The UK is a nation of people with great ideas, no wonder it ranked 4th in the Global Innovation Index 2023, behind  Switzerland, Sweden and the United States.

If you are one of those people who can spot a problem with a product and think of a better solution, chances are you have an idea for a product of your own. But is it an idea worth acting on? This article features three key questions you can ask to help you decide whether to investigate your product idea further or put that effort into something else.

Should I take my idea further?
Three key questions to help you decide

1. Would customers want it?

If nobody would want the product, it won't matter how cheaply you can make it. Customers might want the product for 3 reasons, functional, emotional and social. Functional - maybe it saves them time on a task.  Emotional - it could make a task more enjoyable. Social - perhaps it might help them complete the task more sustainably. Whether your product idea is desirable is the most important question you should consider.

2. Could selling the product make enough money?

If you think the product can be sold for more than it costs, including marketing etc then it could be profitable. But you still need to be able to sell enough units to make selling the product worthwhile. Without a viable business model, it won't be worth the effort to sell your product to people who want it.

3. Can it be made?

If your idea is a time machine, then unless you're from the future, you will struggle to make it work. Time machines aside, it needs to be feasible to develop the idea into a product you can commercialise. It's easier than ever to develop a product and manufacture it but consider whether you're idea goes beyond the technology that exists today.

Next steps

If your answer to any of these questions was no, then you might need to work on the idea a bit. But if you think you could end up with a yes for all three answers then it sounds like you have an innovation worth investigating. Book a free call with one of our Innovation Advisors to understand your options for investigating your idea further.