When companies or individuals are attempting to design new products for a fluctuating market, they must go through a lengthy, detailed process. Many times, product development shares a specific relationship with marketing metrics. Marketing metrics aims to aid product development by determining the type of product that will be successful in the modern market.

Developing new and successful products is not an easy task. New product development (also known as NPD) follows a product from assembly to sale. There is a long and complicated process to product development – but like all great things, it begins with something simple. All new products begin with a concept. This idea usually comes from a product development or research team, which uses marketing trends and research to propose new product concepts. Once proposed, these ideas are discussed, refined and screened to determine their theoretical level of success. The best ideas – the ones that will hypothetically meet with the most success on the market – are then developed into a more concrete concept, analyzed, built into prototypes and tested. If prototype testing and customer feedback for a future product is positive, the company can try a test-run of the product on the marketplace. From there, production can begin, and companies can begin to commercialize and sell the product.

In developing new products, marketing metrics become extremely important. Marketing metrics, in general, refers to the measurement tools used by businesses and companies to evaluate the effectiveness of their sales strategies. For example, some marketing metrics help determine the effectiveness of commercialization tools. This metric measures consumer reaction to a new product, their interest or need for the product, and even the wideness of the product’s reach across individuals of different ethnicity, cultures or backgrounds. Using marketing metrics, companies can evaluate how engaging and influential their product marketing is. This, in turn, can help them determine future advertising strategies. Marketing metrics even help new products at the earliest stages of development. Marketing metrics study economic trends, as well as basic causes for consumer purchases. These metrics are useful in determining what new products will meet with the most success on the marketplace.

By using marketing metrics, companies can more successfully promote their new products to the general public. The research, trend identification and data acquired from marketing metrics provide a framework for creative, product-producing individuals to work within. Without marketing metrics, new product development would be much more stressful, difficult and ultimately unsuccessful.