There are typically three levels of new product development categories—incremental, platform, and breakthrough products.

Incremental products require few product modifications, and the customer experience is similar to that is generated by the current market offering. Incremental products often take the form of product extensions, cost reductions, value engineering, or minor product enhancements. Breakthrough products reflect significant product and/or customer experience changes. This often takes the form of significant performance enhancements, huge cost reductions, or totally new ways of performing a set function.

Many also see a third category of product in the field of product development, referred to as platform products. These products establish a base architecture for the next generation of products and require more money and resources than incremental products, but typically not as much as breakthrough products, although this is dependent on whether the platform product is multiproduct or multimarket. Good examples of platform products are evidenced in automobile manufacturers' usage of the same engine and slightly modified chassis to create differing automobile brands. The VQ35DE engine from Nissan is used in the Nissan Pathfinder, Altima, Maxima, Murano, Quest, 350Z, the Infiniti QX4, I35, G35, FX35, M35, JX35, QX60, as well as a number of vehicles from the Renault brand.

VoC can be a driver into your development whether you are creating an Incremental, Platform, or Breakthrough product; but the depth of the customer engagement and understanding will be significantly greater in the case of a platform or Breakthrough product than an Incremental product development.