What is a product plan? The basics explained
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What is a product plan? The basics explained
Holly Aspinall
5 September 2024
6 min read
Holly Aspinall
5 September 2024
6 min read
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What is a product plan?
What are the main elements of a product plan?
Example use cases for a product plan
Why does your company need a product plan?
Create your product plan in Confluence with our engaging template
Set your new product up for success. We explain what a product plan is, why you need one, and what you should include.
You’ve got an idea for a game-changing new product, and you want to make sure it’s a success. What do you do next? You create a product plan!
With a product plan, you can better understand your product, your potential customers, and competing products around you. Combine your plan with a product survey to set yourself up for maximum success.
With a product plan, you can better understand your product, your potential customers, and competing products around you. Combine your plan with a product survey to set yourself up for maximum success.
What is a product plan?
A product plan is a document that outlines how a product will be developed, launched, and managed over time. It's essentially a roadmap that guides teams through the process of creating a product and helps everyone to work towards the same goals.
What are the main elements of a product plan?
There are several different sections you can expect to find in a product plan. Here are some of them:
- Product vision and strategy: This section includes a big-picture idea of what your product aims to achieve and the problem it solves, plus long-term objectives the product needs to meet.
- Market research: This section includes a description of your product’s target audience. It should also include an analysis of competitor products, including their strengths and weaknesses.
- Product features and requirements: This section includes the main features your product will have, as well as technical requirements such as software, hardware, and integrations.
- Product roadmap: This section includes a timeline outlining key milestones for your product, such as development stages and launch dates. It should also include a release plan for how your product will be released.
- Resources: This section details the team members involved, other resources needed, and the financial plan for your product. Don’t forget to budget for development costs and marketing!
- Go-to-market strategy: This section includes a marketing plan for your product, such as where and how it will be advertised. It also includes the sales strategy and contains details like where your product will be sold, pricing costs, and training materials for your sales team.
- Metrics and KPIs: This section contains Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to help measure how well your product is performing. These metrics could include customer satisfaction and revenue, for example.
- Risk management: This section details any potential problems that might arise, alongside a plan to prevent them or tackle them.
- Post-launch plan: This section includes any plans for customer support, plans for future updates and bug fixes, and any processes to gather customer feedback on your product.
Example use cases for a product plan
Whether you’re developing a new product or making a big change to an existing one, a product plan is always a good idea. Here are a few examples:
- Developing a new product: A product plan helps to guide the development and launch of your new product, helping teams to stay on the same page.
- Expanding the features on an existing product: If you’re making a significant update to your product, a product plan helps you to seamlessly integrate new features with minimum disruption to your users.
- Launching an existing product in a new market: A product plan helps you successfully launch your product into a new international market, helping you consider any localisation issues and adjust the strategy for a new country.
Why does your company need a product plan?
1. Coordinate teams across the company
Without a clear plan, it’s hard to ensure everyone is working towards the same goals and objectives. A product plan helps boost collaboration and communication, which means there’s less chance of misunderstandings or conflicting priorities.
2. Better understand the market
Properly planning out your product strategy helps you gain a clear understanding of your target market and the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. This helps to ensure your product stands out and meets your customer needs, boosting your product’s chances of success.
3. Increase stakeholder buy-in
A well-thought out product plan is a great way to share a new product’s positioning to stakeholders or potential investors, which makes it easier for you to secure funding and gain stakeholder approval of the product.
4. Effectively manage risks
A product plan helps you identify potential risks early on in the planning progress, meaning you can also create strategies to reduce that risk. This helps to avoid delays, overspending, and other problems that could impact your product’s success.
5. Ensure your product is built to last
An important part of a product plan is the post-launch activities such as customer support and updates. By planning this in advance, you can keep your product competitive and future-proof so customers continue to love and use it for years to come.
Create your product plan in Confluence with our engaging template
Ready to build your product plan but not sure how to lay it out? Our Confluence template is clear and structured, and designed to engage stakeholders too.
Learn more about our Confluence Product Plan Template and try it for yourself.
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Written by
Holly Aspinall
Content Marketing Manager
As an experienced Content Marketing Manager, Holly is dedicated to writing valuable, accessible guides that help users understand their tools better and get more out of their workday.
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