Product Analytics, Should I Care?
Spoilers … wherever you are in a business, yes!
Now, I am definitely biased. I have been working in Product Analytics since I ‘fell into it’, which seems to be one of the main avenues into this career. I think this happens because working in Product Analytics involves truly understanding the power of telling a story with the user journey and their engagement with the product. The key skillsets can be learnt, but those coming into Product Analytics all have the same desire for wanting to understand what makes great products by using and interpreting the data.
Businesses everywhere are investing in larger, broader, and more specialised data teams. It’s a really exciting time to be in the data space in tech companies. Data Scientist was even named ‘Sexiest Job of the 21st Century’ by Harvard Business Review. Although data science is key to creating smarter and more tailored products, no offence HBR, Product Analytics is coming to take the title.
What is Product Analytics?
Product Analytics is the process of analysing how users engage with a product or service. It empowers teams to analyse their users’ behaviours and engagement to optimise products, inform and influence strategy, or serve users and customers better.
The return on investment from a product analytics team can be felt in all teams in the business. Although the core business case is to serve product teams, the insights that come from the analytics can help with wider business strategy and is a fundamental pillar of Product Led Growth in a business.
Here at GWI, we are responsible for
- being instrumental in changing the perception and importance of data within our Product-Led organisation
- developing data-driven processes to deliver actionable outcomes for the Product team and the wider business
- building teams and capabilities to ensure the data function is driving the organisation forward
Structure of teams
There are many different structures your Product Analytics team could take, and this really depends on what your business objectives are. The balance between exploratory new product and strategy efforts and stable metrics for the business as a whole will change depending on how your organisation is set up to be optimised.
Amplitude describes that as long as you have these foundations in place, Product Analytics teams will become the heart of any data-driven strategy for your products
- People who are data literate and eager to teach others
- Teammates who are eager and incentivized to absorb that teaching
There is a great article which speaks to the importance of understanding your key goals as an analytics team within your organisation area, and the strategy of analytics across your whole enterprise.
“[The] hybrid approach is a good balance between coordinating enterprise-wide analytics initiatives, deploying analytics strategically, building relations and sharing best practices and learnings.” — Pedro Uria-Recio, Organizing Analytics like the Human Brain
Analysts will sit across most work that product teams do, from new product introductions, to frequent product updates, and ongoing experiments. They can also be proactive in their exploration of ideation based on the historic data you have as a business; is there something that is causing a large drop-off in user funnels that we haven’t explored yet?
These analysts can be centralised in Product Operations, embedded in teams, have dedicated experimentation analysts, or a combination of the above. Non-centralised teams without overall Product Analytics leadership have a harder task of working towards one goal of improving data decisions in general, but this structure works in some organisations. That’s why at GWI we wanted to create a strong Product Analytics team centralised in Product Operations to help drive our wider data strategy.
In summary, there is no one size fits all approach. There is a curve in any business to keep iterating to make better decisions using data, and Product Analytics teams are often a springboard in any Product-Led company to be able to do this.
Product Operations
Product Analytics is a core function in many product teams, often sitting in Product Operations. Product Operations is an exciting area of Product teams that we are seeing more in scaling and enterprise-size Tech companies. Analysts in these teams work with the Voice of Customer and Product Development Strategists to offer deep user insights to contribute to the product development process and how this fits into wider business objectives and strategy.
If you want more detail on how to structure Product Operations teams and how we grew here at GWI, check out our next post in tech-gwi with our Director of Product Ops.
PLG (Product Led Growth)
One of the best arguments for embedding Product Analytics teams within Product Operations is if your business is adopting a PLG approach. Product Operation teams, with data and insight experts Product Analysts, become the beating heart of implementing these Product-Led strategies into the Product team itself, but also overlap and collaborate with many other areas of the business. For example, the intersection of Customer Success teams and Product teams can often be facilitated by the translation of overall objectives. Product Operations at GWI, with our strategy focused on key principles such as Voice of the Customer and Product Insights, is in a great place to be able to do this so all perspectives are considered and actioned.
PLG companies apply this insight to their go-to-market strategy by investing in the product with the intent of driving acquisition, conversion, and expansion. They do this by investing in robust product data that allows teams to track, measure, and analyze user behavior. — Open View Partners
Open View Partners describe well how Product Data fits into this puzzle. It is a core pillar that is being invested in by the biggest organisations across the world. In fact, 96% of companies with over $1 Billion revenue have dedicated Product Operations resources, with Product Analytics and Data being a fundamental part. This year alone our Product Operations team at GWI has had investment from 0 to 7 members within a year. Yes; we’re serious about it!
Should I care?
Okay, you have almost definitely been convinced that Product Analytics is a great addition to any organisation. But ultimately, should you care about it? I am a big believer in the power of data, and how great it feels to be making empowered decisions that are based on tangible evidence and have high confidence. Although important, this isn’t just for Product teams. This is an effect that a great Product Analytics team can help you feel in ripples throughout your whole business. We are seeing it here at GWI with our work spanning across our Product Team but also our Research, Customer, Revenue and BI teams.
Any organisation focused on delivering digital growth at scale should definitely listen out for the dizzying heights that Product Analytics teams will continue to provide.
