high quality product essay

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Quality Is More Than Making a Good Product

• Hirotaka Takeuchi
• John Quelch

Corporate executives and consumers have in recent years adopted divergent views of product quality. Several recent surveys indicate how wide the quality perception gap is: Three out of five chief executives of the country’s largest 1,300 companies said in a 1981 survey that quality is improving; only 13% said it is declining.1 Yet 49% of […]

Corporate executives and consumers have in recent years adopted divergent views of product quality. Several recent surveys indicate how wide the quality perception gap is:

• Hirotaka Takeuchi is a professor in the strategy unit of Harvard Business School.
• John Quelch is the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and holds a joint appointment at Harvard School of Public Health as a professor in health policy and management.

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• Three Big Points

What Does “Product Quality” Really Mean?

In this article, the author reviews and synthesizes the varying definitions of product quality arising from philosophy, economics, marketing, and operations management. he then goes on to build an eight­-dimensional framework to elaborate on these definitions. using this framework, he addresses the empirical relationships between quality and variables such as price, advertising, market share, cost, and profitability..

• Quality & Service

Product quality is rapidly becoming an important competitive issue. The superior reliability of many Japanese products has sparked considerable soul-searching among American managers. 1 In addition, several surveys have voiced consumers’ dissatisfaction with the existing levels of quality and service of the products they buy. 2 In a recent study of the business units of major North American companies, managers ranked “producing to high quality standards” as their chief current concern. 3

Despite the interest of managers, the academic literature on quality has not been reviewed extensively. The problem is one of coverage: scholars in four disciplines — philosophy, economics, marketing, and operations management — have considered the subject, but each group has viewed it from a different vantage point. Philosophy has focused on definitional issues; economics, on profit maximization and market equilibrium; marketing , on the determinants of buying behavior and customer satisfaction; and operations management , on engineering practices and manufacturing control. The result has been a host of competing perspectives, each based on a different analytical framework and each employing its own terminology.

At the same time, a number of common themes are apparent. All of them have important management implications. On the conceptual front, each discipline has wrestled with the following questions: Is quality objective or subjective? Is it timeless or socially determined? Empirically, interest has focused on the correlates of quality. What, for example, is the connection between quality and price? Between quality and advertising? Between quality and cost? Between quality and market share? More generally, do quality improvements lead to higher or lower profits?

Five Approaches to Defining Quality

Five major approaches to the definition of quality can be identified: (1) the transcendent approach of philosophy; (2) the product-based approach of economics; (3) the user-based approach of economics, marketing, and operations management; and (4) the manufacturing-based and (5) value-based approaches of operations management. Table 1 presents representative examples of each approach.

About the Author

David A. Garvin is Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University. Dr. Garvin holds the A.B. degree from Harvard University and the Ph.D. degree from M.I.T. His primary research interests are in the areas of production and operations management, industrial economics, and discussion teaching. Dr. Garvin has had consulting and executive education experience with major U.S. corporations, nonprofit organizations, and public agencies. He is the author of The Economics of University Behavior and coauthor of Cases in Operations Management . His many articles have appeared in such journals as Columbia Journal of World Business, Business Horizons, Harvard Business Review, and California Management Review.

1. See: W. J. Abernathy, K. B. Clark, and A. M. Kantrow, Industrial Renaissance (New York: Basic Books, 1983); D. A. Garvin, “Quality on the Line,” Harvard Business Review, September–October 1983, pp. 64–75; D. A. Garvin, “Japanese Quality Management,” Columbia Journal of World Business , in press. J. M. Juran, “Japanese and Western Quality: A Contrast,” Quality Progress, December 1978, pp. 10–18; A. L. Robinson, “Perilous Times for U.S. Microcircuit Makers,” Science , 9 May 1980, pp. 582–586.

2. See: Barksdale et al., “A Cross-National Survey of Consumer Attitudes Towards Marketing Practices, Consumerism, and Government Relations,” Columbia Journal of World Business , Summer 1982, pp. 71–86; Center for Policy Alternatives, Consumer Durables: Warranties, Service Contracts, and Alternatives (Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1978), pp. 3-127–3-146; “Rising Concern on Consumer Issues Is Found in Harris Poll,” New York Times , 17 February 1983.

3. See J. G. Miller, The 1983 Manufacturing Futures Project: Summary of North American Survey Responses & Preliminary Report (Boston, MA: School of Management, Boston University, 1983), p. 14.

4. See: R. M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (New York: Bantam Books, 1974); B. W. Tuchman, “The Decline of Quality,” New York Times Magazine , 2 November 1980.

5. See: S. Buchanen, ed., The Portable Plato (New York: The Viking Press, 1948); G. Dickie, Aesthetics: An Introduction (New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1971), p. 5.

6. See: L. Abbott, Quality and Competition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955); Z. Griliches, ed., Price Indexes and Quality Change (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971); K. Lancaster, Consumer Demand: A New Approach (New York: Columbia University Press, 1971), p. 122; K. B. Leffler, “Ambiguous Changes in Product Quality,” American Economic Review (December 1982): 956–967.

7. See: Abbott (1955), p. 129; K. Lancaster, Variety, Equity, and Efficiency (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979), p. 28.

8. See: D. Levhari and T. N. Srinivasan, “Durability of Consumption Goods: Competition versus Monopoly,” American Economic Review (March 1969): 102–107; R. L. Schmalensee, “Regulation and the Durability of Goods,” Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science (Spring 1970): 54–64; P. L. Swan, “Durability of Consumption Goods,” American Economic Review (December 1970): 884–894; P. L. Swan, “The Durability of Goods and the Regulation of Monopoly,” Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science (Autumn 1971): 347–357; T. R. Saving, “Market Organization and Product Quality,” Southern Economic Journal (April 1982): 856.

9. See: C. D. Edwards, “The Meaning of Quality,” Quality Progress , October 1968, pp. 36–39; A. A. Kuehn and R. L. Day, “Strategy of Product Quality,” Harvard Business Review, November–December 1962, pp. 100–110.

10. See: Kuehn and Day (November–December 1962); R. M. Johnson, “Market Segmentation: A Strategic Management Tool,” Journal of Marketing Research , February 1971, pp. 13–18; P. Kotler, Marketing Decision Making: A Model Building Approach (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971), pp. 491–497; B. T. Ratchford, “The New Economic Theory of Consumer Behavior: An Interpretive Essay,” Journal of Consumer Research , September 1975, pp. 65–75.

11. See: E. H. Chamberlin, “The Product as an Economic Variable,” Quarterly Journal of Economics , February 1953, pp. 1–29; R. Dorfman and P. O. Steiner, “Optimal Advertising and Optimal Quality,” American Economic Review (December 1954): 822–836; L. J. White, “Quality Variation When Prices Are Regulated,” Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science (Autumn 1972): 425–436.

12. See: J. M. Juran, ed., Quality Control Handbook , 3rd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974), p. 2; H. L. Gilmore, “Product Conformance Cost,” Quality Progress , June 1974, pp. 16–19.

13. See: Edwards (October 1968), pp. 36–39; Lancaster (1979), p. 28; H. Theil, Principles of Econometrics (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1971), pp. 556–573.

14. See: E. Sheshinski, “Price, Quality, and Quantity Regulation in a Monopoly Situation,” Economica , May 1976, pp. 127–137; White (Autumn 1972).

15. See R. B. Yepsen, Jr., ed., The Durability Factor (Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1982), pp. 12–15.

16. See: P. B. Crosby, Quality Is Free (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979); Gilmore (June 1974).

17. See: G. Boehm, “ 'Reliability' Engineering,” Fortune , April 1963, pp. 124–127, 181–182, 184, 186; A. V. Feigenbaum, Total Quality Control (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961), ch. 14; Juran (1974), pp. 8-9–8-32.

18. See: Feigenbaum (1961), chs. 10–13; J. M. Juran and F. M. Gryna, Jr., Quality Planning and Analysis (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980).

19. See: J. Campanella and F. J. Corcoran, “Principles of Quality Costs,” Quality Progress , April 1983, p. 21; Crosby (1979).

20. See: R. A. Broh, Managing Quality for Higher Profits (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982), ch. 1; Juran (1974), ch. 5.

21. See: Broh (1982); Feigenbaum (1961).

22. See The Consumer Network, Inc., Brand Quality Perceptions (Philadelphia, PA: The Consumer Network, Inc., August 1983).

23. See K. Ishikawa, “Quality and Standardization: Program for Economic Success,” Quality Progress , January 1984, p. 18.

24. See Juran (1974), pp. 2-4–2-9.

25. See E. S. Maynes, “The Concept and Measurement of Product Quality,” in Household Production and Consumption , ed. N. E. Terleckyj (New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1976), pp. 550–554.

26. See: K. Lancaster, “A New Approach to Consumer Theory,” Journal of Political Economy , April 1966, pp. 132–157; Lancaster (1971); Lancaster (1979).

27. See Lancaster (1971), p. 7.

28. See Juran (1974), pp. 8–12.

29. See C. J. Bliss, Capital Theory and the Distribution of Income (Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1975), ch. 6.

30. See “Retiring Autos at 14,” New York Times , 3 April 1983, sec. 3, p. 1.

31. See S. W. Burch, “The Aging U.S. Auto Stock: Implications for Demand,” Business Economics , May 1983, pp. 22–26.

32. See J. A. Quelch and S. B. Ash, “Consumer Satisfaction with Professional Services,” in Marketing of Services, ed. J. H. Donnelly and W. R. George (Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 1981).

33. See: Kuehn and Day (November–December 1962); Johnson (February 1971).

34. See: D. F. Cox, ed., Risk Taking and Information Handling in Consumer Behavior (Boston, MA: Division of Research, Harvard University, Graduate School of Business Administration, 1967), ch. 11; D. R. Lambert, “Price as a Quality Signal: The Tip of the Iceberg,” Economy Inquiry , January 1980, pp. 144–150.

35. See: W. O. Hagstrom, “inputs, Outputs, and the Prestige of American University Science Departments,” Sociology of Education , Fall 1971, pp. 384–385; D. D. Knudsen and T. R. Vaughan, “Quality in Graduate Education: A Reevaluation of the Rankings of Sociology Departments in the Cartter Report,” American Sociologist, February 1969, p. 18.

36. See Steinway & Sons (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School, HBS Case Services #9-682-625, 1981), p. 5.

37. See P. C. Riesz, “Price-Quality Correlations for Packaged Food Products,” Journal of Consumer Affairs , Winter 1979, p. 234.

38. See Lambert (January 1980).

39. See Riesz (1979), p. 244.

40. See: H. J. Leavitt, “A Note on Some Experimental Findings about the Meanings of Price,” Journal of Business , July 1954, pp. 205–210; A. Gabor and C. W. J. Granger, “Price as an Indicator of Quality: Report on an Enquiry,” Economica , February 1966, pp. 43–70; J. D. McConnell, “An Experimental Examination of the Price-Quality Relationship,” Journal of Business , October 1968, pp. 439–444.

41. See Riesz (1979), p. 236.

42. See R. A. Westbrook, J. W. Newman, and J. R. Taylor, “Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction in the Purchase Decision Process,” Journal of Marketing , October 1978, pp. 54–60.

43. See “The Buying Consumer: Room Air Conditioners,” a report by Appliance Manufacturer (Chicago, IL: Cahners Publishing, 1979).

44. See Lambert (January 1980).

45. See: P. Nelson, “Information and Consumer Behavior,” Journal of Political Economy (March–April 1970): 311–329; P. Nelson, “Advertising as Information,” Journal of Political Economy (July–August 1974): 729–754.

46. See R. L. Schmalensee, “A Model of Advertising and Product Quality,” Journal of Political Economy (June 1978): 485–504.

47. Ibid., pp. 485–486.

48. See H. J. Rotfeld and K. B. Rotzoll, “Advertising and Product Quality: Are Heavily Advertised Products Better?” Journal of Consumer Affairs , September 1976, p. 46.

49. See C. T. Gilligan and D. E. A. Holmes, “Advertising Expenditure and Product Quality,” Management Decision (Vol. 17, No. 5): 392.

50. See Barksdale et al. (Summer 1982), p. 78.

51. See: R. D. Buzzell and F. D. Wiersema, “Modeling Changes in Market Share: A Cross-Sectional Analysis,” Strategic Management Journal, 1981, pp. 27–42; R. D. Buzzell and F. D. Wiersema, “Successful Share-Building Strategies,” Harvard Business Review, January–February 1981, pp. 135–144; C. S. Craig and S. P. Douglas, “Strategic Factors Associated with Market and Financial Performance,” Quarterly Review of Economics and Business , Summer 1982, pp. 101–111; B. T. Gale and B. S. Branch, “Concentration versus Market Share: Which Determines Performance and Why Does It Matter?” The Antitrust Bulletin, Spring 1982, pp. 83–105; L. W. Phillips, D. Chang, and R. D. Buzzell, “Product Quality, Cost Position, and Business Performance: A Test of Some Key Hypotheses,” Journal of Marketing , Spring 1983, pp. 26–43; S. Schoeffler, R. D. Buzzell, and D. F. Heany, “Impact of Strategic Planning on Profit Performance,” Harvard Business Review, March–April 1974, pp. 137–145.

52. See Buzzell and Wiersema (January–February 1981), p. 140.

53. See: Schoeffler, Buzzell, and Heany (March–April 1974), p. 141; Gale and Branch (Spring 1982), pp. 93–95.

54. See: Buzzell and Wiersema (1981); Craig and Douglas (Summer 1982); Phillips, Chang, and Buzzell (Spring 1983).

55. See: R. E. Cole, “Improving Product Quality through Continuous Feedback,” Management Review, October 1983, pp. 8–12; Garvin (in press).

56. See Campanella and Corcoran (April 1983) p. 17.

57. See: Campanella and Corcoran (April 1983); Crosby (1979); Gilmore (June 1974); H. L. Gilmore, “Consumer Product Quality Cost Revisited,” Quality Progress , April 1983, pp. 28–33.

58. See: R. S. Kaplan, “Measuring Manufacturing Performance: A New Challenge for Managerial Accounting Research,” The Accounting Review (October 1983): 686–705; S. C. Wheelwright, “Japan — Where Operations Really Are Strategic,” Harvard Business Review, July–August 1981, pp. 70–71.

59. See Phillips, Chang, and Buzzell (Spring 1983), p. 27.

60. See Garvin (September–October 1983).

61. See Crosby (1979).

62. See “Quality Cost Survey,” Quality, June 1977, pp. 20–22.

63. See: Gilmore (June 1974); Gilmore (April 1983).

64. See Gale and Branch (Spring 1982), pp. 96–97.

65. See Phillips, Chang, and Buzzell (Spring 1983), pp. 38–39.

66. Ibid., p. 37.

67. See M. E. Bader, Practical Quality Management in the Chemical Process Industry (New York: Marcel Dekker, 1983), ch. 1.

68. See: Chamberlin (February 1953); Dorfman and Steiner (December 1954).

69. See: Craig and Douglas (Summer 1982); Phillips, Chang, and Buzzell (Spring 1983); Schoeffler, Buzzell, and Heany (March–April 1974).

70. See Schoeffler, Buzzell, and Heany (March–April 1974), p. 141.

71. See: Buzzell and Wiersema (January–February 1981); Phillips, Chang, and Buzzell (Spring 1983).

72. See A. R. Andreasen, “A Taxonomy of Consumer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction Measures,” Journal of Consumer Affairs , Winter 1977, pp. 11–24.

73. See H. Takeuchi and J. A. Quelch, “Quality Is More Than Making a Good Product,” Harvard Business Review , July–August 1983, pp. 139–145.

74. See: W. Skinner, “Manufacturing — Missing Link in Corporate Strategy,” Harvard Business Review, May–June 1969, pp. 136–145; W. Skinner, “The Focused Factory,” Harvard Business Review , May–June 1974, pp. 113–121; S. C. Wheelwright, “Reflecting Corporate Strategy in Manufacturing Decisions,” Business Horizons , February 1978, pp. 57–66.

75. See Wheelwright (July–August 1981).

Acknowledgments

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Elevating Expectations: 5 Ways Product Quality Affects Your Brand

Improve customer retention, build brand trust and boost your ROI by focusing on product quality.

Table of Contents

Product quality can make or break your brand’s success and profitability — however, determining what makes a quality product depends on the end user. Each consumer has their own idea of what constitutes a valuable product; for some, a fancy and durable product demonstrates quality, while others may look for something unpretentious and easy to use. 

Although what one person views as luxurious may appear simple to others, what’s important is creating a product of quality that is right for your target market. Here’s how to determine what constitutes quality, why caliber is important and how to improve your products .

What constitutes product quality?

Product quality describes a product’s capability to meet user standards. Here are some questions to consider when evaluating a product’s caliber:

• Does it solve a problem? No product would exist if it weren’t solving or improving something. The extent to which it fixes the intended problem helps to determine its quality.
• Is it easy to use? A high-quality product shouldn’t be complicated to use. Customers shouldn’t have to spend too much time trying to figure out how to assemble or work it.
• Is it polished? Colors, dimensions, fonts (if applicable) and other elements of design should be in alignment. The product shouldn’t appear cheap in any way.
• Is it efficient? The product should not only get the job done, but it should do so efficiently. In other words, it should deliver quickly and require minimal effort from the consumer.
• Is it tailored to your customers? The product should be tailored specifically to users’ needs, showing that you understand your customers and are willing to accept the recommendations they voice.

5 reasons product quality is important

Improving your product quality is paramount to preserving your business’s bottom line. Here are five reasons product quality is important:

1. It builds trust with your customers.

Most businesses won’t succeed if they can’t build customer trust ; potential sales are lost when brands fail to make deeper connections with prospective buyers. In contrast, when you gain the confidence and loyalty of consumers, you have more freedom to make decisions such as raising prices. Ensuring high-quality products and services is one way to help you get consumers to appreciate and believe in what you have to offer.

Humanizing the company also can help customers connect with your brand. One way to do this is to create newsletters or social media posts that show updates and photos of what employees are working on. If customers begin to associate faces with your company, it will help them connect with your organization more than they would with a faceless corporate entity. Another way to build loyalty and appreciation is to establish a rewards program. Understanding the value of customer loyalty is crucial when trying to establish repeat business.

2. It fuels recommendations.

Most people trust recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising when making a purchase decision. This is why nothing beats word of mouth when you’re trying to gain customers.

Word-of-mouth recommendations can be a persuasive factor in both online and offline purchasing decisions. Friends and family want to know if someone similar to them had a good experience with a product. The higher-quality product a company has to offer, the better chance they’ll have at driving positive reviews, recommendations and shares between consumers.

Starting campaigns to get people buzzing about a product is a great way to spread recommendations by word of mouth. You can also respond to complaints or compliments online to show that you provide good customer service , which is another aspect of high product quality.

3. It results in fewer customer complaints and returns.

Marketing studies have proven again and again that companies that produce high-quality products obtain more repeat business. Spend more time and money upfront to perfect a product before it hits the market if you want to minimize customer complaints and returns.

It’s common for sellers of high-quality brands to spend more to persuade consumers to try their goods. The more successful companies are at pleasing customers during their initial experience with a product, the more likely they’ll be to see repeat purchases from those customers. 

Testing products with potential customers or a market research group can help to produce a great product. Most people in these groups will give brutally honest opinions, and companies can use that feedback to make improvements to their products.

4. People care about aesthetics.

One dimension of quality is the aesthetics — or how a product looks, feels, sounds, tastes and smells. For example, MrTakeOutBags pays close attention to these qualities, and it shows in the company’s bakery cupcake boxes. The colors, prints, shapes, textures and features (such as handles) make all the difference, and it’s what sets the brand apart from its competitors. Customers notice these details, and they can make or break a sale.

5. It produces a higher ROI.

Studies show a strong positive association between quality and profitability. In fact, high quality produces a higher return on investment (ROI) for any given market share. According to MIT Sloan Management Review, having fewer defects or field failures results in lower manufacturing and service costs. As long as these gains exceed any increase in expenditures by the firm on defect prevention, profitability will improve. In addition, improvements in performance, features or other dimensions of quality lead to increased sales and larger market shares.

If you have produced a quality product and marketed it effectively, it’s time to see if you can cut costs without sacrificing quality.

How to ensure product quality

Here are five tips to ensure high product quality:

1. Implement a quality management system.

A quality management system is a set of business practices comprising the planning and execution of delivering a product. The system includes principles that help to prepare a product for its launch, such as customer focus, leadership, research and evidence-based decision-making .

2. Build a product strategy.

A product strategy details information about a product and the company’s vision for it. Its key points should include the target customers, market, competitors and business goals. This strategy serves as a roadmap for your product’s journey, from creation to launch.

3. Consider competitors.

Thinking about your competitors is an important part of developing your product. What are they doing that you aren’t (and vice versa)? How are their products performing? What works for them and why? Answering these questions will put you in a better position to compete with similar businesses in the market.

4. Listen to your customers.

Don’t be afraid to ask your customers how you can improve your products. Use any negative customer feedback to learn more about your consumers and help your products better meet their needs.

5. Always test your products.

It’s essential to test every product before launch so you can anticipate how buyers might react and see what changes you might need to make before you release it to the public.

Sean Peek contributed to this article. ​​

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08-19-2024 FAST COMPANY EXECUTIVE BOARD

Quality first: Why product excellence must come before profits

For quality to become the driving catalyst of corporate culture, essential steps must be taken. Here’s what leaders need to know.

[Images: Adobe Stock / Drobot Dean]

The Fast Company Executive Board is a private, fee-based network of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience.

BY  Steven Malony 4 minute read

I’m a California native, still here after five decades and proud of the ambition and moxie of this state. From fine wine to filmmaking, corporate responsibility to environmental leadership, California embraces high standards. This quest for excellence also permeates a sector that has mined a modern vein of gold for the Golden State: the technology industry.  

As CEO of a tech accessories company that prides itself on quality, I see Belkin representing California. Our company was born here. Our products are designed and engineered here. The passion and care I feel is reflected by our teams striving to make our products the best they can be—design, functionality, durability, value—so consumers have a great experience. 

According to a McKinsey report , in mature organizations where quality informs much of the decision making, it is so deeply embedded as to become “part of the culture and essential to the company’s value proposition.” Yes, the bottom line is important. But quality must always come first. 

THE VALUE OF QUALITY  

Feeling pride in product quality is a powerful emotional connection inside companies that boosts morale, retention, and hiring. Externally, quality spurs success by resonating with consumers, gaining loyalty, creating brand cachet, and setting a high bar for competitors. Along with earning a trustworthy reputation, when companies put out products that meet, and foresee, market demands, it’s proven to reduce overall production costs, strengthen ROI, and increase revenue. When quality leads, profit follows. The reverse cannot be said. 

Well-made consumer products are clearly more imperative in certain sectors. Fast fashion, for example, is popular for its bargain prices and trend-following speed, but few are surprised when a poorly made shirt disintegrates. Our disposable culture, in some ways, can be a welcome relief in feeling able to toss something without care or complaint. 

But let’s face it: When we wind up with low-quality products, we can be let down. Consider how often someone plugs in a cheap cable or charger at a crucial moment and it doesn’t work. That’s a failure of quality control and the creation of e-waste. 

WHEN BRANDS FALL DOWN  

History is littered with failures stemming from companies that didn’t place a priority on quality. The automotive world knows that “Quality is Job 1.” The Ford Pinto, a subcompact produced from 1971 until 1980, was involved with deadly rear-end crash explosions and a subsequent recall, lawsuits, and criminal prosecution, due to the placement of the car’s fuel tank.  

More recently, Boeing, a brand once distinguished for safety and engineering, agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to defraud the federal government over two fatal crashes of the 737 Max in 2018 and 2019. Boeing also agreed to pay a $487.2 million fine and invest $455 million across the next three years to improve its compliance and safety programs.  

With fewer dire scenarios, countless other consumer brands have experienced notable declines in quality. Examples include shrinkflation—products like cereal, coffee, and soap which have shrunk in size, but not price—to those that might not be what they claim to be. A lawsuit alleging that Subway used little or no real tuna in its tuna subs was dismissed last year, though independent tests conducted by The New York Times found no “amplifiable tuna DNA”. 

EXCELLENCE AS A CATALYST  

Despite companies that scrimp on quality, there are those that still stand as a beacon of excellence. 

In its 2023 annual survey, Axios and Harris ranked Patagonia as the brand with the best reputation. Long recognized by outdoor enthusiasts for its high-quality and durable products, Patagonia focuses on “quality in whatever we do,” according to founder Yvon Chouinard. Beyond products, it’s B Corp-certified for its extraordinary social and environmental impact, while offering equal care toward customer support. 

Other brands that don’t compromise include  Tylenol , which, in the wake of a poisoning crisis in the early 1980s, led the industry adoption of tamperproof seals and today is considered a medication “Most Trusted by Pharmacists”; and Le Creuset , whose cookware takes up to 10 hours to cast, hand-smooth, and enamel, each pot reportedly inspected by more than a dozen people before it can be sold, with close to 30% of its manufactured goods rejected, melted down, and recast. 

In an increasingly connected world, identity theft, data breaches, and ransomware are always a real threat. Therefore, equal focus must be given to the quality of cyber products. Secure KVMs, which keep information protected at the desktop, are essential for protecting sensitive data. Belkin has developed and sold secure KVM solutions for over 20 years, so I know firsthand how important quality is here, and keeping it tamperproof from end to end.  

THE PATH TOWARD QUALITY  

Companies that perceive existential threats—market volatility, supply chain disruptions, consumer fickleness, shrinking profit margins, etc.—often see reaching high as impractical. Yet as McKinsey affirms, “Quality manufacturing doesn’t have to mean higher costs. In fact, it often means lower recall and warranty costs as a culture of quality takes hold.” 

For quality to become the driving catalyst of corporate culture, essential steps must be taken. First is a management system that spotlights quality throughout the pipeline, from planning through delivery. Second is a strategic roadmap for each new product that places it within the context of a clear vision, goals, market, customers, and competitors. Third is customer engagement, not only listening to what they have to say about previous purchases but involving them on some level in new product development. 

A commitment to quality means a company respects and values its customers. When you see the bigger picture, it’s easy to embrace a culture of excellence. 

Apply to the Most Innovative Companies Awards and be recognized as an organization driving the world forward through innovation. Early-rate deadline: Friday, August 23.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Malony is CEO of  Belkin International , a global accessories market leader. Read Steve's Executive Profile here .   More

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Product Vision: Looking Ahead to a Successful Future

Carlos González De Villaumbrosia

Updated: August 20, 2024 - 14 min read

Product Vision is a strategic roadmap for a product's future. It fuels team motivation, aligns stakeholders, resonates with customers, and forms the foundation for Product strategy, roadmaps , and measuring success .

In this article, we’ll explore how to create a Product Vision, summarize it with a statement, and write it all up in a document that serves as a single source of inspiration for the entire organization. With free templates and real-world examples, your product vision will be 20/20 by the time you’re done reading! 

Product Strategy Template

The higher you go up on the Product career ladder, the more strategic skills matter. This template helps you define the why and how of product development and launch, allowing you to make better decisions for your users, team, and company.

What Is Product Vision? 

“ It's the thing that you use in a candidate interview. It is the thing that you talk to investors about. It's the thing that wakes you up every morning. ”

-Ebi Atawodi, Director of Product Management , YouTube Studio

Product Vision is a strategic concept that provides a long-term, overarching goal of Product in a company. It’s a high-level framework and serves as a common north star for the entire Product function. Of course, for very large companies like Amazon and Google, different products will have distinct visions.

The Product Vision answers the question: What direction does my product need to take to stay aligned with long-term customer and business needs? Vision does not provide exact next steps, but it will serve as a compass. 

A good Product Vision describes what the product should look like and do in the future, in a longer timeline of 2-5 years for software products and 5-10 years for hardware products. It should remain stable. Product strategy and roadmaps can change to address market and business developments, whereas the Product Vision is more stable.

Benefits of a Defined Product Vision

Why do top companies go out of their way to establish a vision for their product? Why is it important? 

Product Vision:

I nspires and persuades : Show your team how they will change users’ lives for the better with the products they’re creating. When team members understand the ‘why,’ their performance on the 'what' and 'how' improve dramatically.

Serves as a foundation : The Product Vision is far removed from features and functionality. It’s a guidepost for decision-making and strategic planning throughout the product development process.

Makes your efforts effective : Operating without a vision is dangerous. Without a vision, you have no direction. Working without direction means your team is pouring its energy and resources into initiatives that are not proven or strategic. Vision helps you identify your priorities and make more effective use of your time.

Aligns stakeholders : It brings everyone—Product Management, engineering, marketing, sales, and others—onto the same page about the direction and purpose of the product. This alignment is crucial for the coherent development and successful launch of the product.

Resonates with customers : Above all, the Product Vision must resonate with the customers. It should reflect the customers' needs and aspirations and explain why the product is a must-have for them.

A clear Product Vision has a multi-faceted impact, influencing the team's motivation, strategic decision-making, customer connection, long-term success, and the broader business impact. It's a guiding star that directs the course of the product's journey and influences all strategic and tactical decisions, from the ideation phase through to development, marketing, and post-launch enhancements. Without a clear and compelling Product Vision, organizations can easily lose their way in the market, wasting valuable resources on irrelevant features or misaligned initiatives.

Product Vision Statement: Examples and Template

The Product Vision statement is a clear and inspiring sentence that succinctly captures the essence of the Product Vision. They share the “what” and also the “how” of your products. It serves as an at-a-glance reminder of the overall Product Vision. 

As a general rule, Product Vision statements address the target customer, what they are trying to accomplish, and how the product differentiates itself from competitors.

Real Examples of Product Vision Statements

Amazon Kindle

Every book ever printed in any language all available in 60 seconds.

Ben and Jerry’s  

To make, distribute, and sell the finest-quality ice cream and euphoric concoctions with a continued commitment to incorporating wholesome, natural ingredients and promoting business practices that respect the Earth and the Environment.

Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.

Make work life simpler, more pleasant and more productive.

One platform delivering limitless human connection. 

If you’re a Product obsessive like we are at Product School, you may have noticed that Zoom recently changed its Product Vision statement from “Make communications frictionless.” Not everyone is a fan of the new Vision statement, and some have posited that it reflects a decisive change in Product Strategy. 

Whatever you think of the change, it’s a clear example of the iceberg effect that these simple statements have. They are part of the Product Vision and strategy that sticks out above the water (they are made publicly available on company websites and are quoted in the press), but the interests of many stakeholders are all there under the surface. Product Vision statements represent a vast structure that incorporates business objectives, market realities, and customer needs.

Free Product Vision Statement template

Product School’s Product Vision statement template (part of the Product Strategy template ) guides you in applying a product vision framework that addresses the who, what, and why of your product in order to help you define its purpose and intended impact on the market and customers.

Elements of a Product Vision Document

A Product Vision Document is a strategic document that outlines the long-term vision for a product or service. It provides a clear and compelling description of what the product will achieve and how it will meet the needs of its users or customers. The document captures the essence of the product's purpose, its target market, the problems it aims to solve, and the key differentiators that set it apart from competitors.

The Product School Strategy template is designed to help PMs define every aspect of Product Vision and create one source of truth: 

1. Clear and Inspiring Product Vision Statement The Product Vision statement is a clear and inspiring sentence that succinctly captures the essence of the product's future. They share the “what” and also the “how” of your products. It serves as an at-a-glance reminder of the overall Product Vision. 

2. Connection to Customer Needs and Market Reality The Product Vision should reflect a deep understanding of customer needs, desires, and pain points. It should also take into account the realities of the market, including competition, regulatory environment, and technological trends. This ensures that your vision is not only aspirational but also grounded in reality and achievable.

3. Alignment with the Company's Values and Goals An effective Product Vision aligns with the company's broader values and goals. It should support and enhance the overall business strategy and resonate with the company's mission and ethos. This alignment helps ensure consistency across different product lines and reinforces the company's brand identity.

4. Envisions Long-term Success and Scalability A strong Product Vision anticipates the product's long-term success and scalability. It sets the stage for future growth and evolution, envisioning how the product can scale, adapt, and remain relevant as it grows and as market conditions change. It considers not just the product's immediate impact but its potential to drive enduring success.

5. Adaptability to Market Changes While a Product Vision provides a long-term direction, it should also allow for flexibility and adaptability in the face of changing market dynamics. It should be resilient enough to stay relevant in changing circumstances and agile enough to pivot when necessary. This adaptability helps ensure the product's survival and success in an ever-evolving market landscape.

6. Success Metrics

Criteria and metrics that will be used to measure the product's success and hold team members accountable. These might include customer satisfaction, usage rates, retention, or other KPIs relevant to the product's objectives.

Product Vision boards

Product Vision boards showcase the key elements of the Product Vision document at a glance. They usually include: 

The Product Vision statement

The target audience

Customer needs

Product details

Relevant business objectives

How to Create a Product Vision in 6 Steps

1. Deep Market Research Before formulating your Product Vision, it's crucial to understand the market you're operating in. This includes analyzing your competition, understanding market trends, and recognizing opportunities and threats in the industry. Deep market research provides insights that help you develop a vision that's not only inspiring but also relevant and feasible.

2. Identifying the Target Customer Every product is created with a specific user in mind. Therefore, identifying your target customer is an essential step in creating a product vision. You should understand your customer's needs, desires, and pain points, as well as their demographic, geographic, and psychographic characteristics. Your Product Vision should ultimately aim to address the needs and wants of this customer group.

Free User Persona Template

Get to know your users to build the right solution for the right audience.

3. Developing the Value Proposition Once you understand your market and target customers, the next step is to identify the unique value your product will offer. Your value proposition should answer the question: why should customers choose your product over others? It should highlight the unique benefits your product will provide and how it will solve your customers' problems or enhance their lives.

Free Value Proposition Canvas

Learn how to take user problems as the foundation of your solution and only build products that matter with our free Value Proposition Canvas!

4. Defining the Unique Selling Points Unique Selling Points (USPs) are the features or characteristics that distinguish your product from the competition. These could be anything from innovative features, superior quality, lower cost, excellent customer service, or anything else that makes your product stand out. These USPs should be prominently reflected in your product vision.

5. Setting the Vision Statement With all the groundwork done, you can now draft your Product Vision Statement. It should be clear, concise, and inspiring, effectively communicating your product's future direction. Remember to ensure it aligns with your company's overall mission and goals.

6. Draw it all up in a Product Vision Document

The Product Vision Document acts as a single source of truth and outlines the product's purpose, its target market, the problems it aims to solve, and the key differentiators that set it apart from competitors.

Who Owns the Product Vision

The Product Vision is front of mind for everyone in Product Management, from Associate PMs to CPOs. Who owns the Product Vision will depend on the company and how the Product function is structured. Generally speaking, the CPO, VP of Product, or someone in Product Leadership is responsible for defining the Product Vision and communicating it. They also socialize the Product Vision across the company, achieve alignment, and advocate for it when the team seems to be losing sight of it.

Here are four steps Product Leadership can take and/or delegate to Product Managers to create and uphold a strong Product Vision:

1. Collaborate with Stakeholders A Product Manager has to work closely with various stakeholders, including the executive team, engineering, marketing, sales, and customer service, to gather input and secure buy-in for the Product Vision. This collaboration ensures a well-rounded perspective and encourages shared ownership of the vision across different teams. It also fosters alignment and a clear understanding of the strategic direction.

2. Lead Market and Customer Research A key role of the Product Manager is to conduct comprehensive market research and deeply understand customers' needs and wants. This includes identifying target customers, understanding their pain points and preferences, and staying updated on market trends and competition. This research helps create a Product Vision that resonates with customers and is relevant in the market.

3. Translate Business Strategy into Product Strategy Involving business strategy in the Product Vision is absolutely essential. However, business targets have to be massaged to fit into a product context, and it’s the product manager’s role to act as a translator between business and product. 

Product Vision owners need to understand the overall business goals, such as market positioning and revenue targets, and then formulate a Product Strategy that aligns with these goals. This includes defining the product's value proposition, key features, unique selling points, and roadmap, all of which should be guided by the Product Vision.

4. Communicate the Vision to the Team and the Entire Organization After the Product Vision is defined, the Product Manager plays a crucial role in communicating it to the Product Team and the entire organization. This requires crafting a clear, compelling narrative that conveys the essence of the vision and sharing it widely across the company. Regularly reinforcing the vision helps keep everyone aligned and motivated and ensures that all product decisions are consistent with the vision.

Product Vision vs. Product Roadmap

The Product Vision and Product Roadmap are both essential tools in product management, but they serve different purposes and operate at different levels of detail and timeframes.

As explained above, the Product Vision document is a high-level, long-term guiding statement that defines the overarching goal and purpose of the product. It articulates what the product aspires to achieve in the long run, the value it will deliver to customers, and how it will impact the market or solve specific problems.

Key Characteristics:

Long-Term Focus : The vision is typically oriented towards the future, often looking several years ahead.

Inspiration : It is designed to inspire and motivate the team by providing a clear and compelling purpose.

Broad and High-Level : The vision statement is broad and does not go into specifics about features or implementation details.

Strategic : It provides a strategic direction that guides the overall product development and decision-making process.

Product Roadmap:

The Product Roadmap is a more detailed, tactical plan that outlines the specific steps and milestones required to achieve the product vision. There are many types of roadmaps , but all provide a timeline for when key features, improvements, or releases will be delivered, aligning short-term actions with long-term goals.

Product Roadmap Template

Download our easy-to-use template to help you create your Product Roadmap.

Medium to Short-Term Focus : Roadmaps typically cover a period of months to a couple of years, depending on the product's development cycle.

Detail-Oriented : The roadmap breaks down the vision into specific, actionable steps, often including feature sets, releases, and timelines.

Time-Bound : It includes dates or timeframes for when certain features or milestones are expected to be delivered.

Flexible and Evolving : While the roadmap provides a plan, it is often subject to change based on new information, market conditions, or shifting priorities.

How Product Vision and Product Roadmaps intersect:

Vision Guides the Roadmap :

The product vision provides the strategic context for the roadmap. It sets the long-term goals that the roadmap aims to achieve. When creating a roadmap, product managers refer to the vision to ensure that the planned features and releases align with the overall purpose and direction of the product.

Roadmap Realizes the Vision :

The roadmap is the actionable plan that translates the abstract vision into concrete steps. It shows how the team will move from the current state towards the envisioned future, breaking down the vision into manageable, time-bound tasks.

Alignment and Prioritization :

The product vision helps prioritize what should go into the roadmap. If a particular feature or project doesn't contribute to the vision, it might be deprioritized or excluded from the roadmap. This alignment ensures that the team is always working on what matters most for achieving the long-term vision.

Adaptation and Iteration :

While the vision is relatively stable, the roadmap is more fluid. As the product evolves and new insights are gained (e.g., user feedback , market shifts), the roadmap may need to be adjusted. However, these changes should still align with the product vision, ensuring that the product remains on the right path despite tactical shifts.

Communication :

The vision communicates the "why" behind the product, while the roadmap communicates the "how" and "when." Together, they provide a comprehensive view of where the product is headed and how it will get there, which is essential for keeping stakeholders informed and aligned.

Product Vision: The Destination that Guides Product Strategy

A clear Product Vision illuminates the strategy that will lead your product to success. If your strategy is the route you’re taking and the Product Roadmap is the map (what else?) that helps you follow it, then the Product Vision is the final destination. It’s just over the horizon, keeping everyone headed in the same direction. You’ll never get where you’re going if you don’t have a destination! 

So before you jump in the car and stock up on gas and junk food, take a moment to remember where you’re going and why. You’ll be glad you did. 

Enroll in Product School's Product Strategy Micro-Certification (PSC)™️

The difference between a good and a great product lies in your Product Strategy, answering vital questions like: Who's the product for? What benefits does it offer? How does it further company objectives?

Updated: August 20, 2024

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113 Quality Control Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Quality control is a critical aspect of any business or organization that aims to deliver high-quality products or services to its customers. It involves monitoring and evaluating the quality of products or services to ensure they meet certain standards and specifications. Quality control is essential to prevent defects, errors, and inconsistencies that can negatively impact a company's reputation and bottom line.

If you're tasked with writing an essay on quality control, you may be struggling to come up with a topic that will engage your readers and demonstrate your understanding of the subject. To help you get started, here are 113 quality control essay topic ideas and examples:

• The importance of quality control in manufacturing
• How quality control can improve customer satisfaction
• The role of quality control in ensuring product safety
• The impact of quality control on a company's reputation
• Best practices for implementing a quality control program
• The benefits of using technology in quality control
• How quality control can help reduce waste and improve efficiency
• The relationship between quality control and quality assurance
• The challenges of implementing quality control in a small business
• The role of statistical analysis in quality control
• Quality control in the food industry: ensuring product safety and freshness
• The impact of globalization on quality control practices
• Quality control in the healthcare industry: ensuring patient safety
• The importance of quality control in the pharmaceutical industry
• How quality control can help prevent product recalls
• Quality control in the automotive industry: ensuring vehicle safety
• The role of quality control in the construction industry
• The impact of quality control on supply chain management
• Quality control in the hospitality industry: ensuring customer satisfaction
• The challenges of implementing quality control in a service-based business
• The role of quality control in ensuring data accuracy and integrity
• Quality control in the retail industry: ensuring product quality and consistency
• The impact of quality control on brand loyalty
• The role of quality control in meeting regulatory requirements
• The benefits of implementing a Total Quality Management (TQM) program
• Quality control in the aerospace industry: ensuring the safety of aircraft
• The impact of quality control on employee morale and motivation
• The challenges of implementing quality control in a fast-paced environment
• Quality control in the technology industry: ensuring software reliability
• The role of quality control in disaster preparedness and response
• The impact of quality control on the environment and sustainability
• Quality control in the education industry: ensuring academic standards
• The benefits of implementing a Six Sigma quality control program
• Quality control in the energy industry: ensuring the safety of power plants
• The role of quality control in the entertainment industry
• The impact of quality control on social responsibility and ethical practices
• Quality control in the fashion industry: ensuring product quality and design
• The challenges of implementing quality control in a global supply chain
• The role of quality control in the financial industry: ensuring data accuracy
• Quality control in the telecommunications industry: ensuring network reliability
• The benefits of implementing a Lean Six Sigma quality control program
• Quality control in the transportation industry: ensuring vehicle safety and maintenance
• The impact of quality control on customer retention and loyalty
• The role of quality control in the healthcare industry: ensuring patient outcomes
• Quality control in the pharmaceutical industry: ensuring drug safety and efficacy
• The challenges of implementing quality control in a regulated industry
• The role of quality control in ensuring product consistency and reliability
• Quality control in the automotive industry: ensuring vehicle performance and safety
• The impact of quality control on employee satisfaction and retention
• The benefits of implementing a Quality Management System (QMS) for quality control
• Quality control in the aerospace industry: ensuring the safety of space missions
• The role of quality control in the construction industry: ensuring building safety
• Quality control in the food industry: ensuring food safety and quality
• The challenges of implementing quality control in a fast-changing market
• The role of quality control in the hospitality industry: ensuring customer satisfaction
• The impact of quality control on brand reputation and customer trust
• The benefits of implementing a quality control program for small businesses
• Quality control in the technology industry: ensuring software reliability and security
• The role of quality control in the energy industry: ensuring the safety of power plants
• Quality control in the education industry: ensuring academic standards and curriculum
• The role of quality control in the entertainment industry: ensuring product quality
• Quality control in the financial industry: ensuring data accuracy and integrity
• Quality control in the telecommunications industry: ensuring network reliability and performance
• The role of quality control in the transportation industry: ensuring vehicle safety
• Quality control in the healthcare industry: ensuring patient safety and outcomes
• The challenges of implementing quality control in a regulated environment
• The role of quality control in the pharmaceutical industry: ensuring drug safety
• Quality control in the food industry: ensuring product safety and quality

In conclusion, quality control is a critical aspect of any business or organization that aims to deliver high-quality products or services to its customers. By selecting a relevant and engaging topic from the list above, you can demonstrate your understanding of quality control and its importance in various industries. Good luck with your essay!

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Quality in Product and Service design Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Quality of design, the role of quality in product and service design, techniques used to measure quality, integrating quality function deployment approach (qfd), reference list.

Quality is regarded as a very important part of life today, which has become necessary for businesses to compete effectively in the market (Dhillon, 2005, p.123). Generally, product quality directly affects consumer loyalty and company profitability (Mital, et al. 2008, p.78).

The concept is both vital in both manufacturing and service sectors, and has continuously played an important role in providing assurance to the safety of customers (Sower 2010, p.3). In addition, quality of a product or service has often being defined as ‘fitness for purpose’ (Chitale and Gupta 2007, p.332).

This definition provides the impression that, for any industry or enterprise to be successful and accomplish its set goals effectively it has to possess the ability to supply products of excellent quality at minimal cost and also at minimum waiting time for the customer.

Khanna sees quality as “the totality of features of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy the customer’s stated or implied needs” (Khanna, 2007, p.64). The author further believes that quality has the sole responsibility of providing satisfaction to both actual and perceived needs.

Upon the inception of the concept of quality, the concern in many industries rested on checking raw materials before production and finished goods after production in order to attain quality objectives (Chitale and Gupta, 2007, p.332).

But today, quality has become important to both the customer and the supplier whereby if a product is largely inadequate, it usually incurs additional costs for inspection, testing, scrap, rework and the handling of numerous complaints and this often heap many claims on the part of the supplier.

Further, on the part of service industries, errors, checking enquiries and complaint handling always lead to loss of efficiency and productivity, thus affecting the repeat sales and future markets. Therefore, quality has become a vital element in industries and it has to be ensured in all key areas of marketing, design, purchasing, production or operation and distribution.

Most industries adopt different product design strategies where the ultimate goal becomes that of satisfying the customers. But it becomes necessary that the design of a product or service should integrate the features and attributes that provide satisfaction to the customer needs. Design quality essentially gives value to a product in the market place and hence graduates to be regarded as an important strategic issue (Khanna, 2007, p.65).

With regards to this, the most vital feature of the design in relation to quality is the specification which, in general terms, describes the product in a more comprehensive manner of all the aspects that are required to give full satisfaction to the customer’s needs. Therefore, specification becomes the benchmark upon which the maximum tolerable variations that can be accepted from the particular attribute (Khanna, 2007).

Design quality has numerous dimensions that are employed in understanding the concept of product and service better:

• Performance, performance in this case constitute the basic operating characteristics of a product where the customers have the opportunity to evaluate the quality of a product by making comparison between the performance of the product or service with another similar products which are available in the market and given by the competitors (Khanna, 2007);
• Features, these vital elements constitute secondary characteristics which supplement the primary characteristics as outlined under performance. These characteristics often influence the perception held by the consumer concerning quality;
• Reliability, reliability in Product and service design refers to the probability of a product failing within a specified period of time. Many customers have come to show preferences to products with high reliability as compared to the products with low reliability and this particular phenomenon is always exhibited to products and services of high value;
• Durability, durability in this case is used to indicate the operational life of a product whereby some particular products are prone to complete failure after some period of time and hence have to be replaced fully while others may experience partial failure and therefore restored to their original performance through repairs (Khanna, 2007);
• Serviceability, serviceability is an indicator that shows the easiness with which a product can be repaired upon experiencing failure and from this if a product has the ability to be repaired easily and speedily, the availability of the product improves while at the same time leading to reduction in repair costs.

On the other hand, the dimensions of quality for a service are somehow different from those of a product whereby the service quality is evaluated with regard to time taken to make the service available and also the manner in which there is the interaction between the service provider and the customer. In this case therefore, the dimensions of service quality will largely include:

• Timeliness, which is the assurance that the service will be available at the appropriate and desired time;
• Completeness, which generally indicated the degree to which the customer is provided with almost everything he or she asks for;
• Courtesy, which largely measures how customers are treated by the service employees;
• Consistency, whereby it becomes necessary to provide the same level of service to each customer each time;
• Accessibility and convenience – this particular aspect refers to the ease with which a service can be made available; and lastly
• Accuracy, which is the correctness with which the service is able to be provided (Khanna, 2007).

The key to success in business lies in establishing what the consumers need and, in cost effective way, providing the products and services that give satisfaction and happiness to them (Jackson and Frigon, 1998, p.20). Products and services usually get description basing on attributes with regards to performance but at the same time, customers will frequently review the quality of a product or service in terms of their reaction to their experience with the particular product or service.

From this, it becomes vital for the business to participate in a thorough evaluation of presales, sales, delivery operation and post sales with the view of defining the appropriate product or service (Jackson and Frigon 1998, p.20). Moreover, data collected concerning the products and services provided a particular business which largely reflects the customer and the marketplace operation is refereed to us, the Voice of the Customer (VOC).

Today, businesses are pressure to ‘listen’ to the Voice of the Customer which enables the particular business to learn the attributes of the entire customer experience in accordance to the products or services consumed by the customer. From these data, the business is able to determine what needs to be done in order to achieve customer satisfaction and essentially in most instances customer satisfaction is achieved through combining elements of performance, schedule and price (Quality, Schedule and Cost).

The attributes that add to customer satisfaction are always categorized into four types; expectors, spoken, unspoken and exciters (Jackson and Frigon 1998, p.21).

Expectors are attributes which customers regard less important but if they are omitted they result into customer dissatisfaction, spoken characteristics are the ones the customer species and always appear in written descriptions expressing quality elements that the customer would prefer, on the other hand the unspoken characteristics have same importance as the spoken characteristics but largely constitute those elements that the customer forgot about, did not know about or did not want to talk about, the last type of characteristics are those that excite customers and customers rarely talk about them and also rarely thing about them but will be talked possibly in vague terms by the customer and they will largely be satisfiers and not dissatisfiers (Jackson and Frigon 1998, p.21).

Role of quality in product design is essential in that it should reflect on the specific customer needs (Evans 2007, p.123). Customer expectations need to be identified correctly with no misinterpretation for the final product to be regarded as of high quality (Evans 2007, p.123).

The importance of systematic processes to design has been attached to product improvements and also the processes that establish them. Customer needs should be identified and used for the purposes of product planning.

For majority of firms’ product design has been regarded as a key value creation process and therefore there is need for firms to have efficient processes that can be used to translate customer needs into product requirements through the processes of selecting key process performance elements considering customer needs, addressing quality needs early in the process of design, coordinating and integrating designs with production and delivery systems.

ISO 9000 Standard provided a comprehensive definition of quality by stating that quality is essentially concerned by the customers’ needs and the ability to satisfy them in the most efficient ways (Mishra 2009, p.237; Webber and Wallace 2007). Customers are regarded to have the capability to evaluate whether a product meets the specifications that have been outlined and from this, quality is concerning with fulfilling the needs of the customer.

In most cases there has been the existence of two main principal approaches that have been utilized with aim of ensuring that products and services fulfill the needs of the customer (Mishra 2009, p.237). The approaches generally used are, quality control and quality assurance. Quality control constitutes techniques that are employed in identifying products that falls short of the required specification (Mishra 2009, p.237).

The technique usually carry out inspections after the production of the product has been done and at the same time, the technique can result in very high costs as huge resources would have been used to bring about the products that do not meet the required specifications.

In eliminating or reducing on the high costs of the quality control technique, a second approach in measuring quality is adopted. The technique is known as quality assurance whereby the technique pays attention to the processes that give rise to the product and not on the product itself (Mishra 2009).

The interest on the processes that give rise to the product ensures that only products and services that fulfill customer needs are created and the approach aims to get rid of the underlying weaknesses in the process that may lead to defective products and services.

These descriptions give the picture of quality assurance as largely interested in prevention and not remedial actions especially after the defects have occurred (Mishra 2009). In achieving the goals of quality assurance, it is necessary that the needs of the customer are adequately understood and an effective and reliable quality system designed.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) provides a method for listening to the Voice of the Customer and providing adequate answers to it. QFD aims at maximizing customer satisfaction and eliminating dissatisfaction (Bolt and Mazur 1999). The methodology has been accepted by many countries in developing products and services by enhancing ability to give answers to the Voice of the Customer and in cost effective way, providing the desired products and services on time, every time.

Major firms have reported that using QFD has enabled them to put reduction to the product development cycle time by almost 75 per cent while at the same time realizing positive improvement in customer satisfaction (Jackson and Frigon 1998, p.33).

Hence, using QFD has become advantageous for firms especially for competitive reasons, profit realization and growth of wealth; furthermore, QFD has graduated as a method for listening to customers, thereby optimizing design, materials and processes with aim of ensuring customers expectations are fully satisfied and quality becomes to be evaluated on the basis of the customer’s satisfaction with a particular product or service.

To this end implementing QFD will requires resources of the Voice of the Customer in all functional areas of research and development, engineering, sales and marketing, purchasing, quality operations, manufacturing, packaging and after-market support and this sequence ensures the specific firm operates collaboratively in support of designing, developing, producing and servicing its products and services.

The modern world of doing business is becoming challenging in terms of competition while customers, who are consumers of most products and services, are becoming more educated and informed. Customers are having unchallenged desire to have the best possible ‘bargain’ for the money and time they invest in obtaining particular products and services.

These desires and other vital factors have exerted pressure on firms to adopt effective approaches that are intended to ensure quality management for their products and services. In addition, firms are vigorously participating in producing products and services that are of good quality that provide satisfaction to the consumers.

Moreover, consumers’ preferences therefore are going to dictate the quality standards of most firms in terms of producing the required products and services and hence for the firms to remain competitive and realize growth, they need to embrace efficient and effective quality management techniques and approaches in their product and service design.

Bolt, A. and Mazur, G. H., 1999. Integrating Service and Product Quality Function Deployment. University of Michigan. Web.

Chitale, A. K. and Gupta, R. C., 2007. Product Design and Manufacturing . New Delhi, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Web.

Dhillon, B. S., 2005. Reliability, quality, and safety for engineers . NY, Taylor & Francis. Web.

Evans, J. R., 207. Quality and Performance Excellence: Management, Organization, and Strategy . Cengage Learning. Web.

Jackson, H. K. and Frigon, N. L., 1998. Fulfilling customer needs: a practical guide to capacity management . NY, John Wiley and Sons. Web.

Khanna. 2007. Production and Operations Management . New Delhi, HI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Web.

Mishra, D. K., 2009. Operation management: Critical Perspectives on Business . New Delhi, Global India Publications. Web.

Mital, A. et al. 2008. Product development : a structured approach to consumer product development, design, and manufacture . MA, Butterworth-Heinemann. Web.

Sower, V. E., 2010. Essentials of Quality with Cases and Experiential Exercise . NJ, John Wiley and Sons. Web.

Webber, L. and Wallace, M., 2007. Quality Control for Dummies . NJ, Wiley Publishing Inc. Web.

• Contingency Theories and Situational Leadership Theory
• Relevancy of HR Planning in a Changing and Dynamic Economic Environment
• House of Quality: Steps and Parts of Building
• Quality Function Deployment and the Kano Model
• Aspects of Lean Thinking Strategy
• Effective Situational Leadership
• Teaching in U.S Cellular Company
• Considering Cultural Diversity in Management
• Cultural Diversity in the Organisation
• Education and Leadership Role Modeling
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, April 18). Quality in Product and Service design. https://ivypanda.com/essays/quality-in-product-and-service-design-essay/

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What Makes a Product Review Good? Tips & Examples for eCommerce Websites

For all the time and effort you spend crafting meticulous marketing materials for your products, your customers can make or break your success in just 30 seconds with a simple review.

In the digital age, online reviews are the most valuable social proof out there. In fact, 9 out of 10 customers want to read reviews before they purchase a product, making your review strategy an integral part of your sales and marketing efforts.

So, what can you do to ensure you get great product reviews — ones that will spread positive word-of-mouth about your brand and convince your customers to spend their hard-earned cash at your eCommerce store?

In this article, we’ll show you how by covering:

• What recent Google product review updates mean for your website
• What makes a good product review (including screenshots of good examples)
• What strategies you can use to gather better ones for your eCommerce brand

Recent Google Product Review Updates

You’ve probably noticed more and more content related to product reviews appearing in the search results over the years. It makes sense; Google wants to provide top-quality results to users’ search queries, and oftentimes, product reviews are a crucial part of shoppers’ decision-making process.

Unfortunately, because of this trend, the web has been inundated with sub-par roundups and review articles over the last decade. 

Because product reviews, buying guides , round-ups, and similar content rank so well, it’s been easy for content producers to game the algorithm. With a clever SEO strategy, websites have been able to rank highly in the SERPs — even if they’ve never even used the products they’re writing about! 

To combat the frustrations caused by this mountain of disappointing content, Google has rolled out a series of new algorithmic updates over the last year, aimed at helping customers more easily find the value-forward testimonials they’re looking for.

While Google won’t give marketers all of the in-depth details, we do know that Google’s new updates are intended to reward those with high-quality content, meaning content with:

• Proof that an actual product test or usage has occurred 
• Honest feedback by the reviewer
• Unique copy (not just reiterated content from the product page of the brand’s website)
• Unique product photos (not manufacturer’s photos from another website)

For a full timeline of the update rollouts, check out Search Engine Land’s coverage here .

Should Your eCommerce Business Be Worried?

When many eCommerce marketers hear the words “product review update,” they worry that their sites may be affected by this algorithmic change.

The good news is that most eCommerce websites won’t be impacted by these updates. In fact, none of our clients have seen an impact on their organic performance so far.

That said, if you produce “Best of” lists, buying guides, or FAQs from customers, or if you work with affiliates/bloggers for marketing your products, you may want to pay special attention to these algorithm changes.

Pay special attention to E.A.T. principles — expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness — as you’re publishing to your online store. Using unique content and images, demonstrating the author’s experience and know-how, and even giving them a well-built author page can go a long way in creating high-quality content for your audience.

When it comes to external review sites, it’s in your best interest to know which sites are linking back to yours — and how high-quality they are. If a review site gets penalized for poor-quality reviews, your eCommerce website may lose authority tangentially if its content links to your products in those reviews. 

Therefore, be sure to encourage high-quality reviews from any affiliate marketing company you choose to loop into your overall strategy.

If you think that these updates have affected your eCommerce website, start with our step-by-step guide to pinpoint any potentially impacted areas.

Regardless of whether or not your business is directly affected by these algorithm updates, you should still be actively gathering high-quality reviews from your customers. In addition to improving your eCommerce SEO and conversion rate optimization (CRO), they’ll provide your customers with a much better shopping experience. 

In the rest of this guide, we’ll show you how to do so.

What Makes a Good Product Review?

When it comes to collecting top-tier online reviews for eCommerce sites, there are a few key elements we encourage our clients to focus on. 

• Star ratings
• Detailed descriptions
• Photos/videos
• Size/fit feedback options

Below, we’ll go over each of these in detail (and provide examples of good product reviews that include them) to give you more clarity on what to look for and encourage in your customer feedback. 

Remember: Above all else, you want to collect high-quality reviews that benefit your customers. The right content will heighten your trustworthiness and provide a host of other UX, SEO, and CRO benefits. 

In short, any user-generated content that adds value is going to help not only shoppers but also your rankings. 

1. Star Ratings

Star ratings are one of the easiest ways to communicate customer satisfaction — and one of the first things people notice when browsing your store. 

If shoppers can see in an easy visual what other customers thought of your products (including which are the most popular on your site), it helps them narrow down their final selection from the very start, giving them more confidence in their purchase journey.

In the example above, you can easily see how many customers have reviewed the products and what the average level of satisfaction was. This proves to potential customers that the products themselves have merit and are worth looking into more deeply.

Product reviews also provide an SEO bonus. By using schema markup to show the star ratings of your products, you can potentially take up more real estate in the search results pages.

You can go one step further with the star rating system by breaking it up into different elements. By asking customers for an overall star rating and additional star ratings for both “Quality of Product” and “Value of Product,” you can diversify and capitalize on customer feedback. 

Adding these elements to your product page design can have a big influence on your users’ experience.

But how exactly do you acquire more (and higher) star ratings in your customer product reviews?

We recommend using post-purchase emails, account notifications, and other touchpoints to remind and encourage your shoppers to share their thoughts.

If you make it easy for your customers to leave a review — such as letting them leave a star rating without requiring additional feedback or giving them ample space to share their experience if they feel so inclined — you’ll be more likely to collect the kind of reviews you’re looking for. 

(We’ll dive deeper into this later.)

2. Detailed Descriptions

Ideally, the reviews you collect from your customers will provide high-quality, crawlable content for search engine bots. The more detailed the reviews are, the more context Google has when serving up your website in the search results.

Today’s customers want to know all of the ins and outs of a specific product before they choose to buy it. Reading the experience of a peer who has purchased and used your goods will give a new customer more confidence and peace of mind. 

Here is a good product review example that shows the impact of detailed descriptions for shoppers:

Hearing about the product from a customer’s viewpoint will also provide more natural, valuable keywords to your product pages. The words that a customer uses in their reviews could differ from the copy you’ve carefully selected for the product description, which will also help Google provide more accurate search results to potential new customers.

When you’re sending post-purchase emails, be sure to ask open-ended questions to generate thoughtful responses from your customers. You can also give them examples of good product reviews to elicit higher-quality feedback.

3. Photos & Videos

Good product reviews are not just about the things that customers write in their feedback. As the age-old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

Your customers know that your branded photos are meant to show your products in their best light. Seeing candid, realistic photos of your product in their peers’ homes is a great way to share the reality of your offerings.

In the following product review examples, you can see real-life usage, which gives customers a better idea of how that product might function in their own homes:

In its ongoing effort to provide high-quality content, Google is beginning to favor original photo and video content in reviews over any found on creative commons. Therefore, including as many user-generated photos and videos as possible can boost your eCommerce product page SEO .

You can encourage your customers to leave reviews with photos by making an “add photo/video” option prominent in the review submission process.

4. Size/Fit Feedback Options

One of the most annoying parts of online shopping? Receiving an item that doesn’t fit quite right. Even with detailed schematics and ample measurement information, a garment’s true fit is nearly impossible to predict.

So, make the customer experience more enjoyable for your shoppers by letting previous buyers share how they feel garments fit.

Some brands run large, others run small, and some run true-to-size. All bodies are shaped differently, and each country has its own sizing systems in place. For these reasons, it’s far more informative to see how other users feel apparel fits than to rely on professionally modeled photos alone. 

To get feedback from customers on their subjective fit opinions, add this capability into the review process. 

The more fit options you give buyers to choose from, the more accurate a representation you’ll have to share with future customers. For example, a brand that offers “Runs Small,” “True to Size,” and “Runs Large” will have fewer data points than a brand that adds in options between those: “Runs Very Small,” “Runs a Little Small,” “True to Size,” “Runs a Little Large,” “Runs Very Large.”

Other Strategies to Gather Good Customer Reviews

The elements outlined above are great ways to make sure that the reviews you receive are high-quality. However, enticing customers to take the time to leave such a review can be a challenge. 

So, below, we’ll share four of our top tips for gathering these good product reviews on your eCommerce site.

1. Reward your customers.

People want to feel appreciated. Offering your customers a token of thanks for leaving high-quality reviews can go a long way in building your collection!

Of course, you can’t “pay” customers for positive reviews, but you could offer them other incentives to spend a few minutes of their time sharing their experiences. Some such rewards may include a discount on their next purchase, a sneak peek at future items, or some other creative, insider deal.

Another option is to create an ambassador program wherein the more products a customer reviews, the better coupons or special offers they will get. This kind of incentive can build a sense of exclusivity and camaraderie amongst your most loyal fans .

Note: If you do run a review-gathering campaign and give people free or discounted products in return for reviews, make sure that customers are including that information in their reviews on your/their site.

2. Follow up with buyers.

Every eCommerce site should have a post-purchase email flow to remind customers of their purchases and solicit feedback and reviews.

Depending on your brand strategy, you may want to send only one or two emails. Other eCommerce companies can get away with sending more.

If you’re going to send more than two emails asking for a review, consider including additional rewards as the number of follow-ups increases. 

3. Make it as easy as possible.

Unless they’re angry, customers don’t want to spend more than a few minutes writing a review. It’s in your best interest to streamline the process in every way you can.

Automate leaving feedback with a template on the review page that includes pre-suggested star ratings, fit scales, and photo uploads. Including a form without a character minimum will encourage written feedback at whatever depth the customer feels is appropriate.

By requiring as few elements to be addressed as possible, you make leaving a review easier for shoppers, which is always the goal. And, with added elements that aren’t required but are encouraged, you’re more likely to collect additional information from motivated users.

In short: The more quickly your customers can get on with their day, the more likely they will be to leave more reviews for additional products in the future. 

4. Use syndicated reviews.

Another way you can collect feedback for products on your site is to use a syndication service to gather reviews left on other platforms. 

Syndicated reviews are those that have been submitted to other sites, like the manufacturer’s website, other retail sites, Amazon, Yelp, or social media platforms. 

Even the happiest of customers are unlikely to leave reviews in multiple places. If you’re selling products that are available elsewhere on the internet, you can “borrow” those reviews for your own purposes to demonstrate the quality of a product.

That said, syndication shouldn’t be your only source of product reviews. While Google can usually identify the difference between syndication and duplicate content , unique content will always be best.

For that reason, you’ll want to put more effort into gathering your own unique reviews than relying on syndicated ones. However, syndication can be a great way to augment if you’re just starting your review-gathering campaigns.

Create Your Product Review Strategy Now

It goes without saying that product reviews are so important to eCommerce success. 

As the digital version of word-of-mouth marketing, they build valuable trust with your customers. Positive and negative reviews/testimonials can not only support your customers with their purchasing decisions but can also enhance your SEO and CRO efforts and help your brand bring in more revenue.

By setting a high standard for reviews and showing customers what will make a review helpful for others, you can acquire added details that benefit both shoppers and your company. For more examples of elements to include, review Wirecutter’s industry-leading standards .

Many of our clients employ the use of product review software to help them collect reviews from their customers. If you want a more in-depth, personalized strategy, you can also work with an agency to build a more customized approach for your brand’s goals.

Want help developing an effective product reviews strategy for your online business? Contact our team anytime to get started.

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About The Author

Lindsay Haskell

Lindsay grew up near Philly before heading off to the west coast for college. She studied English at UCLA and then moved to Raleigh, N.C., where she lived for a few years before moving to Denver. Her career began in content editing, writing, and project management before she discovered marketing. She specialized in content marketing before moving toward technical SEO.

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How To Write a Product Description (Examples + Template)

Struggling to write compelling product descriptions for your store? Try these expert copywriting tips to inform, persuade, and boost your sales.

Ever dismissed product descriptions as unimportant? Assumed that as long as the information on your product page is accurate, you’re good to go? It’s time to think again.

Product descriptions are more than a summary of what you’re selling. Written correctly, they can boost your store’s conversion rate and make your products seem more valuable. The right words can even make customers happy to pay more.

Here’s how to make product descriptions work harder for your ecommerce business .

Let Shopify Magic write product descriptions for you

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What is a product description?

A product description is a piece of marketing copywriting that tells people what a product is and why it’s worth buying. Beyond a list of product details or features, descriptions tell a story about what makes a product special and persuade customers to make a purchase.

Product descriptions can vary in length, style, and format, and may be written in a brand’s unique voice.

What makes a good product description?

A well-crafted product description can significantly impact sales, customer satisfaction, and brand reputation by performing a dual purpose:

• It informs customers about product details, such as its features, uses, and benefits. This helps customers understand what the product is and how it works.
• It convinces customers of the product’s value. This is where the persuasive power of a product description comes into play. It answers questions like, “What problem does a product solve?” and “What makes it better than the competition?”

By addressing these points, a good product description paints a clear picture of a product’s value proposition . It highlights the unique benefits and advantages that set a product apart from its competitors.

Good product descriptions move buyers through a sales funnel , turning them from interested browsers to motivated buyers, making them more likely to hit the Buy button.

How to write compelling product descriptions that sell

Many online stores list the features of their products and call it a day. While clear information about your items is important, you also need to tell people how a product can help them. 

Let’s look at how you can create descriptions that capture your product’s value:

• Speak to your ideal customer
• Highlight benefits, not features
• Avoid generic phrases
• Support superlatives with facts
• Feed customers’ imagination
• Tell your product’s story
• Use sensory language
• Add social proof
• Make descriptions scannable
• Set and measure KPIs

1. Speak to your ideal customer

When product descriptions are written with a broad audience in mind, they can become vague and fail to resonate.

To make your descriptions engaging, speak directly and personally to your target audience. Anticipate and answer product-related questions as if you were having a one-on-one conversation, using language and terminology that resonates with your ideal customer. That includes using the word "you."

Take a look at how The Oodie , an apparel retailer, harnesses this approach in the product description for its I Love Plants Oodie.

I Love Plants Oodie product description:

“Can’t stop buying plants? Unbeleafable. Don’t worry—us too! Cover yourself in your favourite obsession in our NEW I Love Plants Oodie! For every I Love Plants Oodie sold, one tree is planted across the world.”

When writing product descriptions for your ecommerce business, start by visualizing your ideal customer. What kind of tone do they appreciate? What vocabulary are they familiar with? Are there certain words they dislike? What questions might they have?

Think about how you would communicate with your ideal customer if you were selling your product face-to-face in a physical store. Then, try to incorporate that language into your ecommerce site. This approach can help create an online conversation that resonates more deeply with your customers, making them feel understood.

2. Highlight benefits, not features

While it’s natural to be excited about the unique features of your products, potential buyers are more interested in how these features will benefit them. They want to understand how your product will solve their problems or enhance their lives.

Writing an effective product description, therefore, requires highlighting the benefits of each feature—addressing any uncertainty or cognitive bias around the helpfulness of your product. A good example of this approach comes from Dr. Squatch , a company that sells natural soaps for men.

Pine Tar soap product description:

“Made with real pine extract, this all-star bar is as tough as a freshly cut bat. A true MVP of the shower, this heavy-hitter knocks out grime with its gritty composition and ultra-manly, woodsy scent. Toss in the exfoliating oatmeal and the super-soothing shea butter, and you’ve got a bullpen of natural ingredients that will strike out any stink.”

Dr. Squatch’s product page places the ingredients list of its Pine Tar soap on a hidden tab, choosing instead to lead with a description, which paints a vivid picture of the experience of using the product.

The description suggests that the soap performs its function (to clean) in a way that’s specifically suited to its target customer (men looking for a natural yet heavy-duty bathroom product). 

When writing product descriptions, consider the benefits of each product feature. How can your product make your customers’ lives better, easier, or more enjoyable? What problems does your product solve? Remember, you’re not selling a product; you’re selling an experience.

Dr. Squatch’s description also uses a brand-relevant extended metaphor (baseball) and overtly masculine adjectives (“tough,” “woodsy,” and “gritty”) to appeal to its target audience. Fine-tuning your copywriting in this way can help your product resonate.

3. Avoid generic phrases

When you’re unsure what to say about a product, writing descriptions can get challenging. It’s tempting to resort to general, overused phrases such as “effective” or “high quality.” However, clichés fail to impress potential buyers. They’ve heard these claims before, and they don’t provide unique or persuasive information about your product.

To avoid banalities, be as specific as possible in your copywriting.

Take Beardbrand , for example. Instead of making broad claims about the effectiveness of its products, it provides detailed reasons why its Best Sellers Bundle is so popular.

Beardbrand Best Sellers Bundle product description:

“ A do-it-all beard wash, hair shampoo, face wash, and body wash in a massive 14 oz. bottle. Formulated with hydrating, coconut-derived surfactants, this wash is gentle enough for your beard, hair, and face yet strong enough to wash everywhere else.

“Life is hard; soften up with this do-it-all beard and hair conditioner featuring an ultra-moisturizing punch of coconut oil and shea butter. Utility Softener doubles down as a hydrating shave lotion that helps reduce razor burn and irritation.

“An award-winning blend of jojoba, abyssinian, castor, and babassu oils makes Utility Oil the only oil you’ll ever need. Use this lightweight, moisturizing blend as a beard oil, hair oil, skin moisturizer, face serum, and pre/post-shave oil.

“Finish off your grooming routine with Styling Paste — a medium hold, satin finish styling aide for hair and beard. It locks in your look while leaving hair soft, flexible, and touchable for a natural, flowing, and reshapable style.”

Detailed descriptions like these serve multiple purposes. First, they add credibility to your products. By explaining the specific benefits of each product, you show potential customers that you know your products well and believe in their value.

Second, detailed descriptions help customers visualize how they’ll use the products. By painting a clear picture of the product experience, you help customers understand exactly what they’re buying and why it’s worth their investment.

Lastly, detailed product descriptions build trust. When you can speak with authority about the granular details of your products, customers are more likely to trust your brand.

💡 Once a product description has enticed a customer, Beardbrand uses a subscription model to generate recurring revenue from them.

4. Support superlatives with facts

Superlatives can sound insincere in product descriptions—unless they are substantiated with clear evidence. If you claim your product is the best, the easiest, or the most advanced, you need to provide specific reasons why.

An example of this product-writing technique can be seen in the product description for Casper’s Wave Hybrid Snow mattress .

Casper Wave Hybrid Snow mattress product description:

“Our most supportive mattress paired with Snow Technology for continuous cooling all night long. Here’s how The Wave Hybrid Snow unlocks your deepest and coolest night’s sleep—for even better tomorrows:

“Foam is divided into continuous ergonomic zones to provide maximum support and spinal alignment. Our most advanced solution to nighttime overheating keeps you 6° cooler all night.”

While Casper makes the bold claim that its product can unlock your deepest night’s sleep, it backs up the rhetoric with factual evidence. The product description explains how “Casper Labs testing” has verified mattress performance. Additionally, Casper offers a 100-day free trial period to show confidence in its product and allow customers to verify the claim for themselves.

If your product really is the best in its category, provide specific proof. Otherwise, tone down your product copy —or quote a customer who can provide a positive subjective opinion.

5. Feed customers’ imagination

Research proves that physically touching a product in a store can create feelings of ownership and increase the likelihood of a purchase.

So, how can you recreate that effect online, when your customers can’t physically interact with your products? High-quality product photography and videos can help—but there’s also a powerful ecommerce copywriting technique to increase desire: let your reader imagine what it would be like to own your product.

Notice how Todd Snyder applies aspirational content, in the form of a tagline and hero image, to promote its Spring clothing collection.

Clothing collection tagline:

“Dreaming of the Amalfi.”

Todd Snyder transports website visitors to the Amalfi Coast in Italy, a place associated with luxury, chill vibes, and classic style. The image helps link Todd Snyder’s clothing collection to the dreamy lifestyle you’d find in this famous Italian spot.

To practice this copywriting technique, start a paragraph with the word “Imagine” and finish it by explaining how your readers will feel when they own your product. Then, use what you’ve generated to write an aspirational tagline in your brand’s voice.

Let’s say you’re selling an espresso machine called the Barista Pro. First, you might create this imagined scenario:

Imagine stepping into your kitchen, the sun peeking through the windows. You pull a perfect cup of coffee from your Barista Pro and experience the rich aroma of a freshly brewed latte. You feel satisfied and energized.

From that scenario, you can craft a product tagline:

Start each day with an extra shot of joy.

6. Tell your product’s story

One effective way to create engaging product descriptions is to tell the story of your product. A well-crafted narrative can make your product more relatable and memorable, helping it stand out in a crowded marketplace.

A product’s story can include the inspiration behind its creation, the challenges faced during its development, or the impact it has had on customers since launch.

When crafting a product story, consider the following:

• What inspired the creation of the product?
• What challenges were faced during development?
• How does the product reflect your brand’s values or mission?
• What impact has the product had on customers’ lives?

7. Use sensory language

Sensory language refers to words that describe how we experience the world: how things taste, smell, look, feel, and sound. By using sensory words in your product descriptions, you can help customers imagine what it’s like to own your product.

When you use sensory language in your product descriptions, you’re not just making your products sound more appealing—you’re also engaging more of your customers’ brains. A recent study has shown that social media influencer posts can generate higher engagement when they contain sensory words like “crumble” and “juicy.”

Another study revealed that exposure to tactile verbs (e.g., “touch”) can prime your brain to react as if you’re actually touching an object.

When writing your own product descriptions, think about how your product engages the senses. Whether it’s the “crisp” sound of a new keyboard, the “smooth” feel of a luxury fabric, or the “bright” flavor of a fresh fruit, sensory language can make your product descriptions more engaging.

8. Add social proof

When potential customers are unsure about buying a product, they often look for advice from trusted sources. While you can provide reassurance through high-quality product descriptions and other on-page tactics, you can’t be a neutral third-party.

This is where customer reviews and industry testimonials come in. Social proof is the idea that people are influenced by others’ actions or opinions. Examples of social proof include a comments section, customer reviews, quotes from professional critics and review sites, or mentions from mainstream newspapers and industry magazines.

Athletic wear brand Gymshark includes detailed customer reviews on each product page. They go beyond a traditional star rating system by including six relevant and easily understandable review criteria, such as “comfort” and “squat proof.”

Asking customers to review specific product features is a simple, effective way to show that you understand what your customers care about.

If you don’t have enough customers to host an active review section, consider allocating some of your marketing budget to sponsored content about your product in a relevant, well-known publication.

At the very least, you can include images of people using your products to create the impression that your product is popular and trusted. Seeing others use and enjoy a product can reassure potential customers that they’re making a good choice.

9. Make descriptions scannable

Does your website design encourage visitors to read your product descriptions?

Consider how Kettle & Fire presents its product information. The brand uses eye-catching icons, simple dropdown tabs, and bullet points to make the content easy to scan.

Visitors can quickly scroll through the page and understand pricing, key benefits, ingredients, usage recommendations, customer reviews, and the brand’s values, all within a few seconds.

Kettle & Fire also organizes information based on what customers care about most. Different categories of information are separated by contrasting background colors, providing an instant visual guide.

Keeping your product descriptions clear and easy to scan makes them more reader-friendly and appealing to potential customers.

Here are some visual ideas to make your descriptions more scannable:

• Use headlines: Grab your visitor’s attention with compelling headlines.
• Use bullet points: Break up information into easy-to-read bullet points.
• Use white space: Don’t be afraid of white space. It can make your content easier to digest.
• Use a readable font size: Using a bigger font size can improve readability.
• Use high-quality product images: Well-designed and placed images can convey a lot of information quickly.

10. Set and measure KPIs

The aim of a product description is to convince a shopper to buy. But how can you tell if your descriptions are doing their job?

Here are some common key performance indicators to monitor on your product pages. They can indicate whether your product descriptions are working:

• Conversion rate tells you how many page visitors you converted into leads or customers.
• Cart abandonment rate shows how many shoppers put an item in their cart but left without buying. All stores deal with cart abandonment, but if this KPI is poor, your product descriptions and checkout process may need some work.
• Return rate highlights how many products are being returned . If it’s high, it could mean that your product descriptions or images aren’t accurately representing your products.
• Support inquiries . If you’re getting lots of questions about a product through email or a live chat feature, it could mean that the product description isn’t clear.
• Organic search engine rankings directly correlate with the amount of traffic entering your website. Good product descriptions help with search engine optimization and make your products show up in search results, leading to more visitors and sales.

Once you’ve picked which KPIs you want to watch, consider running some tests to see if you can optimize your product descriptions. A popular type of test used to iterate descriptions is A/B testing . This involves making a new version of your product description and serving it to a subset of your audience, allowing you to compare the performance of each version in real time.

You can run multiple A/B tests to fine-tune your product descriptions, until they are fully optimized for your KPIs. Try an app like OptiMonk to run tests on your Shopify store.

Product description template

Even if you’re using AI to write great product descriptions , you need to consider the features and benefits of each product individually. Every product serves different needs, and every set of potential customers has distinct buying triggers. 

That said, it’s possible to take a similar approach to writing product descriptions across your store, by developing a product description template containing open-ended prompts. 

Try developing a template with two sections: a brainstorming section followed by a draft description section.

Product description brainstorm

Answer these questions for each of your products to develop unique, relevant information that you can craft in to a product description:

• Who’s the ideal customer for this product? Knowing who your product is for is foundational to writing a good description.
• What are the products’ basic features? Collect dimensions, materials, functions, care instructions, and other factual details about the item.
• When should the product be used? List the intended use cases for your product. Highlight the ideal scenarios for when a customer should use your product.
• What makes the product special? Think about the unique benefits of your product and why it’s better than similar offerings from competitors. 

Product description draft

Once you’ve collected your product information in a document, use the following template to draft your product description.

• Write an attention-grabbing product title: Keep your copy short and simple while communicating a product use or benefit. For example, if you’re selling a patterned yoga t-shirt, you could call it the Fleck Studio Shirt.
• Craft a short paragraph: Turn your product information into an entertaining description that tells a clear story. For example, you could describe a scene in which your product is being used.
• Create a bulleted list: Add a section that lays out product features and materials.
• Include social proof: Deploy a product review app to capture customer reviews on your product page and integrate any customer feedback that already exists on search engines or social media platforms. 

Get your free ecommerce copywriting template

Want to write compelling copy that convinces your website visitors to click, sign up, or buy? Master high-conversion copywriting and increase your sales with our easy-to-follow framework.

Product descriptions are always worth the effort

Writing product descriptions for your online store isn’t about listing features. It’s a chance to connect with your target customers and show them exactly how a product fits into their lives.

Taking time to share your enthusiasm about a product’s backstory, design process, and thoughtful details proves you’re excited about your store’s items—making it more likely your customers will get excited, too.

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Product description FAQ

How do you write a product description statement.

To write an effective product description, follow these steps:

• Know your audience: Understand who your ideal customer is and what they care about. Use language and terminology that resonates with them.
• Highlight benefits, not features: Explain how your product can solve a problem or enhance the customer’s life.
• Use sensory language: Describe how the product feels, smells, sounds, tastes, or looks to help customers imagine owning or using it.
• Tell a story: Share the inspiration behind the product or its impact on customers to make it more relatable and memorable.
• Avoid clichés: Be specific and avoid overused phrases.
• Include social proof: Add customer reviews or testimonials to build trust and credibility.
• Make it scannable: Use bullet points, subheadings, and white space to make the description easy to read.
• Include a call to action: Encourage customers to make a purchase or take the next step.

What is the purpose of a product description?

Product descriptions have two purposes: to inform and persuade potential customers. Product descriptions inform readers by detailing a product’s features, helping them understand use-cases and value. Simultaneously, they persuade readers by showcasing a product’s benefits and solutions, compelling them to purchase.

What needs to be in a product description?

A product description should clearly highlight the key features and benefits of your product to attract customers. You should make it engaging by using persuasive language that speaks directly to their needs and desires.

What is a good product description format?

A good product description starts with an attention-grabbing product title, followed by a brief paragraph telling a story about a product’s value. Next, include a bulleted list of product features and details for easy scanning. Add customer reviews for credibility, and finish with a compelling call to action .

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The Valve Corporation: High-Quality Products

Introduction

The Valve Corporation is a video game developer and a digital distributor. A number of computer games created by this enterprise, such as Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and Portal, are some of the most popular video games in the world (Kelion n.pag.; “Case Study” 1). The Valve L.L.C. was created in 1996 in Kirkland, WA, by two former Microsoft employees, Mike Harrington and Gabe Newell. In 2003, it moved to Bellevue, WA, and was incorporated; the name of the organisation was changed to Valve Corporation. Since its inception, the company managed to become one of the most well-known video game developers and earn tremendous revenues while retaining relatively small size; it is a medium business, consisting of only a few hundreds of employees (Valve n.pag.).

How was Valve able to achieve such success? An attempt to answer this question is made below.

The Challenge

The company, as was stressed, was started in 1996. Its first major game was released in 1998, which provided the enterprise with the recognition of the gaming public, as well as with large quantity of sales. However, it is stated that the organisation was still just one of the companies that produce video games, and it was needed to find a business model which would allow it to be different from its rivals and gain a sustainable competitive advantage. In addition, it was necessary for the company to address the problem of digital piracy, which posed a considerable threat to the profitability of the business (“Case Study” 1).

There was also another issue. For any company, the organisation of the working process is of paramount importance if it is to be efficacious. While it is considered an obvious truth that an enterprise needs to have a hierarchical structure of leaders and subordinates in order to operate effectively, the creators of Valve decided to utilise a different way to organise the working process of its employees (Kelion n.pag.).

The Journey

In order to become one of the leaders of the video games market, Valve took a risky step which would potentially differentiate it from most other computer games developers. Namely, the company decided to create a new digital distribution platform; this platform was named Steam. It was intended that Steam plays the role of a game update interface which would be user-friendly; but another aim of the project was to permit for considerably limiting the online piracy that Valve was suffering from (“Case Study” 2). A significant problem related to this was that customers might have dislikes having to use the online platform in order to play the games; in addition, the whole model was new, and the clients were not accustomed to it (“Case Study” 2).

As for the organisation of the working process, the members of the Valve enterprise disliked the idea of the traditional hierarchy in the company. Thus, it was decided to build a company in which there would be no traditional hierarchy (Warr n.pag.). This turned out to be a highly effective solution for Valve.

The Solution

The Steam platform was initially met with suspicion, for gamers do not usually like the necessity to register online in order to play a game. However, although this step was quite risky, it was hypothesised that the convenience of the platform would win the customers over and that ultimately it would allow the company to win its battle with the online pirates while not losing a significant amount of clients.

As for the organisational structure of Valve, the company adopted a horizontal, hierarchy-free structure of its workforce from its very inception (Valve n.pag.). Every worker of the enterprise is free to start their own project if they are able to find colleagues who would also become interested in that project. There are no managers or bosses in the company; the pay for a particular employee is decided by the whole collection and is based upon one’s performance (Warr n.pag.). In fact, there is virtually no structure; the company is anarchic.

The Implementation

Therefore, Steam was made the basic platform for the games created by Valve. In spite of the fact that the clients had to register, it became widely liked by the clientele because of its convenience; it allowed for easy access to digital content, permitting the clients to download it without any problems, as well as providing the features of cloud storage, customer profiles, tracking of gamers’ achievements, and so on (“Case Study” 2).

It is also important to stress that Valve provided its clients with high-quality customer support. The enterprise participated in the creation of game mods and made efforts aimed at the incorporation of the mods created by fans into its games. This also considerably improved the favourable attitude of consumers towards the organisation.

The hierarchy-free structure that was implemented in Valve allowed for ensuring that workers only do what they want to do and what they consider interesting. The workers in Valve do not have to follow the directives of managers who, due to the fact that they do not possess expertise in software development, often may not understand the nuances of the work. The projects which find not support do not waste the time of the employees, whereas interesting projects with great potential get much attention and interest, ensuring that the results of the collective’s efforts are of high quality (Kelion n.pag.).

The Results

Therefore, it is possible to state that the steps taken by the company allowed it to become one of the most widely known game developers in the world. The profits of the company are also estimated to be very high. Unfortunately, Valve has always made a considerable effort in order to hide its revenues, so it is difficult to precisely assess its profitability. However, there exist numerous estimates of the company’s financial situation.

For instance, it is stated that in 2014, Valve made a revenue of approximately $730 million. Out of these, the revenue made from Steam were neat $330 million, and the gross sales from Steam were equal to $1.5 billion (Murray par. 2-4). Simultaneously, it is claimed that in 2015, the gross earnings from Steam in 2015 were $3.5 billion (Haddi par. 2). Here, it should be noted that the number of company’s employees is equal to only a few hundred.

The anarchic structure of the organisation also proved to be extremely efficacious for Valve. In fact, it allowed for the creation of a friendly and enthusiastic atmosphere where each employee is empowered to do what they are interested in, yielding high workforce output and permitting for creation of high-quality products only (Kelion n.pag.).

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis for the current situation for Valve is provided below.

The Steam platform still remains a major strength of the Valve Corporation, allowing for profound and effective customer support, as well as safeguarding the company form the attacks of digital pirates. Clients are able to purchase games from their home, which provides them with additional ease. The company pays much attention to its clientele, taking into account the desires of their games’ fans.

The products created by Valve require their users to have access to the Internet in order to enjoy the full experience from gaming. In addition, this means that the clients cannot enjoy the games when the company’s servers are down.

Also, the company has only developed a relatively small number of original games.

Opportunities

The enterprise has a variety of opportunities. In fact, numerous fans of their products are eagerly awaiting the creation of sequels to their favourite games. However, Valve makes no haste to create sequels or new games, probably due to the fact that the revenues of the enterprise are rather high even without them (Murray par. 5). In addition, because the Internet and computers become more and more widespread, Valve has all the chances to gain even more new customers in the future.

It is possible to hypothesize that most important threats for Valve come from other online gaming platforms, such as Battle.net, Windows Live, and EA Origin. However, the organisation has all the chances to deal with these threats, for, as it was stated, there are numerous fans awaiting the release of new games and sequels from Valve.

Thus, since its creation in 1996, Valve was able to become one of the leading game developers in the world. Its online gaming platform, Steam, was met with approval by its customers, simultaneously allowing for safety from piracy. At the same time, the horizontal, anarchic structure of the company permitted its employees to take great joy in their work and ensured that only interesting and promising projects were developed, leading to a high-quality product. In spite of the fact that the company is a medium-size business, its revenues are very high, and appear to be growing further from year to year.

Works Cited

Case Study: The Dynamic History of Valve: From Game Developer to Console Manufacturer . n.d. Web.

Haddi, Abdul. Steam Sales 2015: Valve Has Generated a Total of $3.5 Billion from Paid Games . 2016. Web.

Kelion, Leo. Valve: How Going Boss-Free Empowered the Games-Maker . 2013. Web.

Murray, Steve. Report: Valve Made $730 Million in Revenue in 2014 . 2015. Web.

Valve. Our people . n.d. Web.

Warr, Philippa. Valve’s Flat Management Structure ‘Like High School ‘. 2013. Web.

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Essay on the Importance of Product Quality

Quality of the product is one of the most important characteristics that determine demand for the product and is of strategic importance for the economic health of companies as well as countries.

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In particular, quality affects a firm in the following ways.

1. Improved profitability:

Improved quality results in improved profitability due to potential increase in market share as well as cost savings. The cost savings are a result of lower rework and scrap costs, less wastage and lower warranty costs. The increase in market share is a result of higher volume in sales. People are willing to pay higher prices for better quality and hence it improves the profitability of the company.

2. Image and reputation of the company:

Quality products not only promote the products but also the company. An organization can expect its reputation for quality – good or bad – to follow it. Based on quality, people develop certain perceptions about the firm’s new products, employment practices, and concerns for consumers.

3. Product liability:

A defective item which causes damage or injury to the consumer can be very expensive for the company in terms of law suits and litigation. The courts generally hold the organizations responsible for any such injuries caused by faulty products designed, produced or distributed by them. In America, an Act was passed in 1972, known as the Consumer Product Safety Act which sets and enforces product standards.

4. International implications:

In this technological age and continuous global interaction, quality is an international concern. To meet global competition, the product must meet quality and price expectations. Export of products to other countries is very important economic factor for any country.

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However, if writing High Quality Products papers entirely by yourself is not an option at this point, WowEssays.com essay writer service might still be able to help you out. For example, our experts can develop a unique High Quality Products essay sample exclusively for you. This example paper on High Quality Products will be written from scratch and tailored to your personal requirements, reasonably priced, and sent to you within the pre-set period. Choose your writer and buy custom essay now!

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Introduction

Expertly Crafted Essay On Competencies And Competitive Advantage Questions

Response to Question One

One of the core competencies that could enhance the achievement of our company vision is to foster innovation to generate cutting edge and unique products to our clients. Besides, the vision of the company could also be achieved by focusing on the competency of quality and reliable product development. The third core competency of the company that could stimulate the achievement of our company vision is focusing on brand development through the provision of exceptional client/customer services across all our operational networks.

Response to Question Two

Market Structure: A Top-Quality Essay For Your Inspiration

Free preliminary strategic audit of at&t essay example, example of case study on financial analysis of five below, inc., kfc branding report examples, example of creative writing on total quality management, ethics in cost account: a sample case study for inspiration & mimicking, write by example of this supplier relationship management using kraljic matrix-a case of apple report.

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