Minimum Viable Podcast #7: Produktová manažérka Alžbeta Ivanovičová

Minimum Viable Podcast #6: Dizajnérka Kristína Malíková

Adam Valček, novinár SME a Andrej Zaťko, Group CEO Poštovej a 365 banky sa na
Clubhouse každý týždeň zhovárajú o finančných témach. Do jednej z epizód si
prizvali aj mňa, aby som sa s nimi a ďalšími hosťami porozprával o UX
digitálnych bánk.

V podcaste zaznelo mnoho podnetných poznatkov, ja som spísal niektoré z mojich
postrehov.

Vedeli ste, že...
 * Štandardné banky sa v UX celkom slušne doťahujú na digitálne banky. Anglická
   banka Barkleys poskytuje veľmi slušný zákaznícky zážitok.
 * Aj digitálne banky začínajú mať problém s UX, pretože ich aplikácie obsahujú
   stále viac funkcií, ktoré ich komplikujú – príkladom je aplikácia Revolutu.
   Pritom pridaním dvoch funkcionalít môžete zhoršiť UX až 10-násobne.
 * Digitálne banky sa snažia inovovať úplne nové oblasti bankovníctva – napr.
   obchodovanie na burze, ale zákazníkov, ktorých to zaujíma, je zatiaľ málo.
 * Kamenné banky majú síce staromódny brand, no digitálnym bankám ľudia
   nedôverujú natoľko, aby do nich vložili všetky svoje úspory.
 * Najväčšou chybou UX bankových aplikácií je, ak sa snažia o "one size fits
   all" prístup. A najväčšou príležitosťou je práve dobré naplnenie potrieb
   špecifických segmentov.

Viac takýchto poznatkov o digitálnom bankovníctve a celú epizódu si môžete
vypočuť v Adamovom podcaste
[https://anchor.fm/adam-valcek/episodes/Koko-mme-digitlnych-bnk--na-koho-cielia-a-ako-funguj-v-pozad-esjuk8]
.

Podcast: Ako fungujú digitálne banky a čo od nich požadujú používatelia?

Pokúšali ste sa niekedy vysvetliť pojem dizajn zameraný na človeka? Angličtina
má na to šikovnú pomôcku. Skratka HCD nezastupuje len výraz "human-centered
design", ale aj slovesá "hear – create – deliver". A práve tak robíme dizajn v
Lighting Beetle:

 * hear = Najskôr načúvame používateľom, v čom tkvejú ich potreby, požiadavky a
   motivácie.
 * create = Potom vymýšľame a testujeme možné riešenia, ktoré tieto potreby
   dokážu naplniť.
 * deliver = A nakoniec budujeme to riešenie, ktoré obstálo v početných
   používateľských testoch.

Náš prístup k dizajnu produktov a služieb zaujímal Romana Hutiru z podcastu Krok
vpred. V rozhovore vyspovedal spoluzakladateľa LB* Marka Šolca, ktorý v štúdiu
vedie HR a finančné oddelenie.

Rozhovor si môžete pozrieť vo forme videa na Youtube
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj8FTYpK_tg] alebo vypočuť ako podcast na
Spotify
[https://open.spotify.com/episode/4C1S7zuI1Q9HRU3ahcv2qN?si=vH3PpgyQTM-cUBqi5JAC1w]
.
V rozhovore sa dozviete:

 * čo je to human-centered design
 * ako tvoríme produkty, ktoré obstoja v budúcnosti
 * aký je rozdiel medzi agilitným a vodopádovým vývojom produktov
 * čomu hovoríme "T-shapeness" zamestnancov
 * aké firemné hodnoty stoja za skratkou G-R-E-A-T
 * aj to, čo si Marek myslí o webe Alzy :)

Dizajnujeme produkty s empatiou, vraví o LB* Marek Šolc

We are living in ultra-globalized market where everything is more connected than
ever before. There is so much competition on the market that it's hard to
differentiate your company offering through all the noise. One of the key levers
to grow your business is to invest in customer experience.

Historically, companies used to invest in physical stores and train call centers
to be empathetic. Think about Amazon. But today the biggest customer experience
challenge is in digital channels.

On Google Search, competition is one click away. Your website takes too long to
load? Is someone struggling to filter by price? It doesn't matter, the user
presses the back button on their web browser and check out the next link. The
digital experience of a customer is now becoming a priority to grow a successful
business.

On top of that, COVID-19 completely disrupted all the businesses reluctant to
digital transformation. During the time where everything becomes digital, it's
even more crucial to provide your customer with a great experience on your
digital touchpoints.

In this talk for the Butterfly Effect series BE in focus, I discussed three main
topics:

 1. what is UX
 2. why it matters for your company
 3. how to start doing it

If you're new to UX or you would like to know a bit more about it, this is the
perfect introduction you need.

Webinar: UX now or never. An introduction to UX by a UX designer Albert Fourage

Online prostredie sa v roku 2020 pre mnohých podnikateľov stalo záchranným
kolesom. Digitálny kontakt so zákazníkmi pomohol prežiť aj segmentom, ktorým
vplyvom koronakrízy hrozil likvidačný prepad. Veľkí e-commerce hráči dokonca už
na jar zažívali výkon porovnateľný s vrcholom vianočnej sezóny.

Zmenu spotrebiteľského správania zapríčinili nielen vládne nariadenia, ktoré už
niekoľkokrát obmedzili chod kamenných prevádzok. V Slovákoch pretrváva aj
obozretnosť voči davom nakupujúcich a hygienickým opatreniam v obchodoch, na
internete tiež v zhoršenej finančnej situácii hľadajú výhodnejšie ceny.

Spotrebitelia sa sťahujú do digitálu
„16 % Slovákov sa tento rok nechystá nakupovať vianočné darčeky vôbec.
Najciteľnejšie je toto rozhodnutie v krajoch Stredného Slovenska, kde darčeky
neplánuje kupovať až 23 % opýtaných,“ uvádza analytik UX štúdia Lighting Beetle
Michal Blažej.

Z tých, ktorí tradíciu darčekov zachovávajú, viac ako pätina plánuje vybaviť
nákupy skôr než pred rokom. Každý desiaty respondent vo veku 18 – 34 rokov mal
dokonca už v prvom decembrovom týždni darčeky nakúpené.

Snaha nakupovať v dostatočnom predstihu vychádza z predchádzajúcich skúseností
Slovákov s e-shopmi. Za najčastejšie problémy, s ktorými sa za posledný rok pri
online nakupovaní stretli, označili okrem vysokých nákladov na dopravu,
nedostatočných skladových zásob či informácií o produktoch aj rýchlosť a kvalitu
doručenia tovaru.

Služby kuriéra sú tento rok témou aj pre doručovanie samotných darčekov. Kým
minulý rok 85 % opýtaných odovzdávalo darčeky výlučne osobne, tento rok 21 %
Slovákov zapojí do doručovania darčekov kuriéra. Uvažuje tak až dvojnásobok žien
v porovnaní s minulým rokom.

Slováci obmedzujú vianočné rozpočty
Z prieskumu štúdia Lighting Beetle vyplýva, že každý štvrtý Slovák plánuje na
darčeky minúť menej peňazí ako minulý rok. „Až polovica týchto ľudí uviedla ako
dôvod zhoršenie príjmu, 38 % si zase odkladá finančnú rezervu,” upresňuje
Blažej.

„Opatrnosť cítime hlavne u ľudí s príjmom do 500 eur. Tretina z nich má tento
rok ešte tesnejší vianočný rozpočet, aj preto budú kupovať lacnejšie darčeky a
pre menší počet blízkych než zvykli,” dopĺňa analytik.

Z kategórií darčekov, ktoré Slováci zvykli kupovať v kamenných predajniach a
tento rok ich nakúpia online, najvýraznejšie vzrástla kozmetika a drogéria (42
%), oblečenie (40 %) a tovar pre deti (37 %). O niečo menší nárast zaznamenali
knihy a voľnočasové potreby (36 %) a elektronika (30 %), ktoré sa záujmu cez
e-commerce tešili už aj predtým.

O výbere e-shopu rozhoduje cena tovaru
Ani väčší objem zákazníkov v online priestore však obchodníkom automaticky
nezaručí vyšší predaj. Slováci majú jasné nároky, podľa ktorých si vyberajú, u
koho nakúpia.

„Najdôležitejším faktorom pri rozhodovaní medzi e-shopmi je cena tovaru,
porovnávajú ju viac ako dve tretiny zákazníkov,” uvádza analytik Michal Blažej,
ktorý pomáha dizajnovať služby a e-shopy na základe používateľského správania.
Na cenovú politiku sú citliví hlavne ľudia s nižším príjmom (do 500 eur), tento
dôvod uviedlo až 72 % z nich.

59 % Slovákov záleží na dôveryhodnosti a referenciách obchodu a viac ako
polovica si vyberá e-shop podľa rýchlosti, ceny či spôsobu doručenia tovaru. Iba
6 % opýtaných uviedlo, že má na nich vplyv reklama e-shopu, a 19 % ľudí sa nechá
motivovať darčekom k nákupu.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zber dát prebiehal prostredníctvom agentúry Nielsen Admosphere Slovakia
[https://www.nielsen-admosphere.sk/] v období od 27. novembra do 2. decembra
2020. Analýza dát bola realizovaná na reprezentatívnej vzorke 320 respondentov.

Nákupy darčekov sa presúvajú do online priestoru. Štvrtina Slovákov na ne minie menej ako minulý rok, hlavným dôvodom je nižší príjem



At LB*, we often organize design sprints for our clients. Since the beginning of
COVID-19, we were forced to organize them remotely. We've gathered the best
practices from our experienced facilitators to create a ready template for your
own design sprint.

➡️ 4-day Remote Design Sprint
[https://www.figma.com/community/file/913771607816628383/4-day-Remote-Design-Sprint] 
⬅️

Why using Figma over Miro for a remote design sprint?
Miro [https://miro.com/] is more adapted to remote collaboration with
stakeholders who never used a design tool before. However, Figma
[https://www.figma.com/] is accessible for free. It is much more versatile. It
acts as one source of truth with both workshop insights and prototype. If you
like the template, don't forget to hit the LIKE button so the rest of the
community know you recommend 👍

What is included in this template?
 * All design sprint activities
 * Post-its
 * Timer
 * Voting dots
 * Arrows for flows
 * Ice breaker
 * Introduction
 * Parking lot
 * & lots of other useful stuff.

Need help to run remote design sprint?
Get in touch [https://www.lbstudio.sk/contact] with us, we offer a free
consultation to discuss anything. 🤗

4-day remote design sprint Figma template

The Slovak e-commerce market has been stable in recent years, without seeing
much growth. As of 2019, 60% of people residing in Slovakia make at least one
digital purchase a year
[https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/bookmark/b8d72922-7f8d-4f8c-b72b-2a420c183705?lang=en]
, only 1% increase since 2017. While Slovak companies turnover on e-commerce has 
stagnated at 21% since 2017
[https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/bookmark/deef91fa-b21a-49a1-a9ff-85352f84fdab?lang=en]
. Of course, 2020 represents a completely different year to its predecessors,
with an estimated sharp increase in online shopping due to the COVID-19
pandemic. However, official statistics won't be available until 2021. It's hard
to understand why the market has not grown much in recent years, but the surge
in online sales represents a big opportunity. Making sure that you have the best
possible e-shop experience can give you a big lead, as the Holiday season
approaches.

Good news is that just like the economical data is stable, so are best practices
for e-commerce experience. Plenty of e-shops have paved the way, one A/B test at
a time, to provide us with a rich understanding of what works and what doesn't.
Nevertheless, it's only wise to understand that simply applying best practices
is not enough—oftentimes they will only work in certain environments—but if this
is your first time looking to improve the UX of your e-commerce, this is a great
place to start.

We have compiled a list of best practices based on our work for Martinus, Orange
and Nay—three  of the biggest Slovak players in e-commerce—and other big
international e-commerces  are glad to share it with you.

Everything is about a well functioning funnel
Each user is unique in how they try to accomplish their goals at an e-shop. They
may be looking for different products, for different reasons. Their previous
experience on other e-shops will also dictate their expectations on your
website. Despite all this, it's still possible to generalise the user flow into
a funnel that represents how most users go from need awareness to conversion. A
few funnel options are available out there, for inspiration.

For those who wish to have a grasp of how users not only interact with the
e-shop, but also brand awareness, the funnel could consist of 4 phases:
awareness, interest, desire and action.

This article will, however, focus more on the experience inside the e-shop. For
more information about how to also approach brand awareness, you can consult 
E-Commerce Conversion Funnel
[https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/ecommerce-conversion-funnel/].

Most e-shops have the following elements: homepage, navigation, search, category
page, product detail page, shopping cart and checkout. This exact order
represents the most common experience funnel you may expect. The user will most
likely land on your homepage, if they haven't Googled for a specific product,
and will make their way through navigation and different products, until they
find what they want and finish the purchase. It often happens that users will
come back later and reactivate the journey not from the top of the funnel, but
from the last place they visited (e.g. a product they saved, or the shopping
cart).

The first step to create your conversion funnel is to identify the user journey
from end to end. What are the most common landing pages? Upon landing, what are
the actions they take? At what point do they interact with the products? What do
you consider a conversion: purchase or registration? It's possible to map out
this journey by using the User Flow feature on Google Analytics or replaying
sessions on HotJar.

With the journey at hand, the next step is to identify what triggers a signal
that a user has moved from one step to another. Generally, these triggers will
be your main ammunition to set up the funnel. Assuming that you already have
Google Analytics installed on your e-shop, the next step shouldn't be
complicated. It consists of setting up Goals on the tool. Since our main goal
here is to discuss UX best practices and improvements for the funnel, we won't
dig deeper into setting up funnels.  For a detailed step-by-step guide, you can
read How to Set Up Conversion Funnels in Google Analytics
[https://www.adhook.io/en/conversion-funnel-in-google-analytics/].

The 5 types of shoppers
Before we jump right into the improvements, it's important to become aware that
not all users are born equal. I commonly hear the statement "our target audience
is everyone" and while it's true that anyone may stumble randomly upon your
e-shop, probably a smaller set of people is more likely to type the correct
words on Google that will lead to your site. If we skip demographics, e-shopper
behaviour generally falls into 5 categories:

 * Product Focused Shopper - who is mostly interested in a specific product
 * Browser - who is just checking what's new or trending
 * Researcher - who wants to buy something, but still have a lot of unanswered
   questions, so probably won't buy anything today
 * Good Deal Hunter - who is out looking to make a good deal
 * One-Time Shopper - who doesn't want any strings attached, all that is
   important is to buy that one product, but how does this site work?

Each shopper will rely more heavily on different parts of the e-shop. Being able
to identify these behaviors will help you prioritise which improvements to make.
But beware that sometimes in a single session a unique user may wear different
hats, one can be a Researcher and a Good Deal Hunter. Generally, this is the
behavior you can expect from each shopper:

 * Product Focused Shopper - who is going to rely heavily on search or
   navigation
 * Browser - who is going to scroll down the front page and look through some
   news, trending products or charts
 * Researcher - who is going to power-use everything offered to figure out which
   product is best (navigation, search, product comparison, ratings,
   recommendations, tests, best sellers, etc.)
 * Good Deal Hunter - who is going to be aware of anything indicating discounts
   and offers, on the front page, category list or any other place
 * One-Time Shopper - who probably will try to use a guest checkout soon after
   finding what they want

Have you seen any of these behaviors in your user base before? Maybe you can
even identify yourself as one or multiple of these personalities.

Improving the funnel, one element at a time
We'll start from the top with the Homepage and move our way down the funnel.

Homepage

The homepage is where most users will land if they haven't Googled any specific
keyword leading directly to a product page. Instantly, two questions come to
their minds "Can I shop here?" and "What can I buy here?". These may sound like
obvious questions, but they cross people's minds frequently. For shops like Nay
or Martinus, it's very obvious from the first glance that they sell electronics
and books, respectively, but could it be possible that clothing and board games
are sold as well? Another example comes from telco websites. More often than
not, users will land on a frontpage that is very coy about displaying prices, so
how can they assume that products are actually being sold?

"Can I shop here?"The frontpage is very important for Browsers, Deal Hunters and
One-Time Shoppers. It's the very first impression and not meeting their
expectations can cause a significant drop in the top of the conversion funnel.
To help users orient themselves during their first visits, here are some
elements that are a must-have:

 1. Brand identifier - company logo and e-shop name
 2. Shopping cart
 3. Login & registration
 4. Visible search
 5. Clear value proposition
 6. Product pictures
 7. Promotions and currently discounted products
 8. Top categories

Other useful information may also be included to raise credibility, answer
questions from demanding customers like the Researchers and help with customer
service. These are some points to consider:

 1. Payment methods
 2. Delivery options and duration
 3. FAQs
 4. Contact to customer service
 5. Help and support
 6. Trial period, returns and reimbursement

Search

It's the Product Focused Shopper's best friend. A well-designed search system
allows users to find relevant products more easily, after all if users can't
find something, in their heads, it means that it doesn't exist. Normally, a
search system should contain 3 main elements: the search bar, autocomplete and a
results page.

The search bar should be available on every page, be large and in a shape users
will be able to identify while scanning pages (1). To help users type in the
best keywords and remember what they've inputted, it's best to present
meaningful search tips (2) and for the bar to be large enough to fit the entire
search query (3).

While interacting with the search engine, users may benefit from autocomplete,
as it effectively helps them get to the product detail page, bypassing results.
Some of the best autocomplete practices include: using most frequently searched
terms (4), displaying search terms categories (5), offering frequently and
recently researched products (6), and having direct links to products with
pictures and prices (7).

Finally, typing search terms into the bar and confirming culminates in results.
The biggest pitfall of results pages is overwhelming the user with information
to the point they are not able to separate the good from the bad. It's enough to
display product image, name and description, price and any relevant deals or
discounts. Further information could be added, but it would be best to validate
their effectiveness on the funnel via A/B tests. Besides the basic information
about a product, users should also have support features to help them sort out
what is most relevant to them. These are some of the best practices:

 1. Allow users to scan search results through an F reading pattern
 2. Filters relevant to the set of results displayed
 3. Show most frequently and recently searched products
 4. Suggest most frequently searched terms and categories, when no results are
    available

Category page

For simplicity, many e-shops keep a similar design between search result pages
and category pages. While that's a fair approach, they can miss out on great
opportunities to boost the user flow. Category pages can be used to give an
overview of the products while aiming at findability and discoverability. For
many users, it's the first impression on the products, so it's important to keep
it interesting and dynamic, for example with seasonal changes (1) and options to
see the catalog as a list or grid (2).

Browsers rely heavily on category pages to discover what's new (3), trending (4)
or simply what is the offer from the store (5). Researchers use it to assure
themselves they have found the best options for the product they seek (6).
Furthermore, it's a great place to showcase discounts for Deal Hunters (7). 

Product detail

When was the last time that you made an impulsive purchase? Do you remember what
you felt like when you were doing that decision? Chances are that what you've
seen on the product page tipped you over the edge. Apple is probably the best
example of how to showcase a product in a way that evokes an emotional reaction
out of people. However, not every store can be Apple. Most stores don't have the
time or money to design special product pages for each of their products, and
having thousands of products on offer doesn't help.

The question that remains is "how can you evoke a visceral reaction to convert
users, without unlimited budget?". The short answer is that product pages should
rely heavily on visuals, while trying to make the customer see themselves using
the product. Here are some tips on how to accomplish this:

 * Provide high quality detailed pictures from different angles
 * Place the product on their natural usage environment
 * Consider the case when bad pictures are inevitable
 * Offer 360° visualisations or videos
 * Display effective and clear headings
 * Don't forget about all the crucial information (technical parameters,
   dimensions, transport, service, etc.)

Conclusion
Shopping carts and checkouts are not as major dropout points as the remaining
points of the funnel, so we've decided to leave them out this time around, but
we will approach the subject later on. Let us know if you'd like us to delve
deep into it.

Best practices are not called rules for a reason, they may not always work
depending on the context. Always think of your customer first and whether any
improvements you plan to implement will really contribute to the betterment of
their journey, but if this is the first time you're diving into building a
funnel and improving its steps, the fact that you've decided to do so is already
a major accomplishment.

If you'd like to learn how we have approached the innovative redesign of
Martinus, the leading and biggest bookseller in Slovakia, come check our case
study [https://www.lbstudio.sk/martinus].

If you need help with boosting your performance or launching new products and
services, let's have a chat [https://www.lbstudio.sk/contact].

This article was co-created by Stanislav Rykalský and Walter Lima.

Fine-tuning e-commerce with UX best practices

What is this guide for?
Launching a new product is extremely risky, 90% of startup ideas fail. This
guide is a summary of best practices combined with our 11 years experience in
bringing successful new products to market. Following our 7-step process, you
will maximize your chances for success.

In this handbook
 * Complex process simply explained: No need to be an expert in product
   management to read this guide. We write in plain english what you should know
   about creating a new product.
 * 7 steps process: From your first meeting to the launch, we explain in 7 steps
   how to build your product for your customers. 
 * Recommended tools: For each step, you can find some of our favorite tools.

The process
 * Business goals
 * Problem exploration
 * Solution development
 * Business model definition
 * Solution validation
 * Build a minimum solution
 * Continuous build & measure & learn

Get the Product Discovery Guide First Name* Professional email* Which one best
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Product Discovery Guide

Products don’t reach success out of sheer luck. Many think that all it takes is
a great idea and a talented team. It certainly helps having those, but the 
startup graveyard [https://www.failory.com/cemetery] is full of ideas by
talented teams that have failed. Surviving in a competitive market is tough when
only 7 out of 10 businesses won’t make it to their 10-year mark
[https://www.fundera.com/blog/what-percentage-of-small-businesses-fail].

A product represents the results of carefully constructed planning, which stands
on several pillars, such as vision, strategy and goals. While the vision is
abstract and driven by a great deal of uncertainty, goals are very precise and
tangible. Somewhere in-between these contrasting worlds lives product strategy.
The strategy outlines how to turn the vision into reality while focusing on
empowering teams to solve complex problems. It’s the cornerstone of team
autonomy, helping them determine what the real problems are and how to solve
them.

The Vision
Creating a product strategy requires having a solid product vision. The vision
describes what value the product intends to deliver to the customers in the 2-5
years horizon, thus giving us a direction to follow. Your strategy will then lay
out the right path to reach the vision, helping you decide where to dedicate
appropriate efforts.

It's best not to think of the project vision in terms of a utopian goal, or to
define it in the smallest details. It should be about a realistic long-term
intention that is still challenging to achieve.

A good example comes from Slack, the communication platform. Since the
beginning, their strategists have been aware that, in the future, email
communication will be gradually replaced by faster and more interactive forms of
communication; and the platform wants to make sure they are a part of that
future.

> “It is almost inevitable that centralized internal communication systems will
gradually replace email for most organizations over the next 10-20 years and we
should do what we can to accelerate the trend and own it.” – Stewart
Butterfield, CEO of Slack
Once the vision is defined, the strategy can be created. Beware that product
strategy is not a document you write down based on a business case and proceed
to strictly follow. It's a path towards the vision, usually consisting of 3
elements: focus, insights and action steps.

The Strategy
Focus
Not everything we do is equally important. Investing efforts in unnecessary
initiatives can turn out to be very costly in the end. In today's world, we are
surrounded by various possibilities and opportunities, and it's very easy to let
yourself go and commit to useless ones. That's why I believe that the basis of a
good product strategy is the ability to say NO.

> “Good strategy requires leaders who are willing and able to say no to a variety
of actions and interests. Strategy is at least as much about what an
organization does not do as it is about what it does.” – Richard Rumelt
If your company has gone through the struggle of not being able to choose its
battles, you probably have experienced at least one of these symptoms:

 * Too many critical initiatives;
 * Excessive reactivity (e.g. the need to react to every competitor);
 * Continuous generation of activities instead of achieving goals;
 * Focus efforts on non-essential low-impact initiatives.

So the big question is "How do you focus your efforts to move the needle?" 
Unfortunately, there is no clear answer. However, Marty Cagan of SVPG
[https://svpg.com/product-strategy-focus/] recommends limiting the number of
things your product team is working on at any given time. If you don’t have
these limits, work piles up at bottlenecks and you end up constantly switching
context. As a result, you get fewer things out the door.

When creating a yearly strategy, it’s usually useful to narrow down your focus
to:

 * Vertical market (e.g. financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications,
   etc.)
 * Specific customer type (e.g. B2C)
 * Geographical location (e.g. focus on local market)
 * Channel (e.g. digital channels)
 * Set of key results (e.g. invent an autonomous car)

You may choose a focus from the list, a combination of them, or just look for
something that makes sense in your context, potentially informed by your own
insights.

A good example is Tesla that operates in the automotive vertical market. In the
oversaturated car market, they decided to focus on sustainable forms of
transportation, which they transformed into the production of electric cars for
the mass market. This specialization has enabled them to produce the most unique
electric cars and gain a competitive advantage.

> “(...) Our goal is to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing
compelling mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible (…)” – Elon
Musk
Another example might be Google, the search engine, whose vision is to “Provide
the most relevant and reliable information available". For this reason, they
decided that it would be very important for them to focus on mastering the
connections and relationships between information on the web, which culminated
on their decision to build The Knowledge Graph. Currently, Google Search covers
over 90% of search queries and it's clear that the results are relevant and
reliable.

Insights
Market and business knowledge are necessary not only to decide where to focus
the efforts, but also for planning your tactics and action steps towards the
vision.

What data do I recommend looking at?

 * Quantitative reports: It can show you certain patterns in shopping behavior,
   e.g. that small customers shop more often in smaller volumes than large ones
   and you can adjust your behavior or sales strategy accordingly; or what would
   be a good product for up-sell with some particular service; and so on.
 * Qualitative reports: Useful to describe existing problems or reveal new
   opportunities. Popular techniques are customer surveys and interviews.
 * Technological news: On one hand, it can show you trends but on the other hand
   it can show you new possibilities or threats, e.g. making better
   recommendations with AI is definitely a new possibility, while not having an
   optimized cart for mobile devices is a threat.
 * Sectoral information: Another way to gather trends and guidance, but in your
   own section. For example, in the newspaper business, when you see the decline
   in newspaper sales and decline of newspaper subscriptions you probably
   wouldn’t invest in creating new printed media or newspapers.
 * Shared knowledge: Make use of publicly (not always free) available data from
   researchers or public institutions.

Unfortunately, again, there's no golden formula that would help us simply create
a solid product strategy from this data. But the basics is to use the available
data to orient ourselves and find one or two critical insights upon which we may
build the strategy.

Google Search illustrates this pillar quite well. On mobile devices, people are
able to both type and dictate, which led Google to discover that people not only
search for keywords but also for complex sentences. This realisation taught them
that a rise in complex searches requires them to be able to know the context of
indexed information.

To build a realistic future, all your decisions should be guided by data and
insights. Turning the checking of the data into a ritual or automatising its
extraction process can help you avoid gut-feeling decisions that steer your
product towards the wrong direction.

> “Good strategy … does not pop out of some ‘strategic management’ tool, matrix,
chart, triangle, or fill-in-the-blanks scheme. Instead, a talented leader
identifies the one or two critical issues in the situation – the pivot points
that can multiply the effectiveness of effort – and then focuses and
concentrates action and resources on them.” – Richard Rumelt
Action steps
When you have decided about your focus and said NO to all impactless initiatives
it’s time to prepare your action steps. These steps reflect your focus on
meaningful and measurable goals and are your yearly strategy.

Personally, I prefer creating a yearly strategy in the form of OKRs, but they
deserve a separate article. As an alternative, you may use a roadmap, but be
careful not to focus on product features, instead of issues that you try to
resolve over a period of time. A good roadmap should be able to answer the
following questions:

1. What do we need to resolve to move closer to our vision?
2. How will we know that we have succeeded or failed?

As I wrote in the introduction to this article, the strategy describes the way
of realizing the vision and its main purpose is to empower teams to solve
complex problems. This should be your ultimate intention.

If you're facing some troubles setting up your product strategy, we can help you 
make better strategic decisions [https://www.lbstudio.sk/approach].

Some more resources to help you on your journey to mastering product strategy:

 * How to write a product vision statement
   [https://www.productboard.com/blog/write-product-vision/] – Productboard
 * Guide: Set goals with OKRs
   [https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/set-goals-with-okrs/steps/introduction/] 
    – Google
 * Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The difference and why it matters
   [https://www.amazon.com/Good-Strategy-Bad-difference-matters-ebook/dp/B005331U7Q/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=] 
    – Richard Rumelt

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