Product Research - Use Product Tuning to Create a Profitable Product

hi everyone thank you for watching my name is Jelena and today in today's video I'm going to talk to you about product development and product tuning I've seen a lot of sellers and also myself make the same mistakes with their product research process accepted because it's not detailed and out there aren't following the process thoroughly so this is something that I wanted to share with you my experience in how I did product development and I'm going to choose just like a random product this is not going to be my recommendation so that you should sell this product but rather than that I'm going to show you what I would do if this was my product choice so in this product video I'm going to cover quickly do a recap what some general recommendations for a product research should be for you also what some of the main product unique value propositions are what product tuning is and what are the part of dimensions that you might be able to think about how to change them so this is a topic that's very very interesting I am very passionate about it and I haven't seen a lot of sources talk about it especially not on YouTube so I'm hoping to bring some new value fresh breath of air and YouTube in area of this topic and stay tuned I'm hoping they'll provide a lot about it to you so let's dive right into it I'm in my last video I mentioned that there's a certain procedure a certain process that you should follow through to make sure that you verify your product idea and I only briefly mentioned that there are a couple of conditions like elements that you should meet in order to verify that idea but what I did mention is that there are certain kind of like rules recommendations that you can follow sort of to get guided with a process of getting that idea I didn't mention how you should come up with that idea so I'm going I have thought this whole thing through and I found that there's something like maybe seven different suggestions that I would give you when you are contemplating of what your product should be or watch your next product in your product line should be first of all the the product one the first general recommendation is that your product should solve a problem and what I mean by that is that basically you when you are looking to earn some money and earn that sale from someone who should make the purchase and trust you with their money basically you should solve a pretty big issue for them otherwise they're not gonna they're not gonna really be interested in making that purchase so make sure that your problem your product is something that solves a problem like for example I found this sample product called cat scratching post which is the product that you would originally not really think about but if you are a cat owner then probably you're familiar with this common issue that cats they they just feel this urge the car not scratch and everything that they find suitable for scratching and then they end up ruining some pretty expensive pieces of furniture for their owners and this is a very big issue for owners because they don't have to go through restoring that furniture which is usually expensive or maybe not even doable in some cases so smart person actually thought about this and then they created this product called cat scratching post which is something that will basically you know drive the cat's attention away from that piece of furniture and just you know fulfill its needs to scratch something and this is made specifically for these purposes and people actually are loving this because it's actually solving down a problem for something like you know twenty six dollars they can actually protect their furniture there's also like an alternative product for this problem that solves the same problem but it's a different type of product which is like some kind of nylon that you kind of like stick to your furniture so when they scratch it they don't actually hurt the furniture so that's like you know another example of customers solving a problem basically product solving their own problem which is a whole different product and oriented towards you know the customer not the pet owner not the pet this one is worried the towards the pet so in both cases these both products sell really well and both products are something that solves a problem which is the main reason why they are selling so well think about when you have like a product idea that you might find interesting then first thing you should think about is this problem is this product solving someone's problem and which problem how severe is that problem to someone how much easier their life would be if they had this product if you'd have like a clear answer to that and it's a good answer then you're probably on to something and you should keep exploring that product idea and verifying it second of all second general recommendation is a practical recommendation which is something that not a lot of sellers really think about when they're doing product research which is that your product should be lightweight this is very practical for people because then you will have cheaper shipment which is sometimes a thing that can really make or break your sale there is a proven test we did that like out of you know hundred people who made that purchase 80 percent of them were more inclined towards making that purchase if it came with free shipping you know so free shipping as one of the most important incentives for someone to make a purchase in 2019 it might be something that's like a hidden business expense for you that you make like an additional sacrifice to make that couple of first initial sales and this might be something that's in your aunt and if you want if you are you know if you decided to make that sacrifice and make the shipping on you like make it for free then definitely make sure that the product is lightweight so it doesn't cost you too much otherwise it's going to eat out all of your profits and it's not something that we would advise it to you to do so this is a very good recommendation just go to all of these national carriers that that actually in a reality will be the worst for shipping your products and go through the rates and see what you're comfortable with so for example if you have a product that costs $300 and you know the shipping is $30 for that product that and you are kind of percent comfortable with it then that's fine but you have to have like a very realistic at least close approximate estimate what the costs will be for shipments because this is something you should keep in mind it really affects your decision making process if you're careful which is that number three general recommendation is that you should have some interest in your category if this product like for example cats question post is in the category for fed supplies and you have a cat and this is like some kind of like you are on private interest then it's a win-win situation for everyone this is a general recommendation simply because if you're looking to build a long-term brand you will want to have this brand this brand is going to need Facebook page Instagram page website e-commerce websites then you're going to do some Pinterest or maybe some kind of influencer marketing to drive external traffic to your listing so well my point is that if you're going to build a brand and it's going to be also outside of Amazon too then this brand is going to need tons of content content marketing is one of the most powerful marketing strategies ever especially if you know what your audience is and you have to know that which is one of our recommendations here and so basically my point is you should have some at least kind of general interest or something you don't hate like and it's not something you completely know nothing about and you're going into that market trying to sell to these people you really have to understand the product and if possible at least like it so that you can kind of like you know handle it over time and there will be tough times building a brand was never easy and this love towards you know the category you're in should be the one that will give you the strength to carry on through the facts so it's very definitely recommended to have any kind of interest in that category this your product idea it's in number four general recommendation is that your product should have a strong pl potential product listing potential your product should be a product that should be easy to brand it should be brandable so to speak like for example this cat scratching post is something that we can build a brand around because if you want to kind of like diversify your brand only around scratching posts then you can use you know different colors maybe different sizes for bigger cats or you can create the additional upsell potential products like things that like little balls and cubes that they can play around you know toys for cats or something like that because this product is something that can be your flagship product that you will generate your cash flow upon and then you know use that cash flow to grow a brand so when you have a product idea then you should first think about whether this product like answer the question whether my product is something that I could build a brand around if it's something that you know general public needs like selling pillows then okay can I make a brand out of this these pillows and how can I do this and you know why would my pillows be so special should I make a stuffing out of a certain natural material or is it going to be a knee pillow for side sleepers what is it going to be like as specific as you can get more successful your band is going to be so ask yourself this question is this part of something I could build my brand around and if your answer is yes then he might be onto something and it should keep exploring your idea number five price point it is recommended out of our own experience and from from talking to other sellers as well that the product price should be between 17 and 70 dollars and there is a big reason why we say that this is the price point if your product is too cheap like below 17 dollars then you have to make a ton of sales to reach certain profitability point like if your father costs you know $10 and your profit margin is around 30% which is on average 30% then my guess is that you have to sell like about 30 products per day to make $100 profit which isn't bad but you know usually these products that are too cheap they're very very competitive because everyone else is selling them and they sell a lot because it's always easier the kind of like sells something it's very cheap because you know customers will buy a couple of dollar product and not really you know care too much about that money and it's very easy to like you know enter product that fits the general public that costs that it's a little bit cheaper and everyone buys it so that being said everyone's doing it and the competition is just too strong for you to enter that market now in 2019 a couple of years ago it might have worked but right now it doesn't so we wouldn't definitely not recommend any products cheaper than 17 dollars unless you have like a really really strong reason backup reason have really you know ask yourself 50 times whether this is the right product to sell and you had a yes answer anytime so stay away otherwise stay away from cheap products when it comes to products more expensive the $70 then this is something that we have noticed this usually the return rates are higher the higher the cost of the product higher the return rates for some reason right right for example when it comes to sinks like for example they cost $300 and it's a very tough decision for someone to make to invest $300 into something that's going to be you know part of their kitchen and their it's going to affect how the whole aesthetic view of their kitchens going to look like and I don't know for example if someone is by they buying a gold necklace that costs $200 then you know that's obviously $70 of profit for you but sometimes they might not even like it or they want in exchange or if you're selling rings and then you have return rates because it's a wrong size and this is a high-end price point product type so stay in the golden middle that's where you will be saved especially if you are a new seller and you have a lot of experience to collect in knowledge to collect and stay within the range 17 to 70 dollars and you will be happy number six consider competition this is something that I've explained in one of my previous videos how to kind of like verify your product idea when you compare it to your competitive products like you have one primary product and three competing products so if you're interested in learning more details then look up our product research step by step tutorial that I posted last week but basically what I mean by you know checking with your competition what I mean is that you should compare the competition there are three elements that you can invest in your business and you should be very you know realistic towards yourself which one of these three elements you can in the most first of all you could put in time into your business second of all you could put in with the work and you can put in money these are the three elements time work money if you don't have enough money then maybe you have more time on your hands and workforce to put into that business or if you don't have enough workforce but you have the money to hire workforce and knowledge and everything else that you might need so think about your competition think about your product is this product too competitive for you at this point to kind of like stand out if it is then it might be a better idea to kind of like just get that product for now until you are you become stronger as a businessman think realistically about competition what advantages do they have what they don't have and what can you offer that's different in your product compared to them so definitely number six consider your competition number seven you should have a clear understanding of your audience your target audience in this case for example a cat scratching post we know that audience is cat lovers it's very engaged audience so this market is very competitive market obviously and you should think about okay these all these sellers have something that I don't have would it be worth for me what it for me to enter this market at all should I just skip it for now so you should have a clear understanding of who the audience is and how you can market to these people so it's very useful in that area to kind of like go through the pages of your competitors Facebook pages and see what they are posting and what kind of content is basically achieving maximum engagement on their social profiles and how do they network to these people what kind of creatives are they posting on their page just like try to learn as much as you can about your target audience if you don't have a niche if you don't have like a very clear understanding of what your audience is and how to market to these people then this is by all likelihood the product to avoid it's not something that you should add you should only enter selling the product that you understand the audience about very very well so make sure to do that so that being said those are the general recommendations for product research I'm going to quickly recap first off it should solve a problem the product should solve a problem second of all it should be lightweight third you should have some interest in that category it should have a strong appeal potential the price point should be between 17 and $70 you should consider your competition and you should know exactly who your audience is how to market to these people that being said a lot of a lot of sellers consider all of these things but never kind of like create a product that can be diversified easily so why are they missing out on this step the reason why they're missing out on this step is because they don't know a thing or two about product tuning and this is the point of this video product evening is basically a process where you can find a product that can be somehow improved what I mean by this is basically there are four different dimensions of the product that they've defined the specifics around the product first I mentioned is design the second dimension is functionality third dimension is time and the fourth dimension is the price I'm going to explain each one of these in details when it comes to design it means what color is this product what are these that it solve it and what's the use and what's the basic outlook of this product what's the sides how is it going to be used and is there any kind of user manual that should come up to it and how is it being assembled things like these and when it comes to the design this is one of the main ways in which you can change the friends outlook and someone's product change this is one of the main dimensions that you can use the change like for example on an example of a cat scratching posts the design would be the collar and definitely the size I've seen I've read the reviews of each one of these cat scratching posts that will review later little bit later and this is something that defines what the product is and how the users will perceive about the product and just like when it comes to design you should think about how to communicate exactly to your audiences the specifics of features and benefits about the product this is 100% really important like for example here they have tried really well to communicate what's the size of the cat scratching post towards in a regular sized cat and then it there's the kid that you can compare the height of this product to something that's very comparable and this is a very good thing to do they just haven't done a really good job in terms of you know showcasing what the products benefits are and stuff like that but it's a whole different topic we're talking about the product design here in this case this product design is going to be determined by its fight example that's like a very important design dimension of this specific product when it comes to product functionalities then this is something that also is a very very big deal in terms of changing dimensions to kind of find a light find your unique value proposition of your own product this means like if you're going to add like this little ball here that the cats can play with this is an added functionality of the product that maybe some of the competitors don't have or like for example I had an idea where you can add lasers to this product somehow so that cats can chase it around and keep them entertained like for example that would be another functionality of the product that we have changed to make it unique so if you have like a regular product like this one cat scratching post and you think about five or ten different ways in which you can change any of the functionalities then this is something that's going to be a unique value proposition for your product which means this is something that's going to make you stand out from the competition think thoroughly about as many possible changes of the dimensions you can to create that one perfect product and then moving on with communicating with the suppliers and just you know making sure that they make it the right way but it's all in your head so think really creatively how you can make this product better in so many ways the third dimension of the product is time which is something that unfortunately isn't very applicable on Amazon because on Amazon you can't like stay without inventory and like not be punished usually you should always be in stock your products Troy's being stuck and this is something that is rewarded by Amazon so but what I mean by time as a dimension it means an example if there's a like very important time determinant of the product like you will launch 50 unique pieces of your own product every 1st of the month so that customers can subscribe beforehand and prepay for that product so that you have enough cash flow to build that product that would be a time definition of the time dimension of your product so this isn't something that we can really use on Amazon because we don't have that much Liberty to you know communicate with your audiences that you have built so this is something that's much much more applicable in your e-commerce website so for example if you become a very successful brand on Amazon and you are deciding to expand your presence on the e-commerce website there you can make like a special premium type cat scratching poles that will cost you know five times more and be five times better in terms of all dimensions you've changed and you want to make sure that you communicate this to your customers before so they can prepay and then get it at the moment when it's launched in like three months simply because that's how much it takes for you to create and build that product and ship it to them it requires to have a very loyal customer base so in order to do this you would have to have a customer base that is interested in buying that product okay so that would be the time dimension and the last dimension is the price for example if you create a product that's going to be premium that's going to cost five times more than you know maybe the price can even be a unique selling proposition because it is something prestigious and it is something that's hand needs has something that's unique and then it costs five times more and it's a limited edition so the price point is going to be a lot higher and by that I mean if someone has that specific product that you only created in a limited amounts then this will kind of like diversify them from the company from their own environment and they really want to have it or for example you can provide exactly the same quality the functionality is exactly the same design of the product but you can diversify through price because you can somehow afford to be five dollars cheaper and sell this exactly the same cat scratching posts for $21 instead of twenty six then Amazon is going to give you a better placement and the buy box to win because you're cheap even though this is their own brand simple thoughts they just want to provide the best possible user experience for customers and they will be consistent with this thing that they know that they should do so make sure to kind of like stick to that ideal if you can that being said I'm going to show you how to identify what are some of the product dimensions and how to identify them how to change them how to improve them in example like cat scratching post I've opened up a couple more cat scratching posts and I'm going to review each one of them shortly in this video so you can exactly know what I mean by product dimensions for example I've noticed I read the reviews and this is something you should also do when you're looking for opportunities to product to do product tuning read everything that's below three like for example here this review says that the base is too narrow which means this is a major flaw like they have built a very tall scratching post but the base is very narrow so it's not stable and it falls over or falls over their cat and this is something that cats owners will not appreciate so I would write it down and see light for example base is too narrow move on here's somebody has complained that this is a very short product and not secure you can pull it in and out anytime like floats in there the predatory floats in there it's not secure product and they have posted a picture they just want to see how how it all works it's like a toy and they they mentioned that this is like a toy and they were probably looking for something stable that actually can solve their problem if this is not solving their problem their cat is going right back at their couch and swing to scratch at that so they're not very happy and I would say take away from this review would be make it more sturdy and stable make these parts really stick to each other make the part stick to each other so that they don't fall off next somebody who's complaint is to talk for their cat is made out of starting material shaped fast but my cat tried to use and fell over and hit him in the face that's like really thumbs down so you know and this guy mentions that you can buy this product in the Walmart shop that's not very good for Amazon you can't really stand out from the competition if your competition is Walmart and there's cheaper and they're like you know they even had to go back at the Walmart one interesting ok someone said it's perfect you're not interested in good reviews you're just interested in the ones that are mentioning how the product can be better like sometimes you know these highly high-end reviews would be useful if you're looking to find out what it is that they liked about the product so maybe there might be I dimension that you can emphasize on something that they like and you can make it even better and make them super happy but when it comes to making sales you know there's this one general rule that says no pain equals no sale so there's a strong pain point being solved you're not going to sell that product or service so that being said I would still focus on the batteries again someone is complaining about heavy duty post again putting it again and then scroll down stroll down basically you're looking to create as many as possible these suggestions here in a separate list somewhere that you will write it down that you would take into account it just like you know try and notice some patterns something that you discovered that is bad about this product it can be fixed that you can negotiate with your suppliers that they make it better so again somebody's complained that this is a basis not have enough to stay upright that's a total fail that's their something that can easily be fakes probably is fixed by the competitors already so make sure you watch the competitors once do the reviews again this glue has shredded that's not that's not not cool so make it make the ball toy should be done with the better glue move on steeply made obviously for this type of product like for example I would think maybe different-shaped would be something that would be interesting why as a dimension design dimension or maybe you know different colors when it comes to shape cats are more attracted to shapes so it all comes down to to find out the right dimension to change about your product you should really do a thorough research of your audience and in this case we have two audiences the cats and the cat owners which means you should kind of like come up with the combo killer combo of dimension changes that will make your product really stand out from the competition so for example cats can't see colors really that well they have faded colors side that they just don't find anything more interesting if it's a different color but they do find different shapes interesting so maybe for example this is what the competitor actually thought about when they they wanted to change the dimension of the product so change how it was shaped so you know this is something that's very strong in sturdy it's done from a very strong material and if your cat is going to scratch on it's not going to bowl over it's not going to fall and hit it in its head and you know just like it's very strong and then again they've changed the shape and the cats can pass through this little element and it's very strong like they're made they are emphasizing off the sturdiness of this product by showing how someone steps on the product which is interesting they're showing a product lifestyle photo so that you know how it's being used and they made this in a very interesting color and two sizes color is something that fits into the majority of living rooms it's something that's not very eye-catching too much so they kind of like blended it in and something that can fit almost every household and not drive too much tension just do its job just like you know provide a cat something to scratch off and not the furniture so that's what they did a very interesting point of view and also what they did they created two sides large and standard size so when it comes to large size this is something that's more fitting for bigger cats that a lot of customers have complained about that the previous product product was too small they have solved this for bigger cats they've created a large one and they have used this opportunity for a difference this I would call this a design dimension change this would be something that they have changed in design but they have also changed the price which is also another damage and they have also changed the color and this is this would also be a design so basically you know when it comes to this different shape and this would be a functionality change basically there they have hit almost three out of four dimensions of the product and they've created a very successful product which is something that's choice for a very core keyword that has a lot of search volume and they have you know more than 1000 reviews which confirms that they have done a very very good job in their product listing design and development of the product so if you feel like going into all of this long term and really working hard on and succeeding on Amazon that this is definitely the way to go you know they have branched out they have created you know new product that will that has a different design that has a very good use solves a problem it's within that price range as we mentioned then you know changed a couple of dimensions of a regular product product that they probably started from here sorry in this product from they started from this basic product and then they probably went through this very long thought process of how can they improve it and this has turned out to be very very successful for them so I would definitely recommend you to take your time and think the whole thing through and negotiate with your suppliers to make a high quality product otherwise if it's very low in quality it's gonna kick you in the butt at some point sooner or later so you definitely don't want to have that happen to you so be careful when you're designing your product and make sure you do your due diligence and research and be realistic about the product idea that you have product ideas there are millions of them and it only depends on your creativity whether you will succeed at making this product really stand out from the competition and make you a ton of money so that being said thank you for watching and I hope you found this video useful and the information actionable and subscribe to our channel if you like this content because we post every single week at least one video that's this long and full of packed with information and we would appreciate your support again thank you for watching and we wish you have a very lovely