In this ProductTank London talk, Ian Booth, Senior Product Manager at EduMe, provides insight into how putting people at the heart of product-led growth can create users who love products and happier, more engaged, and secure teams who build them. 

His key points include: 

• In product-led growth, the end-user is the key to your success, and they are not a number; they are a person
• Product-led is organizational — Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, Engineering, Design, Product Management are all involved in building a product
• Product-led growth is a strategy that allows you to scale your businesses sustainably. People feel pain
• Well-defined value metrics can align your team behind customer experience in a way that targets just can’t.

Watch the video to see his talk in full or read on for an overview of his key points. 

Targets are numbers. Users are people

In product-led growth, the end-user is the key to your success, and they are not a number; they are a person. Both your users and your team are the only ones who can help you make a product a success. When analyzing an opportunity, it’s important for product managers to ask themselves if they are doing it for revenue and to hit a target or improve users’ lives. If this isn’t the main factor, getting off the ground will be difficult. 

This is important because technology has shifted from on-premise software with high costs where executives make decisions to cloud-based with lower costs and greater ROI. Software is now more connected and comes at a lower cost, meaning that the decision-making process is based on the user’s daily experience. 

Product-led is organizational. Organizations are people

The happier your end users are, the less friction they feel and the more likely they are to adopt your products and recommend them to others. This has led to an increase in the cost of customer acquisition and the willingness of users to pay for things. 

Product managers need to be aware that they must take their users on a journey. From a free trial to help them find value and ultimately make a purchase. Organizations must also remember that Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, Engineering, Design, Product Management are all involved in building a product. 

Organizations are inefficient. People feel pain

The average worker spends at least one workday a week on manual and repetitive tasks. Product managers should run interview sessions with each team to understand their current concerns and problems and show them new ways to improve. Product-led growth is a strategy that allows you to scale your businesses sustainably. 

Align value metrics. Connect people

Well-defined value metrics can align your team behind customer experience in a way that targets just can’t. One way Ian found to do this was to divide the roadmap alignment into two separate parts, one area focused on acquiring and converting new customers, and another focused on retaining existing customers. Once this is done, each team can work on a singular mission assigned to a specific value metric. 

The key takeaways from this talk are that targets are numbers, but users are people. A product is an organization, but organizations are people. When organizations are inefficient people, feel pain and align value metrics by connecting people. 

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