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strategy sprints

If you’re an entrepreneur, I know you dream of transforming your vision into reality. But during that quest, what many don’t anticipate is the immense toll this journey can take. Burnout isn’t just a buzzword — it’s a haunting specter that looms large for many entrepreneurs. The constant juggling of tasks, the weight of responsibility, and the isolation often accompanying leadership positions can lead to overwhelming stress. It’s a silent morning coffee staring at a never-ending to-do list, it’s the missed family gatherings because of “urgent” work, it’s the 3 AM worry sessions questioning every decision made. doesn’t just zap your energy; it erodes your passion, the very fire that drove you to entrepreneurship. Burnout But here’s the silver lining: it doesn’t have to be this way. With the right strategies and tools, you can navigate the tumultuous path of entrepreneurship. This guide will provide you with actionable solutions, tailored specifically for the unique challenges entrepreneurs face, to help you reclaim your passion, drive, and inner peace. 1. Embrace the Power of Scheduled Breaks I know the idea of taking breaks might seem counterintuitive. “Time is money,” after all. Yet, in the relentless quest to accomplish more, the true cost is often your mental health and overall productivity. Why breaks matter It’s a misconception that more work leads to more success. Our brains, magnificent as they are, aren’t designed for prolonged, unbroken focus. Like a muscle, they fatigue. Periods of intense work can saturate our cognitive capacities, leading to errors, reduced creativity, and diminished problem-solving abilities. The science Studies have repeatedly shown the benefits of taking short breaks during work. These interludes provide a chance for the brain to rest and process information. Especially for entrepreneurs, tasks often require deep cognitive processing, and regular pauses can be the key to enhancing mental performance. Try this The Pomodoro Technique is a prime example of structured break-taking. It involves dividing work into focused intervals, usually 25 minutes long, termed “pomodoros.” After completing 1 Pomodoro, you reward yourself with a 5-minute break. These consistent breaks allow for mental recuperation, ensuring that each of your work intervals is as productive as possible. Making it work for you As an entrepreneur, your tasks might vary in complexity and urgency. Instead of sticking rigidly to 25 minutes, adjust the intervals to suit your workflow. Maybe you need longer sprints for deep-strategy sessions and shorter ones for email management. The key is consistency in taking those breaks. Action steps Begin with three intervals a day, gradually increasing as you adjust. Start small: When it’s time, step away from the desk. Stretch, hydrate, or even do a quick mindfulness exercise. Commit to breaks: After a week, reflect on the impact. Are you feeling less fatigued? Is your productivity enhanced? Adjust your intervals based on your observations. Evaluate and adjust: Remember, in the world, where innovation and sharp decision-making are paramount, entrepreneurial The quality of work trumps quantity. Regular breaks aren’t an indulgence but a strategic tool for sustained success. 2. Instant Serenity with Deep Breathing Techniques What if the antidote to the tension you experience lies within something as simple as a breath? Why it makes sense If you’re burnt out, you might find yourself trapped in a whirlwind of thoughts — financial forecasts, team dynamics, competitor moves, and so much more. Amidst this chaos, the mind yearns for an anchor, something to grounding. Deep breathing serves this exact purpose. The science Deep, conscious breathing triggers our parasympathetic nervous system — the body’s natural “brake” to counteract stress. It reduces the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and shifts the body from a state of alert (fight, flight or freeze) to one of relaxation. Even a few minutes of focused breathing can recalibrate the mind, restoring a sense of peace. Breathing techniques to try Box Breathing: Inhale for a count of four, hold for four, exhale for four, and pause for four. This method is revered for its immediate calming effects. 4–7–8 Technique: Inhale for a count of four, hold for seven, and exhale for eight. This technique not only relaxes but also aids in better sleep. Action steps Set aside 3–5 minutes twice a day, perhaps before a significant meeting or after a challenging task, to practice your chosen technique. Create breath awareness: Numerous apps offer guided breathing exercises. They can act as both a tutor and a reminder to incorporate this practice. Utilize tech: Introduce short group breathing sessions at the start of team meetings. It will not only benefit individual members but can also enhance group synergy. Make it a team affair: Don’t view deep breathing techniques to be merely a wellness tip; it’s an essential strategy for sustained success. 3. Adopt the Four A’s of Stress Management Entrepreneurs, by nature, are problem solvers. Yet, when it comes to personal stress management, many are left without an actionable strategy. Enter the Four A’s, a time-tested approach to handle stressors with finesse and clarity. Running a business invariably invites stress. While it’s impossible to entirely escape it, mastering the art of responding to it is the difference between burnout and sustained success. The 4As Regularly audit your operations. Is a particular partnership draining more energy than it’s worth? Is there an outdated process that’s becoming a bottleneck? Address these modifiable stress points head-on, be it through restructuring, renegotiation, or complete removal. Alter Set clear boundaries. This could mean declining projects outside your business’s core mission or avoiding collaborations that don’t align with your values. Regularly assess what aligns with your vision and values; if it’s peripheral, consider sidestepping it. Avoid Cultivate a growth mindset. Encountered an unexpected hurdle? Instead of viewing it as a setback, can it be an opportunity for growth or learning? Adjusting your perspective can transform mountains into molehills. Adapt Focus on what you can control: your response and next course of action. Build a support system, be it through mentorship, peer groups, or personal wellness practices. When storms hit, anchor your enterprise with unwavering values and adaptability. Accept Bonus tips Platforms like Headspace or Calm offer guided meditation sessions tailored to different needs. Dedicate a few minutes every day, maybe before starting your work or before bed, to meditation. Sitting in complete silence might be very useful too. Use meditation apps It might seem like you’re the only one who knows the right way, but it’s not a one-man show. Build a reliable team and trust them with responsibilities. By sharing the load, you not only reduce your stress but also empower others, fostering a more positive work environment. Delegate more, stress less Allocate some time each week to read up on mindfulness and stress management. Books like “The Miracle of Mindfulness” by Thich Nhat Hanh or “Wherever You Go, There You Are” by Jon Kabat-Zinn offer invaluable insights into being present. Read mindfulness books I know it’s tough but where possible, set boundaries between work and personal time. This might mean designating specific days off, setting “no work” hours, or even just ensuring you have a hobby or activity that’s entirely separate from your business. Rethink your work-life balance What you consume ends up consuming you. Regularly engage with high-quality content that supports your mental well-being. Having a pool of resources to dip into can offer both solace and solutions. Curate your knowledge intake Navigating entrepreneurial burnout While filled with exhilarating highs, entrepreneurship also brings moments of pressure and self-doubt. Even in the midst of this, there are actionable strategies tailored to refresh, recalibrate, and rejuvenate your spirit. Remember to: Set scheduled breaks, ensuring that your brain remains sharp and efficient. To practice deep breathing techniques. The Four A’s of Stress Management — Alter, Avoid, Adapt, and Accept. Bonus tips like meditation, strategic delegation, enriching reading, work-life balance, and curating quality content will further support your journey, offering practical methods to enhance your well-being. Entrepreneurship isn’t just about business metrics; it’s about holistic success. As you forge ahead, know that burnout doesn’t have to be a part of your journey. Use the strategies above and you’re poised not just to survive, but to thrive with renewed energy and passion. Stay driven, stay refreshed. Also published here.

3 Actionable Tips for Burnt-out Entrepreneurs

In my personal experience, I've learned firsthand how tech experts can seamlessly transition into leadership roles, effectively managing both managerial and product challenges. I would like to share with you my experiences as an example where certain situations presented unique challenges and opportunities for growth. While these examples can’t serve as a template for answering leadership or strategy questions in interviews, they do illustrate how engineers can encounter such opportunities and challenges requiring a non-technical skill set using their domain knowledge. I'll share some examples, highlighting not only technical achievements but also strategic decisions and leadership actions that have driven success. leadership The Transformation of Our Testing Practices. In a project, we faced the common challenge of expanding test coverage while reducing testing cycle time. Recognizing the limitations of manual testing, I proposed an obvious strategy - a shift towards automation. However, implementing this strategy was not a task I could undertake alone. It required a collaborative effort and technical expertise from the entire team. Through meticulous planning and coordination, I developed the design of the strategy and test plan, outlining activities and sprints, setting priorities, and crafting checklists. With approval from stakeholders, we embarked on the journey to implement auto tests covering a wide range of entities and actions. This initiative yielded remarkable results, with a notable 15% reduction in testing cycle time and a significant increase in test coverage. Improvements, Bugs, and Security Vulnerabilities. We encountered numerous hidden bugs, including major security vulnerabilities, which prompted a deeper dive into exploratory testing. By leveraging the technical expertise of my team members, we uncovered these elusive bugs, fortifying our products against potential threats. I made security checks mandatory in the dev cycle before shipping any major changes or new features. Despite the fact we lacked expertise, I constantly consulted with cybersecurity professionals and formed a security checklist with the additional usage of automated vulnerability scanners. As a tech guy, I learned a lot while organizing this process. This proactive approach allowed us to fix issues at earlier stages, preventing damage to the product and expediting security audits. Integration Bugs. Despite our best efforts, integration issues persisted, threatening our development timeline. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, I introduced and enforced a KPI for the implementation of unit tests covering 80% of the codebase. Furthermore, we strengthened our testing infrastructure with integration tests, ensuring early bug detection. To address the gap in testing coverage for UI components, I suggested a similar approach to my team - to implement unit tests for 50% of UI elements, developing our testing framework. The challenge was to convince the team to do this, then drive and control these activities, and get approval from stakeholders because this strategy took more resources and caused delays in shipping. However, with the higher quality of our products, this experiment showed that the strategy was worthwhile. Culture of Excellence Within Our QA Team. Through mentorship and professional development initiatives, I empowered team members to take ownership of their work, fostering a sense of accountability and pride in their contributions. One of the most rewarding aspects of my leadership challenges was the transformation of our release process. By establishing transparent QA practices and prioritizing bug backlog, we achieved more frequent and stable releases (1-2 times a week instead of 1 in two weeks). This strategic approach resulted in approximately 70% fewer medium and high-priority issues in our production environment. Moreover, the number of bugs reported by end-users decreased by about 80% after feature shipping, demonstrating the effectiveness of our testing strategies. Additionally, the speed of fixing known bugs improved by up to 300%, ensuring swift resolution and minimizing disruption to our customers. More features, less bugs. By alleviating bottlenecks in testing, we achieved a more balanced workload for the team, earlier bug detection, and significantly fewer bugs found after release. Efficient communication with stakeholders, managers, and product teams facilitated the successful delivery of many projects and features within deadlines. Additionally, through constant contact with the FO and BA, I led initiatives (wrote some specification-like documents) to suggest valuable features and UI improvements, enhancing the overall user experience and product quality. These initiatives underscored my commitment to driving not only technical excellence but also fostering collaboration, efficiency, and innovation within the team. By empowering team members, streamlining processes, and fostering open communication, I laid the foundation for sustained success and growth, both for the team and the organization as a whole. QA responsibilities extend into the realm of IT consulting, involving the facilitation of improvements, active participation in problem discussions, and keen issue identification. While QAs may lack certain technical skills for direct implementation, their responsibilities lie in guiding teams in the right direction and suggesting viable solutions. This consulting skill, often overlooked, is crucial in contributing to a smoother development process and quality end product. A good QA isn't someone with perfect technical skills who can implement solutions but someone who can identify the root cause and guide the team effectively in fixing it. This is the mindset I prefer to adopt as a QA and IT professional in any software dev team.

Personal Insights: From Tech Expert to Team Leader, Navigating Managerial and Product Challenges

ব্যক্তিগত অন্তর্দৃষ্টি: প্রযুক্তি বিশেষজ্ঞ থেকে টিম লিডার, নেভিগেটিং ম্যানেজারিয়াল এবং পণ্য চ্যালেঞ্জ

Persönliche Einblicke: Vom Technikexperten zum Teamleiter, der Management- und Produktherausforderungen meistert

Perspectivas personales: de experto en tecnología a líder de equipo, navegando por los desafíos de gestión y de producto

Perspectives personnelles : d'expert technique à chef d'équipe, naviguer dans les défis de gestion et de produits

व्यक्तिगत अंतर्दृष्टि: तकनीकी विशेषज्ञ से लेकर टीम लीडर तक, प्रबंधकीय और उत्पाद चुनौतियों से निपटना

個人的な洞察: 技術専門家からチームリーダーまで、経営上および製品上の課題を乗り越える

개인 통찰: 기술 전문가에서 팀 리더까지, 관리 및 제품 과제 탐색

Insights pessoais: de especialista em tecnologia a líder de equipe, enfrentando desafios gerenciais e de produto

Личная информация: от технического эксперта до руководителя группы, решение управленческих и продуктовых задач

Kişisel İçgörüler: Teknoloji Uzmanından Ekip Liderine, Yönetimsel ve Ürün Zorluklarının Üstesinden Gelme

Hiểu biết cá nhân: Từ chuyên gia công nghệ đến trưởng nhóm, điều hướng các thách thức về quản lý và sản phẩm

个人见解：从技术专家到团队领导者，应对管理和产品挑战

Product designers get the worst of it; they are either confused with other specialists, or simply misunderstood. Sergey Lukyanov, co-founder, and Head of Design at Preply , on who product designers really are and what they actually do. Myths are part of the IT industry. While fiction about programmers and designers are getting old, positions in companies multiply. New delusions flourish in areas where work is being done at the intersection of several disciplines. I am the co-founder, and Head of Design at , international edtech marketplace for learning foreign languages, explains what product designers are, and more importantly — what they are not. Preply Myth #1. A Product Designer is just a Designer You can’t generalize too much. The key task of a product designer is to address user and product problems. To achieve this, you must go beyond being a specialist, but also a generalist, a professional with knowledge in several areas. You have to dive into behavioral psychology, UI and UX, analytics and much more. . The role of the product designer is to oversee interface development, usability, and product type, given the budget and tasks Myth #2. A Product Designer is almost a Product Manager Another oversimplification. To avoid it, you need to remember areas of responsibility. Product managers assign team KPIs and manage the project life cycle. Product designers are on the other side; they have responsibility for what happens when people use the product. The daily tasks that product managers focus on are not first on a product designer’s list. The latter deals with issues using , and is also in charge of the information infrastructure. design thinking and designs the human-product interaction Myth #3. A Product Designer only cares about Aesthetics First of all, a product designer should focus on how the product will be used, rather than the way it looks. Of course, you cannot ignore aesthetics, however, the position doesn’t allow you to lose yourself in visual fantasies. Paradoxical as it may sound, a poor design may look good, and a good one may not be so spectacular. How to strike the right balance? This is one of the product designer’s challenges and it is much more complicated than "just making it pretty." Just look at the new iPhone screens. A contentious cut at the top. It does not suit the phone and is hidden in banners. But the main thing is that the “bangs” are no bother — Apple had to edit the rounding elements millimeter by millimeter. Myth #4. A Product Designer is just an Executive Having the strictest ToRs and running sprints like crazy is a dangerous strategy. A product designer cannot be a rigorous technocrat. One needs to walk in the user’s shoes, get the hang of habits and characteristics, without breaking the key product’s principles. Simply put, it’s all about empathy and understanding that you can always retrain people. Myth #5. A Product Designer is an Authoritarian Genius Dictatorship with both coworkers and users is unnatural for a product designer. Articulating issues and assigning the right tasks requires close communication — with your team, product managers and team leaders. You will have to analyze sketches, discuss functionality with engineers, talk to copywriters and go over the UI. Listening and hearing in this position is vital. A “reserved genius" style will not work. Myth #6. A Product Designer acts Randomly Methodologies and work strategies form the basis of the work process in the IT environment. Principles of design thinking guide product designers. What we’re talking about here is the approach to innovative developments, where people and their needs are at the core, and technical means addressing them. It’s an uneasy path: first, you need to define the problem, then analyze possible solutions, build a prototype and evaluate its effectiveness. Each step demands careful reflection and creativity. Therefore, in product design, a person is always more important than the process, though, from afar it may seem that the work is proceeding "on a hunch". Myth #7. Just Hand it over to Production! The product designer’s work does not stop at the point the product enters the market. Actually, it’s quite the opposite — this is where the fun begins. In addition to prep, a product designer also needs to evaluate the real effectiveness of the work done. Welcome to the world of metrics and constant monitoring! No matter how hard you try, there is always something to fix. The main thing is to keep an eye on the feedback and important indicators. Myth #8. Following the Trend is Above All A product designer needs immunity to trend noise. If minimalism is in fashion, this specialist will recall Einstein’s quote: “Everything should be done as simple as possible, but no simpler”. And vice versa, one will need to double-check and make sure the user is not overloaded with options or visual effects. The main product designer’s guide is rationality and the usefulness that a product should bear. The actual value is above design trends. Myth #9. Product Designers never really Existed Programmers are sometimes compared with mathematicians, while designers are compared with creators. It gives authority. What about product designers? The job is not that easy, and anthropologist is its "academic" analogy. Not to be confused with an archaeologist! Other than the origin, anthropologists study human behavior and its change under the influence of socio-economic and natural factors. Product designers are a little more specific, but the perspective is pretty much the same. The analogy, of course, is not perfect. Comparing designers with artists is a convention. The main idea is that such a position is not a whim of the digital era. Myth #10. Product Designers don’t bear Real Responsibilities Imagine an iPod without the famous click wheel, offices without Aeron seats or the auto industry without the Model-T Ford. No need to explain how much all these inventions have changed everything. All of them have a thoughtful product design, even if it is usually reduced to ordinary ingenuity or simplicity. Product designers create a user experience, and there is nothing more important than that.

#Busted: 10 Laughable Myths About Product Designers

I started the year an employee, and ended as a co-founder. This blog provides a brief recap of 2016 from the perspective of a young tech co-founder who got his feet wet with starting a cloud-based content management platform with a powerful JSON API at its core: Cosmic JS. January 2016 On January 2, 2016, I was sitting down to my desk at my old interactive branding agency. My role at the agency was to find and acquire new clients, scope their projects and subsequently manage them through to post-production. It was a good position at a good agency, yet indicators were not yet showing what the year had in store for me as a newly-emerging co-founder. April 1, 2016 Today was the day. I was fed up, and more than anything, tired. I had been chasing my tail at my interactive agency for 2 years, which most will attest is like 7 years at a “normal job”. The notion of “working smarter” seemed to be lost in the agency mantra, and the frustration of continually counseling clients into a WordPress content management solution was weighing heavy. I’d worked up the courage to proctor my notice of resignation to start bigger and better things. While the resignation didn’t go well, this was the April Fool’s Day that would start my life shift. April 2016 Perhaps the most important tax day of my life, as my now co-founder (Tony) logged a call to me to tell me about an opportunity he had been working on in stealth mode after hours. My co-founder was no stranger as we had worked together at our digital agency, producing web applications for several years together. I brought the projects in, scoped and managed them, while my co-founder led the development charge with his team of front and backend developers. Tony and I had had a common problem at our agency: our interactive projects were time-consuming, bulky and expensive to execute. He had been working on a cloud-based content management platform that he felt would one day “replace WordPress”. is a light-weight, cloud-based content management solution that simplifies your stack by only requiring the Cosmic JS CMS API and a code repository. Cosmic JS works by decoupling content from code, allowing developers to build slick apps and websites in whatever programming language they want. The Cosmic Stack May 2016 We pulled the trigger. After reading a couple of books, hundreds of articles and even watching a couple of YouTube videos, we decided to pull the trigger and incorporate as a Delaware C-Corp, starting our co-founder journeys with bright hopes and aspirations. Cosmic JS June 2016 What are we doing? Same hope, same ambitions, same great product, but the messaging was off. Our stories didn’t yet match. We didn’t know where to pitch the product, in what fashion or what sequence. We wrote ad hoc blogs and tweeted about new example applications we had built, but cohesiveness was not yet our middle name. We spent May, June and the early portion of July sorting through the paperwork phase of incorporation, setting up payment gateways, bank accounts, retaining lawyers and updating our own social presences to reflect our new entity. We were gearing up for Public Beta. July 2016 We decided to launch our Public Beta on Tuesday, July 19th using Product Hunt as the go-to-market tool for our beta. Signups and traffic started spiking, as did our appetites for the clicks we were seeing. Starting July 19th of last year, users could sign up for the platform without having us approve their entry into the system. The payment gateway was hooked up but still being prepped to be set live on August 1st, 2016. August 2016 Traction, you evasive animal. Users flooded the system, signing up and reaching out to the Cosmic JS c0-founders for help locating blogs, tutorials, demos and just generally bouncing questions off of us. The “iterative feedback loop” proved invaluable to us as we began to build priority ladders for what users wanted, what pain points they were experiencing and what could alleviate those pain points most efficiently. Did I mention we landed our first paying client?! September 2016 Landed second paying client. And third. And fourth. Began contributing to . Daily signup averages started increasing. Overall daily traffic was boosting. We gave demos 3 or 4 days a week as needed, editing website copy and formalized a more cohesive social media strategy. We started doing daily and weekly sprints based off of activity goals we would set a week or several weeks out. We started to hear from accelerators, VCs and angel syndicates. Cosmic JS Users Hit . Options began to present themselves. HackerNoon.com 500,000 API Requests October / November / December Due to external deliverables being requested by VCs and accelerators, we set out to anticipate objections about the company itself, which was a new front for us as we had mainly focused thus far on objections as they related to the platform, the tool itself. As we sought funding and advisors to help us take our startup to the next level, we realized that many vetting us felt as though we were just as crucial to the process as our product was. We overhauled our , started the , pushed several new features sets live and started documenting the company and product through and our . Oh, and Cosmic JS Users Hit . Home Page Cosmic JS Community videos Developer Spotlight Series 1,000,000 API Requests Product Demo Meet the Founders January 2017 The beginning of our first full year as full-fledged startup. Since incorporation, our general traction and trajectory is as follows: Growing MOM revenue at 250% clip Boasted highest signup rate ever in month of December Landed first 20+ paying clients using 30+ paid products Identified NYC-based advisor to come aboard Enterprise demos and contracts solicited for Fortune 500 organizations Platform being used in 80+ countries Have doubled signups since incorporation Partnered with AngelList Syndicate to anchor Angel Round Cosmic JS Users Hit 2,000,000 API Requests Thanks for reading a bit about our journey over the last 9 months. We know 2017 will be a huge year for our startup, and for us as co-founders. I’d appreciate any and all feedback and guidance from the startup community who has successfully scaled products into companies that made others’ lives better. Follow me on and check out my . Twitter website is an API-first cloud-based content management platform that makes it easy to manage applications and content. If you have questions about the Cosmic JS API, please reach out to the founders on or . Cosmic JS Twitter Slack Carson Gibbons is the Co-Founder & CMO of , an API-first Cloud-based that decouples content from code, allowing devs to build slick apps and websites in any programming language they want. Cosmic JS Content Management Platform

An API Startup’s Year in Review

As the Chief Product Officer for 8 product departments with 30 teams, I found myself in a bubble, losing the feeling of the real-world state of our products. To break this bubble, I spent six months creating a new approach to reconnect with our products and customers. I'm excited to share this journey and how it helped me break out of the CPO bubble. Choose Demos Over 1-on-1 Meetings I used to talk about product changes in one-on-one meetings with my Head of Products. This often led to misunderstandings and a weaker connection with the product. So, I started going to every demo in the company. This kept me in the loop with the latest updates and let me talk directly with all teams. I also changed how we did demos. Instead of just talking about what we did in a sprint, we looked at the bigger picture. We talked about how these results matched our goals for the quarter, the problems we faced, and how I could help. This was much like what I used to do in my one-on-one meetings. This might seem like it takes a lot of time, and it does. That brings me to the next point. Cut Down on Repetition and Focus on Switching First, I made my one-on-one meetings every other week. In one week, I had demos, and the next, one-on-ones. Since we already talked about products and goals in the demos, there was no need to repeat it. We focused more on strategy, personal growth, and other issues. This saved time and made the team more involved. Also, I set one day for all the demos. Having them all on the same day helped me stay focused and not switch between demos and other work. It also made sprint schedules line up and made planning easier. Plus, it meant product leaders could join each other's demos, which brought the teams closer together. Put Processes First We started doing product sprints, where we set goals for the whole product team and talked about updates together. This saved even more time for my team and me, as it was a set time to talk about any problems and how things depended on each other. We also began doing quarterly demos. This let everyone in the company see what we achieved and gave me a broader view of the big improvements in our products. I could see how valuable these changes were from the customer's point of view. Give More Attention to High-Priority Areas The steps above helped me keep an eye on all our products. But to really understand the finer details, I regularly focused on the most important parts of our system. I chose these based on what was most important for the company. I worked closely with the teams, learning about every detail and speeding things up with my support. As I moved my focus around, I learned a lot about many products and helped achieve key goals. One More Small Thing A key part often missed is connecting with the team that's actually making the product. To do this, I set up a regular time when anyone in my non-direct team could talk to me. They just had to book a time and fill out a questionnaire about their understanding of the company’s goals, our products, and our customers. This was a great way to quickly find out about problems with products, solve conflicts, and get insights about our customers. Conclusion To sum up, being a Chief Product Officer of many product teams showed me how important it is to be closely connected to our products and the teams working on them. By moving from one-on-one meetings to group demos, changing how often and what we talk about in meetings, and doing sprints and reviews at the same time, I could keep a close watch on how our products were developing. Regularly focusing on key areas of our products and making it easy for the non-direct team to talk to me added to my understanding and effectiveness. These methods made our work smoother, got the team more involved, and made sure our products kept up with what our customers needed. This new approach became a key part of how we manage products, leading to more innovation and happier customers.

Breaking the CPO Bubble: My Strategy for Staying Close to Our Products

Modern marketing is a multifaceted field driven by both innovation and proven strategies, uniting a myriad of sub-disciplines and areas of specialization. While digital marketing focuses on harnessing online platforms, from search engines to social media, content marketing employs compelling narratives and impactful content strategies. Traditional marketing, while being age-old, still emphasizes the power of print ads, television spots, and radio broadcasts. This intricate blend of old and new, digital and physical, narrative and analytical, underscores the field's dynamic nature. As marketing professionals delve into this domain, they're constantly in pursuit of the next groundbreaking idea. A crucial part of this search involves crafting hypotheses—educated guesses or predictions—about how certain moves can impact business goals, whether to bolster sales, elevate engagement, or achieve other objectives. For instance, a brand might deduce that launching a loyalty program would enhance customer retention and increase the average transaction value. A redesigned website layout might be seen as a catalyst for user engagement, leading to increased on-site time and potential conversions. Yet, operating based solely on assumptions without thorough validation poses significant risks. A poorly executed loyalty program might alienate existing customers, and an unfamiliar website design could bewilder users, leading to fewer site visits. It is therefore imperative to carefully test any marketing hypothesis before it is acted upon to avoid potential financial losses, damaged brand reputation, or missed opportunities. With this article, I aim to provide support to both seasoned marketers and newcomers in sharpening their hypothesis-testing techniques. Drawing from my extensive experience in marketing, I have curated this guide to highlight challenges and showcase best practices in this critical arena. Together, we will explore the art and science of hypothesis testing in marketing, equipping both seasoned professionals and newcomers with the knowledge and tools they need to make data-driven decisions and achieve marketing success. So, how can one navigate the complexities of marketing hypotheses and ensure they’re more than just educated guesses?" Systematic Hypothesis Creation: Embracing the SMART and HADI Frameworks In marketing, every decision is consequential. Each choice, be it minute or monumental, can influence the direction of a campaign or the broader brand strategy. Hypotheses serve as clear guidelines in the intricate landscape of marketing, ensuring that strategies are based not just on intuition but on well-thought-out assumptions. For these hypotheses to be effective, they must . Why is precision so essential? An unclear or too broad hypothesis can lead to misallocated resources, misinterpreted data, or misaligned goals. To mitigate these challenges, professionals often turn to to draft their hypotheses, ensuring they're not only direct but also measurable and actionable. be both clear and precise structured frameworks One standout tool I prefer the most is the SMART framework. Understanding the SMART Framework Often used in contexts like project management, goal setting, and yes, formulating marketing hypotheses, the SMART framework stands out for its simplicity and precision. Each letter of the acronym "SMART" details a quality that a hypothesis should embody: : A hypothesis should be distinct and clear, devoid of vagueness. Instead of making broad statements, it should pinpoint exact areas of focus. S (Specific) The hypothesis should be accompanied by metrics or indicators that can be tracked and evaluated. Whether it's percentage growth, numerical values, or specific performance metrics, having measurable outcomes helps in assessing the success or areas of improvement. M (Measurable): : The hypothesis should be realistic, rooted in the existing capabilities, and take into account the limitations. While it's essential to have ambitious goals, the hypothesis should still align with what the company can practically achieve given its resources, technology, and current market position. A (Achievable) : Every hypothesis must align with overarching business and marketing goals; it should tie back to broader objectives, ensuring efforts are directed towards what truly matters to the company. R (Relevant) : Setting a clear timeline is crucial. When should the hypothesis be tested, and what results be expected? Whether it's a short-term goal spanning weeks or a long-term aim over several quarters, defining a time frame ensures accountability and helps track progress in an orderly manner. T (Time-bound) "Increasing email open rates by 10% through personalized subject lines will result in a 15% increase in click-through rates within two months." Here, specificity is clear as it targets email open rates and click-through rates. Measurability is evident from the percentage metrics. Achievability is implied by setting a realistic 10% increase, as opposed to an unrealistic goal such as, say, expecting a 70% increase in email open rates overnight. Relevance is tied to broader objectives like boosting online engagement. Time-boundedness is explicit with the two-month period. Consider the hypothesis : , consider the statement, "Increasing email open rates through personalized subject lines will boost click-through rates." This hypothesis, while directionally correct, lacks measurability and time constraints. Without specific metrics or a defined timeframe, its execution and evaluation can become hazy, potentially leading to inefficiencies. In contrast Delving into the HADI Framework Beyond SMART, another approach to hypothesis creation I usually use is the HADI framework. Unlike SMART, which focuses on the attributes of the hypothesis itself, HADI offers a sequential roadmap for the hypothesis testing process: Clearly state the assumption or prediction. H (Hypothesis): : Outline the strategic steps to validate the hypothesis. A (Action) Emphasize data collection methods to substantiate the hypothesis. D (Data): Analyze the data to derive meaningful conclusions. I (Insights): The HADI framework ensures that hypothesis testing isn't just about having a well-crafted assumption, but about having a clear strategy for validation and learning. It bridges the gap between theory and practice, ensuring a seamless flow from conception to conclusion. Alternative Approaches While SMART and HADI are widely revered in the industry, other frameworks, such as the LEAN (Learn, Experiment, Analyze, and Normalize) and CLEAR (Collaborative, Limited, Emotional, Appreciable, Refinable) methods, have their proponents. Though these methodologies offer unique perspectives, they might not encapsulate the comprehensive nature of SMART or the sequential logic of HADI, potentially making them less holistic for marketing hypothesis testing. Adopting Agility: How the Agile Methodology Reinvents Hypothesis Testing Given the volatile nature of marketing environments, static and unadaptable strategies often fall short. Marketing teams require flexibility in action and decision-making, much like software development teams, which frequently face evolving requirements and unpredictable challenges. This is where the principles of , which originated from , can be employed to drastically improve the process. But how exactly does this fit into our discussion on systematic hypothesis testing? Agile methodology software development Iterative Process Agile is, in essence, an iterative approach that promotes continuous feedback and adjustment. It breaks down vast projects or campaigns into smaller chunks – "sprints" – each with a clear goal and timeframe, allowing teams to focus, execute, and then assess the outcomes, refining the process with each cycle. Similarly, by breaking down testing processes into shorter cycles or 'sprints', marketers can validate hypotheses in phases. This iterative approach ensures real-time feedback incorporation, letting teams tweak hypotheses or testing methods as they progress. Consider the case of a business wanting to understand the impact of video content on user engagement. Rather than producing a year's worth of videos and hoping for the best, an agile marketer might break this hypothesis testing into several sprints: Produce and launch a pilot set of three videos over a month, focusing on varied content types. Sprint 1: Evaluate the engagement metrics - watch time, shares, and comments. Use the data to refine video content strategy. Sprint 2: Produce more videos of the most successful type(s), introducing minor variations in content presentation or video length, and gauge which variation performs best. Sprint 3: In this way, the Agile approach ensures constant learning, refining, and pivoting, allowing marketers to stay aligned with consumer preferences and market dynamics. Are there other benefits to Agile in hypothesis testing? The advantages of adopting Agile in hypothesis testing go beyond the power of iterative sprints. For instance, traditional methodologies often resist change once a plan is laid out. However, in marketing, change is the only constant. An Agile approach facilitates flexibility, allowing strategies to pivot based on real-time data or unforeseen external factors. Moreover, . Regular 'stand-ups' or meetings ensure every team member is aligned and aware of project progress, allowing for immediate feedback and knowledge sharing. This democratization of information fosters collective ownership of the testing process, driving efficiency and shared responsibility. Agile methodologies prioritize collaboration and transparency Furthermore, Agile places significant emphasis on . After each sprint, teams analyze what went well and what didn’t, ensuring continuous improvement and refinement for subsequent sprints. retrospective learning Harnessing AI and Data Analytics: The New Frontiers in Hypothesis Testing While structured frameworks and methodologies offer a foundation, the tools and technologies we utilize can significantly amplify our hypothesis-testing efforts. In our data age, traditional tools and methodologies often lack the capacity to sift through the enormity of information at our disposal. This is where the amalgamation of comes to the forefront, revolutionizing the way we test marketing hypotheses. Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics Mobilizing The Power of AI in Data Analysis Contemporary AI technology, with its ability to mimic cognitive functions such as learning and problem-solving, can be employed to analyze vast datasets at speeds humanly unattainable. For instance, imagine an e-commerce brand wanting to test the hypothesis that product recommendations based on browsing history will boost sales. Employing AI algorithms can help them dynamically adjust product recommendations for thousands of users in real-time, tracking their purchase behaviors against these recommendations. Data Analytics: Drawing Tangible Insights Data Analytics tools allow marketers to delve deep into data, converting raw numbers into actionable insights. Consider a brand hypothesizing that their social media advertisements are more effective during weekends. With advanced Data Analytics, they can dissect metrics such as ad engagement, conversion rates, and click-through rates by days of the week, providing concrete evidence to either support or refute their hypothesis. Real-life Integration A practical example of this synergy between AI and Data Analytics is Netflix. The streaming giant uses AI algorithms to analyze viewer preferences and behaviors, offering tailored content recommendations. Through Data Analytics, they gauge the success of these recommendations, correlating them with metrics like viewer retention and content popularity. By systematically testing and refining their recommendation engine using these tools, they ensure heightened user engagement and satisfaction. In Conclusion The road to marketing success is riddled with uncertainties. However, by embedding systematic practices into hypothesis testing, marketers can pave a smoother path. The convergence of structured frameworks like SMART and HADI, the adaptive nature of Agile methodology, and the prowess of AI and Data Analytics ensures that the decision-making process is both data-driven and nimble. While the responsibility of crafting the right hypothesis lies with the marketer, these tools and methodologies serve as reliable allies, illuminating the journey. As you embark on your next marketing endeavor, bear in mind that systematic hypothesis testing isn't merely a step in the process; it's the backbone of informed and impactful strategies. Dive into data, harness technology, stay agile, and let your evidence-driven decisions propel your brand to newfound heights.

Elevate Your Marketing Strategy with Data-Driven Hypothesis Testing

Hello, everyone! My name is Ayina Egorova, and I work as an Agile Coach at inDrive. I’d like to share here some of my experiences working with teams without any sprints while leveraging the Kanban system. We hope that this article will be useful for team leaders and scrum masters, and any other change agents. Here you will learn how to quickly get your teamwork going without any sprints: find out where to start, what tools we use in the company, and what mistakes to avoid. Separately, we will look into an example of a STATIK workshop within our Localization Team. Introduction If you have a team that is tired of sprints and interested in implementing the Kanban method, the first thing you need to figure out is whether this style of work is a good fit for the team. In our work, we use an iterative-incremental process, i.e., an approach to organization that combines stage-by-stage execution and incremental product development (value creation). One example of such a framework is Scrum. It often happens, when a team’s work is based or focused on Scrum, that it delivers value in stages, using roles and events from the framework. At the beginning of each sprint, the team plans out work tasks, whereas at its end, it demonstrates the finished part of the product. Let’s not dwell here on the definition of Scrum. More details can be found in the official guide. The only thing you need to know is the criteria which can be discussed and checked together with the team. This will help you understand whether you and your stakeholders are comfortable working with the framework. Scrum criteria as the basis for teamwork: Product development can be broken down into meaningful stages with tangible business value at each stage. Operating in an environment of high uncertainty without knowing what practices and tools might work. Defining each sprint as an experiment — product-, team-specific, organizational. Having product hypotheses that involve the entire team. Understanding the metrics that are affected by the team. Organizing the team around one single goal for the sprint. Product tasks in the backlog prevail (80%+) over service tasks for other teams. A greater degree of autonomy for the team to make decisions and manage their backlog, i.e., what, when, why, and in what order should be developed. What else could be used? Recently, the Kanban method has been gaining popularity as a tool for managing intellectual work tasks and aligning processes within product teams. You can use all the practices of this method, some of them, or only one as the context may require. There is no firm definition of what constitutes the Kanban method, nor is there any cutoff point that determines whether the task is being processed according to the Kanban method. Read more about the relevant practices in this guide. Let’s move on to see how we apply Kanban practices in our product and service teams. Visualizing the workflow We use a digital board with different visual cues: marks, color codes, and templates. Limiting the work in process We set limits on the work in progress for each of the columns: individually, per team, and so on. Managing the flow of work We check the metrics that measure the workflow, set up the Kanban board, and each stage in the workflow. Making workflows explicit We create work agreements visible to all. Implementing feedback loops We show our work to stakeholders and gather feedback. Continuous improvement We conduct a retrospective analysis and identify areas for improvement Kanban can be applied to the following cases and needs: The need for visualizing invisible knowledge work. The need for workflow alignment. The need for eliminating bottlenecks for the workflow and employees. The need for value delivery to be predictable. Complex organizational conditions and the need to start somewhere right now. Clear stressors and motivators for change, e.g., dissatisfied management, customers, or teams. If the organization is not prepared to make an abrupt shift to agile practices (e.g., scaling frameworks) or widely used agile approaches are not a good fit for it, the Kanban method offers an alternative approach to organizational agility. What essential elements are required to start using Kanban? The Kanban method greatly increases the productivity of teams faced with a constant stream of new tasks. This system is used in a variety of areas from construction to IT. Even though it’s recommended to adopt all six core practices of Kanban, I have singled out visualizing the workflow and making workflows explicit as the two most valuable practices for beginners. To begin with, I will tell you about the first practice. Visualizing the workflow There are several options for visualizing the Kanban workflow. The most popular of these is a web-based task board. It's important to take into account what information you use on the Kanban board for decision making. Ideally, the Kanban cards should fit and meet the needs of the context. Example: If you need to track task completion times, the card should reflect the deadlines. Why visualization is required: To identify hidden work and visualize the full scope of tasks the team is working on. To display the blocking tasks that cannot be worked on. To figure out what types of work are being done. For example, different colored cards for tweaks and tech debt. To determine the amount of work at each stage and visualize the task assignees. Note that in today's world, a physical board is hardly ever used. Below I'll share with you what visualization tools we use at inDrive. Wrike is a convenient tool to create a space for the work of a particular division, as well as keep track of deadlines and assigned employees. You can create a color flag, prioritize tasks, make a checklist, or assign multiple employees to a task. Wrike. This tool is a great choice for teamwork in software development. You can use it to capture changes in code, build roadmaps, and generate detailed reports in the form of metrics and graphs, as well as to create a backlog list. Jira. Making process policies explicit You have to clearly establish the rules and make them transparent for each team member so as to minimize human-factor issues. They should be simple, clear, precisely articulated, flexible, and applicable in all settings. It’s a good idea to start off with simple rules and make improvements as needed. It's important to understand that the rules evolve and change during the process. Some examples of basic rules are described below: Arrangements for scheduled completion times. Readiness criteria (When can a task be considered completed?) Criteria for moving between statuses (When can a work item move from one status to another?) Prioritization criteria (Which tasks are considered priority tasks?) When do you need to add to the backlog? How long can work items stay in a column? Adding when selecting new tasks. The rules should be established and followed to enable the team to operate independently. Discussing and setting up agreements is part of the STATIK strategy. This approach is used to implement a Kanban system or find the current growth points. The following example is a step-by-step breakdown of the STATIK workshop within our Localization Team. Description of the system via STATIK What is this? The System Thinking Approach to Introducing Kanban (STATIK) is a strategy for making it easier to implement a Kanban system. This is a workshop in which you have to go through certain steps: assess project tasks, problems and expectations, priorities of tasks. Why is this needed? STATIK is conducted by different people: process, project and team managers who intend to change a process or implement a Kanban system. Typically, teams want to figure out how Kanban can affect the process and how to design their first Kanban system. The format. This is a workshop with facilitation and discussion arrangements that takes from one to several days. You don't have to do it all in one go, and it’s okay to break it down into short sessions of two hours each. It’s best to keep the intervals between sessions short, as the team must maintain concentration throughout the period, because this is the only way to achieve the desired results. STATIK includes eight key steps, but we skipped some of them and tweaked the workshop a bit to suit our own needs. Below, I will describe in detail how I conducted the workshop for our Localization Team. The goal was to achieve process transparency and find points of improvement. Workshop for our Localization Team Our Localization Team is responsible for translating and localizing the inDrive app into different languages. We split up this workshop into two 120-minute sessions, held one week apart, to make sure the entirety of the learning material is well retained. Below I will provide a step-by-step description of each stage along this journey. The first session included steps 1-4, and the second one included steps 5-7. Step One. What is STATIK? Duration: 10-15 minutes. The facilitator describes the context for the team: sets out the purpose of the workshop, explains the theory, and establishes the ground rules together with the team, if necessary. The format used in my case: What is STATIK? What is its purpose and what does it accomplish? When is this strategy used and what for? What are the steps to be taken? What will we do during the workshop? I established the ground rules for participants: participate, actively engage in discussion and activities, be present here and now. I emphasized the benefits of the workshop and why it was worth taking. Step Two. Ice-Breaker Duration: 10-15 minutes. Assignment: Upload a meme or a picture that answers the question: "What does our process look like?" It took 3-4 minutes to gather information, then every participant described their chosen option and shared what the processes within the team meant to them. Step Three. Sources of dissatisfaction Objective: Identify points of growth and raise awareness as to why the team needs to change. Duration: 20-25 minutes. Format: The team is seen as a boat being weighed down by an anchor. This makes it easier to seek out and get rid of the hidden sources of discontent. Divide the board into two sections: write internal sources on the left-hand side and external sources on the right-hand side. Assignment: Describe your team's internal sources of dissatisfaction. Describe your customer’s external sources of dissatisfaction. Note: It took us a long time to complete this assignment because we were describing external and internal sources of dissatisfaction separately. To save time, it’s best to fill out and discuss both columns at once. The problems collected were dealt with in more detail in a retrospective. Step Four. Demand and capability analysis Duration: 40 minutes. Objective: To assess how much the service is in demand and what types of input tasks are processed. Format: Identify the work by type. Assignment: Write on stickers the tasks the team is currently working on. Where does the workload come from? What is the customer asking for? For each type of work, we analyze the speed at which the task is input, the nature of the workload, and customer expectations. Note: The assignment was done with the team as a whole, without participants being divided into subgroups. Step Five. Life cycles of different types of work Duration: 35 minutes. Objective: To understand the stages of a task, as well as how we accumulate knowledge about it, and deliver value. Format: Put together a complete path of knowledge acquisition that would lead to a finished work-type item. In our case, to avoid time constraints, we chose two types: the most common and the longest. Assignment: 5 minutes — choose the longest and the most frequent types of work. 15 minutes — combine and break down into stages, as per the current practice. The current statuses can be opened. 10 minutes — how do you figure out the principle according to which the tasks are moved on to the next stage? Definition of Done, triggers for each status. Here it’s important to look not only at your team, but also to consider the time points before and after. For example, what is the status of the work task when it gets to us? Note: This stage of the workshop was run as a separate session. Before we got started, we spent 7-10 minutes reviewing the previous session and going back through the key training points. Step Six. Classes of services Duration: 20 minutes. Objective: To understand how we work with tasks Format: Joint teamwork, distribution of task types by class of service. Assignment: 10 minutes — ask the team to provide examples for all types of queries in their specific situations: Fast-track. Work tasks so urgent that they require immediate action and any other work has to be put aside. Fixed delivery date. Work tasks which, if not completed by a specific date, result in the imposition of a substantial penalty that is not commensurate to any benefit from early delivery. Standard. Work tasks to be performed as per the procedure agreed upon with the customer. 15 minutes — distribution of task types, class of service required. Note: What risks do you have associated with different types of queries? What is the cost of delay? Kanban system design Step Seven. Objective: To record the next steps, what data we will enter into the system and when. Format: To assess what we have achieved. Questions for discussion: What does a Kanban board with work tasks look like? Does it have enough space? How are the work tasks progressing within the interval from one project meeting to the next? Does the Kanban board make sense to those who will be using it? A good Kanban board ensures transparency. It’s important to improve the flow of work and change the board to make sure that the system itself is changed as a result. Note: We didn’t have enough time to go through this step together during the workshop. For this reason, I separately suggested further steps for improvement, and after the workshop, the team and I discussed what and when we would start implementing them. The conclusions and results Scrum is based on an iterative-incremental approach, a commitment to continuous learning, and adaptation to change. This strategy is most effective for small teams that create or improve a product in an uncertain environment. The Kanban method focuses on the continuous delivery of value. You can use all the practices of this method, some of them, or only one, as there is no firm definition of the Kanban method. Visualization as the backbone of Kanban helps you see the big picture and the individual parts that comprise it. STATIK is an awesome workshop that covers a sequence of actions to be implemented for launching a new Kanban system or improving your existing one. In the next part of the article, I'll tell you about how we assess work tasks and conduct events, and what metrics we monitor, as well as how we apply classes of service. A huge thank you to Daniil Korotkov for preparing this material and for sharing his expertise. I'll be happy to answer your questions in the comments :) Also Published Here

Using Kanban to Work With Teams Without Sprints

There are two types of products out there — product-driven and customer-driven. The first kind is built on the assumption that a great product will find its customers, while the second one is all about analyzing customers and building something they specifically need. A product-driven environment involves the business developing a product first, then searching for a market for it. When a business goes out and gets information on its customers, and subsequently develops a product based on the information gathered, then it falls under the customer-driven category. Just as there are two types of products, there are also two ways to promote them and put them on the map. As you might have guessed, we will concentrate on customer driven marketing here. So, what is a customer-driven marketing strategy? A customer-driven marketing strategy means shifting focus from a product to its user and basing your marketing strategy, plans and tactics on customers’ needs and objectives in the first place. As counterintuitive as it may sound, a customer-driven marketing is not as much marketing as customer service. Your main goal is to satisfy your customers, deliver exactly what they want and be as flexible for them as you can. You concentrate on your existing customers and retaining them heavily. Kapost’s most recent showed that today’s B2B organizations create 53% customer-centric content and 47% product-centric content. Just a few years ago, B2B marketing strategies revolved primarily around products and services, but now the focus is on people. report All in all, customer-driven marketing is on the rise and we all should start paying more attention to it. So, how does one come around to adopting a customer-driven marketing strategy? Here are 5 must-have components of the one: 1. Analyze your niche and create detailed buyer personas It’s funny, but if you choose the customer-oriented path, your marketing strategy starts long before your product is created. You need to have as much data about your customers as possible. This will allow you to segment and target audience for your marketing efforts. Be it an email marketing campaign or PPC ad, their success depends on how precisely you can segment your customers by relevant groups and give them just what they want. Which brings us to the bread and butter of every marketing strategy in general and a customer-driven one in particular — to creating your . I mean if you’re putting all your eggs in one basket, you better research the hell of that basket and make sure it’s worth the effort. marketing persona So how do you approach your buyer personas? Research your existing customers make a couple of surveys and interviews, gather their personal informationLook into your competition. For instance, you can simply read their case studies to know exactly who’s using their products and which goals they’re trying to achieve with them. At the end of the day, you should come up with a description of your ideal customer. For HelpCrunch, one of our (because you can have several) looks like this: buyer personas CMO/customer service manager of a small SaaS company of 10 employees looking for a live chat solution combined with email marketing tools. I liked how Fran Mullings summed up this whole buyer persona thing on : Quora In a B2B setting, you should explore things like: job title, skills required for job, size of company and so forth. In a B2C situation, age, marital status, children and grandchildren are some of the areas to explore. On top of this, you will need to get to the root of the prospects’ biggest challenge, their shopping preferences, evaluation process of similar products/services, how they interact with sellers and how they learn new information. 2. Base your product development strategy on customer feedback Having a dialogue with customers means actually being able to ask them what they want and give it to them. A true customer-driven marketing strategy takes customer feedback and put it right into action — to all the decisions about further product development. All the new features, all the improvements, every single button on your website — all this is there because customers wanted it there. We at HelpCrunch has developed this whole system of collecting and categorizing all the feature requests that we get: First, we mark every single chat with feature requests with the corresponding tag — ‘feature request’. If a particular feature gets requested more than 20 times by different users, we create a separate tag for it. For instance, one of our all-time favorites is a chatbot (which we’re working on right this moment, btw). We also keep a separate Google Spreadsheet for ALL the requests. Even if someone asked us for some feature only once, you can be sure it will end up in our doc. We plan our two-week sprints based on these requests we get taking a good mixture of popular as well as easy-to-implement ones into work. 3. Invest in customer service In a customer-driven marketing strategy, customer service plays one of the most important roles. Just think about it. Your focus is on customers, all your care about are their needs and goals. So, how do you actually approach them? How do you build the needed level of trust and have an open dialogue? Customer service is the answer. This mindset doesn’t concern just your support team, it should be implemented everywhere throughout your business. There’s this whole thing called a ‘ customer service oriented culture ’, which basically means that a company focuses on its customers and their requirements and needs, values them over anything else and responds to them quickly and efficiently. The most important thing here is to make your customer support as fast and effective as possible: Install live chat software  on your website to give your customers a real-time way to get in touch with you. Just keep your first response time under 1 minute (you heard it right). Keep an eye on social media mentions, because that’s where people go to express their frustration. Build an effective knowledge base for those who want to find answers by themselves. Always keep track of customer satisfaction level, which should be measured after customers had contact with your support team. Pay particular attention to gathering all the feedback that you can. 4. Know your existing customers better than you know yourself While a buyer persona is an umbrella pattern of your potential customers’ traits and peculiarities, you can also rely heavily on your existing customers. Because they are real, flesh-and-blood human beings who actually use your product, and they can give you tons of great material to work with. There are several channels to collect useful information about your customers: Data your customers give you while signing up – types of subscription, registration date, account balance, etc. Data your customer service team collects while communicating with customers – common pitfalls, feature requests, positive reviews, overall feedback. Data your customer service tool collects by default. For instance, HelpCrunch tracks things like recent activity, location, browser language, etc to give your support agents as much context as possible. Why do you need so much data about people who have signed up already, you might ask? Because having first clients means not only a good cause for happiness but also more work for your marketing team. The minute someone left you their email address is the minute you customer-driven marketing team starts making sure they stick with you: Satisfaction rate should be tracked and verified on a regular basis and be no less than . 73% Your customer onboarding process should explain every single feature to the slightest detail to minimize your churn rate; Pay particular attention to customer retention, which includes everything from high-quality customer service to all kinds of loyalty programs. You see, a true customer-driven marketing means devoting your existing customers as much time as you spend on attracting new leads. 5. Make word-of-mouth your main marketing force You know how the old saying goes — what goes around comes around. Basically, when you’re good to customers, customers are good to you, too. If they feel like your company is everything they’ve ever dreamt of, that you hear their questions and always go the extra mile to help them, they will pay you back. They will start your company to their friends and colleagues, they will endorse you on social media and leave positive comments all over the internet. Isn’t it a dream? recommending Encourage your existing customers to leave reviews on corresponding websites. This can be a part of your customer service team’s job. If someone says positive stuff in chat, why not ask them to repeat the same on or (or whatever review website is relevant for your niche)? Capterra G2 Create your program of referrals. You can reward your customers for bringing new clients to you with things like a small discount, vouchers and upgrading their subscription for free. Create an affiliate program. You can create this whole net of affiliate websites. Your partners will get some percentage from every deal that you make with someone who followed the link on their website. You don’t need to just sit and wait till your customers come and share their thoughts as there are many ways to start a conversation and collect feedback first. Conclusion At the end of the day, we all want to give our customers an unforgettable experience when they use our products or services. That’s why it makes even more sense to concentrate on those experiences in our marketing strategy rather than pursue some made up campaigns that can work for some but be a total disaster for others. Create top-notch customer service, be attentive to your clients and just give them exactly what they ask for — and that will be all the marketing you need. Disclaimer: This post was originally published on the HelpCrunch blog by Anastasiia Khlystova. Anastasiia is a content marketing manager at HelpCrunch responsible for most of  company's texts.

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