The Importance of Measuring Product Launch Success

By Maven Road

Innovation is the key to survival in a competitive environment, that is why companies invest thousands of dollars in product development. However, it does not stop at the product launch, measuring its success is also an important part of the process since it determinate if the investment worth the hassle or not. This is why post-product launch analysis becomes handy, owing to that it can reveal highly valuable insights that allow companies to identify what went right, but also what should have been done differently. This helps marketing teams not only identify if the product reaches the company’s objective but as well helps them to improve their strategies to enhance overall user experience.

 Case study: Instagram ITV’s launch

To test this premise we conducted a study that analyzed the launch of Instagram’s new video feature IGTV.
The results show that, on the day of the launch, 68% of product mentions were neutral; mainly revolving around news of the launch itself. IGTV shared the spotlight with Selena Gomez and Petra Collins; 5% of mentions revolved around their short film “A Love Story”, which generated buzz and exposed users from around the world to IGTV. After the short premiered, positive mentions shot up to 44%; with users expressing a sense of excitement surrounding the launch.  

IGTV mentions were 6% negative, many of these revolved around users finding the new format unfamiliar, not easy to use, or just plain unnecessary. However, negative comments saw a 57% increase the day after the launch; 22% of these comments were directly related to confusion about how to use the feature. 20% of users felt that IGTV’s notifications icon was annoying and too bright, and expressed feeling that Instagram was out of touch with their audience.

Vertical video is bad and you should feel bad for watching it. Also bring back the chronological feed.

— Will (@will_vargo) June 20, 2018

What can Instagram learn from these insights?

The Selena Gomez short film was a great way to raise awareness and promote the launch; however, the numbers clearly indicate that the lack of information regarding how to use IGTV hurt the overall reception of the product. These suggest that the company should improve the way they are introducing its features to its users, in other to make the learning curve smaller which improves their overall experience. If their products cannot be used correctly, the company investment can quickly become a waste of money.

Conclusion

Post-product launch analysis should be an essential tool for any company that wants to improve upon product and feature roll-outs, as it provides feedback that is both instantaneous and directly aimed at specific products. It also should be used as a way of measuring the effectiveness and disruption in social and digital spaces following product launch. Companies must compare these result to its product’s objective, in order to define the launch as successful or not.