Watch this presentation if you want to learn more about why and how to avoid optimising in a product.

1. www.productschool.com
How to Avoid Over-Optimizing in
Product by Trunk Club Sr PM

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8. Matthew Holihan
TONIGHT’S SPEAKER

9. My Background
Trunk ClubPeapodGrouponFamily Business

10. What will we talk about today?
● What is Over-Optimizing. Why care?
○ Spill the tea, gimme some examples.
● You have an issue… uh… what now?
● Health metrics

11. Over-Optimizing
SEO Definition-
Excessive use of factors known as being
usually appreciated by search engine
algorithms.
The purpose of over-optimization is to
improve webpages and sites ranking.

12. #OverOptimizing

13. How does this relate to product?

14. Over-Optimizing in Product
When a product has gone too far in the chase of
meeting or improving
a given metric or business goal…
that it takes away from the
true intent of the customer’s experience.

15. Real-Life Examples
Facebook

16. Real-Life Examples
LinkedIn

17. Real-Life Examples- Amazon
Goal: How might we increase
revenue from “Sponsored Ads”,
both from purchases & from
ad spend?

18. Real-Life Examples- Amazon
Ad Spend
1 https://www.merkleinc.com/thought-leadership/digital-marketing-report
Spending on sponsored products in Amazon’s search
increased 165 percent in the second quarter of 2018
compared with a year earlier. 1

19. Real-Life Examples- Amazon
Product Views
Lead to more
purchases

20. Real-Life Examples- Amazon
DEPLOY IT!!!

21. Real-Life Examples- Netflix
Goal: How might we raise more
awareness & viewership for
Netflix-Produced properties?

23. Real-Life Examples- Netflix
Viewership!
WOAH!

24. Real-Life Examples- Netflix
Conscious choice
to put “Bird Box”
on the main
homepage of their
117 Million
subscribers.

25. Real-Life Examples- Netflix
Conscious choice
to put “Bird Box”
on the main
homepage of their
117 Million
subscribers.

26. Real-Life Examples- Netflix
Unique & Special animation for
Netflix property “Bandersnatch”
Goal: How might we raise more
awareness & viewership for Netflix-
Produced properties?

27. Real-Life Examples- Trunk Club

28. Real-Life Examples- Trunk Club
Goal:
Increase items kept by sending
more items from personalized
“Recommended Brands”.

29. Trunk Club- Brand Recommendations
Keep Rate %
The more items shipped in a
trunk that were from our
“recommended brand set”
resulted in the highest % of
items being kept!

30. Real-Life Examples
Keep Rate % Transaction $ avg
We met our goal of increasing kept items. Yet we were in
danger of decreasing the amount of revenue made per
transaction.

31. Customer Journey
What is your
customer
trying to
accomplish?

32. Do we want the products
from recommended brands
to result in more “keeps”?

33. We want the items sent to be what the
customer wants. Not just what is the highest
likelihood of being kept.

34. With Popularity
weighted higher
With Popularity
down-weighted
I want to help discovering
new clothes, finding things I
need, and discover
something new.

35. Real-Life Examples- Trunk Club
Goal: How might we increase
lead volume?

38. Customer Journey
“I want to create a
Trunk Club account
… so I can receive
clothing & styling
advice”

39. Over-Optimizing in Product
When a product has gone too far in the chase of
meeting or improving
a given metric or business goal…
that it takes away from the
true intent of the customer’s experience.

40. Health Metrics
Have an eye on the long-
term.

41. Health Metrics
Besides the main goal /
metric you are measuring,
come up with core metrics
that should be compared,
referenced, and measured
when you are working on
a feature.

42. Real-Life Examples- Trunk Club
Goal:
Increase items kept by sending
more items from personalized
“Recommended Brands”.
Metric: Keep Rate
Health Metrics: CSAT, Customer
LTV, ATV, Retention

43. Real-Life Examples- Netflix
Goal: How might we raise more
awareness & viewership for
Netflix-Produced properties?
Cust. Journey: I want to be
entertained / watch
something.

44. Applying User Journey & Metrics- Netflix
Goal: How might we raise more
awareness & viewership for
Netflix-Produced properties?
Metric: Viewership of
NFLX shows.
Health Metrics:
- DAU, WAU, watch
more shows like it, time
spent picking shows,
CSAT

45. How might we increase ad
revenue from search results?
Applying User Journey & Metrics- Netflix
Cust. Journey: I want to
buy something that
matches what I’m
searching for

46. This customer wants cereal.
Health Metrics:
Repeat purchases of
product
Basket size
Degradation of organic
search
Applying User Journey & Metrics- Netflix
Metric: Increase Ad
Revenue from search
results

47. Applying User Journey & Metrics- Trunk Club
“I want to create a
Trunk Club account
… so I can receive
clothing & styling
advice”
Goal: increase lead
volume

48. Applying User Journey & Metrics- Trunk Club
“I want to create a Trunk Club
account
… so I can receive clothing &
styling advice”
Health Metrics:
# of customers to take a
trunk
Retention
Performance of trunk
Metric: Increase lead
volume

49. Chances are you don’t have network effects

50. Evidence-based Decision Making

51. Are your business goals in support of the
customer’s goals?

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