Reflection -  Mind Mapping

Challenge and Selection

Mind mapping is an irreplaceable tool I have been utilising into my working framework after being  exposed to it as part of a marketing research team for a departmental store. We take precedence in  increasing our market share in the industry by keeping up with high-quality products our customers  need. For this season, our challenge is to test the demand of our to-be launched new product line.  Scope of the project consisted of the entire marketing department and product management  department. Timeline of the project was to be carried out within 3 months with little disruption as  possible to our other company projects. We were also to take note of possible market cannibalization  where applicable.

Application

We initiated application of the mind mapping tool by adhering to the first process step – holding a  special event featuring our new product line. Guests on our PR list were invited so we could get a  sensing of the possible demand through borrowing their intuition. We chose guests on our PR list as  having their opinion would provide a third-party objective view on our product. Guests would be  incentivised to provide honest opinions since having a high-quality product would provide them with  great material to advertise to their individual platforms, providing us with a win-win situation.

They were then required to fill up a short form on products in the new product line that interest them  as well as their opinions on the packaging, price and advertising layout. Questions in the form  consisted of comparisons with our existing product lines to figure our possible market cannibalization.  We proceeded with a sharing session and placed all the forms on a big foam board. They were  encouraged to discuss within small groups what appealed to them and what could be improved.

Our team then proceeded to identify important insights and translate them into design criteria. Our  form consisted of both multiple choice and open-ended questions, which gave us the opportunity to  collate both quantitative and qualitative data. This gave us very vital information on what to change in  our product line and what remains in the project.

Insight

We realised that the new product line generally has very positive feedback by the guests as a majority  of the products were innovative and new ideas which would not lead to market cannibalization of our  other products. One important takeaway was the outstanding product that was similar to one of our  existing best-selling product, which our team is currently in the talks of possible innovation or to  make do with not launching that particular product with the rest of the new product line. There were  definitely parts of our process which requires improvement. Our team assessed the use of the form  and realised that rather than a form, it might have been more useful for us to ask the guests to simply  select items that appeal to them and noting down on sticky notes on their thoughts and new ideas. This  is to prevent ignoring any possible outlier information which may come as initial thoughts to some of  our potential customers and might serve as useful information for the future. Our team also noted  down an area of improvement to emphasize on noting down individual thoughts personally without  discussion next project to prevent external influences on their initial thoughts.

Approach

Mind mapping tool has always worked for us. Prior to the use of mind mapping, we utilised our tools  but have found that this was the method that was most suitable to our company in the industry we are  working in.


Reflection - Mind Mapping Challenge and Selection Mind mapping is an irreplaceable tool I have been utilising into my working framework after being exposed to it as part of a marketing research team for a departmental store . We take precedence in increasing our market share in the industry by keeping up with high - quality products our customers need . For this season , our challenge is to test the demand of our to - be launched new product line . Scope of the project consisted of the entire marketing department and product management department . Timeline of the project was to be carried out within 3 months with little disruption as possible to our other company projects . We were also to take note of possible market cannibalization where applicable . Application We initiated application of the mind mapping tool by adhering to the first process step – holding a special event featuring our new product line . Guests on our PR list were invited so we could get a sensing of the possible demand through borrowing their intuition . We chose guests on our PR list as having their opinion would provide a third - party objective view on our product . Guests would be incentivised to provide honest opinions since having a high - quality product would provide them with great material to advertise to their individual platforms , providing us with a win - win situation . They were then required to fill up a short form on products in the new product line that interest them as well as their opinions on the packaging , price and advertising layout . Questions in the form consisted of comparisons with our existing product lines to figure our possible market cannibalization . We proceeded with a sharing session and placed all the forms on a big foam board . They were encouraged to discuss within small groups what appealed to them and what could be improved . Our team then proceeded to identify important insights and translate them into design criteria . Our form consisted of both multiple choice and open - ended questions , which gave us the opportunity to collate both quantitative and qualitative data . This gave us very vital information on what to change in our product line and what remains in the project . Insight We realised that the new product line generally has very positive feedback by the guests as a majority of the products were innovative and new ideas which would not lead to market cannibalization of our other products . One important takeaway was the outstanding product that was similar to one of our existing best - selling product , which our team is currently in the talks of possible innovation or to make do with not launching that particular product with the rest of the new product line . There were definitely parts of our process which requires improvement . Our team assessed the use of the form and realised that rather than a form , it might have been more useful for us to ask the guests to simply select items that appeal to them and noting down on sticky notes on their thoughts and new ideas . This is to prevent ignoring any possible outlier information which may come as initial thoughts to some of our potential customers and might serve as useful information for the future . Our team also noted down an area of improvement to emphasize on noting down individual thoughts personally without discussion next project to prevent external influences on their initial thoughts . Approach Mind mapping tool has always worked for us . Prior to the use of mind mapping , we utilised our tools but have found that this was the method that was most suitable to our company in the industry we are working in .