Maybe you’ve experienced something similar. You launch a new product with a great initial response, but as time goes on, interest fades and demand stagnates, or worse, declines. On the surface, everything seems fine - you have website visitors, an acceptable bounce rate, and leads coming in. However, the critical issue remains: conversions and revenue are lacking.
Perhaps you dismiss it with a thought, 'Well, that only happens to amateurs.' However, this scenario is not exclusive to inexperienced players. It occurred even for a well-financed start-up, backed by venture capital funds and headquartered in Silicon Valley.
With one of our projects, three years in the market, and a nearing 500k user base, it was steadily growing - until it wasn't. They decided to seek a partner who could assist them in addressing this situation. We collaborated with them to develop a comprehensive plan for sustainable revenue growth. To ensure the best possible outcome, we utilized the Product Discovery Process. The result? The impact was indeed remarkable. After implementing the insights gained from our Product Discovery Process, their revenue surged by an astounding 17 times in just one month.
Laying the Foundation with Product Analysis
Jointly with the client, we delved into an in-depth product analysis to identify the key issues we needed to address. We reconsidered the core problem and evaluated the product’s functionalities. Then, we closely examined the rationale behind certain features and their alignment with the business value. All this was done by analyzing a pile of contextual and non-contextual data generated through users’ interaction with the product in the previous period. Additionally, we used a product canvas that revealed significant areas of misalignment within the product.
It became evident that 3 main areas demanded immediate attention:
Unfocused and Overwhelming Offer: Despite effectively addressing multiple user pain points, the innovative product suffered from excessive features, which dimmed its unique selling proposition and caused confusion among users.
Lengthy Conversion Funnel: The user journey from initial engagement to conversion proved excessively long, with too many options in each step of the funnel and a lack of clear and engaging information that would take the user to the final destination - conversion.
Non-transparent Offer and Pricing Model: The placement of the payment gateway disrupted the user flow toward conversion, while the subscription-based pricing model contradicted the product’s value proposition, requiring adjustments for better clarity and alignment.
Time for Market and Competition Research
Next, we delved into comprehensive research on the market ecosystem and competition. Our primary objective was to understand how our client's product compared to others in the market. We identified direct and indirect competitors, while also studying the successes and, more importantly, the failures of similar products. This competitor's analysis enabled us to find market gaps and strategically position our client's product.
Developing Hypotheses, Mapping User Journeys, and Segmenting Users
With practical insights gained from our initial analysis, market research, and competition analysis, we created hypotheses for the improvements we aimed to test with users. This involved mapping user journeys for key functionalities, considering different user segments. By identifying pain points, bottlenecks, and areas for enhancement, we streamlined the overall user experience.
Going for Usability Testing
We believe that user-centric design is the key to digital success; therefore, we conducted rigorous testing to ensure that our client's product met the highest usability standards. By observing users interacting with the prototype we designed to address the key issues and by gathering feedback, and validating it against our hypotheses, we pieced together the puzzle gaining a clear understanding of the necessary implementation steps to achieve our main objective: revenue growth.
Setting Priorities and Planning the Roadmap of Implementation
Using the outcomes from our analytics, research, and usability testing, we refined and confirmed the necessary changes in terms of unique selling proposition, user journeys, user experience, and pricing model. These changes were transformed into a roadmap and subsequent backlog items for our engineering and design teams to begin implementation and delivery. The timeline was clear: we had two months to elevate the product by incorporating all the proposed changes.
… and success!
We implemented all the changes within the planned time frame and relaunched the new version of the product without any additional costs for marketing or PR activities. After the first month, we assessed the performance results, and the outcome was truly astounding: a 1,700% increase in product revenue.
The success achieved through the Product Discovery Process is a testament to the power of a strategic and user-centric approach to digital product development. By conducting market and competition research testing, user journey mapping, usability testing, and pricing model adjustments, we delivered a product that resonated strongly with the target audience, resulting in an amazing 17-fold increase in revenue within a month.
Learn more about the discovery process with a free ebook, "The Digital Entrepreneur’s Holy Grail: Essential Topics for Startup Victory."
