Product experience is a part of the entire user experience. It focuses on the journey within the key product itself. Think of it as user experience within the walls of the product. It is essentially an experience the customer feels from the time they log in to the time they quit using the product. Since product-led growth is touted to be the most sustainable way to propel customer retention, product experience has assumed new importance. Customers like trying products to get aware of how they work. For companies who are moving to a customer-centric mindset, it is important to embrace a product mindset. Product experience is achieved through features, quality control, and design.

Product Experience is the part of the customer journey that allows for churn reduction and improves revenue. An orientation towards PX helps companies become modern and data-driven.

What is Product Experience: A Definition

Product Experience (PX) refers to customer experiences while using the product- this includes their emotions, thoughts, and motives. A part of the customer experience that is associated with the product. The product is the main driving force of the experience. Of course, a good user experience research plan will ensure that everyone on the product team is aware of what to expect and will set your project and product up for success. As per IGI Global, product experience can be defined as below-

“The awareness of the psychological effects elicited by the interaction with a product, including the degree to which our senses are stimulated, the meanings and values we attach to the product, and the feelings and emotions that are elicited”.

How does PX differ from CX?

Product experience is the narrow band of a customer experience. It is based on engagements with the product. When customers get Onboard, they care the most about the product. In B2B companies specially, the product is the main flagship as it contributes heavily to customer experience. Product experience is the perception of customers to your product, its features, and more based on their engagement with it.

Why is Product Experience important?

Customers want personalised solutions. Intuitive product experiences are raising expectations on companies. Customers who are now unsatisfied with the brand are moving to other solutions. Now having a great user experience is not enough. Customers want good products that adapt to their needs, engage them, and serve their purpose.

Having a product experience strategy will allow information to be distributed in a way that best suits customers.

Who is involved in PX?

Mastering product experience goes beyond a simple team function. It includes all interactions about the product internally and across departments.

Company-wide Effort : Product teams alone are not responsible for PX. It requires efforts of customer-facing teams, marketing teams and more. Since products are constantly changing, it is necessary for teams to equip themselves. CS teams and product teams need to work closely to get immediate value for any development.

The four teams that are responsible for a holistic PX strategy include-

Customer Success

For customer onboarding, training, upselling, and renewals while engaging with them. Developing workflows that keep them retaining and measuring them via renewal rate, NPS and more is important.

Product

For product teams, they need to have a product vision and strategy while creating strategies that will encourage feature adoption and drive product usage. The metrics that dictate include customer lifetime value, DAU, and MAU.

Sales

For sales teams that conduct demos to push users further down the funnel, they need information. Conversion rates are a metric to get an idea of how teams are performing.

Marketing

Generating content or creating campaigns that drive product awareness makes marketing teams responsible for product experience. This effort is measured in CAC, trial signups, and MQLs.

How to build a Product Experience strategy?

To facilitate a product-led growth strategy, it is necessary to track engagement, analytics, feedback. These are the three components of a PX strategy.

Analytics

With the right data, it is possible to offer a better experience to users. When product experience is backed by insights, it is possible to deliver the best experience. With data analytics, you can

• establish how efficient your users are while using your product
• identify where users drop off while navigating across the product
• understand upsell opportunities
• check revenue and feature adoption stats

Engagement

Every user who visits your products will not be engaged for the long run. Every customer needs to be re-activated and engaged after multiple efforts. Reaching out to customers will improve the prospects of product adoption and reduce churn.

• User onboarding needs to be segmented to provide a personalised product experience
• Using in-app guides and messages can help users get better awareness and experience
• Increase awareness with email engagements about the product

Feedback

Customers expect a lot. Everyone wants a better version of yesterday every day. It is also important to gather feedback about your customers.

• NPS can help get the overall sentiment of customer health
• The right feedback can influence product upgrades
• Segmenting surveys can improve response rates and details

Scaling Product Experience with Technology

To create the best product experiences, you need the right technology to power it. With analytics, engagement, and feedback, it is necessary to get the right technology.

Better features, better experience

Product developments and features are key in customer retention. Promote product-led development by getting better insights. Better experience means more chances for customers to stay happier with the company.

Products are crucial. Depending on its specifications, it is possible to make customers advocates and drive new growth. To measure product usage, you need to target the right customers and upsell in a relevant manner.

Customer-centric alignment

Product leaders need to work with teams on developing a customer-centric mindset. Customer success needs to have the right data to show stakeholders the direct impact of the product on them.

To use technology, you need the right tools. The SmartKarrot Customer success platform enables companies to understand how users feel when they use the product. Keeping in mind the increasing rates of churn, a set of powerful tools can guide companies ace in customer retention.

What is Product Experience Management?

Product experience management is when brands deliver the right content as per need to drive sales, build loyalty, and grow overall market share. PxM leverages all you know about your products and customers to deliver a personalised, customer-centric, omnichannel, and social powered experience. You can apply machine learning and other data techniques to provide engaging content to the audience. The key components are-

• Managing new channels like voice assistants and chatbots
• Efficiently distribute product information across touchpoints
• Onboard product data and manage suppliers

What are the Benefits of Product Experience Management?

Seamless comprehensive product data and customer data enables insights that drive personalised experiences for customers. The benefits of product experience management include-

• Cross selling opportunities
• Drive brand awareness
• Increase conversions
• Improve customer experience
• Reduce returns and churn
• Upselling chances
• Personalised interactions
• Optimise revenue through product recommendations
• Making meaningful recommendations for customers
• Improving omnichannel customer experience by ensuring the right information at the right point for every customer
• Targeting product information effectively where the customer is
• Increase margins and suggest products based on that

Types Of Product Experience

There are multiple types of product experience. Here are ten types of product experience.

Fit for purpose

Does the product serve the purpose? Does it give the experience customers signed up for?

Sensation

These are the core sensations generated on using the product. This includes sound, light, vibrations, haptics, temperature and more.

Usability

A product that is usable and pleasing. This means the experience of the product should be positive. A customer must not feel it is a useless purchase.

Learnability

The product is intuitive and easy to learn. There is little effort in understanding the product completely.

Control

You can control the product. Your wishes are not over ridden with automations and AI.

Personalisation

The product can be personalised to suit customer requirements. It can be made as per your preferences.

Stability

Dynamic elements make the product feel intuitive. These user-friendly stable designs will allow for better improvement and usage.

Accessibility

The product needs to be accessible to customers. It should not be something customers who are specially abled or face issues with cannot use. It needs to have a higher perception.

Risk

The risk appetite of the customer must not be hampered. Also, the product needs to be legal and safe to use. There should be no information security threats that cause risk to the customer.

Terms

The terms and conditions of the product have to be fair. It should be acceptable to the customer to get a good experience.

Bottom Line: Product Experience is Crucial to Growth

Your product is your biggest asset. With your product, you can navigate and make a positive impact on the lives of customers. Companies who have understood product experience as the central force of customer relationships are leveraging its power. PX strategies will help companies strengthen their hold on their own product formulation to propel growth. With a powerful tool like the SmartKarrot Customer Success platform, companies can now understand aspects like product adoption, user engagement to stay ahead of the curve. Real-time alerts and account intelligence can provide deep insights into each customer’s account so as to offer a personalized PX.

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