Unlocking the Power of Customer-Driven Product Management
In the world of product management, understanding your customers is key to driving adoption and creating solutions that truly meet their needs. Sarah Owen, Chief Product Officer at One Inc, knows this all too well. With an extensive background in the payments industry, Sarah has developed a customer-driven product methodology that puts the needs of her clients at the forefront of every decision.
Discovering the Best Solutions
Sarah’s approach begins with listening to customer feedback and working closely with them to identify the problems they’re trying to solve. This involves gathering input from multiple clients and end-users, as well as conducting user sessions, interviews, and surveys to ensure that the solutions developed are the best and broadest possible. By taking a collaborative approach, Sarah’s team can create products that truly meet the needs of their customers.
Prioritizing Initiatives with a North Star
When it comes to prioritizing initiatives, Sarah’s team uses a corporate-wide North Star to guide their decisions. This year, their North Star is focused on increasing digital payments in the insurance space. By aligning their objectives with this goal, the team can ensure that every initiative is working towards a common purpose. To visualize this, they use a “magic mountain” model, which shows how each initiative contributes to the overall objective.
Validating Solutions with Customers and Experts
To ensure that their solutions meet the needs of their customers, Sarah’s team validates their ideas with clients, end-users, and industry experts. They also consult with internal experts in property and casualty insurance and payments to get feedback on their use cases. By taking a iterative approach to product development, they can refine their solutions and make sure they’re on the right track.
Driving Seamless Experiences
For Sarah, ensuring that products work seamlessly is critical. To achieve this, her team uses 24/7 monitoring with alerting and a support organization that provides 24/7 support. They also have a strategic account team that helps clients maximize the benefit and adoption of digital payments. By focusing on customer feedback and experience, they can create products that truly delight their users.
Fostering Innovation and Collaboration
Sarah believes that innovation is key to driving growth and success. To encourage innovation, her team has a product intake process that allows anyone to submit ideas. They also meet with internal stakeholders every Friday to discuss new ideas and prioritize them. By fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation, Sarah’s team can come up with revolutionary ideas that set them apart from the competition.
The Power of Customer Understanding
Having a deep understanding of customer needs has led to some of Sarah’s most valuable innovations. For example, her team developed a solution that allows claimants to choose how they want to receive claims payments, such as ACH, check, or Venmo. This has created a seamless experience for users and has been met with great feedback.
Trialing and Refining Solutions
When it comes to trialing new solutions, Sarah’s team takes a collaborative approach. They work with partner clients to roll out solutions to a segment of their consumers and gather real user feedback. By refining their solutions based on this feedback, they can create products that truly meet the needs of their customers.
Cross-Functional Communication
To ensure that everyone is on the same page, Sarah’s team uses a variety of communication strategies, including monthly product meetings, a product newsletter, and stakeholder events. They also have quarterly planning sessions where stakeholders can participate in prioritization and share monthly reporting to show progression. By erring on over-communication and over-inclusion, Sarah’s team can ensure that everyone is aligned and working towards a common goal.
Building a High-Performing Team
For Sarah, building a high-performing team is critical to success. She looks for team players who are curious, responsible, and passionate about product excellence. By nurturing this talent and creating a sense of responsibility, Sarah’s team can drive innovation and growth.