Catherine Longland understands the art of product development. She is the co-founder of Hygge Sheets, an award-winning bedtime comfort brand for children and adults, with a presence in the UK, US, Canada and Europe. Below, she shares her six transferable tips for product development and launch.
1. Listen to your customers
The best ideas come from reading reviews, comments on social media and customer messages. We spend a huge amount of time speaking to parents and carers because every conversation teaches us something. Sometimes it’s a tiny tweak that makes a big difference, and sometimes it highlights a completely new product opportunity. Our newest product has come from many conversations and a clear need from our customers all speaking about the same issue. Customer service is one of the best product development departments a business can have. The people speaking to customers every day often know exactly where products can be improved. One piece of feedback doesn’t necessarily mean the product is wrong, but when you start seeing the same themes coming up, that’s when you know it’s time to act.
2. Become your own customer
I try to think like the person buying from us. As a mum, I’ve experienced many of the situations our customers face, and I have used our products myself. That perspective is invaluable because you notice the little frustrations that don’t always come across in customer feedback. I always make sure I would be happy using our own product, which can be a challenge and often a lengthy process with sampling. I often feel so emotionally attached to the customer and really don’t want to let them down. Being able to put yourself in their shoes massively strengthens the product you deliver.
3. Listen carefully, and be selective
I find customer feedback incredibly valuable, but it’s important to understand the difference between what customers say they want and what will genuinely improve the product. We often receive requests for new colours or designs, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right commercial decision. I’ve come to realise that we can’t please everyone. Sometimes saying no to a feature actually protects what makes the product work so well.
4. Test before investing
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is there comes a point where you have to trust the work you’ve done. We spend months developing, testing and refining every product before it launches, but no amount of in-house testing can ever replicate thousands of families using it in real life. Those experiences often reveal small opportunities to make an already great product even better. It’s a balance too, because you don’t want to over-engineer a product by adding features that make it more complicated or take away from what made it work so well in the first place. We never stop listening or looking for ways to improve, because I don’t think great products are ever truly finished.
5. Take expert advice, but trust your instincts
We’ve worked with manufacturers, testing laboratories, specialists and industry experts, and their advice has been incredibly valuable. But nobody understands your customers quite like you do. We now know when to get help and outsource elements of product development, but ultimately you have to balance that expert guidance with your own experience and sometimes your gut.
6. Don’t launch products just because you can
Every new product should solve a genuine problem and make sense commercially. It’s easy to get excited by new ideas, but every launch takes time, investment and focus too. We always make sure a product genuinely fits our mission and can generate healthy margins to support the business. A brilliant product that doesn’t make money isn’t sustainable; it won’t allow you to continue investing in better products, testing or customer service. A smaller range of products that customers truly love is, in our experience, far more valuable than constantly chasing the next launch.
