Whitepaper
The Product Manager's Guide to Understanding Customers
Not all customer feedback is created equal. This guide shares how to use each type of feedback at the right time to drive smart product decisions.
PDF · 12 pages · September 9, 2019
Product managers are expected to deliver for customers and for the business, and customer feedback is how they make confident decisions. The catch is that feedback comes in many forms, each with its own purpose and its own best moment, and a roadmap built on outdated feedback suffers.
This guide is for product managers, including those with no formal research training. It introduces four research disciplines, explains where each one usually lives in a company and when it fits in a product's life, and helps you match the kind of feedback to the decision in front of you.
What’s inside
The cost of skipping feedback
Why faster releases and agile delivery raise the stakes, and what poor reviews, extra support calls, returns, and churn can cost when customers are left out.
A primer for non-researchers
How to get comfortable without formal research training, by learning the goals, methods, and impact of each discipline so you can seek out and apply customer insights.
A what-and-when feedback chart
A chart pairing five objectives, from identifying market needs to enhancing your product roadmap, with the right timing, research type and methods.
Four research disciplines explained
Market research, UX research, customer experience, and delta testing, each with where it sits in a company, when it happens, and which methods it uses.
