Using the Right Product Development Research for Financial Brands and Fintech

Why is Product Development Research Important?

The path to developing the right financial products and services is multi-faceted. Brands must understand target customers, understand the competitive landscape, and understand the white space or marketplace opportunity that exists for the development or innovation of their product or service. Because Logica® works deeply in the financial space, we are able to give a built-in advantage of our financial industry knowledge when building product development studies with our clients.

For financial and fintech products and services, the product development approach may look like that in many other industries. However, the details on how you implement the research for financial services and fintech products matters. When you do the right market research, you can gain insight on your product’s users, the competition, customers’ unmet needs and pain points to solve. Using comprehensive understanding and insight, paired with Logica’s expertise, your brand is poised to create the product or service that will resonate and be successful in the market.

Product Development Research for Financial Brands

Product development research is integral to any successful product development process. By evaluating customer needs and wants, you can inform what changes you should make to your current offerings or what new offerings need to be developed.

For example, you may be identifying customer needs or jobs-to-be-done for a segment of your current market and need to speak to B2B decision-makers in the payments space. Or, you may be re-launching an existing wealth management service, insurance or loan product. Whatever your financial brand’s or fintech brand’s specific product and service, it is essential to work with a market research partner like Logica who brings:

Financial services and fintech industry expertise
The ability to reach and talk to the right people
Superior research design that combines research expertise with industry expertise
Experienced moderators and researchers who know money and can understand your customers and prospects
Analysis leading to actionable recommendations, within the context of the broader industry
Reports that are communicated in simple, visually compelling way

How Do You Do Product Development Research?

There are many different approaches that can be used, singularly or in concert with one another. Your brand’s needs are unique, so customizing a product development research approach that works for the insights you need is crucial. Some specific research approaches that might be used include:

Customer Experience Research: Collecting data about all aspects of your customer can be implemented using a variety of methods, both qualitative and quantitative.
Concept Testing: Using the right research approaches, like concept testing, to gain insight into customer acceptance and attitude about a new product or service idea prior to market introduction.
Customer Journey Mapping: Creating a visual story of customer interactions allows brands to view all stages of the purchase journey, uncovering any pain points to allow innovation to improve along the way.
Market Sizing & Segmentation: Understanding the size of your target market(s), your addressable market and identifying segments within that market is key to developing the right strategies and tactics to reach them the right way.
Product Feature Optimization: Determining the best combination of features for your financial product or service helps drive market share.
Value Proposition Development: Creating solutions for customers means understanding their needs and wants, and the right value proposition can differentiate your product or service in a crowded marketplace.

To launch new products or services, or enhance and update existing ones, financial and fintech brands need to consider how these changes will impact their target audiences. Using these market research techniques, insights can be gathered to make sure products can meet—and exceed—customer demands.

At Logica Research, we think of financial services and product development on a continuum.

Identify Needs: By using techniques like customer journey mapping, qualitative research and persona development, brands can kick off projects right by understanding usage, attitudes and needs.
Ideate: Get the right input from your market and key stakeholders to create product concepts.
Test: Before a product or service is launched, whether it is a new product or an evolution of a current offering, measure the performance of the product concepts on key metrics such as interest, consideration, likeability, and differentiation.
Refine: Through product feature optimization work and price sensitivity, refine the product before launch.
Launch: Gain insights from your market to inform a successful launch. This research includes, value proposition, positioning, messaging, and naming.

Tips for Developing Great Product Development Research

Logica® has been conducting customized product development research for more than 15 years for major brands like PayPal, Charles Schwab, Wells Fargo and Visa. Here are a few key tips to help make your product development research work best.

FOCUS on the key insights you need to improve or develop your product or service
Through a honed brainstorm process, Logica Research can help you get focused on exactly the insights you need to drive your product and service forward. Whether it is customer insights, competitive landscape, white space discovery or a customized approach including a scope of needed insights, Logica has the tools and expertise to build the right research program.
ASK the right questions for your research
What are the questions you need to ask to get to the bottom of the aspects of your product and service that will result in the greatest marketplace success? By involving stakeholders in the process of designing your research, you can make sure that no stone goes unturned in gaining the insights you need for product development.
PARTNER with an expert
Whatever your specific product and service, you want to partner with a research firm who brings specific financial industry expertise as well as the right study participants, researchers experienced in this industry, and clear analysis that puts your insights in the context of the broader industry.

Product Development Research Case Study

A major financial institution wanted to learn more about the mobile wallet purchase decision journey in order to better design the customer experience and make payments easier. Mobile wallets are one of the most important factors in how consumers make payments.

Logica designed and implemented a multi-phase product development research study, including an online survey, a mobile diary as well as online bulletin boards among current users. The design allowed for in-depth analysis of the mobile wallet decision journey, which was quantified and validated with a quantitative study. The research detailed the experience, the barriers, and benefits of wearables, and in-browser experience and uncovered what motivates users to become repeat users as well as the barriers to first-time or repeat use. These product development research findings helped our client develop a strategy to deliver a better experience, ultimately driving usage and satisfaction.

Getting Product Development Research Right

When choosing a market research firm to help you develop the right products and services for your financial customers, you will want to find a market research partner with relevant financial industry research experience, the right product development methodology experience and customization flexibility. The Logica team’s deep experience with financial product development projects allows your study to give you the right insights for your products and services.

Let’s get started!