Apollo: A case study in Product Vision
Many companies don't have a clear enough Product Vision when they begin developing a product that they hope will take the market by storm. And the fact that they don't have a clear Product Vision is precisely why their product won't become an industry-wide success.
Having said that, many companies have goals, whether this is global recognition, industry disruption or high revenues. But these goals will become like a mirage in the desert that a thirsty traveller will believe in unless the company first creates a strong, clear and thorough Product Vision.
What is Product Vision?
Product Vision is the product's raison d'etre - it is the reason for the product's existence. It addresses head-on exactly what problems the product solves, and why that is valuable to potential customers.
The Product Vision of your company will unify your team by providing a detailed blueprint of exactly what you're trying to achieve. This will help each team member to visualise the steps they will take to get there.
Why do companies get their Product Vision wrong?
The main reason that companies get their Product Vision wrong is because it's a difficult task to complete. Creating a simple and clear vision is one of the most challenging things your company can do. This is down to the fact that it requires lots of focused and logical thinking, which is something that we can all agree escapes even the best of us!
In addition to this, you may fail in your Product Vision by not conducting thorough prior research. Yes, you may think you have a fantastic idea, but will your customers think so too? You have to think about what they really want, and how you can supply them with this. By taking the time to fully understand the market, your competitors and your customers, you will find that it's much easier to create an effective product vision.
How to build a Product Vision
Although it may seem daunting, the method of creating a successful Product Vision for your company can be broken down into 5 simple steps:
RedLab Gaming is a software development company that turns great ideas into successful realities by developing a strong and clear Product Vision for projects.
One of the company's missions is to bring new and innovative games to the market, and the creation of Apollo is a prime example of this.
At the start of the project, the vision was to:
Create an attractive game for casino players which is different from other casino games available on the market.
This is a goal of many iGaming developers, but which often fails as a result of the Product Vision not being strong or effective enough.
Having said that, many companies have goals, whether this is global recognition, industry disruption or high revenues. But these goals will become like a mirage in the desert that a thirsty traveller will believe in unless the company first creates a strong, clear and thorough Product Vision.
What is Product Vision?
Product Vision is the product's raison d'etre - it is the reason for the product's existence. It addresses head-on exactly what problems the product solves, and why that is valuable to potential customers.
The Product Vision of your company will unify your team by providing a detailed blueprint of exactly what you're trying to achieve. This will help each team member to visualise the steps they will take to get there.
Why do companies get their Product Vision wrong?
The main reason that companies get their Product Vision wrong is because it's a difficult task to complete. Creating a simple and clear vision is one of the most challenging things your company can do. This is down to the fact that it requires lots of focused and logical thinking, which is something that we can all agree escapes even the best of us!
In addition to this, you may fail in your Product Vision by not conducting thorough prior research. Yes, you may think you have a fantastic idea, but will your customers think so too? You have to think about what they really want, and how you can supply them with this. By taking the time to fully understand the market, your competitors and your customers, you will find that it's much easier to create an effective product vision.
How to build a Product Vision
Although it may seem daunting, the method of creating a successful Product Vision for your company can be broken down into 5 simple steps:
- Define who your audience is, so that you can then understand who you are making the product for. This will help you to think like your customers, and create a product that will be valued.
- Be clear about the problem you are solving, because if you aren't, then your product will not be as effective or efficient as it can be. All great Product Visions stem from having a clearly defined problem, and a simple solution that successfully solves it.
- Think about how your product will be unique so that it isn't the same as every other product on the market. It needs to have certain traits (or a certain combination of traits) that consumers have never seen before and that they will want to try out. Every successful product out there has a USP (Unique Selling Point), and you need to find out what yours is.
- Visualize the development process so that each member of your team knows what they need to do to make the vision a reality. Doing this will also help you to work out what is achievable or not with your development process.
- Foresee challenges that you will face in the development process when creating your Product Vision will help you develop a more resilient product that will be able to overcome any bumps on the road that it might face during development or when the product goes to market.
RedLab Gaming is a software development company that turns great ideas into successful realities by developing a strong and clear Product Vision for projects.
One of the company's missions is to bring new and innovative games to the market, and the creation of Apollo is a prime example of this.
At the start of the project, the vision was to:
Create an attractive game for casino players which is different from other casino games available on the market.
This is a goal of many iGaming developers, but which often fails as a result of the Product Vision not being strong or effective enough.
How we created the Product Vision for Apollo
First and foremost we decided on who would be the target audience of Apollo - who we would be selling the product to. We decided that iGaming platforms and aggregators, and online casinos (operators) if they operate on their own platform, are the customers who would want Apollo as a product. We are primarily interested in mid-sized platforms and aggregators that do not have their own crush game in their existing portfolio.
We worked hard on trying to understand the thoughts, feelings and consumer habits of our audience. There were many questions that we embarked on answering which would give us insights into our customers' purchasing decisions, and which would play a key role in defining our Product Vision. These questions were:
Another key task when forming the Product Vision was how we could make the Apollo product unique.
Today's iGaming market is oversaturated with games, but a large number of these games are considered outdated in terms of style and concept, and therefore aren't giving players the levels of excitement that they are truly looking for. Therefore, we decided to create something new that would be fundamentally different from the usual proposals on the market. This would give us our Unique Selling Point (USP).
Here are the perceived strengths that we worked into the Product vision of Apollo:
We started by implementing the idea of Crash Games into the Product Vision of Apollo, and developed and launched our MVP for the game. We tested out various hypotheses that our prior research had led us to form, and we saw that these theories worked.The game was well-received and popular from the very first moment it went live.
Evolving our Product Vision
Although our MVP was, on the whole, very successful and well-received, we still took the time to assess our Product Vision based on customer feedback to make sure that it was perfectly attuned with the market.
After receiving reviews from customers and operators, we decided to tweak our Product Vision so that it became: Create an attractive game for players and operators which is different from other casino games available on the market.
This new Product Vision took into account the preferences of the operators who would host our game on their platforms. Naturally, any game developer not only wants to please players, but also listen to the preferences of the iGaming operators themselves.
Feedback from the MVP highlighted the fact that operators wanted more customizable features for the Apollo game, so that they could alter it to suit their players. To do this, we started to implement add-ons for the game to give greater flexibility for operators. Our customizable options for operators now include in-game marketing tools which allows operators to engage, retain and develop their players in a greater capacity. We also customized graphics to make the game unique and to suit player preferences.
We see Apollo as an ever-evolving game, and so despite that fact that we've already changed the Product Vision once, we won't hesitate to change it again should customers or operators make us aware of further enhancements that should be made. This is the type of flexibility that you need with your Product Vision.
To summarize, every time you consider your Product Vision, you should take yourself through the following Product Vision checklist:
First and foremost we decided on who would be the target audience of Apollo - who we would be selling the product to. We decided that iGaming platforms and aggregators, and online casinos (operators) if they operate on their own platform, are the customers who would want Apollo as a product. We are primarily interested in mid-sized platforms and aggregators that do not have their own crush game in their existing portfolio.
We worked hard on trying to understand the thoughts, feelings and consumer habits of our audience. There were many questions that we embarked on answering which would give us insights into our customers' purchasing decisions, and which would play a key role in defining our Product Vision. These questions were:
- Is the game unique and authentic?
- Does it increase the level of player engagement?
- What type of emotions does it evoke in players?
- Is the interface attractive and engaging enough?
- What kind of game mechanics and algorithms do we use?
- Will the game help operators to stand out?
Another key task when forming the Product Vision was how we could make the Apollo product unique.
Today's iGaming market is oversaturated with games, but a large number of these games are considered outdated in terms of style and concept, and therefore aren't giving players the levels of excitement that they are truly looking for. Therefore, we decided to create something new that would be fundamentally different from the usual proposals on the market. This would give us our Unique Selling Point (USP).
Here are the perceived strengths that we worked into the Product vision of Apollo:
- Aesthetically pleasing design & responsive to smartphone users
- Giving players the feeling of being in control of the game and their bets
- Reassuring players of a fair result thanks to provably fair gaming
- Instant gratification during gameplay instead of unfulfilled grand promises
We started by implementing the idea of Crash Games into the Product Vision of Apollo, and developed and launched our MVP for the game. We tested out various hypotheses that our prior research had led us to form, and we saw that these theories worked.The game was well-received and popular from the very first moment it went live.
Evolving our Product Vision
Although our MVP was, on the whole, very successful and well-received, we still took the time to assess our Product Vision based on customer feedback to make sure that it was perfectly attuned with the market.
After receiving reviews from customers and operators, we decided to tweak our Product Vision so that it became: Create an attractive game for players and operators which is different from other casino games available on the market.
This new Product Vision took into account the preferences of the operators who would host our game on their platforms. Naturally, any game developer not only wants to please players, but also listen to the preferences of the iGaming operators themselves.
Feedback from the MVP highlighted the fact that operators wanted more customizable features for the Apollo game, so that they could alter it to suit their players. To do this, we started to implement add-ons for the game to give greater flexibility for operators. Our customizable options for operators now include in-game marketing tools which allows operators to engage, retain and develop their players in a greater capacity. We also customized graphics to make the game unique and to suit player preferences.
We see Apollo as an ever-evolving game, and so despite that fact that we've already changed the Product Vision once, we won't hesitate to change it again should customers or operators make us aware of further enhancements that should be made. This is the type of flexibility that you need with your Product Vision.
To summarize, every time you consider your Product Vision, you should take yourself through the following Product Vision checklist:
- Have a clear understanding of what you're going to do and what precise problem you are solving
- Clearly understand the target audience that your product is trying to make an impact with
- Stick closely to your company's mission statements so that you retain authenticity and you appeal to your loyal existing customers
- Create a Product Vision that is clear, easy to remember, and will have longevity
- Don't be afraid to adapt and evolve your Product Vision to make sure that you are always sticking close to what your customers want
- Make your Product Vision exciting and inspiring to both your internal team and your customers