02 Jun The ROI of a Design Sprint: Why It’s Worth the Time and Money
What is a Design Sprint? I'm aware of it, but I don't see the big deal.
How does a Design Sprint save my time?
Is it worth my investment?
These are very common questions we get asked ALL the time from clients.
The answer to all three of these questions is “yes!” And I’ll explain why, so stick with me.
Since Jake Knapp released Sprint in 2016, the methodology has been gaining a ton of popularity!
The popularity of the term ‘Design Sprint’ on Google Trends. Please note the COVID-related gap.
Not only do big companies like Google and Lego preach its effectiveness, but also more and more teams are using Design Sprints every day to solve big business and product challenges.
Yet, any group tasked with designing game-changing products or services can benefit greatly from the Google Venture method.
What is a Design Sprint?
But first, let’s clarify what a Design Sprint is.
In the Sprint Book, Design Sprint is defined as a “five-day process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers”.
In just one week, we can use a Design Sprint to develop whole new product ideas or significantly enhance those already on the market.
You may be wondering if a Design Sprint is similar to Design Thinking.
Although both involve creative problem-solving, a Design Sprint is a strict, time-bound method for testing and validating new ideas, while Design Thinking is more of a mindset.
Check out our articles on Design Sprints and Design Thinking to learn more.
Next, we’ll discuss how a Design Sprint can help you save both time and money.
How Does the Design Sprint Save My Time and Money?
Time-to-market, creativity, product quality, and cost savings are just a few of the ways in which Design Sprints have proven to be profitable for businesses.
Here are some benefits of running Design Sprints and how it can effectively save your resources.
1-Save time with more efficient product development
One of an entrepreneur’s greatest assets is time.
A Design Sprint can help achieve this by streamlining the product development process, freeing up more time for important aspects of the business such as idea generation, problem-solving, and innovation.
This ultimately leads to a higher quality product that meets the needs and expectations of the target audience.
Using a Design Sprint can help entrepreneurs save time and achieve their goals in today’s competitive market.
According to a case study conducted by AJ&Smart, participants reported a 7x time savings when using a Design Sprint in comparison to traditional methods. It’s important to mention that none of the participants claimed that using a Design Sprint was slower than their usual process, as long as the challenge size was appropriate and the Sprint wasn’t treated as a one-size-fits-all solution.
Source: “The Truth About the ROI of Design Sprints: Primary Research Findings” by Amr Khalifeh of AJ&Smart
Furthermore, design and implementation times can be reduced by as much as 75% using Design Thinking, a methodology similar to a Design Sprint, according to IBM. This methodology can cut down an eight-month project to three or four months.
Likewise, according to a study conducted by Forrester and IBM, businesses that use Design Thinking experience a 75% increase in speed to market. This results in an additional $1.1 million in revenue per design project.
2-Design Sprints save money and generate more revenue
Design Sprints have been shown to be an effective method for both reducing costs and increasing income.
By incorporating them into your business plan, you can speed up the time it takes to get your products and services to market.
This helps you outpace your competitors while generating more revenue by delivering user-centric products that lead to higher customer satisfaction and increased sales.
Additionally, you can save time and money by identifying and fixing problems early in development. This will lower the risk of investing in ideas that won’t work.
This efficiency means you can use your resources more wisely, saving money and freeing up time to focus on generating revenue.
Based on primary research by AJ&Smart, participants have reported that conducting a Design Sprint resulted in savings of at least 2x the budget that would have been required otherwise, including the cost of an external consultant.
Bigger companies even reported higher savings of 4x or 6x the budget.
Source: “The Truth About the ROI of Design Sprints: Primary Research Findings” by Amr Khalifeh of AJ&Smart
Also, according to a report published by the Design Management Institute in 2015, companies that prioritize design outperformed their competitors by a significant margin, with a cumulative advantage of 211%.
3-Increase team focus and supercharge productivity
In just five days during a Sprint, a small team can accomplish an incredible amount of work.
The Sprint framework provides guidance that enables teams to achieve great things quickly.
Focus and the absence of interruptions are key factors that contribute to a successful Sprint.
During a typical day, team members face numerous demands on their time and attention. In contrast, during a Sprint, we are fully focused on the task at hand.
This uninterrupted focus allows us to make significant progress and achieve our goals more efficiently.
Additionally, the Sprint framework encourages collaboration and communication among team members, which can lead to innovative solutions and increased productivity more easily.
4-Great way to foster a culture of innovation
Many businesses today are trying to identify the key to innovation and provide their employees with the resources needed to make groundbreaking discoveries.
Although many companies know they should engage in rapid prototyping and testing ideas with real customers, they hesitate to do so for various reasons.
They may be unable to break free from the status quo and remain stuck in their ingrained routines. They may worry about the work involved in learning new practices.
However, management’s willingness to fund a Design Sprint shows employees that they are trusted enough to try new approaches to problem-solving on the job.
Design Sprints are an excellent way to find out who on your team is interested in new challenges and has the potential to step up into a leadership role.
Moreover, after participating in a Design Sprint, the team members will have the knowledge and skills necessary to run their own iteration or incorporate Design Sprint techniques into their current projects.
5-Design Sprints reduce risk to the barest minimum
Try to recall a recent scenario in which you made a wrong decision and wasted time and money.
Design Sprints can help you reduce the frequency of such problems.
Conducting a Sprint is worth considering when the potential costs of both outcomes are significant.
The process will either confirm or challenge some of your assumptions, informing you if a change in strategy is needed and in which direction.
By doing so, you can reduce the amount of money spent on design, engineering, and development, which could otherwise have taken months or even years.
Focusing on what matters most allows you to bring your product, idea, or feature to market faster.
6-You get feedback from real users
The Design Sprint is a powerful tool because it forces you to do what you already know is necessary to deliver a great customer experience: listening to your customers.
Today’s customers are more demanding than ever, making it even more crucial to focus on their needs.
Despite this, many businesses that claim to be customer-centric fail to invest in getting to know their customers.
Sprints, on the other hand, enable you to hear directly from a cross-section of your target audience, providing invaluable insight into their wants and needs.
According to a study by InVision, businesses that prioritize design outperform their competitors in terms of both revenue and market share.
7-Design Sprints help create products that meet user needs
With the outcome of each Design Sprint, you gain access to valuable user experience data that you can analyze.
These insights enable you to ensure that your users and consumers’ needs are being met.
If your goal is to create products and services that meet the needs of your target audience, adopting a Design Sprint may be the best strategy.
According to research conducted by McKinsey, companies that prioritize design have shown 32% better revenue growth and 56% higher overall return to shareholders.
Demonstrating the ROI of Design Sprints with Practical Examples
Design Sprints have been shown to have a significant return on investment (ROI) for companies, startups, NGOs, and governments that use them.
Here are a few real-world examples of how Design Sprints have delivered tangible ROI for businesses:
➡️ Blue Bottle Coffee is a specialty coffee company that used the Design Sprint method to enhance their website’s user experience and boost online sales by 25%.
➡️ Using Design Sprints, Savioke enhanced the functionality and comfort of their robot that delivers packages to hotels. Savioke used Design Sprints to swiftly find and fix design faults, resulting in a 60% increase in the number of deliveries their robots could perform.
➡️ Using Design Sprints, Slack was able to streamline its new user onboarding procedure. Slack’s onboarding experience was improved by 7% after they used Design Sprints to find and fix problems.
➡️ GV (formerly Google Ventures) used Design Sprints to help startups in their portfolio address key business challenges and saw an average ROI of 5-10x on their investment in Design Sprints. The process helped startups quickly test and iterate on different solutions and led to more successful outcomes.
➡️ Google.org and Literacy Bridge collaborated on a Design Sprint to develop a low-cost audio device called the Talking Book, which delivers health and literacy information to low-resource communities in sub-Saharan Africa. The Design Sprint methodology allowed for rapid prototyping and user feedback, resulting in a working prototype that is now being scaled and implemented in communities across sub-Saharan Africa.
Overall, Design Sprints can provide significant ROI, both in terms of financial returns and creating products that better meet the needs of users.
These real-world examples demonstrate the value of investing in such a method and the potential impact it can have on your business across a range of industries and use cases.
Conclusion
It’s impressive how much can be accomplished in a short period of time during a Design Sprint.
Your team’s results with a solid Sprint structure in place will amaze you.
A Design Sprint is a fast product development method that’s essential for any business who wants to succeed today.
In a world where customers demand their needs to be met quickly, a Design Sprint is a very potential solution.
The previously common waste of time, money and effort has been reduced with the advent of this method.
It saves resources by helping you focus on achieving your business goals in the fastest and most efficient way possible.
The Design Sprint approach is widely recognized as a practical, effective, and cost-saving research option for a wide range of fields and disciplines associated with product development and market exploration.
You can’t afford not to try this method as it helps reduce the likelihood of failure, provide a faster way to validate ideas, and speed up the innovation process.
If you want to increase profits, dominate your market, and get the very best out of your product development process, a Design Sprint is the answer.
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We provide workshops such as Design Sprint and other innovation processes to help businesses identify problems, develop effective solutions, and improve performance while promoting sustainable growth with cost-effective measures.
We can work with you to determine the best approach for success and sustainable growth.
If you’re interested in our workshops or have questions, please let us know. We’re here to help your business reach its full potential.