Alex Chahin

Starting a new project can certainly feel daunting, especially when you don't feel you have the right tools or budget. But there's good news: When you have to be scrappy, there's data all around you. Step 1: Wrap your head around the problem as best as you can Whether it's bringing a new product or feature to market or developing a new marketing campaign, I like to start with an unbiased hunt for existing information because it may trigger ideas you wouldn't have if you defined scope too early. ...Read More

In all of the places I've worked, I've had the good fortune of having talented Consumer Insights and User Reasearch partners. With that in mind, I tend to focus less on having a prescriptive take on specific methodology knowhow, but I do expect folks to have a strong ability to be thought partners with their research counterparts. In my experience, that often includes a few things: Have an understanding of what data will be convincing to stakeholders across the business Have an understanding of ...Read More

To answer this question, first ask yourself a number of questions: Business importance: Is this a smaller feature, or is it a big bet and large revenue driver? Risk: Even if it's not a large revenue driver, there may be a substantial reputational risk to getting it wrong. Is this one of those situations? Timing: When does this need to hit market? Can you convince management and stakeholders to wait for research, or do you need to act now? (Side note: Many projects will feel urgent, but it's rare ...Read More

While there’s no perfect answer here, there can be too much of a good thing. Behavioral economics research has shown that we tend to have a hard time deciding from a large array of options. This phenomenon is known as choice overload. It’s also often referred to as the paradox of choice, being paradoxical, of course, because you’d think that more options would be better. In fact, not only is it harder to make a decision when there’s too much choice available, if we do end up making a decision, i ...Read More

What an exciting opportunity this is for you! I’m thrilled that you’ve earned this chance. When I joined Hims & Hers, I was in this exact position where I got to build out the Product Marketing team from scratch. It was one of the most valuable learning experiences of my career so far. Your list of questions is great. If you’re able to get through all of these in the time you have allotted with the founders, that’s fantastic. You might find that the answers to these can be substantive, thoug ...Read More

Picture this: You’re working on the merchandising team at Williams-Sonoma, a home goods store that sells things like upscale kitchen appliances, utensils, and cooking supplies. Your boss has just asked you to figure out how to sell more breadmakers, which are appliances that mix the ingredients, form the dough, and bake it all in one. Many people enjoy fresh-baked bread, but not many people have the time or patience to make it, so the convenience of it makes it interesting for the brand to push ...Read More

There’s so much B2C product marketing -- just look around you! Think about the laptop or phone you’re reading this on right now. The bluetooth headphones you used to listen to music recently. The shoes on your feet. The credit cards in your pocket. The toothpaste you used to brush your teeth this morning. What convinced you to buy those things? Maybe it was the description of the audio quality for the headphones. Maybe it was the extra cavity-fighting and whitening power of the toothpaste. Throu ...Read More

We've all been there. First, you think through a problem and what you need to research. You dig in with your Insights team partner on the objectives and questionnaire. You get raw data back and sythesize. You pull together a thoughtful report with recommendations. You're excited to share it out with the team. Then you hear the doubt: "How was that question asked?" "How many people were asked?" "Are we sure we can believe that?" "Oh, yeah, I think that must be skewed." The thing I'd encourage you ...Read More

If you have the ability to use both, it tends to help paint a richer picture. That said, a good rule of thumb is that behavioral data can help you understand what people are doing, and market research can help you understand why they're doing it. Let's imagine you lead product marketing for a subscription food delivery product (like a DoorDash's Dash Pass or Postmates Unlimited) and are seeing cancellations increase. That's a big behavioral data-based insight. Now, you might be able to use behav ...Read More

Price acts as a huge quality signal. One of my favorite studies on the subject is one done by Professor Dan Ariely. He had a hypothetical painkiller he called Veladone Rx. In reality, in this experiment, it was nothing more than a sugar pill. There was no actual active medication in it. But the participants didn’t know that. It was paired with literature that said “clinical studies show over 92% of patients report relief in 10 minutes.” In the first variant, people were told that the drug cost $ ...Read More