{"id":24518,"date":"2022-11-14T20:26:34","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T20:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/?p=24518"},"modified":"2022-12-16T13:54:12","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T13:54:12","slug":"product-performance-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/product-performance-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Product Performance Analysis: Putting Your Data Into Action"},"content":{"rendered":"
The world changes over time. That\u2019s a fact whether we like it or not. When looking into your numbers, you might notice factors that seem to change for no real reason but time. Understanding why these changes occur and why your products perform how they do is the heart of product performance analysis and the key to your business\u2019 growth.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n What makes a great product? Is it audience reception? Hitting a certain number of units sold? Making a certain amount of profit?<\/span><\/p>\n The answer depends on the industry, business, and specific strategic goals. A profitable product can be considered a failure, while a break-even one is a resounding success.<\/span><\/p>\n In order to determine your product\u2019s performance and analyze it with your business plans in mind, you need a method that yields information on the individual product level. In other words, you need to employ product performance analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n Product performance analysis is all about measuring how well your product is doing with respect to the goals that you set out to achieve. It\u2019s a process conducted by higher management, as they\u2019re the ones with the information necessary to make such evaluations.<\/span><\/p>\n Unlike other analysis methods, product performance analysis is highly individualized, targeting a specific product at a time. It\u2019s extremely rare for a business to launch multiple products with the same goals in mind, after all.<\/span><\/p>\n This means that every time you <\/span>launch a new product<\/span><\/a>, you\u2019ll need to perform product performance analysis from scratch. But worry not! Once you\u2019ve got the hang of it, the process of data gathering and analysis is actually quite simple, and similar methods can be used each time.<\/span><\/p>\n After all, it\u2019s not <\/span>how<\/span><\/i> the data is being gathered that changes but <\/span>what<\/span><\/i> data you need.<\/span><\/p>\n Before we get into the nitty gritty of how product performance analysis works, let\u2019s talk about some benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n What we\u2019ve laid out below will give you a general idea of what product performance analysis can do for you. Granted, this isn\u2019t a complete list of the benefits it provides. That would stretch the word count into the high thousands as we\u2019d need to get into really specific, niche situations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s see what you have to gain.<\/span><\/p>\n Knowing how your customers interact with your products is vital when you\u2019re in the <\/span>product development<\/span><\/a> stages of your project.<\/span><\/p>\n When designing a product, the first thing you should think about is what exactly that product will be used for. Then come the following questions:<\/span><\/p>\n Information from customer-product interactions will help you answer these questions in a data-driven way, by giving you insight into the minds of your customers. It\u2019ll tell you what they want from your product, how you can improve it, and where you\u2019re hitting the mark.<\/span><\/p>\n Performing customer-product interaction is especially important in software fields, where the ever-changing nature of the market means that you must keep a close eye on what your customers want from you.<\/span><\/p>\n Adobe has certainly taken this to heart, with their <\/span>Acrobat 2020 version<\/span><\/a> featuring several unique features that are clearly based on customer interaction data.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For example, the software giant added a color customization capability in the Fill & Sign tool, allowing you to choose specific colors for your signature.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n On top of that, the 2020 version includes:<\/span><\/p>\n Many of these improvements are most likely born out of going over user data, telling Adobe that:<\/span><\/p>\n While the software industry benefits significantly from customer-product interaction, especially due to its measurable nature and ease of data gathering, it\u2019s not the only one.<\/span><\/p>\n Other sectors can enjoy the fruits of such analysis by gathering user feedback via surveys or other organic manners like customer reviews. With the right analytic tools, you can discover a trove of data that will help you improve your products.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s also been well-documented that <\/span>acquiring new customers<\/span><\/a> is significantly more costly than retaining your current ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s why many businesses must invest in churn-reducing strategies. These include:<\/span><\/p>\n Another way is to give your customers what they want and need. By tapping into the information you\u2019ve acquired from your product performance analysis, you may be able to adjust certain aspects of your product to keep your customers happy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Twitter, for instance, is <\/span>rolling out an Edit function<\/span><\/a> to select users, something that users of the platform have been asking for for years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Improving your products is an excellent place to start, but it goes deeper than that. You need to make products that are not only useful but ones that understand your customers\u2019 needs.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s all well and good knowing what your customers like about your product, what they use, and what they don\u2019t, but understanding the <\/span>drivers<\/span><\/i> of these is another matter entirely.<\/span><\/p>\n This is especially true for offline, physical products, where the link between what a product is nominally intended for and what it is actually used for can be radically different without any indication.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve probably seen one of these, whether it\u2019s what you made when you were in school or simply in passing.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s certainly recognizable as a spider decoration, but what isn\u2019t always known is that the legs are made from pipe cleaners. These days, it\u2019s very rare to come across one being used for cleaning pipes, actually.<\/span><\/p>\n Looking from the perspective of a product performance analysis, making arts and crafts with these would have been totally unexpected. Yet, it\u2019s the main user engagement driver for pipe cleaners these days. It just goes to show, what you think a product will do isn\u2019t always what it will end up doing.<\/span><\/p>\n When attempting to create products, one of the first questions that are asked is often \u201cwho are we making this for.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Tying in with user engagement, different demographics of consumers tend to have different habits, different ways of doing things, and different features that they want out of a product.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s true that everyone is an individual, and that no two people will want exactly the same thing. However, you can still make generalizations.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s not stereotyping to say that people over 70 will want large text options in media, after all that demographic tends to have worse eyesight than those younger than them. If you\u2019re targeting over 70s, you should therefore include these options.<\/span><\/p>\n However, it isn\u2019t always clear who is using your products. Looking at the case of the pipe cleaner spiders, the customer base for pipe cleaners is radically different from what was expected at the time of launch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Manual laborers vs. schoolchildren is quite a big difference, after all.<\/span><\/p>\n Product performance analysis can give you information on your customer base, who they are, where they\u2019re based, what they do, etc. Information is power after all, and you can make your products more specialized and therefore more relevant if you know exactly who is buying them.<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, it\u2019s entirely possible to end up with several different demographics buying your products. In fact, that\u2019s likely the norm in a lot of markets.<\/span><\/p>\n What happens then? You can continue adding features that appeal to all demographics to make a product that\u2019s a good average, or you can specialize.<\/span><\/p>\n One company that\u2019s been on the ball with specialization in recent years is Wizards of the Coast. Their Magic: the Gathering cards are purchased by two main types of consumers:<\/span><\/p>\n Starting in <\/span>2019<\/span><\/a>, Wizards began making special cards with alternate artworks, designed to appeal to the second cohort of customers. You can see below the differences between these cards and the regular releases, with one being practical and easy to read, and the other more focused on appearance.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n These alternate editions of cards proved a huge success. As a distinct entity, they didn\u2019t appear in regular product editions and so appealed to the second cohort without any backlash from the first.<\/span><\/p>\n Below we\u2019ve laid out a list of steps for you to follow in order to create your analyses. With these templates in hand, you\u2019ll be able to make adjustments that would fit the specific needs of your businesses and be on your way to a successful analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n In an ideal world, all you’ll have to do is push the \u201canalyze my product\u2019s performance\u201d button. In reality, setting your goals means deciding <\/span>how<\/span><\/i> to analyze your product. In other words, the first step is to determine what you want to achieve with your product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What would you consider a success? A product that\u2019s a failure in one regard might be successful elsewhere. Some products are launched solely to make money, others have different aims.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This question will dictate the metrics you\u2019ll be using. Is it units sold? A certain profit margin? Beating out a competitor?<\/span><\/p>\n Then, you\u2019d need to set up the timespan you\u2019ll be looking at. Remember, some products take time to reach their full potential.<\/span><\/p>\n Let’s take a look at some examples to get a better feel of how it works.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I’m sure you’ve seen those small gift bags given away at events and conventions. You might\u2019ve handed some yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n As you may know, the purpose of these items isn’t to make a profit (not directly anyway), but to give event attendees a physical reminder of your presence there and warm them up towards your brand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To measure success, you may use \u201citems given\u201d as a metric. Perhaps a better one would be expecting an increase in traffic on your website in the days following the event.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Some products or campaigns can be created solely to bring attention to your brand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A good example of a campaign made to raise awareness is PlayStation\u2019s <\/span>Play and Plant initiative<\/span><\/a>. For every player that reaches a certain section of the video game Horizon: Forbidden West, the corporation will plant a tree in their name.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\nWhat is product performance analysis?<\/b><\/h2>\n
The advantages of analyzing product performance<\/b><\/h2>\n
Increased knowledge of customer-product interaction<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Reduced customer churn<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Recognizing user engagement drivers<\/b><\/h3>\n
A better understanding of your customer base<\/b><\/h3>\n
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How do you perform Product Performance Analysis?<\/b><\/h2>\n
#1 Set your goals<\/b><\/h3>\n
Promotional items<\/b><\/h4>\n
Raising awareness<\/b><\/h4>\n