Customer Success teams are instrumental in helping their Product counterparts shape the roadmap plans.
A few notable examples:
Drive continuous customer feedback to new feature requests and enhancements.
Monitor trends in how your customers serve their customers. For example, a change of user login page or order submission flow with potential impact on the vendor’s product
Spot external factors that impact customer's business environment such as new industry/ government regulation.
"Lead by examples” and providing internal feedback – CSMs proactively experimenting with a new feature before presenting it to customers and driving them to adopt it
But
Are there circumstances in which the 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 takes a more proactive role?
The product team can lead specific customer engagements and promote successful customer outcomes not instead of CS but in full collaboration between the groups.
Few Examples:
Product involvement with a customer acting as a 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫. There are likely to be usability and technical issues that are better handled closely by a member of the product team
Product 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝. Customers’ feedback in an earlier stage of roadmap plans can be valuable for a vendor. In addition, the product team can gain essential insights from trusted customers who are familiar with the product. It is a “WIN-WIN” situation. Product managers can “test run” new ideas and product vision. At the same time, customers are closely engaged, feel they are being heard, and get the chance to listen to other challenges and practices related to their business.
Handle 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬. The product manager can help clarify non-standard requirements usually revealed during the onboarding stage. However, there are certain sensitive cases in which there is a need for a thorough assessment and adjusting use cases to get customers to onboard successfully.
Highly and timely product-cs-customer collaboration has a significant contribution:
✔️ Increase in customer engagement.
✔️ Building trust with customers
✔️ Vendors gain more confidence in future Roadmap features
✔️ Ultimately strengthening the relationship
Can you think of other circumstances in which product teams significantly impact the customer's experience?
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