{"id":98893,"date":"2023-04-25T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=98893"},"modified":"2023-05-01T08:49:07","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T12:49:07","slug":"types-of-product-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is product innovation? What are the two types of product innovation you should practice when creating products<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ten Types of Innovation<\/em>, Larry Keeley and his co-authors identify only two types of innovation directly related to your product or service. These include innovations related to your core product and innovations related to how it fits into a larger system of products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn more about the types of product-related innovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

1. Core Product Innovations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To begin, the first type of product innovation is the core product innovation. This type of innovation includes anything that improves your product or service itself. That could mean adding features that increase its capabilities, removing features to make it simpler and more user-friendly, tailoring it to better meet a certain user\u2019s needs, or just producing it to a higher standard of quality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, to qualify as \u201cinnovation,\u201d the changes need to make it stand out as unique. The authors caution that this type of innovation, by itself, usually makes the least difference in long-term profitability because core product improvements<\/a> are relatively easy for other companies to copy. And as soon as your new feature or improvement becomes commonplace, it ceases to be innovative<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: As you work on core product innovations, how do you know when to add features (and complexity) and when to add simplicity by removing features? In Crossing the Chasm<\/em><\/a>, innovation and marketing consultant Geoffrey Moore answers this question based on the psychographic category of customers that you want to appeal to: Adding features will attract mostly \u201cinnovators\u201d and \u201cearly adopters,\u201d<\/a> while tailoring your product to the specific needs of a certain group is how you gain a foothold in the \u201cearly majority\u201d<\/a> market, and simplifications that make your product cheaper and more user friendly are important to attract \u201clate majority\u201d customers.<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Interfacing Product Innovations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the second type of product innovation, you enhance the value or profitability of your product by improving how it interacts with other products. This might mean bundling your product with other complementary products, enabling users to customize your product with third-party accessories, or giving them tools to create their own add-ons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Whole Product Model<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The authors’ discussion of the difference between core product innovations and interfacing product innovations is reminiscent of the \u201cWhole Product Model\u201d<\/a> that Geoffrey Moore describes in Crossing the Chasm<\/em><\/a>, but the Whole Product<\/a> Model provides additional granularity and thus offers additional perspective on the scope of possible interfacing product innovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are four parts to the Whole Product, three of which the authors lump into \u201cinterfacing products.\u201d  But you may want to consider each of them individually as you develop product-related innovations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The core product. Core innovation focuses on how you can make the product itself better.<\/li>
  2. The \u201cexpected product,\u201d which consists of the core product plus everything else the user needs to make it work. For example, if the core product is a hydrogen-powered car, the expected product would include things like access to a hydrogen fueling station. Expected product innovation makes it easier for the end user to get your product up and running.<\/li>
  3. The \u201caugmented product,\u201d which consists of the expected product plus all the add-ons, peripherals, aftermarket upgrades, and so forth that are currently available to extend the product\u2019s capabilities. For example, this might be a cargo trailer that you can hitch to your hydrogen-powered car. Augmented product innovation addresses how you can enhance the value of your product either by offering optional accessories or by making it compatible with existing peripherals from other companies.<\/li>
  4. The \u201cpotential product,\u201d which includes not only add-ons that already exist but all the add-ons that could possibly be built in the future. Potential product innovation addresses how you can design your product to support development of future accessories that will progressively enhance its value over time.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What is product innovation? What are the two types of product innovation you should practice when creating products? In Ten Types of Innovation, Larry Keeley and his co-authors identify only two types of innovation directly related to your product or service. These include innovations related to your core product and innovations related to how it fits into a larger system of products. Keep reading to learn more about the types of product-related innovations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":80033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,30],"tags":[977],"class_list":["post-98893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-work","tag-ten-types-of-innovation","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nThe 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Being creative with your product can be hard, but it's not impossible. Decide which of the two types of product innovation is right for you.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Being creative with your product can be hard, but it's not impossible. Decide which of the two types of product innovation is right for you.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-25T12:00:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-01T12:49:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/woman-testing-product-prototype.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1234\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katie Doll\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katie Doll\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Katie Doll\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3e1b539e89423b544ede91ab2bff937\"},\"headline\":\"The 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business?\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-25T12:00:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-01T12:49:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/\"},\"wordCount\":655,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/woman-testing-product-prototype.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ten Types of Innovation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/\",\"name\":\"The 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/woman-testing-product-prototype.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-25T12:00:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-01T12:49:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"Being creative with your product can be hard, but it's not impossible. Decide which of the two types of product innovation is right for you.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/woman-testing-product-prototype.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/woman-testing-product-prototype.jpg\",\"width\":1850,\"height\":1234},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3e1b539e89423b544ede91ab2bff937\",\"name\":\"Katie Doll\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6239731a3fc739640b80be30f2b1727a055d3535d0ee4569e8282faa323e47fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6239731a3fc739640b80be30f2b1727a055d3535d0ee4569e8282faa323e47fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katie Doll\"},\"description\":\"Somehow, Katie was able to pull off her childhood dream of creating a career around books after graduating with a degree in English and a concentration in Creative Writing. Her preferred genre of books has changed drastically over the years, from fantasy\/dystopian young-adult to moving novels and non-fiction books on the human experience. Katie especially enjoys reading and writing about all things television, good and bad.\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"Bachelor of Arts in English With a Concentration in Creative Writing\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/katie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business? - Shortform Books","description":"Being creative with your product can be hard, but it's not impossible. Decide which of the two types of product innovation is right for you.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business?","og_description":"Being creative with your product can be hard, but it's not impossible. Decide which of the two types of product innovation is right for you.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2023-04-25T12:00:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-01T12:49:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1850,"height":1234,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/woman-testing-product-prototype.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Katie Doll","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katie Doll","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/"},"author":{"name":"Katie Doll","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3e1b539e89423b544ede91ab2bff937"},"headline":"The 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business?","datePublished":"2023-04-25T12:00:18+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-01T12:49:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/"},"wordCount":655,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/woman-testing-product-prototype.jpg","keywords":["Ten Types of Innovation"],"articleSection":["Business","Work"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/","name":"The 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business? - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/woman-testing-product-prototype.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-25T12:00:18+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-01T12:49:07+00:00","description":"Being creative with your product can be hard, but it's not impossible. Decide which of the two types of product innovation is right for you.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/woman-testing-product-prototype.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/woman-testing-product-prototype.jpg","width":1850,"height":1234},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-product-innovation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3e1b539e89423b544ede91ab2bff937","name":"Katie Doll","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6239731a3fc739640b80be30f2b1727a055d3535d0ee4569e8282faa323e47fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6239731a3fc739640b80be30f2b1727a055d3535d0ee4569e8282faa323e47fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Katie Doll"},"description":"Somehow, Katie was able to pull off her childhood dream of creating a career around books after graduating with a degree in English and a concentration in Creative Writing. Her preferred genre of books has changed drastically over the years, from fantasy\/dystopian young-adult to moving novels and non-fiction books on the human experience. Katie especially enjoys reading and writing about all things television, good and bad.","knowsAbout":["Bachelor of Arts in English With a Concentration in Creative Writing"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/katie\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/woman-testing-product-prototype.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98893"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100364,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98893\/revisions\/100364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}