DataDrivenProductDevelopment

Lessonslearntinastartupenvironmentby@will_ogden,CTOatTrustedHousesitters.com

AboutTrustedHousesitters

• Enablespetownerstofindasittertocarefortheirhome&petsforFREE,inexchangeforaplacetostay• Largestglobalhouse&petsittingbusiness• Membersinover140countries• Facilitatedover1mnightsofhouseandpetsittingtodate• Pioneeringanewindustrymeanslessestablishedbenchmarks;thereforearealfocusondatadriveninsightsandproductdevelopment

Keytousingdatainproductdevelopmentistounderstandwhatsuccesslookslike…• Areyoutryingtodriveengagement?Areyouwantingtoincreaseconversion(probably)?Areyouwantingtoreducechurn?• Ensurethateveryoneisusingthesamemetricstomeasurethesesuccessfactors.• Alwayslookatthemetricsholistically.

A/Btestingandthefollyofmarginalgains

• A/Btestingsoftwarehasbecomeincreasinglyeasytouse.Veryattractivetoastartupduetoeaseofactivationandlowcost.Youcanreacheasilyasegmentable,globaluserbase.• Assistsinshiftingproductdevelopmentconversationsfrom“wethink”to“weknow”• PosterchildofA/Btestingsoftware…the“calltoaction...”

Focusofourattention

Testinground1...

Testinground2...

• Ourtestingcenteredaround“microconversions”.Improvingindividualsectionsandinteractionsofthesiteiteratively.• Mantraofmarginalgainsmakealotofthingsalittlebitbetter...however...

• There’sabigassumptionthatthese“microconversions”areisolated...inmostuserjourneyshoweverthisisalmostneverthecase...changingtrafficpatternsanduserjourneyshigherupthefunnelcanimpactengagementfurtherdown...potentiallywipingoutpreviousgains.• Imperativetohaveastructuredplanaroundtesting.Startatthetopofthefunnelandworkdown.Seewheretheopportunitiesare.• Candefinitelyimproveexperienceandoptimizeconversion...butgenerallymoreevolutionratherthanrevolution.• Forlarger“stepchange”or“revolution”functionality,A/Btestingisstillagoodfittotrialnewfunctionalitywithoutrisk.

Usertestingandcustomerfeedback

• Remainingcustomercentricthroughrapidgrowthisachallenge;butit’sparamounttostayingfocusedondeliveringwhatthecustomerwants…especiallyasheadcountincreases.• Usertestingandresearchisgreatingettingdataabouthowreallifehumansareengagingwithyourproduct.Variouswaysofcapturingthisdatae.g.remoteobservations,surveys,interviews,etc.• Importanttopickthecorrectaudience– askingprofessionalusabilitytestersmaygivesomegoodinsights…howevertargetaudiencemaybequitefarremovedfromthise.g.notastechnicallysavvy.• Remembertheobservereffect.Someofthebestinsightswegleamed,usedremoteobservationsoftware.Unmoderatedrealworldinteractionsfromactualmembersusingtheirowndevice.

Bakinginfutureinsightrequirementsandmakingdatasustainable• Whentryingtounderstandcustomerneeds,typicallywe’reanalyzingeverythingweknowaboutthecustomersintentionsandbehaviors.Thisdataisofteninseparatesiloswhichneedexploring• There’sa(slightlydubious)analogythatdataisthenewoil…

Data

Typicaldatascientists

• Foragivenproductecosystem,therewillbeafiniteamountofreportabledata.Asthelowhangingfruitispicked,findingpatternsandbehaviorswithinthedatabecomesmoreofachallenge…

• Torealizemoresourcesofdata,sometimesthelowtechsolutionisbest…youdon’talwaysneedtoreachforthelatestDeepLearningsoftware...

• Whenattheideagenerationanddesignstage,factorinwhatdatacouldbecapturedtoprovidefutureinsightsthatcouldfuelfutureproductdevelopment.

• Putincreasedfocusontheacquisitionofdataaswellasuserrequirements…giveyourDataScienceteamsmoredatatoanalyze.

• Augmentexistingdatawithrelateduserbehaviourdata.Manyofftheshelfsolutions,butwe’vehadsuccessinbuildingourowninhouse...providesusbothreportinginsightsanddrivescustomizedcontentwithinthesite

Thevalueofdataisintheinsights

• Ifyou’retakingadatacentricapproachtoproductdevelopment,andaremakingcommercialdecisionsbasedondatait’simperativethatthereisarobustQAprocessaroundthevalidityofthedata.• Importanttochallengefindingsofqualitativedatawithsupportingquantitativedata.Usequalitativedatatocreatehypothesisandquantitativetotestthem.Theyworkbestintandem.

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