Most brands launch a hero product, sell it well, then guess at what comes next. The second product gets chosen on instinct, or because a supplier offered a good price on something adjacent. That is an expensive way to discover your customers never wanted it.
A support product has to do two things. It has to solve a problem your hero product creates or leaves open, and it has to earn its own margin. Here is the five-step process we use with clients to work out what that product should be.
Step 1: Analyse your order data
What do repeat customers buy that first-timers don’t? What gets bought in the same session? Your existing data might already have the answer. Look at basket composition, repeat purchase intervals, and which SKUs consistently appear together. Patterns in what people already combine tell you what they are trying to achieve, and where the gap sits.
Step 2: Read your reviews
What problems do customers mention that your product doesn’t solve? What do they wish came in the box? One-star reviews are a product brief. Read your competitors’ reviews as well, since complaints about a rival product are unclaimed demand. Sort by lowest rating and look for the same frustration appearing across dozens of buyers.
Step 3: Map the use occasion
Walk through exactly how your customer uses your hero product, step by step. What is needed before? What is needed after? Where do they store it, clean it, carry it, charge it, refill it? Every one of those moments is a point where the customer either improvises a solution or goes without. That improvisation is an opportunity for your next hit.
Step 4: Check the margins
A support product needs to make sense on its own, not as a loss leader that props up the hero. Target the same landed cost ratio you achieve on your main line, and include tooling amortisation, freight, duty, and warehousing in that number. If it doesn’t stack up, it isn’t the right product, no matter how good the idea sounds.
Step 5: Talk to the customers
Exhibitions, tradeshows and even local markets are excellent places to demonstrate a concept and get feedback that is straight and honest. You find out why they love it, why they hate it, and what they would pay, all before committing to an expensive e-commerce campaign.
Validate before you build
Run the concept as a pre-order, a bundle offer, or a customer survey before investing in tooling. Tooling is the point where the decision becomes permanent, so put the market question in front of real buyers while changing your mind is still cheap. The market will tell you if it wants the product.
Hone PD develops consumer products from concept through to manufacture-ready. If you are working out what your next product should be, get in touch.