- How can product managers effectively balance the desire to innovate and introduce new features with the need to address buyer resistance? What strategies can they employ?
When approaching the delicate balance between innovation in new products to handling customer psychology and preferences for original products, product managers can attempt to emphasize aspects of previously popular products in their new innovations. For example, new products or features can be introduced in the context of what the customer is already used — “XYZ but better because of XYZ”, for example. In other words, product managers can frame new products as an improvement upon an old one, and can specifically target issues users may have with the old product (For example, a new water bottle that emphasizes anti-leaking after a previous line was prone to leaking). This way, customers will be able to draw the direct connection between what they may be comfortable using and may be able to make that psychological transition more easily. One of the best examples of this may be Apple’s approach to new iPhones — although newer models often get pushback, most customers are more than willing to trade in their old phones for an upgrade. This is due to a variety of factors, including: decreased performance in their existing product, which makes the user appreciate more efficient technology more (which can be found in the new iPhone), and the trade-in process in general, which emphasizes the “oldness” of the old phone vs the foreign, but better “newness” of the new one in comparison. The bottom line here is everything is done in comparison — if customers perceive new lines as just improvements and enhancements on the old ones, they will be far more likely to be accepting of them.
