11 Product Management Fundamentals [+ Strategies & Examples]

Are you frustrated with how your users are underutilizing your product, complaining about it, and not realizing the value that it has to offer? It’s probably because you’re lacking in some of the product management fundamentals.

Let’s explore the key fundamentals of product management that every product leader should master. As well as how to effectively measure and leverage them today.

TL;DR

• Digital adoption: Ensure users extract full value from your product features by measuring active users, feature usage, and product stickiness.
• Customer onboarding: Enhance the onboarding process using personalized experiences, checklists, and in-app guidance.
• Customer experience: Continuously refining the user experience based on surveys, usability testing, and customer behavioral data.
• User segmentation: Tailor product experiences to specific user groups by segmenting based on demographics, behavior, and feedback.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS): Leverage NPS data to address issues, enhance loyalty programs, and prioritize product development.
• Feature adoption: Improve adoption through in-app engagement, personalized suggestions, and in-app messaging.
• Customer feedback: Collect customer feedback through timely, short surveys and passive widgets to inform product development.
• Customer retention: Increase retention and MRR by addressing churn, enhancing the product, and offering proactive support.
• Product analytics: Collect data from surveys, A/B testing, and custom events to gather insights on your product performance.
• Product operations: Optimize processes, tools, and data management to streamline product development.
• Roadmap: Build a product roadmap that guides the team and aligns with company objectives and customer needs.
• Want to take product management to the next level? Book a Userpilot demo to see how you can personalize the product experience without coding.

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Digital adoption

Are your users missing out on the features that are most valuable to them because they’re not familiar with its technology?

Truth is, the adoption of technology has already expanded for decades. According to a Foundry 2023 report, 93% of all companies have already adopted or plan to adopt a digital-first business strategy.

But this doesn’t mean their staff can handle a highly technical software product. That’s why it’s fundamental in product management to build a product that anyone can successfully operate—opening the door to increased satisfaction and customer retention.

How to measure adoption

To measure digital adoption effectively, focus on the following metrics:

• Active users: How many users use your product on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis (DAU, WAU, MAU)?
• Feature usage: How frequently do users interact with your product’s key features? Which features are most popular, and which are underutilized?
• Product stickiness: How often do users return to the product after their initial engagement?
• User onboarding completion rate: What percentage of users complete the onboarding process?
• Retention rate: How many users return to the product after their first week, month, or quarter?
• Churn rate: How many users stop using your product after a month?

For this, you can leverage a product analytics tool like Userpilot to get insights into user behavior and adoption patterns.

How to improve digital adoption

To improve digital adoption, you need to implement:

• Customer education: Implement interactive guidance, resource centers, and video tutorials to help users understand features.
• Personalization: Tailor the user experience by introducing features relevant to the customer’s specific job-to-be-done (JTBD).
• Continuous feedback loop: Regularly collect user feedback to enhance the product experience, and communicate it effectively.
• In-app messaging: Use targeted in-app messages to help users discover new or underutilized features.
• Behavior-based triggers: Set up automated triggers based on user behavior to prompt engagement with specific features when users are most likely to find them valuable.

Customer onboarding

A Wyzowl report showed that more than half (55%) of people had returned a product because they didn’t fully understand how to use it.

Effective onboarding helps users understand your product so they can realize its value and likely keep using it. Hence its essential role for any company that needs to retain customers to stay profitable (a.k.a. every SaaS business).

How to improve customer onboarding

The value of the onboarding process is to transform new signups into active users.

According to the founder of Valubyl, Yakov Carno, this process involves the following steps:

1. Understanding the reason they signed up.
2. Identifying what they need to do to experience that.
3. Designing a user journey that makes it as quick and easy as possible for them to do those things.

Here’s what you can implement in your app to improve the user journey:

• Personalized experience: Use data to tailor content and guidance based on user roles, industry, or behavior patterns.
• Checklists with progress bars: Implement checklists that guide users through essential steps in the onboarding process, with progress bars to visually indicate completion status.

• In-app guidance: Provide interactive, in-app guidance that helps users navigate through the product. Include options for dismissing or revisiting these guides to adapt to different preferences.
• Automated onboarding flows: Use engagement tools to create automated onboarding flows that adjust based on user interactions.

Customer experience

The customer experience is a concept everybody has heard, but not many know how to implement it well.

In product management, you’re responsible for providing a positive customer experience from the moment a user books a demo until they become recurrent loyal customers.

This can involve reaching out to detractors to understand their problems, making help resources readily available in your app, implementing SSO login, and much more.

How to evaluate customer experience

To evaluate customer experience, focus on the following data and metrics:

• Surveys: Send surveys for customer satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), and customer effort score (CES) to gauge user sentiment.

• Usability testing: Identify pain points, confusing interfaces, and areas where users struggle, then use this data to improve the overall user experience.
• Customer behavioral data: Analyze in-app behavior to understand how users navigate through your product, which features they use most frequently, and where they might encounter issues.
• Customer support data: Review the nature and frequency of support tickets, live chat inquiries, and help center visits.

How to improve customer experience

Based on the data and metrics you can track, here’s how you can improve customer experience:

• Self-service resources: Develop and maintain a robust knowledge base, FAQs, and in-app guidance tools that empower users to resolve issues on their own.
• Proactive support: Anticipate user needs by offering help before it’s requested. Use in-app messaging, tooltips, and chatbots to provide solutions in real-time.
• Personalization: Customize the user experience based on individual user behavior, preferences, and past interactions. For instance, you can trigger a live demo offer to free trial users who engage a lot with your app.

• Frictionless experience: Continuously refine the product to remove any barriers that may cause frustration, such as lengthy load times, complex navigation, or unclear instructions.

User segmentation

No product experience can satisfy every single user.

That’s why, in product management, you must adapt the product experience to the needs and expectations of specific groups of users—hence the importance of segmentation.

The criteria for segmenting customers can include demographics, in-app behavior, JTBDs, surveys, responses, and more. The more specific, the higher the chances to engage users.

How to leverage user segmentation

Let’s go over how you can leverage segmentation for maximum engagement:

• Tailor product features, content, and messaging to meet the specific needs of each user segment. For example, you can offer different onboarding experiences for beginners versus power users.
• Design marketing and engagement campaigns that resonate with each user segment.
• Identify at-risk segments by analyzing behavioral patterns that indicate potential churn. This way, you can develop targeted retention strategies to re-engage these users before they leave your product.
• Use insights from different segments to guide product development. For instance, if a particular feature is popular with a high-value segment, consider prioritizing its updates in your development roadmap.
• Segment users when collecting feedback to get a good understanding of the needs and preferences of different groups.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a widely used metric that measures customer loyalty by asking users how likely they are to recommend your product to others.

High NPS scores tend to indicate stronger customer loyalty, increased retention, and word-of-mouth referrals—hence its role as a fundamental part of product management.

How to measure NPS

To measure this metric, it’s necessary to use a tool with NPS features (like Userpilot). With it, you’ll be able to automatically send surveys based on specific conditions, trigger a follow-up question, and analyze responses on an NPS dashboard.

For reference, here’s the average NPS by industry:

How to leverage NPS data

Once you can send NPS surveys, here’s what you can do with this data:

• Identify common issues among passives and detractors and address them. For example, if detractors frequently mention a particular feature as problematic, prioritize improvements for that feature.
• Engage loyal users with referral programs, exclusive offers, or early access to new features to strengthen their advocacy.
• Develop marketing campaigns that address the specific needs and concerns highlighted by NPS feedback. For instance, you can trigger a prompt to ask users to review your product on G2 for a $100 gift card after they’ve responded to an NPS survey with 9 or more.

• Share NPS insights with your engineering team. If certain features or improvements are frequently requested by promoters, consider prioritizing these in your roadmap (and maybe spark some product ideas).

Feature adoption

Feature adoption refers to how many users are engaging with the specific features of your product.

In product management, making sure that users are adopting core features is a major responsibility. This can involve optimizing in-app guidance, offering continuous support, and enhancing your product to make it more user-friendly—making it a major pillar in your job.

How to measure feature adoption

That said, there are a few ways to measure feature adoption effectively:

• Feature stickiness: Calculated by dividing the number of users who engage with a feature multiple times by the total number of users who have tried it.
• Usage frequency: Monitor how frequently users interact with each feature over a given period.
• Customer behavioral data: Analyze user behavior within your product to see which features are being used, how often, and in what context. For instance, tools like heatmaps and session recordings can provide deeper insights into how users are interacting with specific features.
• Adoption rate: Measure the percentage of users who have adopted a new feature within a set timeframe after its release.

Note: For reference, the average feature adoption rate in SaaS (according to our SaaS metrics report) is 24.5%. A higher rate indicates that users are finding value in your product, while a lower rate would mean that there might be some barriers to your product.

How to improve feature adoption

How do you get more users to adopt product features?

Cord’s CEO, Nimrod Priell, has something to say about it:

“The most effective way is definitely in-product, when people are naturally going to be interested in using the feature. Guides and highlighting a new feature with a non-intrusive “red dot”, ‘waiting notification’ style of badging is great.”

Here’s what you can do to follow Nimrod’s advice:

• Use in-app announcements to introduce new features to users. Trigger interactive feature tryouts that allow users to explore new functionalities.

• Suggest features that are most relevant to each user based on user behavior and preferences.
• Communicate the value and benefits of each feature during onboarding and through in-app messaging.
• Offer tooltips, help documentation, and responsive customer support to assist users in getting the most out of your features.

Customer feedback

As a product manager, collecting customer feedback is essential for making decisions and designing product strategies based on user needs, preferences, and pain points.

This can involve sending different types of surveys, such as CSAT, CES, and NPS. These can be sent in-app (and triggered when the user is more likely to respond) or through email.

How to collect customer feedback effectively

When it comes to collecting customer feedback effectively, there are some tips you should consider:

• Timing: Collect feedback at moments when users are most engaged, such as after they complete a key action or achieve a milestone.
• Keep surveys short: Use brief surveys with 2-3 focused questions to minimize friction and increase response rates.
• Passive feedback widgets: Implement passive feedback tools like thumbs up/down buttons or satisfaction ratings directly within your app.
• In-app surveys: Trigger in-app surveys with specific user behaviors, such as after using a new feature or completing a task.

How to leverage customer feedback data

Once you collect high-quality feedback, here’s how you can use it:

• Use feedback to tailor customer support interactions. For example, if a user reports difficulty with a particular feature, ensure that support agents are prepared to address that specific customer problem.
• Incorporate user feedback into your product development process. Features that are frequently requested or issues that are commonly reported should be prioritized in your roadmap.
• Identify trends in feedback to uncover areas of friction or confusion within your product. Use this data to make targeted improvements that enhance the overall user experience.
• Close the feedback loop by letting users know when their suggestions or issues have been addressed.
• Trigger contextual help to users who have responded negatively to a CES survey.

Customer retention

How many users stay engaged with your app after the first month?

According to Fairmarkit, a 25% increase in retention rate can lead to 31.07% higher MRR after one year—and for reference, the average month-1 retention rate, according to our Product Metrics report, is 46.9%.

This means the average SaaS can increase its MRR by adding 11.7% more to its retention rate (that is, reaching 58.62%). Therefore, there’s a high impact on revenue with how well a successful product manager can retain users (which can lead to more buy-in from stakeholders).

How to measure customer retention

Now, besides calculating the retention rate, there are many ways to analyze customer retention for more detailed insights, including:

• Churn rate: The percentage of users who stop using your product over a specific period.
• Customer lifetime value (LTV): The total revenue a single customer generates over their entire relationship with your product.
• Funnel analysis: See how users advance through the user funnel to identify drop-offs you can fix.
• Retention rate by cohort: Analyze retention by specific user cohorts, such as by signup month or acquisition channel.

• Path analysis: Tracks how users navigate through your app so you can spot behaviors that increase their chances of churning or staying (i.e. the happy path).

How to improve customer retention

Want to increase customer retention? Ant Murphy—product coach and founder of Product Pathways—suggests:

“You want to maximize ‘repeat purchase’. There’s no point in acquiring more customers if the product sucks because users will churn – I call this the leaky bucket problem, there’s no point in putting more water into a bucket that has a big hole in the bottom, fix the hole first!”

Here’s what you can do to prevent the leaky bucket problem:

• Offer proactive support to users before they encounter issues. Use in-app messaging or chatbots to guide during critical moments.
• Continuously update your product with new features, enhancements, and bug fixes.
• Tailor the product experience based on user behavior and preferences to keep them engaged with your product.

• Implement loyalty programs that reward users for continued engagement, such as discounts, exclusive features, or early access to new functionalities.
• Build customer success teams to work closely with high-value users, ensuring they extract maximum value from your product and remain loyal over time.

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Product analytics

Product analytics involves the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data related to how users interact with your product. And in product management, proper data analysis is a precursor to data-driven decisions and positive business outcomes.

This can involve both quantitative and qualitative data, as well as many types of analysis, such as funnels, paths, and trends.

How to collect data for product analytics

To collect product data for analytics, consider the following:

• Analytics tools: Use a powerful analytics tool like Userpilot to automate data collection and track user actions, feature usage, and other critical metrics across your product.
• Autocapture and custom event tracking: Implement no-code solutions to automatically capture key user interactions without requiring extensive technical resources. And for more specific insights, use custom event tracking to gather data on particular user actions or behaviors that are important for your product goals.

• A/B testing: Conduct A/B tests to compare different versions of a feature or user interface element to determine which version performs better.
• Qualitative data: Collect qualitative data through NPS surveys, customer feedback, and user interviews to complement your quantitative data.

If you want to learn more about how to get the most actionable insights from product analytics. Check out the upcoming Product Drive Summit, where Kevin O’Sullivan (our head of product design) will share product analytics strategies live.

Product operations

Product operations focus on optimizing the processes, the product tech stack, and the data that enable product-led companies to become aligned, agile, and data-driven.

This involves implementing famous PLG frameworks like scrum, kanban, and pirate metrics (although they’re not the only ones).

In software companies, this leads to streamlined communication, improved decision-making, accelerated product delivery, and ultimately increased product growth.

What are the roles of product operations

The key roles in product operations include:

• Product manager: Oversees the product development process, ensuring alignment with the product vision and strategy. Key skills include strategic thinking, customer empathy, and strong communication.
• Lead engineer: The engineering teams are responsible for the technical aspects of product development, ensuring feasibility and quality. Key skills include technical expertise, problem-solving, and product leadership.
• Product designer: Focuses on the user experience and interface design, ensuring usability and visual appeal. Key skills include creativity, user research, and design proficiency.

If you want to learn more about how to transition to the product operating model (POM). Check out the next Product Drive Summit, where Marty Cagan (co-founder of SVPG) will share his 20 years of wisdom in growing product-led businesses.

Roadmap

A product roadmap is a strategic document that outlines the vision, direction, priorities, and progress of a product over time (which can be private for internal usage or public to involve the community’s feedback in the development process).

It’s an essential product management fundamental since it allows product managers to align teams, set expectations, and communicate the product’s future trajectory.

Who should be responsible for the product roadmap?

The responsibility for the product roadmap typically lies with the product manager.

As the person accountable for the product’s success, the product manager ensures that the roadmap aligns with the company’s strategic objectives and customer needs. This way, you can keep teams focused and motivated to work on the right priorities.

If you want to learn more about prioritizing correctly with the right product strategy, don’t miss the next Product Drive Summit, where Ant Murphy will tell you how to start working on your product strategy right now.

Conclusion

These 11 product management fundamentals are crucial for keeping users around and cultivating product growth.

By effectively measuring and continuously improving your product, you can ensure your product remains competitive and aligned with both business goals and user expectations.

Want to take product management to the next level? Book a Userpilot demo to see how you can personalize the product experience without coding.

Try Userpilot and Take Your Product Experience to the Next Level

Get a Demo

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• No Credit Card Required