5 Essential Steps to Crafting a Compelling Product Vision

‘Where do we aim to be?’ Have you ever thought about this question after coming up with an idea for a new product? Well, this is what a product vision does. It is the essence of the product that talks about the future. It helps you create a great product that coordinates your team and gets people excited about your building product.

With an idea in mind to develop a new product, you need a vision that’ll help you to reach your destination. The essential point is that you should share the vision which will guide everyone while building the product.

Significance of Product Vision

Imagine if you don’t have a product vision. How are you going to proceed with the development of the product? On what basis would you make decisions? How would you know what to prioritize? To answer these questions, it’s essential to have a vision statement.

Below are some of the points that are crucial for the product vision statement:

1. Direction to product

A Product Vision is like a compass for the development of the product. It provides a lot of necessary context about the product, specifically, its goals, the intention behind the creation, the customer needs, and the future state of the product. Without it, the development efforts can be disorganized.

2. Provides a sense of purpose

Why are we developing the product? The answer to the question is essential for the stakeholders. It brings all the groups together, promotes collaboration, and motivates a steering board of the company to invest in the product.

3. Helps to keep Focus

The product vision statement helps you not to deviate from the path of product development. Every decision on product development should be verified against the product vision. If the decision varies, it might be wrong to put on the customer’s needs and be changed.

4. Helps to Promote a Product

A short and appealing vision statement can generate interest and draw the attention of potential investors and customers, which can make the product widely accepted.

Designing an Effective Vision Statement

Creating an effective vision statement may seem like an overwhelming task, but it does not have to be. Usually, a vision is created by involving the right stakeholders who have the expertise to contribute. But the significant participation in defining, communicating, and cultivating the product vision lies with the product management group.

Some crucial elements should be taken into account while designing the vision statement. They are:

• Always keep the end-users in mind — The better you know about your buyer, the easier it is to pinpoint the exact reason he wants to purchase from you today and in the future. It sets the complexion for what’s expected. As the company grows with the market demand, the vision statement guides that growth.
• Keep the vision ambitious yet achievable — An ambitious vision creates an impression. You should set a target and aim high, which will say a lot about you as an organization.
• Keep the vision crisp and clear — As creating the vision statement is the crucial step in developing the product, it should be easy to communicate and understand and inspire everyone to connect with the product.
• Use the vision to guide your decisions — The vision guides your product decisions and makes everyone focus on the reason for creating the product. If a new technology or a change in direction takes you toward your vision, it should be considered.
• Vision should evolve as the market and customer preferences change.

A great example of this is Microsoft. Microsoft’s vision statement in the ’90s was “ A computer on every desk and in every home.” During this time, the era of mobile had already begun. Microsoft’s limiting vision statement was one of the prime reasons why the company missed participating in the phone revolution. They recreated their vision statement to “help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential,” thus making it broader. Vision without action is a dream, and action without a vision is a nightmare.

Examples of vision statements

Numerous renowned companies worldwide offer services to their customers with a clear vision of their needs. They create vision statements with the aim of a bright future.

Let’s take a look at some of them.

• Amazon — How often do you shop from Amazon? Do they satisfy your needs? That’s what Amazon focuses on. Their vision is “To be earth’s most customer-centric company.”
• Tesla — The vision statement of Tesla is “To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” They develop their product by following their vision.
• IKEA — Have you ever visited an IKEA store? Do you know what their vision statement is? Well, their aim is crisp and clear “To create better everyday life for many people.”
• Instagram — Millions of people are addicted to taking photos of everything. That’s why Instagram aims to “Capture and share the world’s moments.”

A vision statement is a forward-thinking proclamation of the future of your company. Create a vision statement that everyone buys, believes in, and works towards it. Wondering how to start framing yours? Use Shorter Loop to create your company’s vision statement and share it with your team all in one place.

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