How can you use persuasion to influence a product roadmap?

Understanding your audience is integral, not a preliminary step to presenting a product roadmap. Contrary to treating the roadmap as an isolated task, effective product roadmapping is a culmination of ongoing market and user research. It involves continuously understanding user needs and pain points. Establishing a culture that values close engagement with users enables product managers to naturally align stakeholders since they participate in the foundational research. Persuasion is minimized when the roadmap is presented because trust and communication have been fostered from the start. Therefore, persuasion through understanding your audience is a consistent practice, not just a one-time prerequisite.

Craft a compelling user persona and highlight their key tension that your project aims to tackle. This visualization will help connect your audience with the problem you intend to solve. To convey the solution, draw inspiration from successful examples in diverse industries. This will stimulate innovative thinking and provide a fresh perspective on the solution.

To effectively present a product roadmap that inspires alignment intertwine data with storytelling for a compelling narrative. This method helps users and stakeholders relate to and align with the roadmap. If data conflicts with the story, this discrepancy reveals a significant insight and may result in a pivot on your roadmap. Data should not merely support your claims; it should be integrated into the story to enliven the roadmap. When done effectively, persuasion becomes almost unnecessary because the clear, intrinsic link between story and data speaks for itself.

I would love to highlight an important point about “framing” with an example. When you’re a Product Manager, business teams will try to convince you their problem is the biggest, by portraying their case in a negative frame. We know negative frames has more impact than positive frames because humans perceive “loss” more than “gain”. E.g., Negative frame: if we don’t do this, we’ll lose one million. Positive frame: If we do this, we’ll save one million. Though it’s the same value, the first sentence has more impact. As PMs, it’s important to notice frames and avoid falling into trap. If you found this interesting, read more about “decision-making heuristics” because as PMs, you’ll be taking business decisions everyday!

All your previous investigations into user personas, audience pain points, and problem solvers can help you here. Understanding what really speaks to the users problem is key.

Trust goes a long way, and you don't always need extensive case studies for proof. Perhaps you have access to TrustPilot, a form for submitting feedback, or even HotJar for collecting user feedback directly on the site. Whatever you can do to collect positive testimonials or comments.

Overusing reciprocity and commitment can overshadow the goal of building a strong sense of partnership to garner consensus and support for your roadmap. When users, customers, and internal stakeholders see their input reflected in the roadmap, they're naturally more inclined to support it. Persuading with incentives for positive referrals or feedback can seem insincere. If your roadmap effectively addresses their problems, that should be motivation enough for their buy-in. Involvement in early discovery and contribution to the roadmap's creation negates the need for persuasion, as stakeholders are already engaged and invested.

The title of the article, "How can you use persuasion to influence a product roadmap?" suggests incorrectly that persuasion should drive the roadmap's direction, when it should be shaped by data, market research, and user input. A more fitting title might be, "What tools and techniques can product managers use to gain stakeholder support for their roadmap?”