115. Wes Bush, CEO, ProductLed.com - Here is why you struggle when adding a PLG motion to your current strategy?
Dec 11, 2023
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Wes Bush, CEO of ProductLed.com, discusses the challenges of adding a PLG motion to sales-led and marketing-led companies. Topics covered include misconceptions about PLG, strategic shifts required for success, cultural and operational changes needed, role of product design and user experience, and key metrics to focus on for successful PLG efforts.
A successful PLG strategy requires investing in backend capabilities, including design and user experience, to ensure a seamless user journey.
Understanding the ideal user profile and tailoring the product experience to their needs greatly increases engagement and drives success in a PLG motion.
Blindly copying competitors' free trial or freemium models without considering your own business objectives can hinder the effectiveness of a PLG strategy.
Deep dives
The importance of having a strong backend in a PLG strategy
One of the biggest mistakes in launching a PLG strategy is focusing solely on the front end, such as offering a free trial, without building a strong backend. Without proper support and onboarding processes, users may struggle to get value from the product, leading to low engagement and ultimately a failed PLG motion. It is crucial to invest in backend capabilities, including design and user experience, and ensure that the entire team is aligned and focused on delivering a seamless user journey.
The need to understand and prioritize the ideal user profile
To successfully implement a PLG strategy, it is essential to have a clear understanding of the ideal user profile and their specific needs. This goes beyond the traditional buyer persona and involves understanding how users engage with the product and what challenges they may face. Prioritizing user success and tailoring the product experience to their needs will greatly increase engagement and drive success in a PLG motion.
Avoid blindly copying competitors' PLG strategies
Copying what competitors are doing in terms of offering free trials or freemium models without considering the underlying strategy is a common mistake. Each company has unique goals, vision, and product capabilities, and blindly copying competitors may not align with your specific business objectives. Instead of focusing on what others are doing, it is important to define your own strategy and model based on your target users and their value-driven outcomes.
The future of PLG lies in building a product-led organization
The future of PLG is not just about implementing a PLG strategy, but about building a product-led organization. This requires a holistic approach that encompasses both the front end (PLG) and the back end (product organization) of the business. By aligning the entire team around a shared vision, strategy, and user-centric approach, companies can create a strong foundation for success in the product-led era.
Recommended expert: Emily John, author of Product-led Onboarding
A recommended expert to explore further in the PLG space is Emily John, the author of Product-led Onboarding. With expertise in onboarding and understanding the critical role it plays in a successful PLG strategy, Emily can provide valuable insights and strategies to optimize the onboarding process and drive user adoption.
In this episode, we speak with Wes Bush, CEO, ProductLed.com, the PLG agency behind the ProductLed System™ which has generated more than $1B in self-serve revenue for their B2B SaaS clients.
We talked with Wes about the reasons why Sales-led and Marketing-led companies struggle when moving/adding a PLG motion to their flow! We are particularly looking into what an organization needs to get right when transitioning into a PLG strategy:
- What are the most common misconceptions that sales-led or marketing-led SaaS companies have about PLG that contribute to their failure?
- What are the key strategic shifts that a company must make when transitioning to a PLG model, and how can a failure to make these shifts lead to poor outcomes?
- How do the cultural and operational aspects of a company need to evolve when adopting a PLG approach, and what are the consequences if these changes are not effectively implemented??
- What is the role of product design and user experience in PLG, and how a lack of focus on these elements can cause a PLG motion to fail?
- What metrics should SaaS companies focus on to successfully guide and measure their PLG efforts, and why might relying on traditional sales or marketing metrics lead to misguided strategies?
These are some of the many topics we address with Wes. Please tune in to learn about how you can make your PLG strategy successful!
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