What are areas of product differentiation that most product managers overlook, but are really important?

Answer

4 Answers

Product Differentiation

Lizzy Masotta

Shopify Senior Product Lead | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • 4y

Don’t forget about marketing, positioning and acquisition of customers as a key part in your differentiation strategy. It’s easy for Product Managers to solely focus on the bits and bytes of how the product works once someone’s in it, but if you cannot acquire or entice new customers - you need to move your differentiation focus further up the funnel. Is your product too hard to set up or use? Does it take a long time for users to see value in your product? It’s key to partner with sales, pro ...Read More

1,308 Views
Kara Gillis

Cortex VP of Product | Formerly Splunk, Deloitte • 4y

I'll keep this one rather brief.

I find that some product managers do not always listen to their customers and their problems as the guiding light for improving and differentiating their products. Instead, they fall in love with a shiny new piece of technology that may not be solving a critical problem.

550 Views
Preethy Vaidyanathan

Matterport VP of Product • 3y

One important ingredient is tying how product differentiation helps drive business value like brand recognition, product usage or increased sales. This connection between differentiation and business outcome can be overlooked because it may not be a straightforward exercise to draw causation conclusions. One strategy to deploy is to think of leading-indicator measurement (vs. lagging). Few examples: Increased sales are a lagging indicator. However, can you measure how product differentiation hel ...Read More

472 Views
Milena Krasteva

Walmart Sr Director II, Product Management - Marketing Technology • 4y

Sustainable Competitive Advantage. 1. Product attributes are insufficient and can be replicated by competitors with enough investment and determination 2. Pricing models and all their nuances can be undercut. Customers' willingness to pay may be negated by the next recession or evaporate when a new shinier, cooler competitor product arrives 3. Human capital, though harder to build up and retain, can still be hired away from you. Everybody has a price. So, what makes for sustainable competitive a ...Read More

331 Views