Ben Newell has over 20 years of experience in product management roles in various industries. He is currently the Vice President of Product at CBRE, where he focuses on improving the interaction between employees and office buildings. The document provides advice and suggestions for product teams on the importance of directly talking to and receiving feedback from users. It discusses common excuses product teams make for not talking to users and provides lower-effort ways teams can start gathering user feedback, such as leveraging support teams, advisory councils, and usability labs. The key message is that directly talking to actual users is important for product teams in order to understand user needs and pain points that may not be evident from other data or assumptions.

1. Ben Newell
strategy | culture | agile | UX | product | leadership
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Ben is a product mgmt leader with
20 years experience in travel,
ecommerce, and influencer
marketing. With TripCase and
LIKEtoKNOW.it he has experience
launching and growing mobile
apps from babies to teenagers.
He’s currently focused on the
interaction of employees and
buildings as VP Product with CBRE.

2. Oh User, where art
thou?

3. “ “The relationship with our
customers is fragile and
tenuous. We need to control the
conversation and I have no idea
what you might say. Besides,
we understand what customers
want, just talk to us.”
- fictitious account manager
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4. “ “We’ve already done some great
research and purchased third
party data. It’s better to have a
broad understanding of ALL
customers, than it is to get
caught up on what ONE of them
might say.”
- fictitious marketer
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5. “ “The customers we have today
are not the customers of the
future for us. We know the right
strategy and it would be
mis-leading to spend time with
those non-ideal customers.”
- fictitious CEO
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6. “ “We just don’t have the budget
or time to make that part of our
process.”
“We’re going to build this and
THEN talk to users about it.”
“I just don’t know what to do.”
- fictitious(?) product teams
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7. Talking to
actual users
is your job
● Product & UX represent the user
● Data is valuable, but only half the
picture
● You will learn something new
every time
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8. You are not your
user.
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9. User Feedback comes in
many forms
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Market
Research
Interviews
Analytics
In-App
Feedback
A/B Testing
Smoke
Testing
Diary Study
Walk a Mile
Landing Page
Testing
Build It

10. Some Basics
The easiest to sell and fastest to do

11. Support Team
➔ For every customer complaint, there are 26 other unhappy
customers who have remained silent*
➔ Listen in and participate, but be prepared to hear bad news
➔ Include a link to sign up for additional correspondence about the
product
11-Lee Resource

12. Advisory Council
➔ 8-12 clients quarterly to review strategy
➔ Its’ a “give” for top clients
➔ The weight of these client’s words is usually substantial
➔ Can be a lot of work to organize and approve material that is
shared
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Active Listening is a skill
-Center for creative leadership (2016)

14. Usability Lab
➔ Tackle your onboarding
➔ Local labs can help manage the process and act as an expert
facilitator (BottleRocket, Projekt202, Dallas by Definition, Usability
Sciences)
➔ Many people can participate or view recorded results
➔ Tendency to focus on “how things work today”
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15. Tips & Tricks
● Talk to whoever you can and
capture it all
● Ask yourself, “What will I do
with the answer to this
question?”
● Encourage sharing amongst
the team
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16. If all else fails, make
bets about the user
feedback.
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Thanks!
@bennewelldallas