Startup Product Managers: How to gather product insights with a lean team

You want to gather robust feedback, but you’re only one human…

What now?

For some things, like a bug change, the level of success is easy to see, the bug has been fixed. For larger launches, it’s a PM’s job to be able to articulate to stakeholders how the launch is going with feedback — both quantitative and qualitative.

At a startup, you may not (almost guaranteed you don’t) have the luxury of a data team, customer insights team or many other teams to help. All those teams might be wrapped up in one human — yourself. This is what I do as a startup PM to gather robust data after a launch with a lean team.

What to measure:

Ok, sure, we all want to measure growth in users and revenue. That’s a given and should be measured. Hopefully, you already have systems in place to do so. Larger companies with full data teams bring in high value and specific cross-functional data; however, as a startup PM, you sometimes have to get creative on gathering data to provide robust product iteration recommendations.

There are other measurable auxiliary metrics that you as a PM should be aware of when tracking the success of your product. We all know to look at metrics related to growth and usage, but how can we better understand how the product impacts cross-functional initiatives? A well-rounded and researched product launch should cause lifts in multiple cross-functional areas of the business.

Some areas that your product may impact that aren’t always top of mind to measure include:

• Increase in web traffic on XYZ pages
• Increase in number of qualified job applicants to certain departments because of your team’s venture into this new product area
• Increase in the number of qualified sales leads
• Increase in the number of people sharing the feature on social media
• Better engagement of current users
• Better conversations with potential investors

These are all things you can measure without an intense data team while tapping internal resources and processes. What are cross-functional teams already measuring that could give you insight into the product launch? Start there.

Additionally, as a startup, you may also have an additional “customer” segment of current and potential investors. Keeping this customer segment in mind when developing post-launch metrics and post-launch visuals will make your CEO’s life easier too.

How to measure:

Quantitative and qualitative data are your friends. If you don’t think of yourself as a data person but don’t have a data team of your own, I like to re-frame it as citing my sources. As a PM, it’s your responsibility to use these data points, in combination with your knowledge of the industry, competitors, users, and company goals, to inform the iterations you’ll make on the launch.

Quantitative data: Again, look at things at a cross-departmental level. Pull numbers from your job listings (when relevant), website traffic, and Google analytics. If you have tracking software implemented like Mixpanel, even better, you can use that to see on a more granular basis how your change is impacting users.

💡 A note: At a startup, especially in the early stages, you may choose to intentionally ignore one user base to grow and benefit another — take this into consideration when looking at metrics.

Qualitative data: This is where things get fun! (and frustrating). Gathering user insights from early adopters is incredibly rewarding, and also incredibly challenging. Not only do you have to convince people to talk to you, but you have to convince the right people to talk to you and you need to ask the right questions.

Who to talk to?

It is impossible to interview everyone, with or without a research team to support you, so you have to be strategic with customer feedback methods:

• Review recorded sales calls & demos (use a transcript and watch at 2x on a platform like Fathom.video)
• Review support tickets and meet with your customer success team
• Surveys are wonderful 🙂
• See if you can glean any insights based on open rates or click-throughs on marketing or product marketing emails
• Check out twitter — any buzz? (a startup may not generate much, but you never know!)
• A personalized email works wonders — with the blessing of your leadership spend 15 min each day emailing users who have interacted with your product recently. Even better if you can offer them an incentive.

Once you are armed with your data sources, you’re able to communicate success to internal cross-functional stakeholders and use the information to inform your next recommendations for product iterations.

Remember, once a product has been launched it’s only the beginning.