How product managers can build emotional connections that drive retention, revenue, and referrals

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TLDR

Product delight goes beyond functionality to create emotional connections with users. Dr. Nesrine Changuel, former product leader at Google, Spotify, and Microsoft, presents a four-step framework for systematically building delight into products. The approach involves identifying both functional and emotional motivators, turning them into product opportunities, categorizing solutions using a Delight Grid, and validating through a Delight Excellence Checklist. Research shows emotionally connected users have 2x higher retention and revenue, plus 60% more referrals. The optimal product portfolio balances 50% functional features, 40% deep delight (both functional and emotional), and 10% surface delight (purely emotional).

Introduction

Why do customers choose your product? Is it faster, does it have the best features, or is it priced better than your competitors? Don’t kid yourself, these are areas where your competitors can easily reach parity. So, what makes a product stand out? What makes it become the product customers genuinely love and can’t imagine living without? Not only will you find out in this episode, but you’ll also learn about the framework to make it happen.

Our guest expert is Dr. Nesrine Changuel. She has spent over a decade building products used by millions at Google, Spotify, and Microsoft. She’s the creator of the Delight Framework that helped teams at these companies systematically build emotional connection into products. She now teaches this methodology at business schools, including INSEAD and ESSEC, and her recent book, Product Delight, describes these proven methods.

Summary of Concepts Discussed for Product Managers

What is Product Delight?
Product delight means creating products that connect with users on an emotional level while solving functional problems. It addresses both what users need to accomplish and how they want to feel while using the product.

The Four-Step Delight Framework:

1. Identify Motivators: List both functional motivators (what users want to accomplish) and emotional motivators (how they want to feel – productive, secure, connected, etc.).
2. Create Product Opportunities: Transform emotional motivators into concrete product possibilities that can be implemented.
3. Generate Solutions Using the Delight Grid: Categorize features into three types:
   • Low Delight: Purely functional features
   • Surface Delight: Purely emotional features
   • Deep Delight: Features addressing both functional and emotional needs
4. Validate with the Delight Excellence Checklist: Ensure features bring impact, avoid distraction, remain inclusive, and provide continuous rather than one-time delight

The 50-40-10 Rule:
Nesrine recommends that the optimal product roadmaps should contain:

• 50% low delight (functional features)
• 40% deep delight (functional + emotional)
• 10% surface delight (purely emotional)

Examples and Case Studies:

Spotify Examples:

• Low Delight: Search by lyrics functionality
• Surface Delight: Spotify Wrapped (contributed to 20% app downloads in 2020)
• Deep Delight: Discover Weekly, collaborative playlists, Spotify Jam

Uber Security Features:
Uber transformed the emotional motivator of feeling secure into features like location tracking for partners and proactive safety notifications when rides deviate from expected routes.

Motivational Segmentation:
Users can be segmented by why they use products, not just who they are or what they do. Spotify users might be goal-oriented (knowing exactly what to listen to) or inspiration-seeking (wanting discovery and recommendations).

Business Impact:
Research from multiple studies (including McKinsey and Harvard Business Review) shows emotionally connected users demonstrate:

• 2x higher retention compared to merely satisfied users
• 2x higher revenue through increased purchases
• 60% higher referral rates through word-of-mouth recommendations

Implementation in Organizations:

Integration Approaches:

• Dedicate specific PM roles to delight (rare but effective)
• Make space for both delight features and functional features in regular backlogs
• Establish product culture and principles that prioritize emotional connection
• Allocate a specific cadence (e.g., one deep delight feature per quarter)

Jobs-to-be-Done Connection:
Nesrine’s Delight Framework builds on Jobs-to-be-Done theory by making the emotional and social job aspects more actionable through specific tools like the Delight Grid and Delight Excellence Checklist.

Useful Links

• Connect with Nesrine on LinkedIn
• Check out Nesrine’s new book Product Delight
• Visit Nesrine’s website
• Check out Nesrine’s Substack

Innovation Quotes

“Whether B2B or B2C, delight is essential in every B2H (business-to-human) industry.” – Nesrine Changuel

 “We don’t want to work only on things that will change over the next 10 years. We want to also work on things that will remain for the next 10 years.” – paraphrase of Jeff Bezos

Application Questions

1. Looking at your current product, can you identify the top 3 emotional motivators that drive your users beyond the functional needs? How might you validate these assumptions through user research?
2. If you were to categorize your product’s current features using the delight grid (low/surface/deep delight), what would your current ratio look like?
3. Think about products in your space that users seem genuinely passionate about (not just satisfied with). What emotional connections do these products create that yours might be missing? How could you address this gap?
4. How might you apply motivational segmentation to your user base?
5. Given your current development process and team structure, how would you integrate the delight framework?

Bio

Nesrine Changuel is a product coach, trainer and author with over a decade of experience at companies like Google, Spotify, and Microsoft. With a background in research and a PhD from Bell Labs in collaboration with UCLA, she brings deep technical expertise to human-centered product design. From pioneering video experiences at Skype to creating emotionally engaging features for Google Meet and Chrome, Nesrine has made it her mission to help teams build products users truly love. Today, she teaches, speaks, and trains companies around the world on how to create delightful, emotionally resonant products. She lives in Paris.  

Thanks!

Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below.

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