How to Build Products That Address Customer Needs

While it can be easily believed that customers are the ultimate experts about their own needs, there are ways to gain insights and knowledge that customers may not be aware of or able to articulate directly. While customers are the ultimate source of truth about their needs, product managers can complement this knowledge by employing a combination of research, data analysis, and empathetic understanding to gain a more comprehensive understanding of customer needs and expectations. The goal is not to know more than customers but to use various tools and methods to gain insights that can lead to building better products and delivering exceptional user experiences. ➡️ User Research: Conducting thorough user research, such as interviews, surveys, and observational studies, can reveal underlying needs and pain points that customers may not have fully recognized or articulated. By learning from many users, we gain holistic insights and deeper insights into their motivations and behaviors. ➡️ Data Analysis: Analyzing user data, including behavioral data and usage patterns, can provide valuable insights into customer preferences and pain points. By identifying trends and patterns in the data, product managers can make informed decisions about what features or improvements are most likely to address customer needs effectively. ➡️ Contextual Inquiry: Observing customers in their real-life environment while using the product can uncover valuable insights into their needs and challenges. Contextual inquiry helps product managers understand the context in which customers use the product and how it fits into their daily lives. ➡️ Competitor Analysis: By studying competitors and their products, product managers can identify gaps in the market and potential unmet needs that customers may not even be aware of. Understanding what competitors offer can inspire product improvements and innovation. ➡️ Surfacing Implicit Needs: Sometimes, customers may not be able to express their needs explicitly, but through careful analysis and empathetic understanding, product managers can infer these implicit needs. This requires the ability to interpret feedback, observe behaviors, and understand the context in which customers use the product. ➡️ Iterative Prototyping and Testing: Continuously iterating and testing product prototypes with users allows product managers to gather feedback and refine the product based on real-world usage. Through this iterative process, product managers can uncover deeper customer needs and iteratively improve the product to meet those needs effectively. ➡️ Expertise in the Domain: Product managers, industry thought leaders, academic researchers, and others with deep domain knowledge and expertise can anticipate customer needs based on industry trends, best practices, and a comprehensive understanding of the market. #productinnovation #discovery #productmanagement #productleadership

“If you want to know how to improve—ask the people you serve.” — Unknown Post #19: Engage Customers as Advisors In turbulent markets, customer insight isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s a competitive advantage. While competitors hunker down or rely on stale assumptions, winning CEOs get closer to their customers than ever—and not just as vendors, but as partners. Your customers are your best consultants. They're already living through the same volatility you are. They know what’s changing, what’s no longer working, and what would make you indispensable. When I was preparing to launch a major product expansion in the gaming payments space, we didn’t just build in a vacuum—we brought our customers in early. We identified a group of high-value operators and convened a Customer Advisory Council ahead of the rollout. Their input directly influenced UX design, feature prioritization, and the go-to-market strategy. They told us what they loved. More importantly, they told us what they didn’t. We listened, iterated, and improved. The result? A product that not only performed better at launch—but was already backed by early adopters who felt like co-creators, not end users. Here’s how to turn customers into strategic advisors: + Select a diverse mix of strategic accounts—look for breadth in geography, size, and use case. + Create a recurring feedback cadence—formal advisory boards, listening sessions, 1:1 outreach. + Frame the ask clearly: “We’re navigating change. We’d value your voice in shaping what comes next.” + Act on what you hear—and close the loop. Customers want to feel heard, not surveyed. + Celebrate co-creation wins—when your customers help shape something, they champion it. In uncertain markets, don’t guess what your customers need. Ask them. Invite them into the process. Let them help you build what matters most. Next up: Post #20 – Implement Real-Time KPI Tracking #CEOPlaybook #CustomerAdvisory #VoiceOfTheCustomer #CoCreation #LeadershipInTurbulence

Building a product isn’t just about solving a problem - it’s about ensuring you solve the right problem, in a way that resonates with your users. Yet, so many products miss the mark, often because the feedback from the people who matter most - users - isn’t prioritized. The key to a great product lies in its alignment with real user needs. Ignoring feedback can lead to building features that no one uses or overlooking pain points that drive users away. In fact, 42% of startups fail because their products don’t address a genuine market need ( source: CB Insights). Starting with a Minimal Desirable Product (MDP) can help. This isn’t about launching the simplest version of your idea, but about delivering something functional that still brings delight - encouraging users to engage and share their insights. How to Integrate Feedback Effectively - Observe User Behavior: Watch how users interact with your product. Are there steps where they hesitate or struggle? Their actions often tell you more than their words. - Ask the Right Questions: Use surveys and interviews to go beyond surface-level feedback. Open-ended questions can reveal frustrations or desires you hadn’t anticipated. - Iterate, Don’t Hesitate: Apply feedback to refine your product. Prioritize changes that align with user needs and eliminate features that don’t serve a purpose. - Keep Listening: The market evolves, and so do user preferences. Regularly revisiting feedback ensures your product stays relevant. The Hidden Cost of Ignoring Feedback A study from Harvard Business Review shows that 35% of product features are never used, and 19% are rarely used. That’s not just a waste of resources - it’s a missed opportunity to deliver real value. Let’s be honest: integrating feedback is hard work. It’s not a one-time task but an ongoing commitment. Negative feedback can be tough to hear, but it’s often where the biggest opportunities for improvement lie. Great products are never built in isolation. How do you incorporate user feedback into your product journey? #innovation #technology #future #management #startups

Customer Success Leaders—If you're not actively shaping the Product Roadmap, you're missing a critical opportunity. The most effective organizations don’t treat CS as a participant—they rely on it as a strategic partner. Product teams should be co-designing the future with their customers. That means: ✅ Understanding emerging use cases and evolving needs ✅ Enhancing the product based on real customer insights ✅ Prioritizing with business impact and revenue in mind In today’s market—where consolidation, cost-cutting, and efficiency are top priorities—building a product that truly solves business challenges is the difference between success and irrelevance. So, how do you drive better alignment between CS and Product? Here’s what I've seen work: 1️⃣ Lead with Data & Insights -Identify the most adopted and least adopted product features -Pinpoint where customers are dropping off and why -Find personas and use cases that drive the most value -Look for patterns and trends across your customer base 2️⃣ Support Data with Customer Stories -Conduct interviews and surveys to capture direct feedback -Dive into workflows and edge cases to understand nuances -Align product evolution with customer goals and business objectives 3️⃣ Prioritize Product Feedback Strategically -Leverage customer data to rank impact and urgency -Tie feedback to revenue—renewals, expansions, and upsells -Ensure recommendations align with the broader product vision 4️⃣ Maintain an Open Dialogue -Establish a structured collaboration rhythm (bi-weekly syncs, Slack channels, shared roadmaps) -Keep all teams informed on designs, timelines, and priorities -Be clear, concise, and adaptable—Product is balancing competing priorities across the org 5️⃣ Close the Loop—Every Time -Set clear expectations with customers early and often -Enable Product teams to engage directly with customers for firsthand learning -Continue gathering feedback even after launch (beta programs, customer advisory boards) At the end of the day, great products are built by teams who stay close to the customer. CS should not be a passive observer in product development—it should be a driving force. When you get this right, you influence retention, expansion, and advocacy. And that’s a business win. __________________ 📣 If you liked my post, you’ll love my newsletter. Every week I share learnings, advice and strategies from my experience going from CSM to CCO. Join 12k+ subscribers of The Journey and turn insights into action. Sign up on my profile.

"Your customers aren't giving you a hard time, they're HAVING a hard time." 👆 This hit me like a ton of bricks when Bob dropped it on me last week. It's easy to get frustrated when customers bombard you with "obvious" questions or resist change. But flip the script: Their confusion? It's an opportunity. Their resistance? It's fear, not stubbornness. Their endless questions? They're lost, not annoying. Here's some things I wrote down... PROCESS: --> Replace "Difficult Customer" nomenclature within your Meetings/CRM --> Implement monthly "Friction Audits" across your customer journey --> Make "Customer Effort Score" a key metric in every team's OKRs TECHNOLOGY: --> Use AI and other tech to analyze support tickets for underlying pain points --> Set up real-time alerts for sudden drops in product usage --> Create a "Customer Friction" dashboard that ties to revenue impact PEOPLE: --> Rewrite job descriptions to prioritize problem-solving over firefighting --> Train CSMs to conduct "Customer Challenge Workshops" instead of standard QBRs --> Embed CS team members in Product sprints to voice customer struggles The payoff? ➡️ Churn doesn't just decrease, it becomes predictable ➡️ Up-sells happen organically, not through forced campaigns ➡️ Product roadmap aligns with real customer needs, not just feature requests In SaaS, understanding customer is your ultimate competitive advantage. Your customers are trying to tell you something. Are you set up to really listen?

Your competition is stealing your customers right now because they understand one thing you don't. Understanding your customers fully = building products people actually want to use. That's the goal. To get there, you can either: - Rely on your gut instinct and assumptions. - Actually learn what your customers need, think, and want. Just carry out these daily tasks: 1. Talk to your customers directly -  ↳ Give them easy ways to provide feedback through uninstall surveys, reviews, or customer support channels.  ↳ Reach out to power users and start conversations. Many customers actively want to help improve your product. 2. Make feedback frictionless -  ↳ Customers won't go out of their way to give feedback, so reduce friction with quick surveys after key interactions, in-app prompts for feature requests, open-ended responses in support tickets, and direct access to a real person. 3. Observe how customers actually use your product -  ↳ Data tells a different story than surveys.  ↳ Use analytics to see what features people use most, where they drop off during onboarding, and what actions lead to churn vs. retention. 4. Test and iterate based on customer input -  ↳ When feedback patterns emerge, act on them.  ↳ If feature requests keep coming up, prioritize them.  ↳ If customers are confused about a function, improve the UX. 5. Build relationships with your best customers -  ↳ Your most engaged users can become your best resource.  ↳ Keep in touch with them, get their input on new features, and make them feel heard. I had a user who loved our product so much that they actively shared feedback and even tested features before launch. They'll hop on a Zoom call with just 15 minutes notice. Now all you have to do is commit to customer research, and you'll build products people actually want to use. As you progress, incorporate: - Regular customer interviews - User testing sessions - Data analysis routines It's more effective than building in isolation based on assumptions. ♻️ Repost if you agree ➕ Follow me Blaine Vess for more

The secret to company success is deep-customer understanding. And no one did it better than Gillette. How? By literally living with their customers and seeing how they use Gillette products. When Gillette wanted to expand to India, they realized that Indians didn't shave the same way as Americans. To understand Indian customers better, one of Gillette's executives, Chip Bergh, asked his team to go to India and live with the customers there. They wanted to observe how people shaved and how it fit into their lives. This concept is called ethnographic market research. One scientist from the UK thought they simply could talk to Indian men living nearby, but Chip said it wouldn't be enough. They needed to see and experience things firsthand. In India, the team discovered that many people in India didn't have access to a big sink with hot running water like in the West. They used a small cup of cold water to shave. This made shaving with regular razors difficult because the small hairs clogged the blades. So, they innovated a razor called the Gillette Guard: it had a single blade with a safety comb to prevent cuts and was easy to rinse. Perfect for Indian customers. This way, they could make razors that people needed and loved. The lesson: The key to unlocking consumer experience lies in understanding the consumer’s needs in-depth. #consumerresearch #customersatisfaction #startups #entrepreneurship

The best way to understand your customer is to be their customer first. This will help you identify inefficiencies, and opportunities where your solution could help improve the overall customer experience. This is also the type of research which can help you develop a tailored point of view that will resonate with Senior Executives who are invested in better serving their customers. It shows them you’ve done your homework and can bring immediate value. Finally, it helps you build immediate rapport since you are already a customer of theirs. Here are a 5 examples of how you can do this: 1. Call into their customer service department and see how easy or hard it is to get an issue resolved 2. Sign up for their newsletter and see the quality and quantity of the communications they send out 3. Use their mobile app or visit their online portals to see what the user experience is like 4. Visit their physical or online stores and see how their products are sold. 5. Read what their employees are saying on Glassdoor and identify where the employee experience could be improved Once you’ve done this firsthand research, then it’s time to establish your point of view on how and where you can help. Finally, you need to share it with the leaders who care most. For example: If your POV is related to their online store, the VP of eCommerce would be a prime candidate to hear this message. The more you know about your customers, the more you know how and where you can help them.

I'd like to discuss using Customer Feedback for more focused product iteration. One of the most direct ways to understand customers needs and desires is through feedback. Leveraging tools like surveys, user testing, and even social media can offer invaluable insights. But don't underestimate the power of simple direct communication – be it through emails, chats, or interviews. However, while gathering feedback is essential, ensuring its quality is even more crucial. Start by setting clear feedback objectives and favor open-ended questions that allow for comprehensive answers. It's also pivotal to ensure a diversity in your feedback sources to avoid any inherent biases. But here's a caveat – not all feedback will be relevant to every customer. That's why it's essential to segment the feedback, identify common themes, and use statistical methods to validate its wider applicability. Once you've sorted and prioritised the feedback, the next step is actioning it. This involves cross-functional collaboration, translating feedback into product requirements, and setting milestones for implementation. Lastly, once changes are implemented, the cycle doesn't end. Use methods like A/B testing to gauge the direct impact of the changes. And always, always return to your customers for follow-up feedback to ensure you're on the right track. In the bustling world of tech startups, startups that listen, iterate, and refine based on customer feedback truly thrive. #startups #entrepreneurship #customer #pmf #product

Jeff Weinstein is a product lead at Stripe where he helped grow their payment APIs to hundreds of billions in volume and transformed the way founders start companies into a few simple clicks with Atlas. Prior to Stripe, Jeff led several startups and sold companies to Groupon and Box. He’s known for his customer obsession, craft, quality, and building beloved products businesses rely on. In our conversation, we discuss: 🔸 The power of customer obsession and how to operationalize it in your product development process 🔸 How to pick the right metrics and use them to drive impact 🔸 Techniques for getting things done at big companies 🔸 A group practice Jeff started to uplevel product craft, called Study Group 🔸 The story behind Stripe Atlas and its mission to increase entrepreneurship globally 🔸 Lessons from working with the founders of Stripe Listen now 👇 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gE2HeQq3 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gdADCBQs Apple: https://lnkd.in/gW79ZutA Some key takeaways: 1. Before focusing on craft, experience, or quality, you need to ensure that you’re solving a burning problem for someone. One of Jeff’s first companies went offline for hours and not a single customer reached out—that’s when he knew they didn’t have product-market fit. If users aren’t clamoring for your product, you’re not solving a real need. Think about it this way: solving the core problem is the main course; perfecting craft, UX, and quality are the desserts. 2. Jeff emphasizes the “go, go, go ASAP + optimistic, long-term compounding” approach: seize opportunities with enthusiasm while maintaining a strategic focus on long-term growth. Stripe’s evolution in global payment methods exemplifies how combining rapid execution with thoughtful, enduring strategies leads to significant, sustainable results. 3. When customers take the time to complain or provide feedback, treat it as a gift. Respond promptly to complaints or feedback, even if it means interrupting other tasks, as it creates a direct signal between you and the customer. This responsive attitude can lead to a loyal customer base and product improvement. 4. Ask customers to describe what a “bad day” looks like when using your product, and then find ways to track metrics around those frustrations. You don’t necessarily need to solve every issue right away, but having this problem library builds awareness to inform your roadmap.