290. The Simple Question That Slashes New Product Failures

0:00Welcome to Day 18, How to Make and Sell Products Your Customers Want. If you want to dramatically improve your innovation, reduce the cost of new item failures, and create products shoppers are eager to buy before they even hit the shelf, then today's episode is for you. Because the truth is, Natural is the R &D engine of the entire CPG industry. Innovative ideas start here, trends start here, new product categories start here, and the brands that win are the ones that co-create with their consumer long before they show up in a category view. Let's dig in. How big brands actually innovate and why it hurts them.

0:35You've heard me tease this before, but let's go deeper. Most big brands design innovation around one objective, keeping the manufacturing line running efficiently. Why? Because efficiency lowers costs, deeper discounts, higher volume, and better margins. The innovation process often looks like this. Take an existing product, change a flavor or label, shift the positioning, call it a new item. Validate it with a generic focus group. Push it onto shelves with heavy promotional spin. That's not new innovation, that's iteration. And it's why big brands frequently miss emerging trends until it's too late.

1:13Even worse, focus groups often mislead them. Why? Participants aren't usually buyers of the category. They don't understand the problems natural brands solve. They can't articulate the emotional and functional value the core consumer cares about. Their buying behavior doesn't match what happens on the shelf. As a result, many products that test well in focus groups flop at retail. Meaning natural brands, brands like yours, are solving real problems for real people. This is the opportunity. The traditional innovation playbook is broken. Let's walk through the standard process you've been taught.

1:47Create a product. Preprint packaging. Manufacture a large run. pay slotting, ship to dozens of stores, hope for perfect retail execution, promote heavily, cross fingers. You get about six months to prove the item before buyers reset the shelf. This approach is expensive, slow, risky, inefficient, and wasteful. And most small brands simply can't absorb the cost of failed innovation. So let's talk about a better, smarter, more profitable way forward. Your loyal community is your R &D department. Early in this series, we spent time about how to build a thriving community outside of traditional retail.

2:25People who know you, like you, and trust your brand. Here's why that matters. Your idea customer already knows what they want you to make next. You just haven't asked them yet. Instead of guessing, hoping, spending money on a focus group, and then launching products blindly, you can co-create with your most loyal fans. Imagine this. You ask your community a simple question. What flavor should we launch next? Chocolate or banana? You get instant, real buyer feedback, compassionate responses, clarity on demand, direction for your R &D team. Then when you launch the winning flavor, you already have customers waiting for it.

3:02This is how you create faster launches, higher success rates, lower costs, pre-sold innovation, clarity on your branding and marketing, a connected community that's already invested in your growth. Innovation stops being a gamble and it becomes a shared journey. Your email list is your most profitable asset. Let me take you behind the curtain. When you sell through a retailer at brick and mortar and online, you're renting space. You don't own that relationship. You don't know who bought your product, how often they bought it, or how they use it and what they want next. Your email fixes that. You own it.

3:37You control it. You can nurture it. And you can grow revenue anytime you want. This is why I recommend every brand, sales are on their website, builds a robust email program, uses segmenting tools, personalizes communication, uses QR codes or packaging, adds value with recipes, tips, and exclusive deals, invites customers into a connected community. Your list becomes your innovation lab, your launch pad, your feedback loop, your profit engine, insulation against real risk. Remember, your best customers don't shop only in one place. they need you to serve them wherever they shop. Let your community guide your innovation.

4:14Here are a few simple ways to tap into your community. One, ask them what they want. Send an email or social poll. What flavor next? What problem should we solve next? What is the biggest frustration you face today? These questions deliver gold. Send samples before launch. This is where segmentation matters. Send version A to segment one, version B to segment two. Then ask, what did you love? What would you change? Would you buy this regularly? Would you recommend it? You'll know whether a product is a winner before you spend money on packaging or slotting. Number three, bake their feedback into your retail story.

4:53Imagine telling a buyer, we surveyed 6 ,000 of our core customers. 82 % said that they would buy this flavor monthly. 27 % asked for larger sizes. Here are 30 customer testimonials. That's just not a new item presentation. That's a pre-validated success story. Retailers love that because it reduces their risk. Real world example. How co-creation drives breakout growth. You've heard me share this earlier on how I helped a brand run an informal Facebook survey. Let me connect the dots. One client had inconsistent placement, poor merchandising, limited distribution, no clear shopper insights. We surveyed their fans.

5:32Where do you look for us in the store? Which products do you buy with ours? What's the problem you're trying to solve for? The insight was clear as day. Their fans expected to find the product in produce. Not snacks, not dairy, not beverage, produce. We then paired that with a small targeted data purchase. A clean fact based story. A simple merchandising recommendation. Result? They went from under 200 ,000 to annual sales of over 300 million in a year, with placement in 1600 stores all in produce. The magic wasn't in guessing, it was in asking. Co-creation equals lower risk, higher profit, faster wins.

6:10Let's recap the advantages of co-creating innovation with your community. Reduces guessing and risk. Eliminates wasted packaging runs. Gives you real time feedback. Pre-sells the product before you launch. Provides testimonials for your retailer presentations. Strengthens your relationship with customers. Increases your retail influence. It extends your runway by avoiding expensive failure. This is how you win. This is how you future-proof your brand. This is how you create products customers can't wait to buy. Day 18 Action Item. Ask your community one simple question today. Post one question in your community or email us.

6:48What should we make next? Or what flavor would you choose, A or B? You will learn more from that one question than from a dozen expensive focus groups. In closing, build with your customers, not for them. Innovation becomes easier and far more profitable when you stop trying to guess what customers want and start asking people who already love you. This is how natural brands lead. This is why natural is the R &D of the total CPG industry. This is how you make innovation a competitive advantage instead of a financial risk. Tomorrow in episode 291, we'll talk about how to launch new items with precision, the exact steps to ensure your new item innovation succeeds on shelf and online.

7:30If you've been enjoying this challenge, please subscribe, share the series with another founder, and download the free series guide to go deeper into these strategies. Your brand deserves this level of clarity. You have everything you need to build products your customers are eager to buy. Let's keep climbing. For additional inspiration, listen to the following podcast episodes. Episode 51, An Unsung Hero Changed the Way We Celebrate Food Ahmed with Numi Organic How an Unsung Hero Changed the Way We Celebrate Food In this episode, Ahmed shares how he launched and grew a brand by giving his community a touch of home while introducing to a new community new flavors and new experiences.

8:10His story is truly inspiring. Then listen to episode 94, Reinventing Favorite Foods with Artesian Vegan Cheese with Maiko with Maiko's Kitchen. This is a great episode about how MyEco built a company from scratch, and it highlights her over her successes and her failures, as well as the struggles she faced in creating a disruptive brand that is now a fan favorite. MyEco is a champion and a leader in the plant-based community. We talk about the importance of this growing segment and how you can leverage these strategies we talk about throughout this entire series to confidently grow and scale your brand.

8:44And then listen to episode 97, disrupting the category with a creative packaging strategy, Greg with Calphea. Greg launched his brand as a mission and a commitment to clean up a category from his iconic packaging to his innovative flavors. Greg shares how he makes products and his customers that are eager to buy. You can learn a lot from Greg on this episode. And then listen to episode 185, Tofurky, the hottest food trend in plant-based products, Seth with Tofurky. Seth's story is the iconic founder story. His story is a lot of fun to listen to as he talks about the different challenges he had and how he built a cult-like following for his brand.

9:21What makes Seth's story so impactful is his perseverance and his commitment to solving fundamental needs for growing a community. Learn how a hippie created and grew a vegan meat company and how he leads the hottest growing trend in the category, plant-based foods. Tip of the day, natural is the R &D for total CPG. Natural products are driving the profitable trends. Co-creating with your loyal tribe can dramatically improve your item launches, while streamlining innovation, giving shoppers products they're eager to buy. Thank you for listening. This episode has accompanied video with illustrations and additional information that I can't share in an audio podcast.

9:58You can watch it by going to retailsolve.com slash 30-day challenge. You can get the show notes for this episode by going to retailsolve.com slash session290. Tomorrow's episode is how to become an expert in your retail partner. This episode will build on today's conversation. Want more sales? How to profitably scale a food business today, tomorrow, and beyond. Here's this week's free downloadable guide. The 30-Day to Prosperity Workbook is a companion of the 30-Day Challenge. This Retail Solve blueprint We'll teach you what you need to know to confidently grow and scale your brand, build a connected community of loyal evangelists, and multiply your brand's impact, sales, and profits.

10:36Every slight improvement means more runway for sales growth, higher brand evaluations, better terms when negotiating with investors, fuel for more innovation, greater support for mission-based causes, and much more. Thanks for joining us today. Please reach out and share your most pressing questions, and I'll do my best to get you the answers that you need on future episodes, including expert advice from CEOs and industry thought leaders. Comment, leave your questions, and get this week's free downloadable guide and the show notes at retailsolve.com slash session 290.