Better Product Managers, and Product Management

Into every product manager’s inbox a certain amount of angry customer mail must land.

But when do you respond to it, and when do you ignore it?

1. The Pure Vitriol-Filled Name-Calling Email

Example: (I don’t think I need to provide an example.  We’ve all seen these.)

Verdict: Ignore.

No good can come from responding to these.  Best case scenario, you respond rationally and embarrass the hell out of the person who now regrets sending such an unprofessional email.   That’s the best-case scenario.

I’ve seen lots of worst-case scenarios where this devolves into an otherwise reasonable product manager sinking to the level of the original sender and then the whole exchange gets posted on someone’s blog and everyone is embarrassed.

2. The 90% Vitriol-Filled Name-Calling, 10% Actual Valid Issue Email

Example: “I can’t believe you f***ers lost my data after I spent 15 minutes typing it in!!! This is the worst piece of …”

Verdict: Respond.

I actually think it’s a great idea to respond to these, provided that: a) you delete all references to the rude parts and b) you reply to the actual valid issue with neutral, objective language.  (“You’re right, it was unacceptable that you were unable to find your data.  It’s actually not lost, though, your saved draft can be found [here].”)

By deleting all references to the rude parts, you allow them to pretend that you didn’t see it and they didn’t write it.  But if you can’t be neutral/objective, just delete it.

3. The “Whatever, You Suck” Email

Example: “your pricing sucks I’m outta here”

Verdict: Ignore.

There’s a complaint here, but no substance to respond to.  What can you say — ‘no it doesn’t'?  No.   You have to just ignore these.

Note that if there’s a reason or some additional supporting details “Here’s why your pricing doesn’t work for me…”, then you can and should respond.  Even if all you can say is “I’m sorry we can’t do more but we appreciate your feedback”.

4. The Frustration-Laden Tirade Email

Example: “First I tried to search for a message I’d sent but kept getting no results, so I had to page through three hundred messages individually, then when I finally found the right one I tried to print and the page stopped responding and logged me out and then…”

Verdict: Respond. (preferably via phone)

It is much easier to call these people, sound sympathetic, and let them vent for a few minutes without interrupting.  Then, figure out what they wanted to do and walk them through doing it.

If you don’t have a phone number, try to do the same thing via email – agree that it was frustrating, agree that that’s unacceptable, and then figure out what they wanted to do and walk them through doing it (or, if possible, do it for them.)

These are the people who, if you ignore them, will hate you and spread negative feedback about you whenever they get the chance; but if you respond nicely and help them, can be turned into your best WOM allies.

5. The I’m Not Using Your Product Again Until You …  Email

Example: “I keep waiting for you to support [feature X] but you still haven’t.  I’m going to have to stop using your product and look for another solution because [feature X] is totally critical to my business.”

Verdict: Respond (unless it’s a repeat offender).

It is tempting to try and convince the person that they should continue using your product.  It is also ineffective (most of these people will continue to use your product, albeit a bit angrily).  If there is a workaround to accomplish the same goal that [feature X] would achieve, tell them about it.

If you will never, ever, ever build [feature X] because it makes zero sense to your business, tell them that as well!  (Most people are reluctant to do this, but I’ve had almost exclusively good conversations that started from being really honest and saying something like: “We’re not planning on building X, and here’s why.”

The one exception: if that same guy keeps sending you the same email about [feature X], you can ignore them after email #2.

6. The Email/Tweet/Blog Post/Comment That Makes You So Mad That You Really Want to Write Something Rude Back

Example: will vary by person.

Verdict: IGNORE IGNORE IGNORE (and then think about it).

It doesn’t matter if there are totally valid points that should be addressed, or the person is completely factually wrong, or even if you feel like this is borderline slander – if you are angry, do not respond.

If you have done your job building relationships with your other customers, the odds are high that someone else will respond on your behalf and correct any misinformation.   Or you can ask a more stoic coworker to come up with a neutral response.

But even if not, think about the options:

1. Angry ranter writes comment, no one responds (clearly no one agrees with them, so you end up looking fine)
2. Angry ranter writes comment, lots of people come to your defense (you end up looking even better than before)
3. Angry ranter writes comment, lots of people agree (clearly you have a problem, and you should focus on fixing it versus debating it)

Safer to ignore (and see #1: avoid being sucked into an argument that can only make you look bad.)

Of course, for all of us, our goal is to get as little of this email as possible.  But until then, keep growing that skin thicker, and feel free to hit the ‘delete’ key sometimes.

“That’s the way it’s supposed to work.”

If you feel the need to say this, then you have screwed up.

Maybe your copy was confusing. Then you say, “Actually, I don’t think our app explains it very well – this is how we had envisioned it working: [describe] – does that make sense to you?”

Maybe you were forced to add security features that were un-user-friendly. Then you say, “The reason it works that way is [explanation]; I know it isn’t an optimal user experience but here’s the benefit: [describe]

Maybe you were just wrong about what an intuitive user workflow would be. Then you say, “I agree, it is confusing.  Can you walk me through how you use it, so that I can better understand how we might make it better?”

When you start feeling defensive, it’s usually for a reason – you know something isn’t really quite right.  Use that feeling to learn something useful.

With KISSmetrics and KISSinsights both in pretty heavy usage, I’m seeing a lot of support emails and survey responses, and by far my favorite type start with:

“It seems like I should be able to do…”

These are great because they reveal customers’ expectations and the way someone is thinking about the problem that your product solves.

This is what comes next, after customer development interviews and getting a first version of the product out there – making sure the experience makes sense.  You lay the groundwork for this with your initial research, but you won’t get everything right on the first try.  Certain workflows will just feel awkward.  Certain features — which no one remembered before — will suddenly emerge as glaringly absent.

There are times when a customer says “It seems like I should be able to…” and you disagree: you had a reason to not do it that way.  That doesn’t mean you should capitulate to what the customer wants; it also doesn’t mean you should ignore them.

Why you need to understand expectation mismatches

It’s a good opportunity for you to say “We’re not doing it that way … and here’s why.” In my experience, that usually kicks off a really useful conversation that helps me better understand customer needs.  (or, yes, about 5% of the time it leads to people swearing and ranting -but that’s about par for the internet)

They may be masking underlying problems. People who “expect” a product to work one way may have very valid reasons why it can’t work your way — the new way requires access to files they don’t have, requires them to install software but they’re on locked-down corporate workstations, etc.

It’s a silent dealbreaker. If something is blatantly broken, customers won’t hesitate to let you know.  But if it’s just not-quite-right, most people won’t complain – they’ll just stop using your product.  They may think “oh, it must just be me…probably other people wouldn’t mind this” — in fact, I’ve heard plenty of people say exactly that in usability testing sessions before.

Getting more “It seems like I should be able to do…” feedback

Whenever it makes sense, I try to ask “What would you have expected?” or “What did you think you’d be able to do?” in reply to more general support questions.

Also: [SHAMELESS PLUG AHEAD] I use KISSinsights to try to “catch” this kind of feedback when I think a page is “not quite right” (or even/especially if I think it’s awesome).

(All 3 of these questions are available in the free plan.)

I wrote earlier about finding people for your customer development interviews.

Once you’ve found people for your interviews, you’re probably thinking, “Great, I can ask them if they’d use my product!”

Wrong.

OK, you’re thinking, “then what should I ask them?”

A better way to think about it is, what should I be learning from this interview?

It’s really important to understand the philosophy behind the customer development interview, particularly because it runs so counter to entrepreneurial instincts.  Be direct. Act. Get stuff done.  You ask questions, you get “70% good” information, you decide.  But when it comes to identifying a problem and potential solutions, the direct approach doesn’t really work.

Why? Because people are too polite to say ‘no’.  Because people can’t imagine technologies that don’t exist yet.  Because people overestimate how much effort they’re willing to put into something.  Because people think incremental, not disruptive.  Plenty of reasons.  Let’s accept this and move on.

So, what should I be learning from the customer development interview?

• How is your customer currently dealing with this task/problem?  (What solution/process are they using?)
• What do they like about their current solution/process?
• Is there some other solution/process you’ve tried in the past that was better or worse?
• What do they wish they could do that currently isn’t possible or practical?
• If they could do [answer to the above question], how would that make their lives better?
• Who is involved with this solution/process?  How long does it take?
• What is their state of mind when doing this task?  How busy/hurried/stressed/bored/frustrated? [note: learn this by watching their facial expressions and listening to their voice]
• What are they doing immediately before and after their current solution/process?
• How much time or money would they be willing to invest in a solution that made their lives easier?

The important thing about these questions is that they set up an environment where the customer is the “expert”.  They avoid yes/no answers, and give people the opportunity to tell a story – one that may trigger them to think of related problems they’re having, or may trigger more questions from you to ask later.

These questions are applicable for both consumer and enterprise products.  (I’ve used this question list on B2B internal tools, B2B2C consumer-facing apps, and B2C widgets.)

Can you give me an example?

These questions make a lot more sense when applied to a concrete example, so I’ll make one up: an online grocery shopping application. Your hypothesis is that busy households need a better way of making sure they don’t run out of things and don’t have to make a zillion trips to the market.  You’ve found customers to talk to – now you need to understand how they feel/behave when it comes to grocery shopping.

“Tell me about how your household handles grocery shopping…”

Whether they describe a detailed or haphazard process, this is your competition.  This is what you have to be substantially better than, in order to get customers to change their behavior.

“How is that process working for you?”

If you’re lucky, a customer may launch immediately into a rant on how they’re always running out of Cheerios or spending too much because they have to buy milk at the overpriced corner store.  If not, you may gently prompt them with triggers like “Do you generally have the ingredients you need to make dinner?” or “How much time do you spend shopping?”

Validation check: they might not care enough to change their current habits, even if they’re not 10o% optimal.

“Have you tried other approaches, like online grocery delivery or keeping a list on your iPhone?”

Customers who have tried other approaches = a good sign that this is enough of a problem that they’re motivated to fix it.

Validation check: Even if your customer thinks they spend too much time grocery shopping, if they’ve never tried any approach to fix this, then they don’t care enough to try your product. (On the other hand, if they have tried other things, you should try to learn why these other approaches didn’t help or were unsustainable.)

“If you could improve anything about your grocery shopping routine, what would it be?”

If customers don’t immediately have an idea, you could gently prompt with “spend less time, less money, have fresher/healthier foods on hand…?”

This question is going to prompt people to jump to solutions (like “I want a cost comparison tool”), rather than articulating their problems, so you need to immediately follow up with:

“If you had a cost comparison tool, how would that make your life easier?”

(basically, the 5-Whys approach)  You want to discover what’s at the root of this suggestion – is it more important that they pay the lowest prices, or do they want to cut down on trips to several different grocery stores, etc.

Validation check: if they really can’t articulate why this solution would make their lives better, it probably won’t.

“What people in your household buy groceries?”

These are the potential stakeholders of your solution.  This can also open up insights – if your customer says “I do all the shopping, but I wish my teenage kids could pitch in too”, that’s an area ripe for product exploration: how can we help division of labor? how can we shift simple tasks from the time-constrained/expensive resource to a “cheaper” one?

“What do you do immediately before you go grocery shopping?”

This is a great way to find ways to differentiate your product – to most people, grocery shopping starts when you walk through those electronic sliding doors.  But to your customer, it might start with asking your wife and kids what they need, making a list, looking up recipes online, or getting the baby changed and buckled into her carseat.

(Your product probably won’t solve for the baby thing, but it gives you insight into your customers’ state of mind – how busy they are, how stressed, do they only have one free hand to use…?)

“What do you do immediately after you go grocery shopping?”

Again, to your customer, grocery shopping isn’t over until the frozen foods are in the freezer and the cans in the cupboard.  This may reveal new product stakeholders: the 8- and 10-year old who never go to the grocery store, but who unload the car and put things away.

“Would you be willing to spend some money to get a cost comparison tool or other tools that would make your grocery shopping easier?”

If the customer says yes, suggest an amount (“say, $10 a month?”)

Validation check: If the customer says ‘no’, or says ‘yes’ in a hesitant way, they’re not going to use your product.

And finally…

After all these questions, feel free to ask about your specific solution and how interesting the customer finds it.  Give them the opportunity to ask questions of you.  You never know where inspiration will strike!