The Lows and Woes of Remote Product Management Pt. 2
Swimming upstream in the whirlpool of user research
Somehow, you’ve made it through the hurdles of creating personas and crafting user stories in your remote PM role. Sadly though, it doesn’t end there. Conducting effective user research, especially in organisations that prioritise speed and quantity over quality, can feel like navigating a minefield while blindfolded.
Fear not — I’m here to guide you through the process of conducting user research that can help you build better products, even in a remote setting.
The Virtual World of User Research
In a traditional, in-person environment, user research may involve face-to-face interviews, focus groups, contextual inquiries, or even site visits. If you’re working in a company like mine, being on-site also makes you more likely to be closer to your target audience geographically. As a remote product manager, these luxuries are often out of reach and out of budget. So, how can you get the insights you need without physically being there?
- Virtual interviews: The obvious first step is to leverage technology. Set up video calls with your users to understand their pain points and gather insights. Record these calls (with their permission) so you can review them later and pick up on any nuances you might have missed during the conversation. Remember to make notes and identify key themes in the discussions, and record these in a Google Sheet for future analysis.
- Virtual UX Research: Use remote UX research tools like usability testing platforms, card sorting, and online prototyping tools to gather insights on user interactions and preferences. Analyze the collected data to refine and optimize your product’s user experience. Figma offers an integration with Maze, which is a gamechanger if you want to test prototypes directly with your users. If you’re not feeling fancy, you can simply share your Figma or Adobe XD prototype’s link and do a measured walkthrough.
- Surveys and questionnaires: Distribute online surveys or questionnaires to your target audience. Make sure to have at least one question to get more insight into their experiences and needs. If you’re using third-party customer support chatbot providers, like Intercom, you can also (most likely) send surveys through them as well. It’s a quick and easy way to get your hands on that precious, precious data.
- Collaborate with customer success: Your customer success team is a goldmine of information. They interact with clients on a regular basis and can provide you with valuable feedback. Set up regular meetings with them to discuss any recurring issues or suggestions from clients. My recommendation is to have a weekly or biweekly call with Customer success to document weekly pain points and see if you can find patterns in the feedback they’re getting.
- Utilise analytics: Data is the North Star guiding you through the murky waters of understanding user behaviour. Track user engagement, feature usage, and any patterns that emerge to uncover potential areas of improvement. If you already have access to some tracking platform like Google Studio, create a plan for what questions you want your data to answer based on your business goals and translate them into real-time dashboards.
If you’re new to tracking, I recommend using third-party platforms, like Amplitude, that specialise in visualising product data. - Experiment and iterate: Test your hypotheses with quick experiments, like A/B tests or feature toggles. Analyze the results, make improvements, and repeat. This iterative approach will allow you to fine-tune your product based on user feedback and needs. Experiments do not need to be big and fancy, they just need to be statistically and structurally sound.
You can, and should, get started by testing things like changing product copy, additional information cards, colours and images. Once you get the hang of it, test variations of landing pages, forms, onboarding tours and see how these impact your KPIs.
Adapting to the Remote Research Mindset
The key to successful remote user research lies in being adaptable and resourceful. Keep these points in mind as you go about your research:
- Embrace your limitations: Accept that your remote situation may limit your access to certain insights. Focus on what you can do instead of dwelling on the constraints. This can be anywhere from tech debt to limited marketing spending to historically poor data engineering. Start from zero where you have to, measure reach and impact against effort and prioritise where you can.
- Keep an open mind: Preconceived notions and biases can hamper your ability to uncover the real problems users face. Approach each conversation with an open mind, ready to challenge your own assumptions. You don’t know how things are happening on-site. Even if you think you do, you don’t. Life is full of nuances, and you have to accept them as they are.
- Prioritise empathy: Put yourself in your users’ shoes and try to truly understand their challenges. Empathy can be a powerful driving force in creating products that resonate with users. It can also help you identify low-hanging fruit, as well as long-term strategic plays that will help your users make the most of your product offering.
- Join client calls when you can: Ask your Customer success team or Sales team to keep you in the loop for any interesting, upcoming calls. Shadow them whenever you have the time, casually listen to what the customer is trying to achieve with your product. It’ll help you stay in touch with your target industry’s landscape as well.
- Always question yourself: While mid-sized product companies may not actively be aiming for product-market fit, that’s not to say they don’t need to. Whenever you go through real-world use-cases of your product, always ask yourself: is how we’re positioning our product actually it’s true fit?
Product development does not follow a linear timeline, it’s often times a Jeremy Bearimy (+5 points if you get the reference).
As PMs, we are often asked, “What the hell do you even do all day?”
In the end, remote product management is a constant learning process. As you gather more insights and experiences, you’ll be better equipped to navigate the unique challenges of working from a distance. The key to creating a great product is understanding and addressing the needs of your users, no matter how far away they may be. That is, if you want your product to stay competitive and up-to-date.
Of course, executing this is easier said than done. A lot of this stuff is actually not sustainable for one person to achieve; based on your product’s context, you should pick and choose 2–3 methods of user research and get the ball rolling.
As PMs, we are often asked, “What the hell do you even do all day?” Hence, it’s important to stay aligned with your organisation so that they know exactly how you’re contributing to the product (and why you should keep your job).
Stay tuned for the next instalment in this series, where I’ll delve into strategies for effective communication and collaboration in a remote product management environment. Inside us, there are two wolves: Sales and Tech; I’ll try to cover how as PMs we can build trust with the two teams and stay on top of our A-game.
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