Only radical, game-changing innovations can drive significant business growth – at least that’s what many people think. This common misconception ignores the substantial impact of smaller, more gradual improvements on a company’s existing products and services.

With small but impactful changes, incremental innovation is a powerful driver of growth. Disruptive innovation challenges market norms and involves transformative leaps that redefine industries. However incremental innovation focuses on steady, manageable improvements to already existing products. This kind of innovation is often underrated, while it can significantly improve efficiency, customer satisfaction, and overall business performance.

What are incremental innovation and incremental improvements?

Incremental innovation is making small, continuous improvements to an existing product, service, or process. While radical innovation aims for groundbreaking changes, incremental innovation focuses on enhancing the performance of a business model, product, service, or process you already use.

Benefits of incremental innovation

The value of innovating incrementally often goes unnoticed. You’re not creating new concepts, after all. But these small changes can produce a huge impact, much like compound interest in finance.

The key benefits of incremental innovation offers include:

• Less risk: By introducing small, manageable adjustments, you mitigate the risks that come with radical changes.
• Competitive advantage: Continuous updates help businesses adapt to emerging trends and consumer preferences – and stay ahead in dynamic markets.
• Customer retention: Regular improvements directly impact customer satisfaction, fostering loyalty and retention.
• Better products and services: Iterative enhancements based on real-time feedback result in more relevant offerings.
• Stronger customer relationships: Responding to customer feedback helps build lasting customer relationships.
• Company longevity: Incremental innovation contributes to sustainable growth and long-term market relevance.
• Cost-effectiveness: The financial burden is minimized when you optimize existing resources rather than implement radical transformations.

When you regularly gather customer feedback and incorporate insights into your innovation efforts, your products or services are better aligned with customer expectations. And that’s the true power of incremental innovations.

Examples of incremental innovation strategies

Making incremental changes is a helpful innovation strategy across industries, from automotive and technology to retail and healthcare. Let’s look at some incremental innovation examples.

Manufacturing: Toyota’s lean manufacturing

In the aftermath of World War II, Japan faced severe economic challenges. That’s when Toyota, a fledgling automobile company, started something that would revolutionize the entire manufacturing industry. Instead of making dramatic, sweeping changes, Toyota focused on incremental innovations.

Known today as lean manufacturing, this approach focused on eliminating waste, optimizing processes, and continually improving efficiency. They followed an incremental innovation process that included steps like idea generation, development, and iterative refinement.

Small changes, such as reorganizing workspaces for better flow and encouraging employees to suggest improvements, compounded over time, leading to significant productivity and quality boosts. And eventually, Toyota became a global automotive leader.

Technology: Apple’s continuous refinement of the iPhone

Every year, the whole world gets excited when it’s time for the latest iPhone release. When you think about it, the changes from one model to the next might seem minor – a slightly better camera, a bit more processing power, a new feature here or there. But over time, these small, consistent improvements have had a profound impact.

Apple has been steadily enhancing the iPhone’s features and performance through iterative improvements.  And that’s how the company has maintained its position at the forefront of the smartphone market. Each small upgrade keeps the iPhone competitive and desirable, proving that you don’t need radical changes to achieve sustained growth and market dominance.

Retail: Amazon’s evolving customer experience

Remember Amazon’s early days as an online bookstore? Since then, Amazon has continuously refined its customer experience. Early on, the company introduced features like customer reviews and one-click purchasing. Small changes that made buying much more convenient for the customer.

Over the years, Amazon has steadily improved its recommendation algorithm to be more accurate and personalized. These incremental adjustments have both boosted sales and built customer loyalty. Today, Amazon’s customer-centric approach, driven by countless small innovations, has made it the world’s largest online retailer.

The role of leadership in fostering incremental innovation

The success of incremental innovation in large corporations often hinges on leadership. Like in the case of 3M, a company renowned for its culture of innovation. Leadership at 3M has consistently encouraged employees to experiment and iterate on their ideas, fostering a culture of incremental innovation, no matter how small.

This is how the iconic Post-it Note came to be. Initially, it was just a simple idea – a bookmark that wouldn’t slip out of place. Backed by leadership, the concept evolved through many small improvements. Today, Post-it Notes are an indispensable part of offices and homes worldwide, and proof of how incremental innovation can lead to remarkable market success. And how, by setting clear objectives, involving employees, and continuously monitoring progress, leadership plays a crucial role in incremental innovation initiatives.

How companies can effectively gather feedback for incremental improvements

There are several strategies you can use to ensure the feedback you get is actionable and beneficial, helping introduce small improvements over time:

• Surveys and feedback forms: Regularly distribute surveys and feedback forms to customers through email, websites, or in-app prompts. This helps collect structured feedback on specific aspects of products or services.
• User forums and focus groups: Engage customers in user forums and focus groups to discuss their experiences and suggestions in a more interactive setting.
• Accessible feedback channels: Feedback mechanisms should be easily accessible and user-friendly. Integrate feedback options directly within products or services to make it convenient for users to share their thoughts.
• Rewards and discounts: Offer incentives like discounts, rewards, or loyalty points to encourage customers to provide feedback. This can increase participation rates and attract valuable insights.
• Automation tools: Use automation tools and integration platforms to streamline the collection, analysis, and action on feedback, plus enable timely responses to customer input.
• Employee involvement: Encourage a feedback-driven mindset among employees by incorporating customer feedback into performance evaluations and recognizing its impact. This fosters collaboration and empowers teams to take ownership of customer satisfaction.

Summary

There are many benefits to incremental innovations, including lower risk, easier implementation, and sustained growth. But to start making small but impactful changes successfully, you need to build a culture that values continuous improvements across the company – including your leadership.

Innovation Directors and Managers should take these lessons to heart and foster environments where continuous improvement is encouraged and celebrated. That’s how you can achieve significant impact without the risks associated with radical change.

So, let’s celebrate the quiet power of incremental innovation and the big impacts that small changes can bring. Because it’s often the accumulation of small changes that leads to the most profound transformations.