How to Delight Your Customers without doing what they say - Joey Spinella at Denver Startup Week 2019

SEP 16-20, 2019
DenverStartupWeek.org
#DENStartupWeek
© Joey Spinella 2019, Please use with attribution

How to Delight Your Customers
without doing what they say
Joey Spinella | September 16, 2019

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Program

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How to Delight
Your Customers

without doing what they say

Thesis
We satisfy our customers not by following the whims of
their feedback, but by systematically understanding the
needs of the market and providing a targeted solution for
a speciﬁc set of users for a speciﬁc set of tasks.

Application
Feedback doesn’t tell us what to do, but helps us reﬁne
our market understanding and align our execution with
true customer experience.

Tools we’ll use today
Market Frame
● Understanding your market
● Grouping jobs to be done into
workflows
● Solving one workflow at a time
Feedback Sorter
● Use feedback to…
○ Refine market understanding
○ Align execution with customer
experience
For slides, follow: www.linkedin.com/in/josephspinella

Joey Spinella
Is a Senior Product Manager that loves making
product teams successful. I grew up in Taiwan
and enjoy riding my bike into work.
1.0’s I’ve built from scratch
● Software for technicians to test the
physical performance of car or rocket parts
(FlexLogger, National Instruments)
● Web app for IT managers to delegate
management of single-sign on (SSO)
conﬁguration to their business teams
(PingCentral, Ping Identity)

Case Study
Interactively apply these
methods with fellow attendees
to ﬁnd a way to improve my
commute.

The Market Frame

Customer Research
● Research program has a speciﬁc goal
● Sampling from a pool representative of target market
● Research conducted in consistent way
● Big enough sample size to make product decisions

Focus on workﬂow ﬁrst, expand understanding from there

Focus on workﬂow ﬁrst, expand understanding from there
...

Customer Research Tips and Tricks
● To set up a research program, you have to sell the idea
● Just set up a first call
● Learn the vocabulary and jargon of your target market
● Build a discussion guide
● Recruit strategically - base customers, competitors, consider compensation
● Ask to observe them complete their entire workflow today
● Avoid leading questions - DO NOT PITCH
● Maybe this workflow does not contain opportunity for you (i.e. important areas
that are underserved or overserved)
● Document customer interactions with as many pictures, screenshots, and notes as
possible
● Don’t look for a problem to solve with your technology

Web Monitoring for Measurement Software
Dev team building new technology: “Go ﬁnd the market for this”
“Is it an enterprise customer or a mom and pop shop?”
Example

Customer 1
● Semiconductor lithography
control system
● Techy persona
● Separate control systems for
wafer stage and laser
● Custom visualization thick
client
Example

Customer 2
● Oﬀshore Wind Turbines
● BizDev persona
● Remote controllers of wind turbines
● Used our app to make marketing
demo
● See status of turbines from within a
boardroom
● Not planning to use for production
Example

Customer 3
● Growing organs in a chamber
● Researcher persona
● High performance control of
chemicals and temperature in
chamber
● To work around UI limitations
of control system, built a
remote control UI
● Trying to productize solution
Example

Customer 4
● Product quality accelerated life test lab
● Test engineer persona
● Had 15 stations doing automated tests
on products they manufactured
● Each test had a separate UI
● Wanted a way to monitor progress of
all tests from one user interface
● No need for remote control
Example

Customer 5
● Pressure tests for industrial pipes
● Test engineer persona
● Had a long running test they needed
to check on intermittently
● Test was run in a lab with no windows
● Wanted to be able to check on the test
from his oﬃce
● Installed TeamViewer and would
remote in to the other computer.
Example

Example

Datalogging Software for Automotive Technicians
VPs funding new initiative: “We’ve failed at this segment 4 times. Please get it right
this time.”
Example

Datalogging Software for Automotive Technicians
● Set up dozens of exploratory interviews
● Discussion guide focused on complete workflow and current solution (mostly
competitor)
● Over course of initiative, went on 10+ programs of week long visits (US, Japan,
UK, Korea, Germany, China)
● Visited automotive labs and took lots of pictures of them running tests
● Published 50-100 page reports on each program of visits
● Worked with core team (UX, Product Owners, Dev Manager) to create persona
definitions, detailed workflows, and segment maps of relevant personas and
workflows.
Example

>500 pages
Customer Research
Reports

Case Study
Move your chairs to form a
group of 4-5 people
- You may need to expand to
the back
- Raise your hand to get a
clipboard for each group
- Brieﬂy introduce yourselves
and why you are here
Part #0

Starting Customer Research
Downtown
Commute
Workﬂow 2 Workﬂow 3
Persona 1 Persona 2 Persona 3
Segment 1 Segment 2 Segment 3

Case Study
You are building a research program
to identify a new oﬀering to improve
commuting to downtown Denver by
bike (this is the workﬂow).
How would you conduct customer
research?
What questions might you include in
your discussion guide?
Part #1

Case Study
Go to common downtown bike trails,
watch commuters going by during
rush hour
Send a survey to downtown-based
oﬃces
Ask bike commuters to describe each
step of their morning commute and
things that can go well or wrong
Part #1

Case Study
Problems with my commute:
2 Train tracks
2 unprotected stop signs
Oﬀ road section
Back wheel slips out of frame when I
pedal really hard
Brakes worn out
Middle chain ring always slips
Towel never dries during work day

We know a workﬂow, now which persona/segment?
Commute Weekend Groceries
Casual Tech
Formal White
Collar
Retail
Commuter
Bikes
eBikes Alt. Electric

After researching workflow, work up
Personas
● Make list of potential personas involved in workflow
● Identify primary persona to focus on
Segment
● Make list of potential segments this persona and workflow is found in
● Segments could be related to customer industry or related to product
segmentation within your industry
● Select a primary segment or group of segments

Is this an attractive market segment?
● Ripe: Has a unique set of underserved or over served outcomes
● Big: Represents a sizable portion of the population
● Homogeneous: can be served by the same product or service
● Strategic: ﬁts with your philosophy and competencies
● Reachable: through marketing and sales eﬀorts
Source: what customers want, Anthony Ulwick, 2006

Example - Datalogging Software
Dora Lora Terry Gary
Example

Target
Persona
“Terry”
• Technician or Engineer in
Validation Lab
Tasks
• Receives Lab Requests
• Devises I/O List
• Calibrates and Wires Sensors
• Uses CAN, Analog, DIO
• Configures Data Acquisition
• Delivers Data to Requestor
Goals
• Confidence in Correct Data
• Efficiency in Test Execution
Example

Case Study
You’ve spoken with 20 diﬀerent
commuters as part of your research
program.
What personas did you encounter as
you focused on the urban commute
workﬂow?
Which persona would you prioritize
for a new product?
What market segment are you
focusing on?
Part #2

Personas:
● Tech Oﬃce Worker
○ Has a shower and a bike barn
○ Has discretionary income
○ May be choosing transport based on
weather
● Retail Worker
○ Limited space to store personal
belongings
○ No place to shower - just a
bathroom to change
○ Needs year round solution
● Formal Oﬃce Worker
● Retiree
● Tourist
Case Study© Joey Spinella 2019, Please use with attribution

Reconsider Adjacent Workflows
● Target persona likely has other workflows in this segment
● Initial workflow may not be the right starting point
● Is there a simpler, stepping-stone workflow you can start with?

Revisit Adjacent Workflows
Persona
Terry the Technician
Example

Create detailed requirements for each workﬂow
● Start with a bulleted outline of everything you know
● Then convert to jobs to be done
● What are all the steps to complete this workﬂow?
● What “jobs” need to be done for each step?
● What “outcomes” is the persona trying to drive?
● What “constraints” does the persona need to work around?

Consider Satisfaction and Importance
Later on, these can be converted to requirements
Job / Outcome /
Constraint
Acceptance Criteria Proposed Solution Satisfaction Importance
Configure SSO
connection
I am able to figure it
out and it works
Enter
configurations into
console
Low High
Configure SSO
connection
I am able to figure it
out and it works
Provide simple user
templates
Medium High
Test my app I can verify it is
working
User goes to app
and manually tries
Medium Medium
Test my app I can verify it is
working
Automated test
validation
High Medium

Consider Satisfaction and Importance
Source: what customers want, Anthony Ulwick, 2006

Case Study
Build a list of at least 10 steps for your
persona to complete a downtown
commute.
What are their jobs to be done?
Outcomes? Constraints?
Are there any that you think are
underserved or overserved by the
current solution pictured here?
Part #3

Jobs to be done for my commute
○ Get to work on time
○ Don't forget anything I need (towel, change of
clothes)
○ Maximize speed getting to work
○ Maximize enjoyment of bike ride
○ If running late, minimize distance of bike route
to work
○ Minimize load carried with me
○ Minimize how much I sweat
○ Relax before workday
○ Track speed and distance
○ Stay hydrated during ride
○ Avoid traffic
○ Avoid crashes or collisions of any kind
○ Shower before work
○ Put stuff in my hair and get dressed
○ Keep bike safe during work day
○ Don't bring gross bike stuff to my desk at work
○ Keep phone from losing all charge on way home
○ Goal: Get in shape for weekend rides
○ Constraint: bike route is 70% sidewalk and 15% street
bike path
○ Constraint: bike route contains 10 ft of rough dirt hill
terrain
○ Constraint: sometimes wait for trains and traffic
lights
○ Constraint: bikes are not permitted on MSU sidewalk

Outcome of Research 1.0 MVP 2.0 MVP

Roadmap Advice
● Focus on one workflow at a time
● Prioritize workflows - effort and ROI
● Make sure there are no gaps
● Don’t waste time on partial workflow solutions
● But sometimes you have to “spike” a workflow to discover requirements

Does your business model work?
Source: Business Model Generation, Alexander Osterwalder, 2010

How to Get Feedback
● Persona Interviews
● Conceptual Discussions
● Clickable Prototypes
● Design Sprints (Google Ventures)
● Usability Tests
● Internal Feedback (subject matter experts)
● User Acceptance Tests
● Beta Programs
● Early Access Releases
● Product Releases
● Sales Questions
● Support Questions
get feedback early
get feedback often
continually seek more feedback

From the right persona in the right segment
completing the right workflow
Just Right
Refine Understanding
● Adjust market model
● Identify workflow gaps
● Learn about new beachhead
workflows or personas
Align Execution
● Hone execution to accomplish
immediate goals
● Avoid churn
● Evaluate success of design
decisions

Feedback Sorter

Too
Close
Too
Niche
Wrong
Persona
Too
Far
Wrong
Model
Wrong
Tool
Just Right
Feedback Sorter

● Prescriptive feedback
● Reactive to hiccups in demo or POC
● May solve contrived or temporary problems
● Panders to personal bias
● Forgotten after getting used to product
● Keep in mind: If “Too Close” feedback is so
frustrating to users that they can’t engage, it may
be worth the throwaway eﬀort to ﬁx.
Too Close

Too Close
Example

Usability Feedback:
Your “set password” ﬂow doesn’t
make the password requirements
clear…
Response:
I see that. Fortunately, in our next
release, we are making it so
customers will single-sign on
(SSO) into the product so you
will never use this screen.
Too Close
Example

Usability Feedback:
Your tool is organized with tabs
stacked on the left side, while our
current tool has horizontal tabs
along the top.
Response:
Thanks for that feedback. Did you
have trouble ﬁnding what you
needed? (During this usability
test none of our users had trouble
navigating and completing the
tasks. )
Too Close
Example

Too Far
● Not part of quickest path to deliver value
● Feedback about unprioritized workﬂows
● Only applicable in case of massive adoption and success
(e.g. architecting for scale, partner integrations)
● “What if”
● Dependent on features or use cases that don’t yet exist
● Keep in mind: “Too Far” feedback is valid and excellent
to capture with its persona and workﬂow...far down on
your roadmap

Alpha Feedback from Sales Engineer 1:
Your conﬁguration management tool
currently manages items A, B, and C,
but doesn’t manage D, E, and F.
Sales Engineer 2: Or G or H!
Response:
Let me see if people even care about A,
B, and C and if that part is working
correctly before I worry about D, E, F,
G, or H. I’ll put it far down on my
backlog to come back to if necessary.
Too Far
Example

Beta Feedback from 5 different
Customers:
Your configuration management tool
currently manages items A, B, and C, but
doesn’t manage G!
Response:
We already have G on our backlog. Now
that you all mention it, I see this is part of
a workflow where you also are requiring a
few other features. I will refine this
workflow and prioritize as something we
work on next.
Too Far
Example

Too Niche

Too Neitzche
“That which does not
kill [your product],
makes [it] stronger.”

Too Niche
● Feedback speciﬁc only to a couple customers
● "I need this kind of naming rule"
● "I need to integrate with this home grown system"
● Not represented in broader sampling from persona
● Keep in mind: Lots of niche feedback on a speciﬁc
theme may suggest the need for extensibility or
customization as part of a long tail strategy.

Feedback from Prospective Client:
“How will you store and handle sensitive
SSN information that’s required in our
order to the partnered vendor?”
Response:
“Integrating with the vendor might give us
more ﬂexibility than your current process.
Let’s have a conversation with the vendor
to better understand why they need this
information. Perhaps there is an easier,
more secure [and general] way for them
to get the SSN”
Too Niche - Joseph Thompson
Example

Wrong Persona
● “She doesn’t even go here.”
● Not from Persona x Workflow combination currently
being focused on
● Feedback from adjacent market segment, persona, or
workflow
● Beware of “it’s exactly the same, but I need this 1
completely different feature”
● Keep in mind: Many workflows require the satisfaction
of multiple personas. It is part of the primary user
personas workflow to satisfy their stakeholders.

Feedback from Pub Owner:
I don’t like beer, but I want to oﬀer a
house beer for my customers.
I tasted your beer and I don’t like it.
Response:
I don’t expect you to like the beer, this
is not brewed for you as the customer.
Wrong Persona - Laura Decker
Example

Wrong Tool
● Not directly related to core tasks
● Problem is easily solved by separate, interchangeable solution
● Widely accepted best practice to use specific 3rd party approach
● Customer is unfamiliar with existing solutions in that area
● Keep in mind: Vertically focused integration across workflows that
require multiple tools can drive differentiation

Example - Wrong Tool - Excel
Example

Example - Wrong Tool - NI DIAdem
Example

● Caught up on previous reference point
● Comparing to previous paradigm
● Unwillingness to learn your product
● Keep in mind: It is crucial to validate the
mental model of your product as early as
possible in any initiative. You might need to
pivot.
Wrong Model

Feedback from Legacy Users:
Can you just make web versions of all
the things from the Windows program?
Response:
I can solve the same problems in our
web platform, and probably in a more
logical and intuitive way.
Wrong Model - Matt Callis
Example

Too
Close
Too
Niche
Wrong
Persona
Too
Far
Wrong
Model
Wrong
Tool
Just Right

You received this feedback:
1. I would like a power generator to charge
my phone while riding.
2. Please install an electric motor onto my
lightweight road bike.
3. I don’t want to try your bike, the seat is
way too high.
4. My commute is all on mountain biking
trails, I need shocks.
5. I would like fenders so I don’t get so wet
after it rains.
6. I want a subscription service to replace the
brakes when they wear out in 2 years .
How would you handle these?
Case Study
Part #4

You received this feedback:
1. I would like a power generator to charge
my phone while riding. (wrong tool)
2. Please install an electric motor onto my
lightweight road bike. (wrong model)
3. I don’t want to try your bike, the seat is
way too high. (too close)
4. My commute is all on mountain biking
trails, I need shocks. (wrong persona or too
niche)
5. I would like fenders so I don’t get so wet
after it rains. (just right)
6. I want a subscription service to replace the
brakes when they wear out in 2 years (too
far)
How would you handle these?
Case Study© Joey Spinella 2019, Please use with attribution

Tools we used today
Market Frame
● Understanding your market
● Grouping jobs to be done into
workflows
● Solving one workflow at a time
Feedback Sorter
● Use feedback to…
○ Refine market understanding
○ Align execution with customer
experience
For slides, follow: www.linkedin.com/in/josephspinella

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