E242 | Navigating the Challenges of Product Management in Horizontal Products with Softr's Austin Yang
Apr 24, 2024
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Lead Product Manager of Softr, Austin Yang, discusses navigating challenges in product management in horizontal products. They explore use case prioritization, feature prioritization, and optimizing user onboarding for enhanced engagement in the no-code space.
Retaining customers starts with acquiring the right ones who perceive value in the product.
Balancing efforts on improving onboarding experiences and developing new features is key for retention.
Deep dives
Retention Strategy - Starting with the Right Customers
Many companies focus on retaining customers by addressing at-risk accounts or cancellations. However, the key insight reveals that retention starts with acquiring the right customers who perceive value in the product. Early activation is crucial as delayed engagement could lead to permanent churn. Long-term retention heavily relies on the product's inherent value, emphasizing the importance of acquiring the right customers from the beginning.
Balancing Priorities - Activation Onboarding vs. New Features
The prioritization strategy involves dedicating around 30% of efforts to improve onboarding and activation experiences with the remaining 70% focused on developing new features. The goal is to strike a balance between refining the onboarding process for existing users and introducing innovative features that cater to user needs and preferences.
Designing User Constraints for Product Engagement
Innovative approaches like 'smart defaults' and 'smart constraints' are implemented to guide users towards optimal product utilization. These invisible design elements predict user requirements and recommend necessary actions within the product to enhance the user experience and facilitate intended use cases, ultimately driving higher user engagement.
Iterative Experimentation for Retention Optimization
Iterative experimentation plays a vital role in retention optimization, highlighting the necessity to revisit failed experiments and iterate on hypotheses. The learning curve centers on enhancing activation and onboarding strategies, seeking impactful changes over minor optimizations, and leveraging data-driven insights to continuously refine the user retention process.
Today on the show we have Austin Yang, the Lead Product Manager of Softr.
In this episode, Austin shares his experiences in the no-code space, particularly the unique challenges and opportunities it presents for product management.
We then discussed the impact of horizontal products that serve multiple industries, and we wrapped up by discussing how Softr is navigating product development and user needs in this diverse landscape.