How to Navigate Feedback To Uncover Product-Market Fit: Insights from Calendly
It’s a well-known fact that gathering customer feedback is crucial for determining product-market fit. However, the true challenge lies in interpreting that feedback correctly — separating the meaningful signals from the noise. Far too many startups have fallen victim to chasing false positives, mistaking superficial customer enthusiasm for true product-market alignment. What can result is a lot of wasted time and effort spent building a product that never takes off.
The key is to look beyond the surface-level feedback and tune in to the specific signals that point to a sustainable fit between your solution and the market’s needs. In this article, I’ll explore some insights from my time at Calendly, uncovering the particular customer behaviors and sentiments that served as a reliable compass towards achieving product-market fit.
Inside the Calendly Success Story
During my time as a product designer at Calendly, which had approximately 2.5 million active users at the time, there was no absolutely shortage of customer feedback for the product.
To be honest, I think had really underestimated the impact and reach of Calendly when I joined. I had the fortune of meeting with dozens of customers every few weeks, sharing and testing new concepts to help improve their experience with our products, and learning about the unique challenges of their work. It wasn’t long before I realized the critical role this appointment scheduler played, not only for small businesses and entrepreneurs, but for entire teams across different functions such as Sales, Customer Success, and Recruiting.
What seemed like an incredibly simple concept was absolutely transformative for so many different industries.
I remember a phenomena during the pandemic, when hundreds of medical clinics all over the country adopted Calendly to provide quick online scheduling for Covid-19 testing and vaccination. It was incredibly humbling to talk to medical coordinators who were using Calendly to help make it easy for patients to receive essential care.
Something that I won’t forget from all the deep research we did was the genuine affection customers expressed for Calendly. Whether it was using the platform for facilitating in-bound client calls, streamlining customer support, or easing the job interview process, the impact was palpable.
Customers made it clear to us that Calendly was more than just a tool; it was a catalyst that changed the way people worked, that they genuinely loved and appreciated.
If they love it, they’ll let you know
Achieving product-market fit stands as the make-or-break moment for your business, where your product either aligns seamlessly with the needs and desires of the market, or it doesn’t.
Building success goes beyond creating a decent product; it demands a deep understanding of the target audience and their pain points, and it delivers a solution so good that it changes people’s way of doing things.
When a product effectively solves a valuable problem and identifies its target market, customers who use it will express their satisfaction in several meaningful ways.
1. Irreversibility
“I can’t go back to the old way ever again”
Prior to using a scheduling tool like Calendly, we didn’t question that in order to agree on a time to meet, we had to offer options, and wait until the person at the other end either accepted one of our suggestions or offered their own. When customers described how Calendly changed their expectations of finding times, they often said that doing things the old way felt time-wasting, even ridiculous. The product uncovered a critical obstacle that created friction in their process and removed it entirely.
If you’re hearing this type of language in your research sessions, give yourself a round of applause because I can think of no stronger argument that this product or service has changed this customer’s way of working.
This statement indicates that your product has raised the bar to the extent that reverting to previous methods is unthinkable. It implies a superior experience or outcome that has rendered previous solutions obsolete.
2. Indicator of Dependency
“I can’t live without it”
There can be many of reasons why in a customer interview, the participant may say positive things about what you’re showing them when in reality they may not feel inclined to use it. It could be due to a feeling of not wanting to offend the interviewer, or wanting simply to tell someone what they want to hear. It could even simply be that they like the concept and have positive feelings, but has an inaccurate perception of how they would feel about the capability in a real-life scenario.
In our research with customers at Calendly, we understood that it wasn’t enough for customers to like a feature or concept that we presented to them. We needed some kind of litmus to tell us if the feature was important enough to their workflow for us to spend the resources to build it. One of the questions I often included at the end of concept testing sessions was the following:
How would you feel if we did NOT include this feature?
- Satisfied
- Neutral
- Somewhat dissatisfied
- Very dissatisfied
With this question, we wanted to understand whether the absence of a proposed feature would actually bring about a negative reaction. While it isn’t necessarily fool-proof, the essence gets at determining whether the capability is valuable enough to strengthen the reliance on the tool by our customers.
This statement suggests that the product has become an indispensable part of the user’s life or workflow. Such dependency indicates that the product fulfills a critical need, demonstrating its value and relevance.
3. Transformational Impact
“This has completely changed the way I work”
Our team is more efficient and productive thanks to this product”
We frequently heard from customers that when Calendly was set up and they started receiving more calls with less time invested, they could refocus that extra time on the more important aspects of their work, like preparing for the call or working on a sales strategy. On several occasions, we heard instances of individual power users who created really efficient processes around their customer calls — processes which were then adopted across entire teams and departments.
The organic dissemination of best practices underscored Calendly’s ability to seamlessly integrate into diverse workflows. It demonstrated that when users proactively adapt their working methods to leverage a product, it is an undeniable signal that the product has successfully identified and addressed a critical need in the market.
When a user expresses that the product has fundamentally altered their work processes, it signals that the product goes beyond mere utility. It has successfully introduced efficiencies or improvements significant enough to reshape their entire approach.
4. Quantifiable Value
“It saves me so much time”
“The value I get from this product far exceeds the cost.”
Sales departments commonly rely on metrics like the number of initial call sign-ups to gauge team performance over time. Teams that experienced a surge in call volumes after implementing Calendly recognized its immediate value. Similarly, for recruiting teams who measure success by both the time invested in sourcing candidates and the total number of interviews conducted, the introduction of Calendly has made a tangible impact. This advantage is as significant for the organization as a whole as it is for individual recruiters, who benefit from having one fewer critical task to manage.
If your product has a positive impact on a quantifiable metric that is already being actively tracked by your customer, then there is a good chance they will use it again and again. For Calendly, saving time is a tangible and quantifiable benefit to it’s customers. The sentiments above indicate that the product is not just a tool but an efficiency booster, providing a clear value proposition that resonates with users. This goes beyond a simple transaction; it signifies that the product provides meaningful benefits that make it a worthwhile investment.
5. Enthusiastic Recommendations
“I tell all my clients/coworkers about it”
If a customer is providing word-of-mouth recommendations for your product, with no incentives involved, then you have reached a valuable milestone. Not only are they genuinely happy with your tool, but they feel so strongly about it that they want to share it with others. We were elated when we heard from people who recommended Calendly to friends or acquaintances within their network. It demonstrated not only that they found value in using the product, but they wanted to help build a world where more people are using it too.
This statement reflects user advocacy, a powerful driver of product success. When users willingly share their positive experiences, it not only validates the product but also contributes to organic growth through word-of-mouth referrals.
6. Consistent Usage
“I use it every day!”
“It’s become an essential part of my daily routine.”
While some products are used relatively infrequently and are still successful with customers (think of Turbotax or Docusign), a product that you use a few times a day or week quickly falls into an individual’s routine. For people who were regularly on dozens of customer calls per week, Calendly became a critical part of their technology stack.
Regular usage strongly signals product integration into the user’s workflow. It suggests that the product has become an essential part of their activities, demonstrating sustained value and relevance.
7. User-Friendly Design
“It’s so easy to use”
“Set-up was so easy, I could use it immediately!”
One of the most consistent reasons customers said that they loved Calendly was how easy it was to set up. One critical aspect of successful activation is to help the customers complete their core tasks as quickly and seamlessly as possible. It’s important to note that Calendly’s set-up isn’t even the most straight forward out there, with calendar integration being one of the biggest hurdles in the multi-step flow. In efforts to continuously lower the barrier of entry, there are teams of researchers, content strategists, and designers dedicated to looking for ways to make the scheduling experience even easier.
Ease of use is a critical factor in user satisfaction. When users highlight the simplicity of a product, it indicates that the design aligns with their preferences and enhances their overall experience.
8. Pain-Point Resolution
“It solved a huge headache for us”
The problem that Tope Awotona aimed to solve is such a fascinating one because it wasn’t entirely obvious. Before I knew tools like Calendly existed, I was vaguely aware that emailing back and forth was a pain, but I never knew to articulate it as a stand-alone problem. I just believed, like most people in the world, that it was just part of the experience of meeting with people.
But once I and millions of other people experienced the effortlessness of choosing from a table of mutually available times, and that resulting in an automatic block in my Calendly, I immediately decided I would never put myself through the agony of email tag again.
Identifying and resolving a truly painful experience, even one that a customer isn’t entirely aware of, is a hallmark of product-market fit. This sentiment suggests that the product successfully addressed a major challenge, making it an essential solution for users.
9. Constructive Feedback
“I would love it if you changed…”
“Love it, but it would be even better if it had [specific feature].”
For every glowing review we heard from Calendly customers, there were maybe 50 times more messages about things they wished the product did or didn’t do. We heard from customers via in-app feedback, support calls, customer interviews, Twitter, Reddit, etc, all kinds of requests around missing capabilities they needed, bugs in functionality, ideas for improvements, misunderstandings, complaints, insults, and the list goes on.
We had the fortunate problem of having too much feedback. For researchers and product leads, it was a goldmine of information to help improve the product. For business leaders, it was a sign that customers wanted and expected more from Calendly. Wanting more and asking for it is a demonstration of trust in the brand and it’s team to do well by it’s customers.
Even feedback indicating areas for improvement can signify product-market fit. Users who express a desire for specific changes likely value the product but see opportunities for enhancement, indicating an ongoing relationship with the product.
The only path to confidence is to get customer feedback ASAP
The journey to product-market fit is a dance between innovation, understanding, and responsiveness to user needs. The testimonials and expressions shared — “This has completely changed the way I work,” and the like — serve as a resounding chorus affirming that a product has found its market.
So, as we continue to explore what customers say when a product nails it, let these testimonials guide us toward a future where products not only fit into markets but seamlessly shape and elevate them.
Were there any clear signals that I missed in this article? Let me know in the comments what you’ve learned while building your products!
