The Benefits of Getting Early Feedback and Making Small Updates in Digital Product Development

The traditional approach of waiting until the work is finished and polished before showing it to others is not always followed in the world of digital products. This is due to the almost complete malleability of digital products, which allows for changes and powerful insights to be gained through iteration. In this post, we'll explain why getting early feedback and making small changes in digital product development is important and how doing so can lead to a better end product.

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The Importance of Getting Early Feedback

Getting early feedback from engineers, designers, and other stakeholders can help you save time and effort by avoiding the creation of complex ideas that aren't feasible. For example, if you're developing a new feature and get early feedback from your intended audience, you might find that the feature isn't as useful or valuable as you thought it would be. This can help you save a significant amount of time and resources that would otherwise be spent on development and testing.

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Try getting insight from user testing after you've spent some time shaping your idea into something more concrete. This can assist you in identifying pain points and ways to improve your product before releasing it to a larger audience.

Once you've iterated on the product and the new release is in the hands of users, you can use user feedback to determine what worked well and what should be improved. This continuous feedback loop is critical for developing a product that meets your users' needs and desires. Early feedback can help build user trust and loyalty by making users feel heard and that their needs are being met.

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The Importance of Making Small Updates

It is critical to be intentional about making changes. Make minor, incremental updates that address specific issues or add new features in a logical order instead. Users should never believe that what they know today will differ from what they know tomorrow. Users may lose trust in your brand if you bombard them with random ideas.

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For example, if you're working on a new feature for your digital product, consider releasing it to a small group of users first to get feedback and make any necessary changes before releasing it to the entire user base. This can assist you in identifying any issues or areas for improvement and making the required changes before releasing the update to a larger audience.

By making minor changes, you reduce the risks involved. Engineers can more easily identify where to make changes within the code when you make minor changes, and you can more easily isolate problems in a specific area when you make minor changes. This enables you to test and iterate on your product more frequently, assisting you in identifying opportunities and experimenting with new solutions.

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The Benefits of Shipping Frequently

There are several advantages to shipping your product frequently. For one thing, it allows you to quickly determine which areas performed well and which performed poorly. It may take longer to determine what went well and what needs to be fixed if you send out many changes at once. Shipping frequently also helps you become accustomed to team collaborations and provides users with a better product because they can see progress and improvements over time.

In one case, a software company discovered that shipping new updates every two weeks resulted in higher user satisfaction and retention because users could see regular improvements to the product. As a result, the company's revenue increased because users were more likely to continue using the product and recommend it to others.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, receiving early feedback, making small updates, and shipping frequently are all critical practices in digital product development. By adhering to these principles, you can create a product that meets your users' needs, reduces risks, and allows for continuous iteration and improvement.

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Early feedback from engineers, designers, and other stakeholders can help you avoid developing complex ideas that aren't feasible, as well as identify pain points and ways to improve your product before releasing it to a larger demographic. This continuous feedback loop is critical for developing a product that meets your users' needs and desires while also fostering user trust and loyalty.

Making small, incremental changes allows you to be deliberate about your changes while minimizing risks. This enables you to test and iterate on your product more frequently, assisting you in identifying opportunities and experimenting with new solutions.

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Shipping your product on a regular basis allows you to quickly determine which areas performed well or poorly and helps you get used to team collaborations. It also helps users get a better product because they can see progress and improvements over time. Shipping frequently can even lead to increased revenue in some cases, as users are more likely to continue using the product and recommending it to others.

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