Throughout history, the focus of product innovation has predominantly centered on the needs of the majority, inadvertently leaving many individuals marginalized. This pattern perpetuated a cycle where a select few would identify market gaps, create products tailored to their interpretation of these gaps, and gradually add features to cater to the predicted majority. While this approach may have appeared successful on the surface, it ultimately excluded and exacerbated challenges for those who couldn’t access digital products due to financial, geographic, mental, physical, or emotional barriers.
Recent data reveals that 73% of Gen Zers make purchasing decisions based on a brand’s values and beliefs, signaling a heightened demand for companies to create products that cater to everyone. To thrive in today’s market, businesses must shift their focus towards inclusivity, embracing a new path for accelerated and all-encompassing product innovation.
Prioritizing equitable experiences not only results in products accessible to a wider audience but also drives significant business impact by addressing unique challenges and fostering brand trust.
Establishing a Path to Product Equity:
Organizations committed to creating products for the entire spectrum of human diversity are championing equity, acknowledging those who have been historically excluded from the innovation process. This approach enhances product development practices within the company and throughout the industry over time. Product equity teams play a pivotal role in partnering, supporting, and educating stakeholders across the product development process and within the organization. They ensure decisions consider variables like gender, race, age, ethnicity, ability, culture, and other facets of human variation.
While many companies have adopted inclusive design practices to identify historical inclusion/exclusion patterns in their product development processes, equity goes beyond inclusivity. It encompasses inclusive design practices while also emphasizing accountability, understanding nuances, and critically examining systems. This approach compels companies to consider all forms of human diversity throughout the product design and development journey.
Building equitable products isn’t solely driven by altruism; it also opens doors to new customers and markets. It enables market expansion, penetration, and growth by tapping into the needs and experiences of both existing and underserved customers. With this in mind, here are five foundational strategies for those embarking on the journey of building equitable products and tools:
Embedding Product Equity from Inception and Beyond: Incorporating equity considerations early in the product development process allows teams to launch products more quickly, reaching a broader audience with greater success and reduced risk. Quick fixes applied after product release often lead to increased bugs and accessibility challenges. Leveraging the expertise of product equity teams ensures historically underserved communities are involved and holds organizations accountable for outcomes.
Making Equity a Cross-Organization Priority: To infuse equity into the development process, organizations must prioritize it across all aspects of products, services, and company culture. This involves assessing goals and principles to guide equitable processes throughout a product’s lifecycle. It should be reflected in areas such as accessibility, inclusive design, and beyond, ensuring equitable practices are ingrained in the organization’s DNA.
Fostering Collaborative Community Relationships: Traditional qualitative insights often involve researchers interpreting feedback, which is then filtered through the lens of product owners and designers. To succeed, product teams should establish co-creative partnerships with communities and experts, leveraging their lived experiences to identify previously overlooked opportunities.
Reevaluating the Definition of Success: Rethinking success involves a shift in power dynamics and a willingness to balance short-term metrics with long-term societal impact. Leaders should be open to metrics like increased brand trust, market penetration, and efficiency gains, which result from focusing on underserved communities and developing digital products with their involvement.
Building for the Margins, Expanding to Many: True innovation often resides on the margins, among skeptics and those facing various limitations. Businesses should embrace targeted universalism, where policies are developed with a universal goal but tailored to the unique needs of marginalized groups. Understanding and co-creating strategies for the most marginalized customers can drive progress towards universal goals.
Looking ahead, the goal is to redefine industry standards by fostering equitable processes in all aspects of product research, design, and development. While this entails persistent effort throughout the organization, it promises a framework where historically marginalized communities are acknowledged, reflected, and respected in the product development process and accountability mechanisms. With commitment, structure, goals, and optimism, the potential for impact and innovation knows no bounds, and greater equity becomes achievable.
