What Is a Product Vision? How To Write a Product Vision (2024) – Shopify

As an entrepreneur, you know of the importance of a clear vision for your company. But when you’re developing a product, it can be challenging to step back, see the big picture, and identify your product’s mission and long-term goals. Thankfully, there are tools to help you create an effective product vision.

Read on for the key characteristics of a good product vision, a step-by-step guide for creating a product vision board, and a template to get you started.

What is a product vision?

A product vision is a summation of your product’s mission and goals. You can define your product vision by crafting a clear product vision statement, a concise internal message that explains why your product exists, who it’s for, how it benefits your customers, and what its long-term objectives are. A product vision is a useful conceptual framework for aligning your product team on shared goals.

Creating a product vision statement can benefit your company by establishing a common understanding of how to achieve product success. Unless your company makes just one product, your product vision will be different from your overarching company vision.

Characteristics of an effective product vision

Here are a few key characteristics to keep in mind when developing a compelling product vision:

Aspirational

You’ll need to develop an inspiring vision compelling enough to captivate your product team and motivate them to work toward accomplishing your product’s goals. You’ll want to develop an ambitious vision that aligns with your company’s overall brand values, ensuring your product and team are in sync with the organization as a whole.

For example, Kirrin Finch offers eco-friendly and ethically manufactured clothing inspired by menswear like blazers and suits but designed to fit a range of female and nonbinary bodies. This is a more specific and inspiring product vision than something generic like “create fashionable clothes.” 

Achievable

Product visions should provide a clear picture of how your product will impact your target audience, so you’ll want to develop an ambitious vision. However, your product vision also needs to be realistic enough for you and your product team to achieve with the available resources. 

For example, if your product vision is “to sell sustainably sourced jeans for a modest price,” you’ll want to ensure your procurement process for recycled denim is inexpensive enough to realistically offer competitive prices for your target market.

Customer-focused

Your product vision describes how your product will benefit your target customers. Focus on what value your product offers, such as low prices or high quality that makes your product stand out from the competition. 

For example, e-bike company Cowboy focuses on creating the “most connected electric bikes.” Cowboy’s product vision offers a unique value for customers with features like wireless charging for smartphones, Bluetooth connectivity, removable batteries, remote lock capabilities, and built-in GPS tracking technology.

How to create a product vision board

1. Define your product vision
2. Identify your target market
3. Articulate the needs your product addresses
4. Explain your product
5. Clarify your business goals
6. Compile your product vision board and gather feedback

A product vision board is a visual framework that can help you craft an inspiring product vision. Here are some basic steps to follow when creating a product vision board:

1. Define your product vision

Start by conceptualizing a compelling vision for your product’s overall goal. What positive change will it bring to the world? For example, if your ecommerce store sells a light therapy lamp with a variety of settings that exclude harsh light, you might develop an overall vision such as, “Help people bring more soft light into their homes.”

Since your vision is an important starting point for your entire product strategy, take the time to discuss it with your entire product management team—and even teams in other departments like marketing or sales—to better understand the purpose and key benefit of your new product.

2. Identify your target market

After locking in an overall vision for your product, define who your target customers are and how your product caters to a particular target market. One way to better understand your target customer is to create an ideal customer profile (ICP) that details an imaginary version of your most-valued consumer. Identify demographic information like age and location as well as more personal information like interests and values. Continuing the lighting example, you might describe your target group as “tech-savvy adults with an interest in health and wellness.”

3. Articulate the needs your product addresses

For this part of the product vision board, answer the following questions: What problem does your product solve? What benefit does it provide? Focus on what your target customer needs and how your product addresses those needs. For example, your target customers might experience increased alertness and eyestrain in the evening from blue light, and your lamp might help solve these problems. 

4. Explain your product

At this stage, define the core essence of your product and its primary differentiation from your competitors. Ask yourself: What exactly is your product? What makes it stand out in your target market? Write out your product’s unique value proposition, a concise statement that explains why your product offers an increased benefit to your target audience over competitors.

5. Clarify your business goals

The final piece of information you need for your product vision board relates to how your product fits into your company’s overarching long-term mission. Both the product vision and the larger company vision need to align in order for your product to benefit your business overall. What are the business’s overarching goals in developing your product? How does the product specifically benefit your company? Answers to these questions might include increased profits, better market reach, or improved brand equity.

6. Compile your product vision board and gather feedback

Organize all of your answers and information in a product vision board template (like the one provided below). Once you have the information compiled in a concise document, share it with your team to ensure everyone is aligned on a shared vision. To make your product vision a reality, you’ll need a collaborative effort from everyone involved in making your product, including the product owner, product managers, designers, engineers, marketers, and salespeople. The more input you get from various members of your company, the more cohesive your product vision will become.