Category: Product Mgmt

Continuing with the Science of Persuasion video, at the 6:20 mark in the video the author talks about the importance of consistency. From the video:

Look for, and ask for, commitments that can be made

This is a valuable technique in the software world, especially during free trials or onboarding new users. Instead of saying “hey, we’re a great software product with 100 features, good luck” the idea is to direct the user to accomplish something small and simple, as quickly as possible (e.g. connect your Twitter account and we’ll show you three immediate insights). Then, once the small commitment is made (e.g. using a simple feature) the user is much more likely to take the next step and use the more complicated feature (e.g. now that we’ve given you these three insights, answer these 10 questions and we’ll suggest 100 new people to follow on Twitter).

Start small. Get the user to do something. Show value. Build on the experience and get the user more involved. Much like micro apps for lead generation, give value as quickly as possible and ask for small commitments.

What else? What are some more thoughts on the idea of getting small commitments early to help with persuasion in the user experience?

One of the areas that I want to better understand is that of product engagement and usage metrics in the context of a B2B SaaS app. I’ve looked at a number of usage reports from Google Analytics and other apps but haven’t had the opportunity to see an expert in action combined with a system that adds insight.

Some of the product engagement and usage questions I’m interested in:

• What are basic product engagement elements that every B2B product manager should know?
• What are some of the more advanced techniques and best practices?
• What metrics should be tracked daily, weekly, and monthly?
• What are the best apps and tools to to track and analyze product engagement?

I’m confident that staying close to the customer is one of the most important things to do and understanding product engagement and usage is a critical part of this. Now, I’m interested in learning more.

What else? What are the answers to these questions and what other questions need to be asked?

Paul Graham has a famous graph for new products called “The Process” where things start off with exuberance before quickly cooling down and going through a long low period called the “Trough of Sorrow”:

The trough of sorrow is real. Startup life is like a roller coaster with high highs and low lows and the product process is closely related. Now, the big question is what do you do when you hit the trough of sorrow. Here are a few thoughts:

• Celebrate the small wins – Even in the trough of sorrow some things will be going well. Look for these small wins and celebrate them.
• Find peers in similar situations – Everyone goes through the trough of sorrow on the way to success. Seek out like-minded people and share experiences with each other.
• Reach out for help – Plenty of other successful entrepreneurs have already persevered through the trough of sorrow and can give guidance on what worked, and didn’t work.
• Talk to customers – Find the small (possibly tiny) group of customers that absolutely love your product. Listen to them. Ask them for help. Get strength from the fact that they love the product and that there has to be more people like them out there.

Most entrepreneurs don’t make it through the trough of sorrow. Sometimes the market isn’t ready for the product. Sometimes the product isn’t any good. Yet, sometimes, with enough fortitude and strength, the trough of sorrow is conquered and lift-off happens. Entrepreneurs that make it through this rite of passage appreciate the success even more.

What else? What are some more thoughts on the trough of sorrow?

Continuing with yesterday’s post on the 3 Main Reasons Entrepreneurs Succeed, the idea of a must-have vs nice-to-have product is one of the more difficult things to evaluate. So many product ideas seem great when you hear them but when you actually experience a new product, most fall short of being truly transformative. At Pardot, we pitched a number of different modules and features to prospects but most people didn’t use 50% of the product. At it’s core, the basic functionality of sending tracked emails, understanding user behavior at the one-to-one level, and tieing it all in with the CRM provided the majority of the value. Yet, based on feedback from customers, we knew that the core alone resulted in a “must-have” product.

Here are five questions to help determine if it’s a must-have product:

1. If you told your customers tomorrow that you were shutting down the product immediately, how upset would they be?
2. When you send Net Promoter Score surveys to your customers, how high do they rate you?
3. If you called up a random customer on the phone and asked if the product unequivocally helps them make more money or save money, would they reply with a resounding “yes”?
4. When an existing user changes jobs, how hard do they push to get the product in place at their new employer?
5. When your app goes down briefly for maintenance or a server error, how loud and fast are the complaints?

Figuring out if a product is a must-have can be difficult early on. As things progress and more customers come on board, hearing statements like “I don’t know how I did my job before using this product” are good indicators of a must-have app. Use these questions to determine if a product is a must-have.

What else? What are some more questions to help determine if a product is a must-have?

After talking to several entrepreneurs at a conference today it became clear that there needs to be more focus on customer love as one the first foundations of a startup. Many people think that the process for startup success is a) raise money, b) sell a bunch of product, and c) sell the business. In reality, everything starts with 10 happy customers that absolutely love the product. Yes, once that’s in place employee happiness and the people side of the business is more important, but you have to have 10 customers that love it for that to even matter. Per customer love, one litmus test is to ask customers how upset they’d be if they could no longer use the product. Are they really upset or is it no big deal?

Here are a few thoughts on customer love:

• All products, especially business software, have a human element where people either love it, hate it, or are indifferent — the more love, the better
• Customer love comes from product and people interactions — great sales, support, and customer success also help, or hurt things
• Products don’t have to do everything imaginable for customers to love them — figure out what’s most important and make that great instead of a bunch things that are only good
• Raise money after a group of 10 happy customers are already in place, and use the money to get to 100 — too many entrepreneurs try to raise money before the customer love foundation

Customer love is at the core of every successful startup. Without that foundation, the chance of success is limited.

What else? What are some more thoughts on the importance of customer love?

Last week an entrepreneur reached out for help. He’d been working on his startup for two years on the side and had a working product with a number of customer discovery meetings where prospects had expressed interest. Only, even with a fully functional product, adoption has been lite. Meaning, prospects that said they were interested weren’t actually interested once the product was available.

Here are a few thoughts when product adoption is lite:

• Product usage is oxygen, and without real users, product death is imminent
• Lack of adoption, even with a functional product, is a sign that there either wasn’t a real need or the product was built in a way that doesn’t provide enough value
• Finding product/market fit is the most important thing at the start of a startup, and lack of adoption means things aren’t good
• Prospects will tell you what they want, but things don’t get serious, and the feedback isn’t the best, until they’re actually paying for something (once money changes hands, the feedback is 100x better)

My message to the entrepreneur: figure out how to get 10 raving customers that love the product. Lite adoption means the product isn’t valuable yet, and without a good product, there’s no company.

What else? What are some more thoughts on the challenge of lite product adoption?

When building a new app, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or otherwise, figure out how to trigger an emotional response or wow factor, as quickly as possible with as little effort as possible — a magic moment. In Facebook, there’s a magic moment the first time you sign in and see photos from old friends. In Pardot, there’s a magic moment the first time you click on a prospect and can see all their activities and digital interactions.

Here are a few thoughts on magic moments in software:

• When doing customer discovery or demoing the app, listen to the user’s voice and watch their reactions — magic moments will reveal themselves with emotional responses
• Apps that are harder to quickly deliver a magic moment require more thoughtfulness around demo data or examples to show the user what they could get with enough effort (e.g. a blank spreadsheet would take time to deliver a magic moment)
• Some magic moments are stronger than others, so figure out the most powerful one and help users achieve it quickly
• When a great magic moment is found, count the number of clicks or steps required for it, and then cut the number of steps down as much as possible

The next time you use an app, regardless of whether or not it’s one you made, look for magic moments — try to become more cognizant of them and think about how they work.

What else? What are some more thoughts on magic moments in software?

For many entrepreneurs, marketing, especially product marketing, is one of the least well understood areas of the business. Our video of the week comes from Adam Gross and his great talk at Google Ventures on product positioning, public relations, and pricing. Enjoy!

From YouTube: Google Ventures Startup Lab | The words “marketing” and “startups” don’t always have an easy co-existence, but creating innovative and successful marketing efforts — and in particular positioning, PR, and pricing — are an essential part of creating growth. Early Salesforce.com and Dropbox employee Adam Gross shares a the basic tenants of product marketing he’s learned along the way.