Making high quality product and marketing decisions with customer data

Product managers and marketers constantly make decisions that directly impact their customers and their product's position in the market. These decisions include identifying which customer problems to solve, determining which features will have the most impact, setting the right pricing, and identifying how best to stay ahead of  competition.

For a product manager or product marketing manager, making high quality decisions relies on a deep understanding of your market, your customers, and your product. Developing a deep understanding and expert knowledge is not easy, it requires looking at a mix of data gathered from various sources to build a high level of empathy and understanding of customers. 

What kinds of data are we talking about? Here's a breakdown:

• Customer calls and feedback: Listening to what customers are saying about the product, which can provide insights into what's working and what isn't.
• Product usage: Looking at how people are actually using the product can highlight which features are popular and which may need revisiting.
• Support requests: Paying attention to the problems or questions customers have can point out areas that need improvement.
• Customer interviews: Having in-depth conversations with customers to get a deeper understanding of their needs and experiences.
• Market trends and sales data: Keeping an eye on the broader market and how the product is selling to make sure it stays relevant and competitive.

Product and marketing teams obviously engage in other activities, including product launches, delivery and other execution related tasks. But to win, successful product management and marketing boils down to making informed decisions based on a comprehensive understanding of customer needs and market dynamics. Using data from various sources puts product and marketing teams in a much better position to succeed, and allows them to make high quality, data driven decisions. 
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The right data drives better decisions for product marketers, product managers, and customer insight teams.

Let’s use an example. Imagine a B2B SaaS company that specializes in providing a project management tool designed for medium to large enterprises. This company engages in dozens of sales calls with new prospects every day, a goldmine of information and insights directly from their target market. Both the marketing and product teams can analyze these conversations to refine their strategy and improve the product in meaningful ways.

Gleaning insights from customer conversations. 

During these sales calls, prospects often discuss their current challenges, what they are looking for in a solution, and their specific requirements. They might mention issues with their current project management tools, such as lack of certain features, difficulty in use, or challenges in collaboration across large teams.

• Identifying customer problems and pain points: By analyzing these conversations, the product team can identify common pain points among prospects. For example, if multiple prospects mention a need for better integration with other tools, the product team can prioritize where necessary. 
  

• Understanding what matters: Sales calls can also highlight which features, challenges or goals prospects consider most impactful. If many prospects ask about real-time collaboration features or mobile app availability, these features, or the problems they solve might be considered more crucial. 
  

• Setting the right price and packaging: The marketing team can use insights from sales calls to understand what pricing model prospects expect, prefer, or have challenges with. If prospects frequently balk at the pricing model or ask for custom packages, it might be time to reconsider pricing strategies to better match market expectations.
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• Staying ahead of the competition: Often, prospects compare the SaaS tool with competitors during sales calls. This provides direct insight into the competitive landscape from the customer's perspective. Understanding why prospects might consider or prefer competitors can inform both product improvements and marketing messages to highlight unique selling points more effectively.

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Alongside sales calls, the team can also analyze support requests, structured customer interviews, emails, and other customer interactions for valuable insights. These sources provide a wealth of information on how existing customers use the product, the challenges they encounter, and the features they value. Listening to customers and analyzing this information, ensures that product development and marketing decisions are well-rounded and informed by a complete view of the customer experience.