototype. What features or ideas come out the most during your study? Which are the groups with the greatest sticky notes?
If you prefer to create your affinity diagram digitally Design software UserTesting and InVision offer an design template for affinity diagrams that allows you to import and organize your UX studies on your desktop.
Another great tool to help narrow down the digital product ideas includes our Passion/Profit Matrix.
( Download the template here. .)
The Passion/Profit Matrix helps you answer two critical questions:
The PassionHow excited are you over this idea for a product?
Profit potential:Do people already spend on this issue to find a solution?
Make use of the data you collected in the second step to draw your idea for your products on the matrix. It is important to select an idea that is in the upper-right quadrant.
After this process, you'll have an idea of the product you want to build and the most crucial features to incorporate in your prototype. Now, you're ready to design your MVP.
Step 4: Design and then share your MVP
An MVP is more than an idea or a mockup. It's a real product that customers can try out, then share their feedback with you.
Be aware it's just one iteration and not the finished product. It is not necessary to list every single detail. Instead, focus on the aspects that came to mind the most during your study. The MVP will give customers a glimpses of the final product.
The photo-sharing website Unsplash began as a Tumblr blog that featured ten photos. Product Hunt began as the name suggests. It was a website for link sharing named Linkydink.
Going back to our homemade pasta recipe, suppose that the goal of your project is creating an online class that teaches students everything they need to know about pasta making, beginning with the origins of the various shapes to the right kinds of flour.
To be your own MVP idea, you can create an introductory course that covers the fundamentals of making pasta or even write a book covering one skill, like making homemade noodles.
Whatever your MVP turns out to be, you need to make sure it is in front of your target audience.
One of the best ways to build a customer list for your MVP is to create a landing page.
Unlike your website homepage, a landing page is an individual webpage that concentrates on one specific conversion goal .
A digital product that is launched before launch can provide two major benefits:
Validating your product ideas.
Here are some extra landing page tips to be aware of:
Utilize your research on customers from step two to write copy that's relevant to their objectives and pain issues.
Make sure you focus on the benefits of your product, not just its features. Tell your audience the specific ways your product will have a positive impact on their lives.
Keep your landing page easily readable and stick only one call-to action (CTA).
Over half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices. Therefore, make sure that your landing page is mobile-friendly.
When you've got your MVP out to the users you want to serve, it's time for the final -the most crucial- step in the prototyping process.
Step #5: Gather customer feedback
It's now time to collect and implement user feedback about your MVP.
This is the best part that your customers are eager to provide feedback to them. 90% of shoppers are more positive opinion of businesses who ask for feedback.
In the event that you do not have a lot of people to reach out to in order to get feedback, don't be worried. As per Jeff Sauro of MeasuringU, only five users could reveal 85% of the difficulties on the interface.
This means testing your MVP is as easy as having five testers play with an interactive prototype. As they move through the process, you can make sure they record the way they experience the software and to discuss their opinions on the visual design and user-friendliness.
Facilitate users to provide feedback, whether that means making a quick phone call to listen to their comments or sending another questionnaire via Typeform as well as Google Forms.
Once you have collected the data, you are able to make use of the affinity diagramming technique in step 3 to arrange the new information. Then, apply that feedback to the following version in your MVP.
There's a good chance that you'll require to launch multiple variations of your MVP to create the best feasible product for your customers.
Once you test all multiple MVPs You'll be armed with all the information you need to start your minimum marketable product (MMP) which is a saleable variant of the MVP. When you do, continue soliciting feedback from your customers.
All in all it's an ongoing process, not a linear process. The more you learn about your clients then the more you will be able to iterate on your product until you build products that your clients enjoy.
The journey from an idea to digital prototype
From an initial idea to your finished product is an extended process however, creating a prototype and making an MVP can make a huge difference.
As you develop and test a prototype, you collect valuable data and data that will help in creating the perfect product for your audience.
Below are the steps for developing a design of your digital item:
Look for a problem that is in need of solving.
Conduct customer research to discover the issues that your target audience faces and their the goals they have.
Make a list of your findings to identify the top issues you need to tackle and the features you want for your product.
Utilize the information to create your minimum viable product (MVP) and then create a landing page to present it to all the public.
Collect and incorporate feedback from the first users. Then, launch the next iteration of your MVP.
Your target audience is looking for an original solution to their problems You have the expertise and the concepts to give them the one. The only thing you must do is start.