8 Ways To Make Your Digital Product More Innovative

Do you keep a notepad on your nightstand in case you dream up the next app that’s going to blow even giants like TikTok away? Do you have a waterproof version in your shower too, in case the ideas come there? Are you hiring ‘creatives’, asking people to think outside the box, wherever that might be?

The urge to be innovative—or even better: disruptive—is huge in today’s world. Makers of digital products find themselves in a wildly competitive market. New products and businesses are popping up like wildflowers, and the established giants always seem to be one step ahead.

Is that a budget issue? Not necessarily. It’s often a mindset issue. Simply wanting to be innovative won’t do the trick. You will have to do things that innovators do, and even that sounds easier said than done. Because what are these brave minds doing to get all these ideas?

In this article, you won’t find your next great new idea. We’ll leave that to you. What you will find, however, are 8 ways, ideas, tips, and prompts that might help you find your next great innovative idea for your digital product.

The Issue With Innovation

Ask any business owner: almost everyone agrees that innovation is key to success. A McKinsey Global Innovation Survey shows that 84% of executives agree that innovation is crucial to growth strategy, yet only 6% are satisfied with their innovation performance. What’s happening in the gap?

Often, it’s fear. 40% of leaders reject disruptive ideas because they’re scared to fail. They’re looking for people to come up with new ideas, but the structures and systems that have been built into the organization are meant to keep the business safe—meaning a lot of ideas won’t ever see the light of day.

Let’s say your company is… in the desert. Imagine, those systems you have in place are the sun. Your products are flowers. Now, every once in a while, a great idea in the form of rain will come along—and for a brief time, you get to see a sea of colors and possibilities. But the sun will dry that all back out in a matter of days. ‘‘That’s not how things are done around here.’’

It’s time to move. Connect dots you didn’t see before. Or connect dots that don’t have anything to do with each other, seemingly. Here are some ways to do that.

1. Put innovation on the to-do list—and prioritize it

If you want innovation to be a part of your culture and more importantly, your products, make it as important as filing your taxes or training new employees.

There are tons of ways to go about this, but what many companies lack, is structure. Maybe structured innovation sounds like an oxymoron, but hear us out here.

If you want to hire disruptive thinkers, then give them time to prove that they are. For instance, make one day a week all about innovation: brainstorming, testing, researching, creating.

Jess Bezos once said that ‘’If you double the number of experiments you do per year, you’re going to double your inventiveness’’, and that’s how simple it is.

Make experimenting comfortable for your employees, to ensure that they actually speak up and aren’t afraid to try something new. Have product management applications readily available that will allow your team to collaborate on projects, test crazy ideas and interact with users to find out what they think.

Foster a culture in which a failed experiment isn’t seen as a mistake, but like one step closer to your next big break. Talk about it openly, encourage people, and watch what happens.

2. Build ‘something extra’ around your digital product

Sometimes it’s not the product itself, but some extras that come with it. For digital products, a community is often a way to make them more innovative.

Products like Skiff and Corgee have Slack channels in which users can connect. Their digital products are made for writers and freelancers, so not only can people ask questions about the product, but also about things related to their profession.

Ultimately, you’ll be innovating because you want people to choose your product over any other.

You want to get them excited. So, if your product doesn’t differ in features that much from the competitor’s, go beyond that. A community or digital experience around it could be exactly what excites users and makes you stand out from the crowd.

3. Look back instead of ahead

Back to the future, here we go. Often when innovating, we’re thinking about the future. Which makes sense. But there’s a lot to be learned from the past—especially if you’re looking for inspiration. And aren’t people talking about ‘the good old times all the time anyway? Well, give them that.

An example to keep in mind is online dating.

Back in the day—we’re talking the 19th-century here—single ladies and gentlemen would head to formal balls to find a possible partner.

Women would have a dance card, on which she would record the names of the men that she’d like to have the next dance with.

With that in mind, Bumble—the dating app on which only women are able to make the first move—is basically a relaunch of these ancient programmes du bal.

So, look back at things people miss or claim to miss. How can you bring parts of that back into modern solutions? Then sneak it into your product, the same way every photo app suddenly had a retro effect option.

4. Focus on different metrics when building your product

A lot of digital products and apps want users to be engaged 24/7. They see someone using their app for 6 hours a day as a big win. Even if it leaves the user feeling drained.

But does that really fit the zeitgeist, in which we’re trying to break loose from our screens and digital lives? Measure success differently and build a digital product that’s not meant to suck people in.

Sure, you’ll probably have to change your earning structure, especially if you work with ads. But instead, you could price the product higher, because you’re giving users something back that’s invaluable: their time.

Focus on metrics like efficiency, ask about customer satisfaction by focusing on what it adds to peoples’ days, double down on your NPS—anything that will help you build your product in a different way.

5. Create a more human experience

People connect to faces, not to logos. Ticking boxes is often faster, but rather boring. Digital products are all blending together in the eyes of the users. Standing out by being more human, is a form of innovation that’s often overlooked. 

Typeform innovated the online survey tool game, not by adding more technical features. They turned surveys into conversation-like moments, from person to person.

Take a look at your digital product, and imagine what it would look like it wasn’t digital. What if the problem you’re solving would be worked on face to face? Take the benefits from that situation and those interactions, and weave that into your product.

6. Co-create with people who know nothing about product development

Why would you ask a teenager’s take on the design of your app, if you have an experienced designer on your team that you’re frankly paying a very generously salary to come up with great ideas?

Well, because if the teenager is your user, you should hear them out—and actually implement what they say, even if it’s just for a prototype.

They aren’t limited by rules about graphic design and might accidentally give you an idea that will turn your app upside down.

7. Copy someone else’s idea—sort of

If you’re looking at competitors to find ideas, you might get stuck rather quickly. You’re all operating in the same playing field, with somewhat the same experts and same experiences.

To get unstuck, take a look at a seemingly unrelated business or market that has innovated in the last few years.

For instance, Henry Ford got his idea for producing cars in a more time and cost-efficient way from meatpacking plants.

There only has to be a little bit of overlap between businesses to create a playground for innovation. 

8. Decide what you want to innovate on

Do you want to build a digital product that has never been seen before, but people will fall for like dominoes? Ambitious, but also risky. Instead, you could also choose an existing digital product, and innovate parts of that to make it better.

Could you build banking apps that are innovative in a way that makes them easier to use for the elderly, instead of just by youngsters? Could you build an accounting app that automates even more tasks? Could you innovate on the design?

Innovate on design, on customer experience, on customer service—innovate the way you market or sell. There’s so much more to do than reinventing the wheel.

So, what’s your next step?

It’s time to put all the books about innovation down and close the tabs of articles: innovation is something to do, so go do it. Fusing digital solutions creativity should be fun, so get started and don’t forget to laugh about your mistakes every once in a while. Then, try again.