Incorporating Customer Feedback into Innovation Strategy

Your Product Managers are talking to customers. So why isn’t your product getting better? A few years ago, I was on a team where our boss had a rule: 🗣️ “Everyone must talk to at least one customer each week.” So we did. Calls were scheduled. Conversations happened. Boxes were checked. But nothing changed. No real insights. No real impact. Because talking to customers isn’t the goal. Learning the right things is. When discovery lacks purpose, it leads to wasted effort, misaligned strategy, and poor business decisions: ❌ Features get built that no one actually needs. ❌ Roadmaps get shaped by the loudest voices, not the right customers. ❌ Teams collect insights… but fail to act on them. How Do You Fix It? ✅ Talk to the Right People Not every customer insight is useful. Prioritize: -> Decision-makers AND end-users – You need both perspectives. -> Customers who represent your core market – Not just the loudest complainers. -> Direct conversations – Avoid proxy insights that create blind spots. 👉 Actionable Step: Before each interview, ask: “Is this customer representative of the next 100 we want to win?” If not, rethink who you’re talking to. ✅ Ask the Right Questions A great question challenges assumptions. A bad one reinforces them. -> Stop asking: “Would you use this?” -> Start asking: “How do you solve this today?” -> Show AI prototypes and iterate in real-time – Faster than long discovery cycles. -> If shipping something is faster than researching it—just build it. 👉 Actionable Step: Replace one of your upcoming interview questions with: “What workarounds have you created to solve this problem?” This reveals real pain points. ✅ Don’t Let Insights Die in a Doc Discovery isn’t about collecting insights. It’s about acting on them. -> Validate across multiple customers before making decisions. -> Share findings with your team—don’t keep them locked in Notion. -> Close the loop—show customers how their feedback shaped the product. 👉 Actionable Step: Every two weeks, review customer insights with your team to decipher key patterns and identify what changes should be applied. If there’s no clear action, you’re just collecting data—not driving change. Final Thought Great discovery doesn’t just inform product decisions—it shapes business strategy. Done right, it helps teams build what matters, align with real customer needs, and drive meaningful outcomes. 👉 Be honest—are your customer conversations actually making a difference? If not, what’s missing? -- 👋 I'm Ron Yang, a product leader and advisor. Follow me for insights on product leadership + strategy.

Customer Success Leaders—If you're not actively shaping the Product Roadmap, you're missing a critical opportunity. The most effective organizations don’t treat CS as a participant—they rely on it as a strategic partner. Product teams should be co-designing the future with their customers. That means: ✅ Understanding emerging use cases and evolving needs ✅ Enhancing the product based on real customer insights ✅ Prioritizing with business impact and revenue in mind In today’s market—where consolidation, cost-cutting, and efficiency are top priorities—building a product that truly solves business challenges is the difference between success and irrelevance. So, how do you drive better alignment between CS and Product? Here’s what I've seen work: 1️⃣ Lead with Data & Insights -Identify the most adopted and least adopted product features -Pinpoint where customers are dropping off and why -Find personas and use cases that drive the most value -Look for patterns and trends across your customer base 2️⃣ Support Data with Customer Stories -Conduct interviews and surveys to capture direct feedback -Dive into workflows and edge cases to understand nuances -Align product evolution with customer goals and business objectives 3️⃣ Prioritize Product Feedback Strategically -Leverage customer data to rank impact and urgency -Tie feedback to revenue—renewals, expansions, and upsells -Ensure recommendations align with the broader product vision 4️⃣ Maintain an Open Dialogue -Establish a structured collaboration rhythm (bi-weekly syncs, Slack channels, shared roadmaps) -Keep all teams informed on designs, timelines, and priorities -Be clear, concise, and adaptable—Product is balancing competing priorities across the org 5️⃣ Close the Loop—Every Time -Set clear expectations with customers early and often -Enable Product teams to engage directly with customers for firsthand learning -Continue gathering feedback even after launch (beta programs, customer advisory boards) At the end of the day, great products are built by teams who stay close to the customer. CS should not be a passive observer in product development—it should be a driving force. When you get this right, you influence retention, expansion, and advocacy. And that’s a business win. __________________ 📣 If you liked my post, you’ll love my newsletter. Every week I share learnings, advice and strategies from my experience going from CSM to CCO. Join 12k+ subscribers of The Journey and turn insights into action. Sign up on my profile.

One of my favorite questions about AI is, "𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐳𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞?" Nearly every business collects customer feedback, but few analyze it effectively or consistently. Most rely on simple metrics (like NPS) or manually read through comments - neither approach surfaces the insights that can lead to real breakthroughs. The good news is that frontier AI models can now do an analysis that previously required expensive consultants or data science teams. Here's how to turn your unstructured customer feedback into actionable insights using gen AI: 1 Create a dedicated project space in a frontier model that saves history. I recommend Claude's "Projects", ChatGPT's custom GPTs, or Gemini's "Gems". Title it something like "Customer Feedback Analyzer" and include basic instructions about your business, products, and what insights matter most to you. 2 Upload your feedback data - survey responses, customer service transcripts, app reviews, social mentions, etc. More is better, and bias towards what you've collected the past few months. 3. Start exploring. Ask the model: "What are the top 10 themes emerging from this feedback? For each theme, provide 3 representative quotes and estimate what percentage of customers mentioned this theme." This gives you the big picture before diving deeper. 4. Go beyond sentiment analysis. Instead of the simplistic positive/negative breakdown, try: "Categorize feedback by customer emotion (frustrated, confused, delighted, etc.) and rank by intensity. What specific product/service elements trigger each emotion?" 5. Identify hidden opportunities. The real gold is in what customers aren't explicitly saying. Try: "Based on the feedback, what are customers trying to accomplish that my product isn't fully enabling? What adjacent problems could we solve?" Create competitive intelligence. Ask: "Which competitors are mentioned? What features or attributes do customers compare us favorably or unfavorably against? What competitive advantages should we emphasize?" 6. Prioritize action items. Finally, ask: "If you were my product manager, what 3 changes would create the biggest customer impact based on this feedback? Rank by expected ROI and implementation difficulty." The most valuable aspect of this approach is consistency over time. Run this analysis at least quarterly to track how customer perceptions evolve as you implement changes. What challenges have you faced analyzing customer feedback? Drop me a comment about what's working (or not) in your approach! If this kind of advice is helpful, then you'll love my AI for SMBs Weekly newsletter. Subscribe link in the comments. ✨ ✌🏻 ✨ #GenerativeAI #CustomerFeedback #SMB #DataAnalysis