Product Vision: What Makes It Useful for Businesses and How to Develop One
A product vision is an inspiring yet practical statement of what value you want to deliver through your product and what problems of your audience this value aims to solve.
What is the purpose of a product vision
A product vision defines for whom this product is created and why. It sets the overall direction for the company's future and serves several functions:
1. Decision filter. When a team has dozens of ideas and hypotheses, it is important to select those that lead to the desired goal. A product vision helps eliminate unnecessary distractions and assess how well an initiative contributes to the implementation of plans.
For example, if the product vision is "helping small business owners easily launch online sales", the idea of adding 50 report templates can be tested by asking, "Will this actually help businesses start selling online faster?"
2. Compass for strategy and roadmap. Roadmap, strategy, and product vision work together:
- Vision shows the direction to take.
- Strategy describes the route that adapts to this direction.
- Roadmap outlines specific steps.
If disputes or uncertainty arise, product vision brings the team back to the core of why everything is being done and what they should strive for.
3. Common language within the team. Different departments have different responsibilities: marketing focuses on sales growth and customer engagement, development focuses on service stability, and support focuses on the speed and quality of responses. Product vision unites these perspectives and provides a clear understanding of how overall success is defined.
4. Tool for external communication. A well-thought-out product vision is useful not just for the team. This short statement explains to customers and partners why the world needs the product and creates an emotional connection with the audience.
5. Benchmark for the pilot version. A minimum viable product (MVP) is one of the tools for testing hypotheses that support the product vision. A well-crafted and precise formulation indicates which ideas should be prioritized.
6. Basis for evaluating progress. The product vision itself is not expressed in metrics, but it can be used to determine which ones are truly important. This way, the team can assess whether the product is actually improving users' lives or merely accumulates features.
Product vision of The Coca Cola Company
Steps to developing a product vision
Step 1. Study your audience
Create a profile of your target audience and identify the challenges they face. For example, "small store managers spend several hours every day manually updating stock and reconciling payments due to the lack of a suitable accounting system".
Why this is needed: a product vision based on real-world situations becomes meaningful and addresses customers' pain points.
Practical tips:
- Communicate with potential customers to identify their needs and how they currently solve the problem. Interviews, surveys, and empathy maps can be useful here.
- Identify key pain points and inconveniences, as well as Jobs to Be Done: the tasks your audience wants to solve.
Step 2. Formulate the desired changes
Choose a reasonable timeframe (e.g., 2-3 years) and imagine the changes in the customer's life after they obtain your product. What will become faster, easier, more reliable, better?
Why this is needed: the essence of a product vision is to describe the future state and focus on improvements.
Practical tips:
- Describe qualitative changes in simple terms: "independently", "in a couple of clicks", "without risk of data loss".
- Look through the eyes of users: describe what will be easier for them, not what processes you will simplify within the company.
Step 3. Link the changes to the product benefit
Explain how exactly your product creates value: fewer errors, shorter waiting times, more completed tasks. For example, "the process now takes minutes instead of hours" or "now you can work without a programmer".
Why this is needed: a product vision should demonstrate a distinctive approach so that the product is associated with tangible results.
Practical tips:
- Write down the principles on which the value is based. Compare them with competitors' offerings, as well as traditional but less effective methods.
- Make sure these benefits are truly important to your customers.
Step 4. Check market constraints and strategy context
A product vision should be inspiring yet grounded in reality. When developing it, consider market conditions, business model, distribution channels, team resources, and competition.
Why this is needed: if a product vision is detached from reality, it will quickly lose its power or become unachievable.
Practical tips:
- Briefly review the opportunities and constraints, and identify immediate hypotheses for testing.
- Make sure the vision statement helps you prioritize and choose the starting point.
Step 5. Create several versions and test them
Create 3–5 product vision versions and read each one out loud. Then show them to people not involved in the project and ask them what was clear and what sounds confusing.
Why this is needed: if someone outside the team understands the idea and can retell it in their own words, this means that your product vision is viable.
Practical tips:
- Use feedback: what was clear, what raised questions, and what requires improvement.
- Choose the version that is quick and easy to remember, sounds natural, and does not require additional explanations.
Step 6. Put the product vision to work
Once approved, a product vision should become part of daily work. Include it in team presentations, the first page of the roadmap, and the company's internal portal.
Why this is needed: your product vision should be an active tool, not a decorative quote.
Practical tips:
- Hold a team workshop with company departments and agree on criteria for evaluating initiatives through the lens of the product vision.
- Introduce regular reviews: whether the new ideas align with the established product vision and how exactly this is verified.
Brief history and product vision of Korg
Mistakes in product vision development and ways to avoid them
A list of features instead of results
Mistake description: a product vision sounds like a technical specification that lists functionality ("Create a smart platform with artificial intelligence and automation"). This description does not reflect the value for the user.
How to avoid: describe the outcome, not the steps and features. For example, "The user spends less time on checkout and gets the desired result faster". In a product vision, focus on the changes in state, while specifying the functionality in the strategy and roadmap.
The vision is too vague
Mistake description: phrases like "We will make people's lives better" sound beautiful, but do not provide a clear understanding of whose lives will be improved or how. In turn, it is difficult for the team to understand what will become "better" and how this should be reflected in the product.
How to avoid: be specific. For example, "We help small businesses go online without technical barriers". Such a description is both inspiring and meaningful.
Focus is on business instead of users
Mistake description: product vision is replaced with corporate goals, such as "We will become the number one company in the market" or "We will increase revenue tenfold". The product vision should describe the value to the audience, not just the company's ambitions.
How to avoid: first and foremost, formulate what the user will get. For example, "We are creating a platform that frees freelancers from routine tasks and saves them hours each week". Such a product vision focuses on benefits, not ratings and market share.
Complex and cumbersome wording
Mistake description: the product vision sounds way too complex ("Our product provides a comprehensive digital ecosystem to optimize the operational processes of small and medium businesses"). Such wording is difficult to repeat and retell in your own words.
How to avoid: use natural language, avoid professional jargon and complex expressions. Check if you can pronounce the vision out loud without stumbling. If not, simplify it.
Product vision changes too frequently
Mistake description: the team rewrites the product vision every time the strategy is updated. As a result, it ceases to be the product's "guiding star", becoming a short-term document instead, while the overall direction becomes blurry.
How to avoid: separate the product vision from the strategy and roadmap, which can be modified as new conditions and data emerge. If the product vision does need to be revised (for example, when the market or audience change), document the reasons for the changes and discuss them with the team.
Frequently asked questions about product vision
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Should a product vision be consistent for years to come? | Yes. A product vision should remain stable for several years. However, it is revised if radical changes occur: the audience has changed significantly, different problems and tasks are being addressed, or the old value is no longer relevant. |
| Should the product vision be shared with clients? | Yes, and this is actually useful. A competent vision statement, focused on the client and their benefits, can be used in marketing, sales, and external communications. The main point is that it should remain clear and convey the benefits of your product. |
| How to connect a product vision and OKRs (objectives and key results)? | They complement each other. A product vision indicates the company's long-term goals. OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) set short-term targets, usually quarterly or semi-annually. For example, if the vision is "We help small business owners launch online stores quickly", then the goal might be "provide the solution for 50 entrepreneurs in Q2", and the key results might be "average launch time does not exceed 48 hours, launch success rate at least 95%". |
| Can a single company have multiple product visions? | This is possible. But it should be noted that if a company has several different products with different audiences and goals, each of those should have its own vision. |
Conclusion
A product vision serves as a guideline for product development and promotion. A well-designed product vision helps prioritize, maintain strategic focus, and effectively navigate success, delivering long-term value to customers and the business.
