What are the Signs of a Bad Product Idea?
Startups spend a lot of time, energy, and money to come up with a product idea.
When you are in this process, you can easily get sucked into the idea of coming up with something “new” and original.
There is nothing wrong with creating something new, but if you are not careful enough, it’s easy to fall into the trap of creating something that nobody wants.
How Do You Define a Good Product?
When you create a product, you are just trying to come up with something that people want. You are not trying to come up with something that will make a lot of money or solve the world’s problems.
You want your product to be valuable and useful. Finally, you want it to be something that people would use and enjoy.
If you can satisfy all these requirements, then you will have created a great product idea.
What are The Signs of a Bad Product Idea?
As I mentioned above, if you are not careful enough about creating something valuable and useful, it can be easy for you to fall into the trap of creating something that nobody wants.
If this happens, then your startup will most likely fail.
There is no way around this unless your startup has already started making money and generating revenue before this happens.
To avoid this, you need to make an excellent product and use a good strategy to market it.
Here are some signs of a bad product idea:
1) The Product is Too Complicated to Use
One of the first signs of a bad product idea is if the product is so complicated that it requires you to use a guide to figure out how to use it.
There is nothing worse than buying a product and having to spend hours learning how to use it before you can even start using it.
To be a wonderful product, the product must be simple enough to use with no training.
If you can’t figure out how to use the product without a guide, then the product is too complex and you should look for a simpler product.
2) The Product Does Not Have Enough Interest
It is important for you as a startup founder not only to build a great product but also to build enough interest from customers before you launch it.
You need to do a lot of research about what people want and how they use the products before you launch your product.
Then, once you launch your product, you need to make sure that you keep updating it with new features and updates so that people keep using it.
3) The Product Looks Bad Aesthetically
Ugly products don’t sell.
While it’s not always possible to achieve the best possible aesthetic, it is possible to improve the look of your product and keep customers happy.
A customer wants to see a clean and professional product. If you don’t take care of your product’s appearance, it will never get better than that.
4) The Product Isn’t Unique or Innovative
A bad product idea is one that people haven’t done before. If you can improve on an existing product, or create something original, then it’s not a bad idea.
If you are creating a product that is already available in the market, then it’s a bad idea. You should think of how you can make it better.
5) No Clear Functionality
You need to be clear about what your product does. How do you explain your product to potential customers?
What problems does it solve? Who is your target audience?
Clear functionality means you have to be clear about what your product does. You need to explain how your product will benefit users.
6) It’s Not Memorable
You need to make sure that your product is memorable. It’s all about the user experience. And there are many ways to make your product memorable.
You can use great copywriting, delightful visuals, and excellent user interfaces.
But if you have a great product but it’s not memorable, you’re going to lose out on a lot of sales.
And it doesn’t matter how good your product is if no one knows about it.
7) No Value Proposition
This is another sign of a bad product idea. When your product is so hard to use that you can’t even explain it to someone, you have a problem.
You need to fix that before your idea becomes reality.
If your product appeals to a niche audience, and the market is changing and moving in a different direction, you have a problem.
People are no longer buying into your idea. You’ll need to either adapt or move on.
8) The Making Process Consumes a Lot of Resource
Different products have different development cycles. For example, you can develop an in-house product in a week, while a product with enormous costs and high margins will require more time.
The important thing is to make sure you do everything as efficiently as possible. Make sure the cost of resource is worth the money.
A big cost can make the entire development process go up in smoke.
9) It Doesn’t Have Any Market Penetration Potential
If your product doesn’t have any market penetration potential, then it won’t generate any profits for you.
So, even if you come up with a brilliant idea for a product, it doesn’t mean that people will actually want to buy it.
You should take a step back and decide whether there is enough demand for your product.
If there isn’t enough demand, then you are wasting your time and effort on something that won’t earn you any profit.
10) People Will Only Use It for a Short-Time
Bad product ideas have the potential to be successful in the short-term, but in the long-term, they will fail. This is because people will not use it for a long time.
To avoid falling into this trap, it is important to ensure that the product has some features that people will find useful, even for a long term.
Avoid The Mortems of Startups
As you can see, there are a lot of signs of a bad product idea. If you don’t pay attention to these signs, then your startup will most likely fail.
To avoid this, you need to make sure that your product is valuable and useful for people.
In addition, you need to make sure that your product looks good and appealing to people.
Also, you need to make sure that your product has enough market penetration potential so that people will want to use it.
Finally, you need to make sure that your product doesn’t have a short-time value so that people will want to use it for a long time and buy it. If this happens, then your startup will most likely fail.
About the Author
I hope that my post has helped you know more about Startups. Feel free to leave a comment and tag me and I will answer them. Follow my profile to get the latest content I post to stay ahead of the curve.
I am the Founder of Cudy Technologies, a full-stack EdTech startup helping teachers and students learn better. I am also a mentor and angel investor in other Startups of my other interests (Proptech, Fintech, HRtech, Ride-hailing, C2C marketplaces, and SaaS). You can also find me on Cudy for early-stage Startup Founder mentorship and advice.
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