SWOT Team: How to Kill Popular but Unprofitable Products
It's not unusual for even the most savvy product managers among us to fall victim to a product failure. Even with the support of research, testing and a hefty marketing budget, for any number of reasons your pet project sometimes just doesn't make it in the real world. We learn to take the failures in stride. It's part of the game. With lessons learned and egos in check, we usually make up for it many times over with our next market hit.
What we talk about less often are those products that do well in the market, building a loyal following over many years, only to end up on the chopping block. The product, which we'll refer to as Product X, is a definite hit with your customers. But changes in the market and a highly aggressive growth plan make carrying the product a losing proposition.
What to do about Product X loyalists? How will you minimize the fall out of a market exit? How do you quantify the number of Product X buyers who buy your other products only because they come to you for Product X? This issue's dilemma asks: When you've made a practical decision to cut your losses on a highly popular but unprofitable product line, how do you make a gracious market exit?
Already onto your next market hit? Let us know what keeps you up at night. What dilemma do you take with you when you leave the office? Your peers would love to help. Write to us and ask our SWOT Team about your dilemma. Tap into the collective strength, wisdom and experience of this group. It works, and you could win a free copy of our book, A Marketer's Guide to e-Newsletter Publishing.
Revisit our previous dilemma—read below for your peers' best advice on backing up your marketing plan.
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- Give advice on this issue's dilemma.
- Read below for your peers' responses to the previous dilemma.
- Submit your own dilemma.
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Hank Stroll (Hank@InternetVIZ.com) is publisher at InternetVIZ, a custom publisher of 24 B2B e-newsletters reaching 490,000 business executives.
Yvonne is a “customer engagement coach” and President of EVE Consulting, helping companies achieve sustainable market leadership through the power of customer engagement.
