4 Reasons Why Testing Your Product’s Quality Before Release is Crucial

The quality of a product is a measure of how well it meets the needs of customers. It’s the degree to which it does what it’s supposed to and how long it lasts. Nevertheless, quality doesn’t always mean the same thing to each customer. 

Some consumers see a greener product as being high quality, while there are those who base their judgment of quality on the acceptability of the price point. Irrespective of each customer’s preferences, ensuring your product is of a quality that’s commensurate with the price is paramount. Here’s why.

 

  • Establish Customer Trust

 

Customer trust is essential for business success. Small businesses lose plenty of sales solely because their brand has failed to establish a deep connection with consumers. On the other hand, once you have gained the loyalty and confidence of consumers, you will have an easier time converting leads. 

There are many ways to build customer trust but product quality is the most important. Nothing else matters if your product doesn’t do what you say it does. Worse still, state and federal law allows consumers to sue a business if the product causes them harm. The quality of your merchandise gets customers to believe in what you say while reducing the chances of costly product liability lawsuits.

 

  • Lowers Advertising and Marketing Costs

 

Once you make your product available for purchase, you’ll have to run a marketing campaign to raise the product’s visibility. A lot of this will be paid marketing online and offline. While this is necessary, your marketing and advertising will eventually only be as effective as the quality of the product. 

If early buyers are disappointed and you take no action to address their concerns, the negative sentiment will diminish the product’s desirability. On the other hand, if your product is of excellent quality, you’ll progressively spend fewer dollars per sale. 

Delighted buyers will be more than happy to share their recommendations with their social circle. This is crucial because the average consumer takes recommendations from their family and friends more seriously than they do an advertisement. A good product drives positive reviews, spontaneous social sharing and strengthens the brand.

 

  • Fewer Customer Returns and Complaints

 

When you roll out a product that is less than satisfactory, you are setting yourself up for an avalanche of complaints and numerous returns. For a business of any size, but especially a small business, this is an expensive mistake. Resolving each complaint and processing each return takes time, money and personnel. 

Such resources would be better applied to processing fresh outgoing orders, strategizing growth and optimizing costs. A high-quality product means fewer returns, a lower number of complaints and a sea of positive reviews. So the extra time you spend testing the product before rollout may cost you money, but it should actually be considered a cost-saving tactic in the long term. 

Making your product available to a small audience first as part of testing and research will allow you to iron out the glaring problems early.

 

  • Increase ROI

 

There’s a strong correlation between product quality and profitability. The better the quality of a product, the higher the return on investment (ROI) is likely to be. Fewer product failures and defects create a virtuous cycle that improves the brand’s reputation, grows sales and reduces the marketing expense needed to complete a single sale. 

Improvements in the product’s performance and efficiency, when compared to the competition, will lead to a rise in market share.

Improving product quality has diverse benefits for a small business. The strong correlation between sales and quality should be reason enough to prioritize product testing before releasing it to the market. You’ll draw trust, loyalty and credibility from happy customers that ignite positive recommendations and repeat sales.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.