As a Product Manager, Do You See Users as People Or Dollar Signs?
This is an important question to ask you as a product manager — Do you see your users as real people, or do you see them as dollar signs?
As a product manager, you love your data. You love to see the entire picture of what’s going on with your product and what your users are doing as a whole. However, if you’re not careful, and you’re not going out and talking with users (and there are companies that like to ensure that you’re not bugging the customer), you’re going to start seeing them as numbers, as stats, as dollar signs at the end of a transaction.
I hate to quote Stalin in regards to writing about product management, but I feel it helps get the point across:
A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.
So, are your hundreds, thousands or millions of users to you real people, or are they just numbers on a screen? What are your users to you?
I’ve written in the past about how it’s easy to play the blame game with your users.
- Do you see some of your users as having nothing better to do but constantly send you support emails or phone calls to get help with your product? Can’t they just help themselves?
- Are you frustrated that your users can’t seem to figure out what they want with your product? Are you frustrated when you add in a feature that’s been requested, and people are still not satisfied?
- Do you get annoyed by your users, but put up with it because at the end of the day, they’re paying you for your product?
I think its safe to say a lot of companies don’t see people, but just see dollar signs. Like the following:
- Banks
- Telecom services
- Airlines
I’m sure we’ve all had our fair share of lousy customer service with the three above. Those at the top levels of these companies could not care less about service as long as they’re getting the almighty dollar, leaving it to others who have to deal with the customers, and receive the blunt end of complaints. They follow their scripts and procedures, and these companies, because they are so big, can get away with it.
That said, you would be surprised how many smaller companies simply see their users as dollar signs.
We all have our lives. Our families, our friends, our likes and dislikes, our goals, our dreams, our stories to tell. We’re not just warm bodies that fork over money to someone else.
But, sadly, a lot of companies see this as reality. They don’t care about the user, as long as they’re meeting shareholder expectations, or sales quotas by any means necessary. As long as they’re making money, that’s the number one goal.
Look, I understand that in order for a company to survive, it needs the almighty dollar.
There’s nothing wrong with making money. But, at the end of the day, remember that those that are paying their hard earned dollars are not just numbers on a screen, that they are people. If you can take the perspective of users being real people and not faceless masses forking over money, you’re going to build a better product. When you focus on delivering the best possible product to your users, you build that trust and in the long run, will generate money as a by-product. If you’re going after short term gains, like meeting sales quotas or questionable means of driving up business, you will likely find yourself stumbling in the future.
So, as a product manager, how do you ensure that you do not see your users as mere dollar signs?
- Go talk to them! The simplest approach is the best approach. If you’re constantly talking to customers, you can see that they are people, and not just means to an end.
- But what if my company does not want me talking to the users? Oh dear, that’s a red flag. You shouldn’t be working there in the first place. You need to make a case to upper management for why. If this doesn’t work out, start looking for work elsewhere.
- But I can’t possibly talk to all the users! There are too many! And that’s fine. I’m not suggesting that. What I am suggesting is talk to as many as possible. This will get you thinking in their shoes more often and develop empathy for the customer.
Don’t be like that! Be like Helen Lovejoy. Think about the customers, and not just the numbers.
Originally published at www.pmpaul.com on March 23, 2017.
