A customer might be effusive with praise for a recently introduced product feature that further validates a team’s roadmap. Conversely, they might be equipped with insightful critiques that ultimately result in some course correction. All told, a product can’t actually resonate without that invaluable input — regardless of the sentiment.
There’s a balance to strike, though. Getting feedback is good, but piling up an ever-heightening mountain of requests is tiresome. It’s key to cut to core of what a customer desires — or risk getting burdened by a drove of suggestions.
According to Kensho Product Manager Andrey Ryazanov, truly getting inside the mind of the customer to identify what will actually deliver value for them — versus simply seeking the latest accoutrement or flourish — can come down to putting forth effective questions.
“I typically ask my customers ‘why’ and ‘what’ in order to get from the specific feature the customer is asking for to what their problem actually is or what they’re trying to accomplish,” Ryazanov said.
Simultaneously, Ryazanov needs to remain cognizant of Kensho’s objectives to make sure that product decisions made on behalf of customers also move in concert with the organization’s.
“Are we trying to grow our customer base? Reduce churn? Grow revenue from existing clients? Based on that context, I can revisit what I’ve heard from customers and prospects to understand what needs aren’t being met, which could help the company achieve its goals,” he said.
Through leveraging digital tools, having substantive dialogue with users and staying attuned to company goals, here’s how Ryazanov tries to uncover what will satisfy customers.
What tools do you use to get customer feedback? Are there ways to drill down and better understand what users are looking for when working on a particularly difficult design or product issue?
An apocryphal quotation commonly attributed to Henry Ford states, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” In other words, customers will tend to frame their desires in the context of what they’re familiar with, rather than imagining something completely different.
In response to this idea, I typically ask my customers “why” and “what” in order to get from the specific feature the customer is asking for to what their problem actually is or what they’re trying to accomplish — there might be better solutions that they’ve not yet considered.
In terms of gathering customer feedback, there are many great software tools out there, such as net promoter score surveys, UserTesting.com, Mixpanel and FullStory. With these tools, getting detailed feedback has never been easier. At the end of the day, though, there’s nothing that will ever be as good as actually talking to customers.
Aligning customer needs and company goals comes back to focusing on the customer problems that my company is trying to solve.”
How do you put yourself in the mindset of a user, given all the extra knowledge you have about your product?
One of the best things I’ve found for getting myself in the right mindset is talking to friends and family outside of the organization about my product and what we’re working on. It’s incredibly refreshing (although sometimes disheartening) to get an outsider's perspective on how things work. That said, unless the person that I'm speaking with is a customer or a prospective customer of my product, I mostly use the conversation as a way to reset and reframe my perspective, rather than taking any feedback that they might have at face value.
How do you distinguish between what users want and need when there’s a conflict between the product output and the overall goals of your company?
Aligning customer needs and company goals comes back to focusing on the customer problems that my company is trying to solve.
As a company, our primary goals tend to be solving the problem for more people (growing revenue), receiving more money for our solutions (growing revenue and profitability), solving additional problems (growing revenue) and being more efficient at delivering our solution to customers (increasing profitability).
On the surface, the customer side is more complicated because there are endless requests for new features or deliverables. At the heart of it, though, what customers are saying is that there’s still some unmet need that they have or some problem that’s not been adequately solved. Looking at it from this perspective usually helps me identify what I should be focusing on based on where we as a company are trying to grow and expand. Are we trying to grow our customer base? Reduce churn? Grow revenue from existing clients? Based on that context I can revisit what I’ve heard from customers and prospects to understand what needs aren’t being met, which could help the company achieve its goals.
