AMA: Gainsight Director, Product Management, Pavan Kumar on Product Strategy

The first and major step for any initiative would be to clearly understand the company's goals and priorities - and ensuring that your product vision and objectives closely align with these. If this can be achieved, the job is half done. But rarely do we come across such clear synergies and hence we work on an evolving plan - typically a clearly articulated roadmap - with milestones Here having a short term view (<90 days) - Items that deliver immediate value: Its easier to convince the executive team if we are able to generate tangible / measurable results in the short run. Building the trust - we move towards strategic initiatives that typically involve committed medium to longer term investments. These are critical to the success of the product overall, but dont deliver value either immediately or have several dependencies / complex tasks that require larger investments. For this: * Running a pilot (within the short term delivers) to clearly demonstrate broader value where possible would be an easy win * For the tougher / longer asks, engaging the key stakeholders very early in the cycle, gathering their inputs and address any concerns - By getting them invested in the idea, everyone collectively works towards making the initiatives successful. * Clear articulation, especially showcasing benefits from the overall company's positioning in the market would greatly help the cause

Balancing investment in competitive differentiation with customer retention involves a strategic approach that ensures sustainable growth and loyalty. Few pointers (in no particular order): * Understand Customer Needs: Regularly conduct customer research to inform both differentiation and retention strategies. * Market Segmentation and ruthless prioritisation: Tailor your efforts to different customer segments, addressing both acquisition and retention needs. Use a transparent prioritization framework to balance investments in innovative features and retention-focused improvements. * Balanced Roadmap: Develop a product roadmap that includes both differentiation and retention initiatives, aligned with business goals. Invest in initiatives that offer immediate retention value while also funding long-term differentiation projects * Customer-Centric Innovation: Ensure innovations are driven by customer needs, creating unique value propositions that enhance differentiation and satisfaction. * Measure Key Metrics: Track and analyze metrics like CAC, CLV, churn rate, and NPS to evaluate and adjust your strategy.