TTV is the time before customers experience the value promised after 'purchasing' the product (e.g., a free trial or a freemium).
Let's take @canva as an example. You can use it immediately. You get sucked in and don't even notice that you've just become their customer! :)
You can easily minimize #TTV by using the Bowling Alley Framework. It's like using "bumpers" to guide users to the outcome your product promises.
There are two types of bumpers:
1. Product Bumpers
Their goal is to help adopt the product within the application.
a. Welcome Messages — displayed after logging in. It's an opportunity to greet users, make them feel invited, and restate the value proposition. They can also set expectations.
b. Product Tours — Eliminate distractions and allow users to focus only on the most critical options. It commonly starts with the question about what users would like to accomplish with the product. Let your users choose their adventure.
c. Progress Bars — Help users understand what's their progress. It's a good practice to start with a substantial percentage of the bar filled in so that users can feel that they are already underway instead of starting from scratch.
e. Onboarding Tooltips — Helpful messages are displayed when interacting with application elements (e.g., mouse hover). It shouldn't be too intrusive; e.g., forcing users to click every detail on a page may not be a good idea.
f. Empty states — After the first login, many applications are tedious. There is no data specific to you; without it, it's virtually impossible to understand what value you will get once you start using the product.
There are two ways:
a) Present users required steps and prompt them to take action.
b) Prevent it from happening. Dynamics 365 Sales populates every trial with sample data. I presented it at the beginning of this article.
Conversational bumpers work to educate the users, set their expectations, bring them back to the application, and eventually upgrade their accounts. I selected the two most popular forms:
a. User Onboarding Emails — can include welcome messages, usage tips, sales touch (to upgrade accounts), case studies, communicating the benefits, information about trial expiration, or post-trial surveys. You can easily automate most of them.
b. Explainer Videos — The name is self-explanatory. Videos can generate even 1200% more engagement than text and images. I highly recommend it, especially for complex products.
A Product Trio is a fundamental concept for product teams.
But contrary to what many believe, it is not:
- A framework to follow
- A strictly defined set of roles
- An exclusive group that performs product discovery alone
Three pieces of advice:
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1. Reject working in silos
You do not want silos in your Product Trio. Product Discovery is teamwork.
I loved insights from "Lean UX," in which Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden argue that while everyone has a core competency, allowing others to contribute in any area results in more engaged, more effective teams.
"Silos are the death of collaborative teams." - Lean UX
A picture is worth a thousand words: OKRs vs. KPIs vs. Metrics
When comparing OKRs and KPIs, many forget a critical aspect - the relationships between them.
In short, the Key Results in the OKR always refer to quantitative metrics, some of which might be KPIs.
Let's dive into more details.
1. What are OKRs?
OKR stands for “Objectives and Key Results.” The 2 components:
- Objective (What, When): A qualitative, inspirational, time-bound goal for a team to focus on. Typically set quarterly.
- Key Results (What): Quantitative metrics (typically three) that monitor progress towards the Objective.
OKRs are about:
- Setting a single, inspiring goal.
- Empowering a team to determine the optimal way to achieve it.
- Continuously monitoring the progress, learning from failures, and improving.
Top 29 free PM templates that will make PM a breeze:
Product Discovery:
- Customer Interview (PPTX)
- User Persona (PPTX)
- User Journey Map (PPTX)
- Opportunity Score: Introduction (PDF)
- Opportunity Score: The official Dan Olsen's template (PPTX)
- Jobs-to-be-Done Opportunity Score calculation (XLSX)
- 5-Day Design Sprint: The only official template (Miro)
- Opportunity Solution Tree (Miro)
- Acquisition: How do users find you?
- Activation: How do they experience value?
- Retention: Do they stay with you?
- Revenue: How do you make money?
- Referrals: Do they tell others about your product?
- Engagement: How do they interact with your product?
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This list is based on the AARRR framework. It is universal and fits every organization that works on customer-facing tech products.
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Remember, you don't need to track everything.
Instead, focus on just a few key metrics that matter the most.
Download now:
- The Ultimate List of Product Metrics (Google Drive):