The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development

32.2. Goals for Postlaunch Evaluation

In designing a program for evaluating the new product's performance following launch, there are several key overall goals to keep in mind.

Table 32.1. TYPICAL "KNOWNS" PRELAUNCH VERSUS POSTLAUNCH.

Key Factor	Prior to Launch	After Launch
Concept Interest	✓
Product Acceptance	✓
Purchase Cycle/Use-Up Rate		✓
Name, Packaging	✓
In-Store Visibility		✓
Positioning /Advertising	✓
Cannibalization		✓
Pricing	✓
Trade Acceptance		✓
Competitive Response		✓

32.2.1. The Right Performance Metrics

For everyone, the new product's sales will doubtless be the single most important measure of the brand's performance (although there are significant pitfalls; see Section 32.5.1). However, in addition to sales, the marketer will want to consider other measures of performance that are early leading indicators of likely sales performance (examples are discussed in Section 32.5.2). What these other metrics might be depends very heavily on the specific product category involved. For example, in some cases, quick initial trade acceptance may be an absolutely crucial step toward success; in such cases, the marketer should set specific goals for the number or percent of accounts accepting the new product and use this to gauge the new product's early performance. In other cases, sales may be direct from manufacturer (e.g., catalog or online sales), in which case, of course, trade acceptance is irrelevant.

NOTE

The marketer must define the crucial measures of performance specific to this ...