Product Managers: Users Will Love You for This

As a product manager, you’d know first hand the importance of having users who love your products or services.

But, how do you ensure that they do? Well, one great way is to make it easy for them to get what they want.

And how do you know what they want in the first place?

Stop assuming and start understanding data

It can be tempting to make assumptions about your users' needs and preferences. Maybe you think you know what they want based on your own experiences or the feedback of a few loyal users. But the truth is, assumptions can be a dangerous thing. They can lead you down the wrong path, causing you to waste time and money on features and improvements that don't actually matter to your users.

By collecting and analysing real data on your users' behaviour and preferences, you can gain much deeper understanding of what they want and how to best meet their needs. And when you know what your users want, you can spend your effort and money on things that really matter to them.

Some ideas on where to look

1. Look up your funnel

What does the data say?

Most users who saw the product ad visited the product page, but didn't end up buying.

2. Look up your reviews

What does the data say?

Keep an eye out for recurring themes. In this example, users seem to have issues with the product page, and there's indication it has to do with the page contents.

3. Look up your heat map

Illustration of how people hold their phones by Steven Hoober.

Green area represents the natural thumb zone.

What does the data say?

Perhaps your data may reveal that when viewing the product page on their phones, only 30% end up scrolling down to the 'Add to cart' button. Since mobile users account for 85% of your total traffic, it would be wise to resolve this issue.

What are the possible causes?

Users may not be engaged by the page because of cluttered and confusing product page contents.

Your heatmap may also show the 'Add to cart' button's placement is not easily accessible within the 'natural thumb zone'.

Next, Find possible improvements

Considering the conclusion gathered from the examples above, what can you do to increase the conversion of product purchases?

• De-clutter page. Streamline your product page’s contents and use attractive hero image with short & compelling text so users can comfortably navigate and understand page contents.

• Rearrange checkout flow. Review and arrange the checkout flow and controls (e.g. prompts, buttons, entry fields) so they are naturally accessible for users on their mobile screen.

• Introduce promotions and loyalty programs. Excite your users with unique promotions that they don’t want to miss, such as a collaboration with certain artists or a charity cause. Also, introduce a loyalty or referral reward to offer better value and encourage more users to purchase your products.

Conclusion

As a product manager, it is important to gather and interpret data to make informed decisions on how to make your users happy. The examples above shows just a few ways of where and how you can gather this data.

However, it is up to you to be creative in piecing different data together to come up with the right improvements for your products and users. This may involve conducting surveys, analysing user behaviours, or gathering feedback through customer service channels as this lets you to make informed decisions for your product and business.

Also, remember to continually measure and fine tune your efforts along the way to get the results you want.

So next time you're considering making an assumption about your users, remember to stop and think about the data first. You might be surprised by what you learn.

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