Part 6: From Features to Impact: Prioritizing Outcomes for Product & GTM Success

In the fiercely competitive business landscape, launching innovative products is just the beginning. The true measure of success lies in achieving tangible business outcomes that drive growth and profitability. This requires a strategic shift from focusing on outputs (like new product launches) to prioritizing outcomes that truly matter to the bottom line, such as increased sales, lower claims ratios, and reduced customer attrition at renewal.

Outputs vs. Outcomes: A Crucial Distinction for Insurers

Let's illustrate the difference with a hypothetical scenario:

Output-Focused Approach:

An firm spends a lot of time looking to develop cutting-edge unique product that features, instead of Launching and iterating with high expectations for market success.

Outcome-Focused Approach:

The same Company meticulously researches customer needs, identifies specific pain points, and designs a product that directly addresses those needs, leading to increased sales, lower claims ratios, and improved customer retention.

In the output-focused scenario, the emphasis is on the product itself – its #features, #technology, and #novelty. However, without considering the actual impact on customers and the business, the product may fail to meet expectations.

In contrast, the outcome-focused approach prioritizes measurable results that align with the company's strategic goals. The focus shifts from merely creating products to creating solutions that resonate with customers and drive tangible business benefits.

The Impact of an Outcome-Driven Mindset

1. Increased Sales Rates: By understanding customer needs and tailoring products to meet those needs, insurers can create policies that are more appealing and relevant to their target audience. This leads to increased sales volumes and higher market penetration.
2. Lower Claims Ratios: When insurance products are designed with risk mitigation in mind, they can help policyholders avoid or minimize losses. This directly translates into lower claims payouts, improving the company's overall profitability.
3. Reduced Customer Attrition at Renewal: By focusing on customer satisfaction and delivering on the promises made in the policy, insurers can increase customer loyalty and reduce the likelihood of policyholders switching to competitors at renewal.

Embracing the Outcome-Driven Mindset

In many organizations, there's a cultural emphasis on innovation and pushing the boundaries of product development. This is certainly valuable, but it can sometimes lead to an internal focus on creating features that seem cutting-edge and exciting to the team, without fully validating their relevance or appeal to the target market.

This tendency can manifest in several ways:

1. The "Shiny Object Syndrome": Product teams may become enamored with a new technology or trend, rushing to incorporate it into their offerings without considering whether it truly aligns with customer needs or solves a real problem. For instance, integrating a virtual reality feature into a claims process might seem innovative, but if policyholders prefer a simple, streamlined experience, it could backfire.
2. The "Keeping Up with the Joneses" Mentality: Insurers may feel pressured to match or exceed the features offered by competitors, even if those features don't align with their own unique value proposition. This can result in a "me too" product that fails to differentiate itself in the market and ultimately doesn't drive the desired outcomes.
3. The "Build It and They Will Come" Fallacy: Sometimes, teams believe that if they build a sufficiently innovative or comprehensive product, customers will automatically flock to it. However, without a deep understanding of customer needs and preferences, even the most feature-rich product can fall flat.

The Consequences of Overlooking Market Validation

When insurance products are developed without thorough market validation, several negative consequences can arise:

• Low Adoption Rates: Policyholders may be reluctant to adopt products or features that don't address their specific needs or preferences.

1. Increased Churn: If customers don't find value in the product, they're more likely to switch to competitors.
2. Wasted Resources: Investing time and money in developing features that don't resonate with the market is a drain on resources that could have been better allocated elsewhere.
3. Missed Opportunities: By not focusing on the outcomes that matter most to customers, insurers miss out on opportunities to create products that truly differentiate themselves and drive sustainable growth\

The Solution: A Customer-Centric Approach

To avoid these pitfalls, insurers must adopt a customer-centric approach to product development. This means:

1. Outcome-Focused Goal Setting:

• Your goals should be quantifiable and directly tied to the impact you want to create. For example, instead of "launch a new policy," your goal could be "increase policyholder retention by 15% within one year."
• Ensure these goals are clear and communicated across all teams to maintain focus and alignment.

2. User-Centric Design Thinking:

• Put your policyholders at the center of every decision. Understand their pain points, motivations, and desired outcomes. This will help you build insurance products and features that they not only want but need.
• Utilize tools like user interviews, surveys, and usability testing to gather valuable feedback and validate your assumptions. This ensures that the product evolves based on real-world data and user experiences.

3. Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Break down silos between departments. Product managers, underwriters, claims adjusters, marketers, and sales teams must work in concert, with a shared understanding of the desired outcomes.
• Regular communication and transparency are key to ensuring everyone is rowing in the same direction. Use collaborative tools and regular check-ins to maintain alignment and share insights across teams.

4. Iterative Development and Experimentation:

• Don't be afraid to fail fast and learn faster. Embrace an agile approach, where you release smaller, incremental updates, gather user feedback, and iterate based on what you learn. "If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late." - Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn co-founder)
• This iterative process helps you refine your insurance product and ensures that you're always moving closer to your desired outcomes. By continually testing and refining, you can adapt quickly to changing market needs and user preferences.

The Role of A/B Testing: Validating Hypotheses

A/B testing is a powerful tool for validating your assumptions and making data-driven decisions. By systematically testing different variations of your insurance product or marketing messages, you can identify what resonates best with your target audience and drives the desired outcomes. The concept of "ceteris paribus," meaning "all other things being equal," is crucial in A/B testing to ensure clear and reliable results. By keeping all variables constant except the one being tested, you can accurately determine the impact of specific changes.

For instance, you might A/B test different onboarding processes for new policyholders to see which one results in higher completion rates. By ensuring that all other factors remain constant, you can be confident that differences in completion rates are due to the onboarding process itself. Similarly, you could test different communication strategies for renewal reminders to identify the most effective approach for increasing policy renewals. Again, ceteris paribus ensures that any observed differences are attributable to the communication strategies rather than other variables.

Aligning GTM with Outcomes

Transitioning from an internal focus on features to a market-driven focus on outcomes requires a robust GTM strategy aligned with your desired results. This alignment ensures that every marketing and sales effort is purposeful and directed towards achieving meaningful impacts. Here’s how to align your GTM strategy with outcomes:

1. Deep Market Research:

1. Go beyond surface-level demographics. Conduct thorough market research to understand your target audience's pain points, buying habits, and decision-making processes.
2. Identify Pain Points: Conduct qualitative research through interviews, focus groups, and surveys to uncover the specific problems your target audience faces. Utilize tools like user personas to create detailed profiles of your ideal customers.
3. Analyze Buying Habits: Study purchasing patterns and preferences to understand what motivates your audience to choose specific insurance products. Leverage data from CRM systems, social media analytics, and e-commerce platforms to gather insights.
4. Understand Decision-Making Processes: Map out the customer journey to identify key touchpoints and decision-making stages. Conduct behavioral analysis using tools like Google Analytics and heatmaps to see how users interact with your website or app.
5. Competitive Analysis:Perform a thorough analysis of your competitors to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This is essential for identifying opportunities and threats in the market. Use competitive intelligence tools to track competitor activities, marketing strategies, and customer feedback. However, while it's important to stay informed about your competition, avoid letting this analysis lead to execution paralysis. Focus on leveraging insights to enhance your own strategies and drive forward with confidence.

2. Outcome-Focused Messaging:

Craft marketing messages that clearly articulate the value your insurance product delivers and how it helps policyholders achieve their desired outcomes.

1. Value Proposition: Develop a strong value proposition that succinctly explains how your insurance product solves a specific problem or meets a need for your target audience.
2. Customer-Centric Language: Speak directly to your audience using language that resonates with them. Focus on how your product impacts their lives or businesses.
3. Benefit-Driven Content: Create marketing materials that emphasize the benefits and outcomes of using your insurance product. Highlight specific outcomes such as increased financial security, peace of mind, and improved claims experiences.
4. Emotional Appeal: Tap into the emotional aspects of your product’s benefits. Use storytelling to connect with your audience on a personal level, sharing stories of real policyholders who have achieved significant outcomes thanks to your product.

3. Data-Driven Marketing:

• Utilize analytics to track the performance of your GTM campaigns. Identify which channels and messages are driving the best results and adjust your strategy accordingly.
• Track Performance Metrics: Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your desired outcomes. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, or Mixpanel to monitor these metrics in real-time.
• Channel Analysis: Evaluate the performance of different marketing channels to determine which ones are most effective at driving desired outcomes. Allocate resources to the channels that deliver the best results.
• Segmentation and Personalization: Use data to segment your audience based on demographics, behavior, and preferences. Implement personalization strategies across your marketing campaigns to deliver customized experiences.
• A/B Testing: Conduct A/B testing to compare different versions of your marketing messages, landing pages, email subject lines, and other elements. Analyze the results to make informed decisions and continuously refine your marketing strategies.
• Continuous Optimization: Regularly review and analyze your marketing data to identify trends, opportunities, and areas for improvement. Implement a culture of continuous learning and adaptation.

Expanding the Outcome-Based Approach

To drive home the importance of an outcome-based approach, consider these additional aspects:

1. Long-Term Customer Value:

- Focus on creating features and experiences that enhance long-term customer value. This involves understanding the lifetime value of your customers and designing products that encourage repeat engagement and loyalty.

2. Holistic Performance Metrics:

- Develop a comprehensive set of performance metrics that go beyond traditional KPIs. Include metrics that track user engagement, satisfaction, and the overall impact on the customer journey.

3. Customer Feedback Loops:

- Establish robust feedback loops with your customers. Use surveys, feedback forms, and direct interactions to continuously gather insights on how your product is performing and how it can be improved.

4. Scalable Growth Strategies:

- Design your product and GTM strategies to be scalable. Ensure that as your user base grows, your product and support systems can handle increased demand without compromising on quality or user experience.

5. Case Studies and Testimonials:

- Leverage case studies and customer testimonials to highlight the outcomes your product has achieved. This not only provides social proof but also helps potential customers understand the tangible benefits they can expect.

Conclusion

In the ever-evolving world of insurance product management and marketing, the ability to shift your focus from outputs to outcomes is critical for long-term success. By embracing a customer-centric mindset, leveraging data to make informed decisions, and