How to design a successful digital product? An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis of expert opinions from the Berlin start-up scene

Abstract

Designing the best digital product is vital for the competitiveness of any organization. Thus, this paper aims to determine the critical success design factors and to create guidelines for start-up founders, product managers, designers and entrepreneurs on how to design a successful digital product. To this end, six key design factors and 24 respective sub-factors were identified based on literature and expert opinions. Further, 21 experts were surveyed regarding their priorities on these factors, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results suggest that high-level planning design is the most important success factor, while having clear product vision, discovery, strategy and goals, building a great user experience, and creating an aesthetic user interface are the top three priority sub-factors for successful digital products.