Introduction

Any innovative product is built for users, and understanding the users’ experience is as vital as the idea behind the product. These products go through user experience testing in their life cycle, pointing towards the Importance of user experience in product management

It is impossible to imagine an effective product that has not undergone a thorough user experience design process. The importance of user experience in product management is thus one of the essential elements for creating the ideal product. However, inadequate user experience abilities are a common problem for product teams, particularly in start-ups and small teams. As a result, it becomes a critical void that product developers must close. 

The phrase "user experience design" is probably one you are already acquainted with. It involves creating a product that more effectively satisfies customer requirements than the competition. The main objective of the product development process is to provide end users with a straightforward and enjoyable journey. A well-designed trip allows the customer to easily comprehend and take advantage of the advantages offered by the good or service.

Even though teams have designated UX designers, Product Managers must have enough knowledge to make better decisions. Users are looking for a smooth product experience where the flow of their thoughts is in line with the features that the product has to offer.

 

How can PMs contribute to User Experience?

For a PM who wants to incorporate a culture of feedback, it is essential to know why is user experience important.

• Define Product Vision
  For small and mid-size companies, often the product managers adorn the hat of UX designers. At this point, it is important to know how a Product Manager can think like a User Experience Designer. As a PM it is important to know that you are responsible for viewing the bigger picture. This includes collaborating with different product teams to define the ‘What’ behind the product.

• Interdependence with UX Designers
  Coming to bigger companies, if you have a UX designer, your job has become easier. Yet, it is important that as the CEO of the product, you work closely with the UX designers to learn more about users and their thought processes. They are much more closely related to users. Also, taking active participation in usability studies but having a top-view perspective of the product can be beneficial in enhancing user experience.

 

How to think for the User as a User?

The importance of user experience in product management can also be highlighted by the fact that several companies like Google, Amazon, Tesla are highly customer-centric, that is, they give immense importance to the kind of experience their product will bring to the user.

Your first step as Product Manager is to understand your users and their needs better. 

But how can you understand your users better?

By putting yourself in the shoes of the user! 

What are their pain points, what are they looking for, and how much effort are they ready to take? Going in-depth into the psyche of the users will help you build a smoother customer journey.

Some of the ways to know your users better are via - 

1. Market Research - Once your target market is decided, the next step is to research this targetted segment. This includes collecting data both quantitative and qualitative from various sources like social media reviews, personnel interviews, competitive analysis, etc.
    
2. Focus Groups - Focus groups are one of the most effective ways to understand customers through their experiences. This step is especially relevant for FMCG sectors.
    
3. Data Analytics Tools and user feedback tools - Several AI methods have emerged as beneficial when trying to collect user feedback. Especially when products are in their beta testing phase these tools provide analysis which helps in deriving quantitative and qualitative data of customers and helping make strategic decisions, accordingly.ReviewAnalytics is a product intelligence platform for product-led teams that automatically transforms product feedback into actionable insights.

What happens if you miss the User Experience

In this ball game of innovating and pushing products every day, at the end of the day all a Product Manager wants is product success. Understand the opportunity cost of ignoring user experience as this loss may not be sudden but more of a continual loss.

• Loss of Brand Image
  User experience gives a holistic point of view of the consumer’s behavior. But if this user experience is missed, the product can look and feel different from the end user’s perspective. Product Managers also need to understand the marketing cost while pushing the product. And if this product is not viewed in the same way as anticipated they will feel and interpret it negatively, thereby, harming the brand image.
• Acquisition Cost
  Poor user experience not only hampers your present customers’ ability to return, but also affects the number of new customers acquired. If your product satisfies your users’ end goal, they might come back again, and bring a few more customers with them through word of mouth. At the same, if this experience is not on point with them, they may never come back and this will lead to a leaky funnel. Hence, to keep up with the sales you will have to invest more in marketing and advertising which in turn will go to waste.
• Poor SEO
  Google Analytics has come up with many user experience metrics that focus on how customers feel about certain websites, their speed, their usability, etc. If your website has a big bounce rate, Google will rank it lower than before, and this would lead to spending more energy on repairing SEO.
• Competitive disadvantage
  In today’s day and age, every product has a competitor and a substitute. As a Product Manager if your product’s consumers do not have a good experience they will immediately switch to the competing product. This is one of the biggest direct opportunity costs of missing the importance of user experience.

Different methods that fall under the umbrella of UX 

1. To help with the creation of a product or service, user research is a technique that involves collecting qualitative and quantitative information about users' needs, behaviors, and preferences. 
2. Usability testing is a technique that includes putting a product or service through its paces with real customers to find usability problems and get their input on how to fix them. 
3. Information architecture is a technique for arranging and arranging content so that users can easily navigate and comprehend it.
4.  Designing the layout, user interface, and functionality of how users engage with a product or service is known as interaction design. 
5. Visual design: A technique that entails producing an aesthetically pleasing and visually appealing design that conveys the identity and message of the product.

 

Qualitative and Quantitative data essential for Product Managers

A great user experience depends on a mix of quantitative and qualitative data. Qualitative data will describe the end users' behavior in the form of patterns, stories, and intent. This will help in understanding customers' responses toward the product. And understand the sentiments of the user journey.

Quantitative data on the other hand will provide numbers and real-time numerical data about the product’s usage.

Some of the qualitative methods used by Product Managers are

Card Sorting 

Card Sorting is a method used by UX designers and Product Managers to understand how users perceive and categorize information. In this activity, users are given cards with information written on it and they are asked to categorize them. This helps in building an information architecture and mental models. It enables them to understand where exactly are the users expecting to receive information.

Diary Study - 

In this method, participants are required to maintain a diary where they note their experiences, feelings, and thoughts while using a product. This gives a direct window to the users’ first-hand interaction pattern. How the user is thinking, what is it expecting more. 

Coming Quantitative data methods, some of the essential metrics used to understand the end users’ feedback are - 

1. Churn Rate - The churn rate is calculated by dividing the total number of customers for a given period by the number of customers who cancel their subscriptions or leave your business. Given that it has an inverse relationship with revenue, it is an essential performance metric used by product managers. Here PM’s role is to understand how user experience can reduce this churn rate.
2. Educating users - If your users are not coming back to your product, it may be the case that they might not have enough knowledge about the product. Giving them the right amount of information and support can guide them in making the most of the product.
3. Recognizing the best customers - Apply the Pareto principle while managing your product, that is, 20% of your customers should drive 80% of your business. Segment your existing customers and pay close attention to loyal customers. Improve their customer experience by making them feel exclusive. Let them know you care for their needs.
4. Loyalty Programs -  Discounts and add-on products will make your product or service attractive to the end user. This will help in closing deals and improving their onboarding experience.
5. Retention Rate - In Product Managemen, the retention rate is the percentage of users who continue to engage with a product for a given timeframe. Hence, if your product is built and satisfies all the needs of the user you should expect a good retention rate
6. User feedback - If your product is newly launched you can start by setting achievable benchmarks to keep your team motivated. Concentrate on a specific user segment that you expect to retain for a long. Make sure you are taking timely feedback from these users.
7. Customization - One of the important methods to retain customers by enhancing their experience is to provide customizations. Users have a set of general needs and a set of specific needs and these needs can change with time. 
8. Have a consistent representative - Amazon.com uses this method of assigning a designated rep for a customer. This rep knows the customer’s issues and has serviced them before. This enhances the user’s experience as it is easier to stay in touch with the company, they feel heard and special. This also helps in improving brand recalls.
9. Product Adoption - Product adoption is the process by which consumers learn about a product, recognize its benefits, and start using it. The four distinct phases of the process are typically identified as awareness, interest, evaluation, and conversion. Metrics like the number of sign-ups or daily active users often come to mind when discussing product adoption.

However, if these metrics are viewed in isolation, they do not reveal whether users are effectively integrating your product into their daily routines, including it in their toolkit for working or considering it indispensable. When your product's value is so high that it outweighs the time and money needed from the user to make a shift, you will see true product adoption. Remember that you need to win over more people than just new or early consumers. You must think about how to ensure that current customers continue to find value in your product as you make updates and add new features.

Keeping track of these numbers along with the customer stories will help product managers in building better use cases to enhance customer experience. Once this blueprint is designed, guiding product teams becomes easier, as every aspect of the product will be designed from the customer’s point of view.