How can a product manager solicit user feedback during the product development process?
Product Management
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Product managers are often tasked with overseeing the development and success of a product, from ideation to launch. A key component in ensuring success is receiving user feedback during the product development process. Here’s how product managers can get more meaningful feedback.?
1. Conduct user research in a variety of styles: Product managers can benefit from testing a variety of formats in the user research stage of their product’s lifecycle. Surveys are a great way to get a large amount of feedback from users in a short amount of time, while interviews allow for a more in-depth conversation and can help uncover user needs and pain points. Organizing focus groups can provide insight into how users interact with each other and what they think about a product. And offering more people the chance to test the product through usability studies can identify any areas where the product is difficult to use.?
2. Set up a beta test: A beta test is when a product is made available to a small group of users before it is released to the general public. Product managers should strive to select beta testers that are representative of their target market. That way, they can understand the real-world applications and obstacles that may arise after their product is released, and be able to address those issues preemptively.?
“If you aren’t finding consistent problems and goals, you don’t yet have a specific enough customer segment. The drilling down into ever more specific groups is called customer slicing. You take a segment and then keep slicing off better and better sub-sets until you’ve got a tangible sense of who you can go talk to and where you can find them.”
— Siddhartha Saladi is a product manager at Best Buy. He has over 10 years of product management experience and earned his MBA from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.
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3. Work with the customer support team: Your customer support team can be an invaluable resource when it comes to receiving more user feedback. They are usually in contact with users on a daily basis and can provide comments on what users like and dislike. And because they are in constant communication with consumers, customer support can provide feedback on even minor details that could be improved.?
“When I get on calls with customers, I put out the disclaimer that I will answer questions and assist, but my main goal is to observe behavior and understand how they're using the product.
— Nomiki Petrolla is the vice president of product at SAVVI AI. She holds over 10 years of experience in product design, strategy and management.?
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This article is a beta test. It was created by having an AI generate an initial answer to a question. The response was then fact checked, corrected, and amended by editor Felicia Hou . Any errors or additions? Please let us know in the comments.