29 Nov, 2010
product development product management product release Ship early ship often Startups
As a product manager/developer how many times you have been surprised by how user uses your system. From my own product management experience, I have noticed that users sometimes use products in scenarios that product managers hadn’t necessarily considered as primary use case and users are hooked to your secondary or not so relevant use case in your product.
Products evolve after the v1.0 of the product is out in the market, markets tends to drive the future versions of the product. So you got to ship early, collect, collate and consume the user reaction, market feedback and ship the v2.0 of your product. Several other companies (e.g. PayPal) have also learned about new usage scenarios and seen their products evolve after shipping the v1 version of the product.
It is easy for product teams to spend hours on discussing open issues relating to product features. Some of these discussions are interesting and some of them may even lead to better decisions. Product team needs to strike a right balance with new features and features coming out of usage data and good customer feedback , and sometimes decisions should be defered in favor of allowing the product to evolve *after* it ships.
Preliminary (pre-ship) market research is good for startup companies and should be done when possible and appropriate, but it also important to keep in mind that the market can prove (pre-ship) market research and product manager opinion wrong. That makes ‘Ship early, ship often’ a good philosophy for startups as long as the product doesn’t compromise on basic quality.
The market is basically a product driver, it will give you great research information for the next version of your product. Product developers can be surprised at how user perception of the product (and market demand for the product) differs from their original notion of what the market wanted.
-Hitesh, vcBytes.com
25 Nov, 2010
check out click through rate drop off e-commerce Metrics product management product page search unique visitors web analysis
Have you received feedback that your web site is not very user friendly or in other words hard to navigate and difficult to find the desired product? Are your users “dropping off” your site after only a couple of minutes or page views?
If so, take some time to focus on your site’s “usability” – the golden ticket to an engaging online experience. If your site visitors can find information quickly and easily, and feel comfortable navigating your site, you are one (very important) step closer to “converting” them – the industry term for getting a visitor to take action, whether it is joining, purchasing, subscribing, downloading, logging in, bookmarking, forwarding or returning!
So what actions can improve your site’s usability?
1. Time to re look site’s goals and objectives. Why do visitors come to your web site? What information will users be looking for on your site? What information do you want your visitors to view on your web site? What do you need to get out of your site?
2. Analyze your website reports Take some time to review your web site’s reports – the statistics on how your site is performing. This data can reveal a lot about your site’s usability. For example, you can find out what pages are losing your visitors. Also, you can see how long visitors are staying on your web site. These types of signals can indicate your site’s ease of use.
3. Fine-tune your site’s search function. More than 90% of web users search during every online session. Users are comfortable finding information this way. Does your web site have a good search tool? If your web site is complex, can the search tool provide advanced search options? Fine-tuning this tool can be a valuable addition to your site’s usability.
4. Check out the competition. Look at some other web sites in the similar space, Can you navigate those sites easily? Is information readily available and easy to find? How do these sites compare to your own? Taking some time to evaluate your web site’s ease of use will put your business one step closer to having an effective marketing and selling tool in your web site.
-Hitesh, vcBytes.com
24 Nov, 2010
Design fusioncharts IPMA product innovation product management Product Managers products User Experience Yahoo
Great news for Product Managers in India, IPMA (India Product Management Association) announces launch event in Bangalore, which is supported by IIM Bangalore on Sun Nov 28th2010. We are excited and honored to have Ramkumar Narayanan, Vice President of Product Management, Marketing and User Experience at Yahoo, inaugurate IPMA and kick start the monthly speaker series. You can check out Ram’s bio here.
Ram will be speaking about How to build killer products for global markets from India
Abstract:
There are growing number of software (consumer, enterprise, mobile) products that are made in India and marketed globally, including emerging markets. Mr. Narayanan will talk about what is different about building products in India and how to come up with successful Go-To-Market strategies for emerging and mature markets.
More interestingly, Mr. Narayanan will also share some of the insights and best practices behind creating killer products that wow the customers.
Please register here as there is limited seating.
About IPMA:
India Product Management Association (IPMA) is a not for profit, grassroots organization. IPMA’s mission is to Foster product design and innovation and Catalyze product management talent in India. IPMA organizes monthly speaker series, workshops and more for professionals interested in product management and marketing. For more information about upcoming events, visit IPMA website.
-Hitesh, vcBytes.com
14 Nov, 2010
development growth lifecycle Marketing product management Sales
I had an opportunity to attend a session on High tech product management at recently concluded Nasscom Product Conclave Meet. Session was phighly useful. I am highlighting one topic from the session which is “Lifecycle of a product”.
The Product Lifecycle Stages:
Development – this is the most costly stage of the cycle as there are no revenues to support development efforts. Losses occur in the short-term, as precious resources are allocated to development efforts.
Introduction – Product is introduced in the market, in this stage losses continue due to high costs and low revenues. There is little or no competition and demand needs to be generated. Customers need to be .sold. on trying the new product.
Growth – Sales effort bring results, costs reduced from economies of scale, sales volume increases significantly, and profits are earned. Competitors begin to develop competing products while prices are at their maximum.
Maturity – costs are relatively low as the need to generate demand has decreased; sales volumes peak, competition starts to heat up. Prices drop based on competitive pricing, mergers & acquisitions occur, and brand & feature differentiation becomes more important.
Decline/Stability - Its that stage where product demand tends to decrease, sales volumes level off or begin to decline as competitors chip away at market share. Prices diminish and production & distribution efficiency become top drivers of profitability.
-Hitesh, vcBytes.com
17 Feb, 2010
cross selling e-commerce Product product management
Cross selling is an attempt to sell additional products to current customers to whatever they are already buying. It can be as simple as the bar tender asking if you want peanuts masala to go with your drinks.
How to adopt Cross Selling
