Moms are responsible for making or influencing the majority of the purchasing decisions in their households. They buy products for their children, their spouses, their relatives and themselves. That makes them an important market to consider when designing products—whether what you're designing is intended for their use or not.

But what's a good way to ensure you're building products with this mighty group in mind? The following methods can help.

1. Do your research.

Want to know what moms need? Do some research.

There are a variety of resources that offer content on women and motherhood. Universities, research centers, nonprofits, even bloggers provide information on the challenges women face, their concerns and additional insights that can help when you're designing products.

You can find a lot of information—like industry reports, white papers, survey results, articles, etc.—for free online. Or you can get more detailed information, like industry statistics and trends, by buying an industry report.

And don't limit your research to just the design phase either—market data is helpful throughout all stages of the product development lifecycle.

2. Take an intersectional approach.

Motherhood is a journey, and everyone's path looks different. Race, ethnicity, age, education, economic status, life milestones and more contribute to a mother's point of view—and they all can influence her purchasing decisions.

Moms are a market segment that most businesses can't afford to ignore. So, do the work: Research your target audience, hold a focus group, loop in an expert and diversify your teams.

When you're designing products for moms, it's important to take an intersectional approach and not make assumptions based on biases and stereotypes. Determine who your target audience is, and then push yourself to explore them from different angles.

Ask yourself a few questions about who may come into contact with your product, how they'll use it and what their experiences may be before, during and after they buy it. Then, use your answers to help when designing products to fit within her journey.

3. Host a focus group.

Get feedback directly from the customer with a focus group.

Bring moms from various backgrounds together to get their perspective on your product early on. And do so throughout the process—before your product is fully developed and throughout development—to ensure you have time to incorporate their feedback.

Listening to your target audience is always a good idea when you're designing products. It helps reduce assumptions and can be incredibly helpful during the early stages when trying to determine product market fit.

4. Hire a consultant or agency.

Hiring a consultant or an agency that specializes in marketing and designing products for moms can help save time and ensure you're on the right path because you can tap into their expertise quickly. It can also help ensure that your team remains focused on the parts of the product design process that they're good at.

A full-service agency, one that is able to provide support from beginning to end, may be ideal because they can:

●      provide guidance through the entire product design process,

●      help with market research,

●      create product requirements and

●      work with you through development to ensure you're designing products and creating marketing campaigns that resonate with the moms in your target audience.

When choosing a partner, make sure you opt for one that brings a multidimensional and multicultural perspective to the table. That means they too should have a diverse set of voices on their team—gender diversity, yes, but consider other identities such as race and motherhood as well.

5. Add more moms to your team.

Ultimately, when you're creating products for moms, you want to make sure you have more mom voices at the table. And the most sustainable way to do this is to bring more moms on to your team, throughout the organization, from the top down. Doing so can help ensure that you're able to continue designing products that resonate with your target audience and marketing those products in an inclusive and attractive way.

Moms are a market segment that most businesses can't afford to ignore. So, do the work: Research your target audience, hold a focus group, loop in an expert and diversify your teams. Having more of your target audience at the table can help ensure you're designing products that resonate with your target audience.

Read more articles on product development.

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