Product Management for dummies : A Deep

Dive

By : Shravan Tickoo

Ex-Principal PM ( BYJU’S)
● What is a Product ? - To define in simpler terms a Product is an experience or service
which solves a user pain point and gives a 10x better value compared to the preceding
experience

● Product which are widely adopted have 3 core values

1. Significant value based differentiation
2. Simplicity of usage
3.Joy of usage in the process i.e Apple
What does a Great Product Focus on ?
A great product focuses on
a. Core user value to the pain point a user has
■ Flipkart << 10x>> better than previous discovery pattern
■ Uber <<10x>> better than

b. Simplicity of experience
■ If the experience is simple for a user to understand , more often then not the friction
to understand the product is optimal
■ You don’t need a learning curve to use the iphone

c. Element of Joy while using the product

■ Most products or services focus on utilitarian value like uber for taxis but great
products give you additional value of joy besides the core value
■ Duolingo just doesnt teach you language learning , it teaches you the same with fun
■ Great products build Network effects
 ● What is engagement ? - To define in simpler
terms this is an intended action or set of
actions a user has to take on your digital
What is Engagement ? applications over a period of time

○ What is the average number of add to carts a

user does in a month
What is Product Analytics ?
● Product Analytics is the discipline of
understanding user behavior on your digital
How does it help us drive application i.e Website , Web App , App ( any

engagement ? application which is accessible on the internet )

○ For example : On Flipkart - if we have to find out

how many users actually come on the homepage
→ Category page ---> Add to cart ---> Checkout

● Product analytics helps us understand the

drop-off funnels in our core actions which we
expect the user to do and we as PM try to
optimize that and that optimizes engagement
Steps to build a great Product
The typical user journey for any product comprises
of 5 states

- Acquisition
- Activation
- Retention
- Referral
- Revenue

Identify the MTMM - Metric that matters most

It follows the law of diminishing returns , first it

will be something which comes out as a low
hanging fruit and then it becomes harder to do so
and we move to a different metric
What is a Product funnel
where Product Analytics
helps & drives engagement
?

In simpler words , post a user is acquired via any

channel , Activation of a user ( doing a particular
step to hook the user ) , retention ( repetition of a
certain behavior ) , referral , revenue are all in hands
of a PM
What does engagement Engagement means any action or set of actions
which gives instant gratification of a user , in terms of
truly mean in the AARRR value and keeps adding value the more number of
funnel ? times you do it

For example

● Addition of friends on FB , the more number of

friends you add , the more they are closer to you
for interactions ( chat , video ) and hence you
keep on adding friends
● Action point as a PM to drive engagement is -
improve the friend discovery experience
How do we go about For this we would look at Duolingo - one of my favorite
language learning products and break down their
driving engagement for a engagement and retention funnel
new product - Case Study
?
What was the problem Duolingo wanted to simplify language learning ? but why ?

DUO was trying to solve ? Value for the user

What was their core value 1. As the world becomes global being a polyglot
proposition? makes you accessible for more opportunities in
your careers

2. As English becomes a “Global language “ - it opens

up access to the homogenous countries like China ,
Russia to opportunities in the west ( US , Europe )

3. Even knowing better English allows you to

communicate well to drive better success at your
own workplaces

4. The cool part of learning languages is access to

new cultures , dimensions of life and improve as an
Individual to understand the world in a better and
ingenious manner
But why DUO & not the
zillion products in the
market ?
Link to explain the
flow
Duo knew that language learning is not something
people will stick to if they dont enjoy the process of it
and they knew the hook is to set the process right
● Hook 1 : Remove commitments - Learn a
language for free forever
● Hook 2 : Remove friction to the value of the
product - No logins or information is required to
use the product - A user can do language
lessons first and then is asked to login
● Hook 3 : Login to save your progress : Once a
user does a lesson which is easy to do - they are
told if they want to save their progress - login
now
This way DUO ensured easy activation , engage via
Gamified learning + image learning ( will explain in
next slides ) and retain the user
But isnt this prezi regarding Duo realised that an easy activation will mean - no
friction to the product experience which will be the
engagement ?How does root of the tree of experiences for driving
activation aid there ? engagement and retention

● Easy activation meant - low friction to lesson

taking
● No commitment in activation flow meant - user
Link to explain the can anytime experience the lesson funnel and
flow leave ( but that would be the case DUO knew)
● A aesthetically appealing UX in activation meant
- users enjoyed the very few clicks they did

So the product learning didnt really start at the

product but activation funnel only ( which indirectly
aided in retention)
Now that we understand
how they activated the user
-lets understand how they
retained them ?
Link to the flow
● Duo did 4 things very very right from the
early onset of their product
■ Retention hooks
○ Hook 1 : Aesthetic appeal to UI : Aesthetic
appeal brings the enjoyability quotient of the
user to a high which improves NPS
○ Hook 2 : Usage of Images to create retention
: Images speak more than a thousand words
and that what DUO did for words to stick in
mind of user
○ Hook 3 : Creation of sensory gratification via
success cues : Success cues make a user
feel empowered to continue
○ Hook 4 : A no nonsense structured syllabus
module : Users dont have to choose a path ,
its chosen for them , the eliminates user
discovery

This way DUO ensured retention at its core , where

sensory appeal , aesthetics , structured learning
created a pull for the product

DUO is - it brought two things for them
Now a easy activation ,
strong pull what does it do ?
What an easy activation , strong retention pull did for
● CAC < LTV - their CAC for a customer drastically
reduced and LTV drastically increased since
every acquired customer stays for way longer
than an average Language product
● Easy to optimize revenue funnel - since users
more often get hooked after 3 lessons , end up
paying ( At least I did )
● This also built word of mouth which further
optimised CAC

For doing all of this , DUO optimised 3 metrics

1. Easy lesson access - Activation

2. Easy lesson completion - retention
3. Easy journey completion - conversion

And this all boils down from using product analytics

to understand
 Core Product analytics funnel for DUO
So lets look at the holistic
funnel for DUO ? Acquisition - Any language learning
seekers

Activation - no commitment flow

Retention - Gamified sensory

gratification

Revenue and referral : Word of

mouth and completion rates
 Growth analytics / Product analytics is a skill which
What is our take away from takes time to master with core focus on a few areas

this ? How does this help ● The right metrics to choose

me become a better PM to ● The right experiment design
The right insight to measure
engage my users ?
●

You don’t have to just look at CAC , Traffic sources

but also have a sense of what you customers are
doing on your product and if that’s what you intend
them to do

And when you truly get a jist of what your customers

are doing . The next innovation in any industry is at
your finger tips.
Any Questions ? and Thank
You