How to Use AI for Successful Product Innovation

Written by
Frederik Bussler
May 5, 2021

Product innovation is the process of bringing new and improved products to the market, and is a highly complex task. To do it successfully, product development teams must keep track of many different things, such as consumer needs, competitor products, and market trends, to name just a few.

Artificial intelligence can be used to support the product development process in a number of ways. AI can help companies predict consumer needs, optimize product features, and design winning products.

In this article, we’ll be taking a detailed look at how you can use AI for successful product innovation.

1. Predicting demand for new products

In the world of product development, understanding customer demand is critical. Large product companies often manage thousands of unique products, with a total of millions of features. Unilever, for instance, manages over 400 different brands.

These massive product companies have to ensure that they’re coming up with products and features that people want, and that their product teams don’t waste time and money on features that people won’t want. If you’re coming up with products that nobody wants, you’re wasting money, time, and effort.

Companies like Netgear, Suzuki, and others use AI to predict demand for new products. By reviewing customer reviews, social media data, and other data sources, AI can predict which products are likely to succeed and which are likely to fail.

AI can predict demand for any type of product, as long as the data is there. For example, a manufacturer of electric toothbrushes can use AI to predict demand for electric toothbrush heads. They can then design the heads, make sure they’ll be in demand, and produce them.

2. Supplementing product design and innovation

Analyzing data automatically is key to successful product innovation, because product development is a time-intensive, complex, and expensive process that depends on many factors.

AI can be used to automate parts of the product development process, to make the process more efficient and to make it cheaper. AI can also be used to make innovation less risky, and to improve the quality of the final product.

For example, AI can help predict customer needs and preferences, and it can help reduce the time it takes to develop a new product. 

In addition, AI can be used to analyze product data and attributes at scale, so you can find out which products and features to prioritize in your pipeline. Not only that, AI can automate your competitive analysis and market research, so you’ll know exactly what markets to target with exactly what products and features.

When you’re ready to launch those new highly-targeted products and features, AI can be used to find the best merchandising strategies, and even create optimal product descriptions.

From start to finish, AI is a game-changer in supplementing product design and innovation.

3. Creating winning products

AI can be used to optimize product features, and AI can just as easily be used to come up with winning product designs.

For example, AI can be used to predict customer preferences, so that product designers can create products that are in demand. AI can be used to design products with the highest possible profit margins, again, so that product designers can create products that are in demand.

AI can also be used to design winning products in terms of innovation. Product designers can use AI to help generate new product ideas, and then use AI to select which ideas will work.

Summary

AI is becoming a crucial element for successful product innovation. Successful product innovation requires the ability to develop products that are better than their predecessors while also being highly relevant to a target audience.

To develop successful products and understand consumer behavior, businesses need AI. With AI, product teams can develop superior products and services and target markets with a deep understanding of consumer behaviors.

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