Opportunity scoring is a framework that product teams use to prioritize features based on what customers say they value but currently find unsatisfying. This analysis can help product managers allocate development time and resources more efficiently, focusing on innovation that resolves problems and offers users the outcomes they want most.

It can also help business teams assess which opportunities represent the greatest return on investment. The opportunity score is calculated by combining several factors to create a number that can be used to evaluate the potential value of a particular opportunity.

Unlike other feature prioritization approaches, opportunity scoring takes into account the customer’s goals and desired outcomes rather than focusing on specific features. This approach is based on the outcome-driven innovation (ODI) model developed by business consultant Tony Ulwick in the 1990s.

The ODI model uses an algorithm to make the product prioritization process more predictable by focusing on the outcomes that customers want to achieve with a new product or feature. This approach is more closely related to the jobs-to-be-done method, which has a similar emphasis on understanding the goals and desired outcomes of the end user.

Another benefit of opportunity scoring is that it allows product teams to focus their development efforts on features that deliver the highest returns on investment, and it reduces the risk of working on elements that aren’t important or satisfy users. This helps ensure that a product meets the needs of its most valuable customers, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty and also the ability to attract new ones.

Aside from analyzing which features users view as most important, opportunity scoring also gives product teams a way to identify opportunities that customers would be willing to pay more for or that can be developed into higher-quality products or services. This is especially helpful in areas where customers have a high need for specific types of functionality, such as mobile devices or the Internet of Things.

This approach also helps to reduce the time, costs, and risks associated with developing a new product or service. It is important to understand the role of opportunity scoring in various fields of business, and how it differs from other frameworks.

This article focuses on the opportunity score as it is used in the ODI model, but there are many other ways to approach this important aspect of product management. For instance, the Jobs To Be Done method and value vs. complexity analysis are other important methods for conducting a similar importance-versus-satisfaction analysis, and both can be useful for identifying opportunities in product development. It is worth reading up on these other approaches before embarking on an opportunity-scoring analysis, so that you’ll be better equipped to make decisions that will have a positive impact on your business and your customers.