I think we all like to think we are “customer led,” but what does that actually mean? How do we actually put our customers first? Are we really listening to them?

Almost all of you reading this will say, “Yes, we have data!” And boy do we have a lot of data.

But that doesn’t mean we are using it effectively.

1. Do we understand what the data is actually telling us?

 Are your product managers data literate? How good are they at translating that into real customer behaviour analysis and understanding their needs? 

2. At a company level, are we sharing the data we have effectively?

Access to customer insights and market research can be a challenge internally. There isn’t a single approach to determine where data sits, who has access to what, and how we make sure our teams are getting the right information to allow them to do their jobs.

In many organisations, this information is bottlenecked with one team. We need to strike the balance of giving access to people that need it and having trained data scientists and analysts to go beyond our day-to-day needs. For some examples of how this is being done, including the data academy at Dow Jones, check out this article. 

3. Do we need reminders that qualitative information can tell us a lot more and contextualise a lot more? 

One question I keep going back to is whether the pendulum has swayed too much towards data. Talking to customers and watching them use our products teaches us so much. Just take a look at Riske Betten’s presentation on taking the complexity out of customer data at Mediahuis NL here.

And the benefit of qualitative research really hit home learning about HuffPost’s listening tour with Hillary Frey. That was a clear demonstration of how impactful it was to the organisation to go out and connect back to people, human to human.

A number of product people have also told us how they get quick and dirty feedback by talking to people on the subway or in pubs. Most of the time, it seems you can get a good sense without needing to get into nitty gritty detailed feedback, ideal for early experiments and prototypes. 

There are so many ways to understand our customers. We need to figure out which approaches and tools fit which scenario. And while we’re getting better at putting customers first and thinking through user journeys end to end, we need to remain focused on how we transform these insights into actionable product development.

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