What are the three levels of product? 

The three levels of product framework explains how a product is more than just its physical form, and that it’s made up of different layers of value that influences customer perception. 

These three levels are the core product (the fundamental benefit or need it fulfills), the actual product (the tangible item with its features and design), and the augmented product (the additional services or benefits that enhance its value).

Think of a product like an onion – layered, complex, but (hopefully) not something that makes customers cry. To truly understand what you’re offering, you need to break it down into the three product levels:

• Core Product – The fundamental reason a customer wants it.
• Actual Product – The tangible thing they’re buying.
• Augmented Product – The extras that sweeten the deal.

These three layers come together to form the total product concept: a handy framework that helps Product Marketing Managers (and the rest of the team) clearly communicate the full value of what they’re offering. 

By considering all three levels, you can better meet customer needs, exceed expectations, and build products that don’t just compete but stand out in the market.

Let’s take a look at these in more detail:

Core product definition

This is the fundamental benefit of your product or service. The why behind your product – the core benefit that solves a problem or fulfills a need. It’s not the physical thing itself, but the value it delivers. 

Take a car, for example. The core product isn’t the vehicle; it’s the ability to travel quickly and conveniently.

Actual product definition

This is the product in its tangible form, describing the design, product features, brand, and quality. It’s what the customer physically receives when buying your product.

Sticking with our car example, this includes the sleek exterior, the horsepower, the leather seats, and the logo on the front. 

Augmented product definition

This is where you go beyond the basics.  Warranties, customer support, free maintenance – the extra details and additional features that set your product apart from competitors. 

In the car world, it’s that bumper-to-bumper warranty, roadside assistance, 24/7 customer service, or the free coffee at the dealership.

By understanding and optimizing these three levels, you’re not just selling a product, you’re delivering an experience that customers actually want (and will pay for).

Who created the three levels of product?

The Three Levels of a Product framework was first introduced by the father of modern marketing, Philip Kotler, with the concept of a core product making its debut in his work all the way back in 1967. 

Decades later, this model is still a go-to tool for teams looking to clearly define and communicate the value of their product.

Kotler actually developed a deeper and more detailed framework called the Five Levels of a Product framework. Think of this three-level version as a more streamlined version of its chunkier sibling. 

While the five-level model dives deeper, the three-level version keeps things simple, making it easier to understand how a product goes beyond just its core benefit.

For context, Kotler’s five levels are:

• Core Benefit – The fundamental reason a customer needs the product.
• Generic Product – The basic, no-frills version of the product.
• Expected Product – The product features customers expect as standard.
• Augmented Product – The extras that enhance the product and add value.
• Potential Product – The future possibilities and innovations that could be added.

To create the three levels of product, Kotler trimmed things down, removing Potential Product and Generic Product, while renaming Expected Product to Actual Product. The result? A practical, easy-to-use framework that helps teams better understand what they’re really offering.

Kotler’s influence on Product Marketing doesn’t stop here. He’s also the mastermind behind the Kotler Pricing Strategy Matrix, a must-know framework for pricing decisions. 

Check out our article on Product Pricing Strategies to dive deeper.

What’s the purpose of the three levels of product?

The three product level model helps businesses build products that truly meet customer needs while standing out in the market. It’s more than just a way to categorize features, it’s a tool for crafting a stronger value proposition and refining strategy. Here’s why it matters:

Customer-centric thinking: It shifts the focus beyond the physical product, ensuring teams consider the real benefit customers are seeking.

Value creation: Looking at all three levels helps businesses add extra value, especially through the augmented product, where differentiation happens.

Smarter marketing strategies: Highlighting different product levels makes it easier to craft targeted messaging that attracts and retains customers.

Clearer product development: It provides a structured way to develop products, ensuring every level – from core benefit to added services – is thoughtfully designed.

Competitive advantage: Understanding these layers helps businesses identify where they can outperform rivals, whether through better features or standout services.

Stronger price justification: By clearly defining the value at each level, you can can better justify pricing models and communicate why your product is worth the price tag.

Better expectation management: A well-defined product structure ensures customers know what to expect, reducing dissatisfaction and boosting customer satisfaction.

Brand positioning: The framework helps teams sharpen their unique selling points, ensuring their brand messaging aligns with customer expectations.

How can a Product Manager use the three levels of product?

At its core, the three levels of Product is a marketing concept, but it’s also a powerful tool for customer research and product analysis. As Product Managers, we need to deeply understand our users – their pain points, motivations, and unmet needs. This framework helps break down a product’s value from multiple angles, making it easier to analyze how well it aligns with user expectations.

By mapping your product across core, actual, and augmented levels, you can:

• Identify customer needs more effectively: Understanding the core benefit helps ensure your product truly addresses a real problem.
• Develop a clearer value proposition: By articulating what makes your product essential (core), functional (actual), and competitive (augmented), you refine your messaging.
• Prioritize features with impact: Features that directly support the core benefit should take precedence in your roadmap.
• Improve competitive product analysis: Evaluating your augmented product can reveal areas where you can differentiate through services, integrations, or premium offerings.
• Guide continuous improvement: Regularly assessing the augmented level ensures your product evolves with customer expectations and market trends.
• Create more engaging release notes: By highlighting improvements at each level, you can better communicate release note updates in a way that resonates with different user needs.

While this isn’t a rigid Product Management framework, it’s a useful lens to assess product-market fit, customer alignment, and strategic growth opportunities.

Three levels of product example

Still not really getting it? That’s okay, the concept of the 3 level product is a bit abstract. Because everyone seems obsessed with Duolingo and that green bird, let’s break down the three levels of product using it as an example .

Level 1⃣ Core Product – The fundamental need

At its core, Duolingo isn’t just an app, it’s a tool to help people learn a new language. The real benefit? Language acquisition and communication skills. 

Users don’t sign up just to tap on a screen, they want to speak Spanish on vacation, ace their French class, or stop embarrassing themselves in Italian restaurants. That’s the core product – the deep, underlying value Duolingo provides.

Level 2⃣ Actual Product – The tangible experience

This is what you see, use, and interact with:

• The Duolingo app itself
• Features like bite-sized lessons, gamified streaks, and XP points
• A friendly (and slightly menacing) green owl mascot who guilt-trips you into practicing
• Freemium subscription tiers
• Speech recognition technology for pronunciation practice
• A brand identity built around fun, accessibility, and consistency

All these elements make up the actual finished product, shaping the experience users have with Duolingo.

Level 3⃣ Augmented Product – The extras that add value

This is where Duolingo goes beyond just being an app and differentiates itself from competitors.

• Duolingo Plus (now called Super Duolingo): Removes ads, offers offline access, and lets you repair streaks.
• Duolingo for Schools: A free tool for teachers to track student progress.
• Duolingo Events: Virtual meetups for practicing languages in real conversations.
• AI-driven personalized learning: Adapts lessons based on user progress.
• Brand trust and community: Millions of learners, social media engagement, and meme-worthy presence.

The augmented product is what makes Duolingo more than just a language-learning app – it’s a sticky, engaging, and evolving ecosystem that keeps users coming back.

So, next time you open the app and that green owl stares into your soul, remember: Duolingo isn’t just a bird with an agenda. It’s a three-level product strategy in action.

The different layers of your product

Understanding the three levels of product offers you a powerful framework for product discovery, customer research, and competitive product analysis. By breaking your product down into the core, actual, and augmented layers, you can better align your offerings with customer needs, sharpen your value proposition, and create a stronger connection with your potential customer.

While the concept itself is simple, the impact it can have on your product strategy is huge. It can help you prioritize features, identify gaps in the market, and even craft better marketing campaigns by focusing on the different ways your product provides value at each level.

We think following the three levels of Product can help you prioritize features by assessing them based on their value. But there are plenty of other ways to prioritize your ideas. Check out our eBook on Product Prioritization Frameworks to learn all about the best frameworks to help you make informed product decisions.

What is a product engagement score? 

The product engagement score (PES) is like your product’s pulse check. It’s one number that has the power to tell you everything when it comes to understanding how engaged your users really are. Instead of drowning in a sea of different engagement metrics, PES simplifies the chaos by rolling up three key factors into one easy-to-track score. Those three metrics: adoption, stickiness, and growth.

In plain English, your product engagement score (PES) tells you how well your product is resonating with users. Are they discovering and using key features (this is adoption)? Are they coming back regularly because they find it valuable (this is stickiness)? Is your user base expanding instead of quietly ghosting you (this is growth)? 

PES pulls all of this together into a single number, giving you a quick yet powerful way to track whether your product is thriving or if you need to sound the alarm and make some changes.

The product engagement score is no vanity metric, either. PES can highlight what’s working, reveal hidden issues, and even help predict customer churn before it happens. The higher your score, the more engaged your users, and the more likely they are to stick around, advocate for your product, and, you know, actually pay for it.

How does a product engagement score work?

Let’s look deeper at how this score actually works and how you can create one yourself for your own product. Product engagement score combines three core engagement metrics into one tidy number that tells you whether users are loving, leaving, or lurking in your product. 

Those three key metrics?

• Product adoption – How many users are actively adopting key features?
• Product stickiness – How often do they keep coming back for more?
• Product growth – Is your user base expanding or quietly vanishing?

Once you’ve got these rates, PES is simply the average of the three. Yes, it’s basic maths: add them up, divide by three, and boom, you’ve got your PES. But before you start crunching numbers, let’s break down how to calculate each component the right way.

How to find your product adoption rate

Product adoption is all about how many users are actually engaging with your core features. It goes beyond tracking those who are just signing up and then peacing out. If a feature is central to your product value proposition you want to know how many users are making it part of their routine.

Here’s how to calculate it:

This gives you a clear measure of whether your users are making the most of your product’s key capabilities or if you need to work on improving onboarding, feature discoverability, or even the usefulness of the features themselves.

Want more detail? Check out our adoption rate glossary entry.

How to find your product stickiness

Stickiness is your retention superglue, it tells you how often users return after that first interaction. A product that’s “sticky” keeps pulling users back in, meaning they’re finding continuous value.

There are two common ways to measure stickiness, depending on how often your product is meant to be used:

• Daily Active Users (DAU) ÷ Weekly Active Users (WAU) – For products that are used daily, like messaging apps or Product Management tools.
• Weekly Active Users (WAU) ÷ Monthly Active Users (MAU) – For products that are designed for less frequent use, like invoicing software.

The result is a percentage (well, actually a decimal that you can turn into a percentage) that shows how often people are returning relative to your overall user base. High stickiness? Your product is essential. Low stickiness? Time to investigate friction points or missing value props.

How to find your product growth

Product growth tells you if you’re winning new users – or losing them faster than you can say “churn.” It’s a mix of new users, returning users, and those who’ve disappeared.

Here’s the formula:

• New users – Fresh signups or new accounts.
• Recovered users – Previously inactive users who’ve come back.
• Churned users – Those who’ve left (hopefully not forever).

A positive growth rate means your product is expanding. A negative one? Time to investigate onboarding, activation, and why users are dropping off.

Putting it all together

Once you have your three metrics as a percentage: adoption, stickiness, and growth – simply add them together and divide by three. That’s your Product adoption score, expressed as a percentage out of 100.

The higher the Product adoption score, the more engaged your users are.
The lower it is, the more work you’ve got to do.

A solid PES means users are discovering, returning, and growing with your product – the trifecta of a thriving SaaS product. If that’s not happening, you now know exactly where to dig in and optimize.

Why use a product engagement score?

Your product engagement score is a window into how well your product is resonating with users. A high PES means users are adopting key features, sticking around, and driving organic growth. A low PES? That’s like a flashing check engine light showing that something’s off, whether it’s onboarding friction, underutilized features, or a churn problem in the making.

By tracking PES, you gain actionable insights into user behavior, allowing you to make informed decisions that drive retention, expansion, and overall product success. Here’s why it’s a must-have metric:

1. Identifying expansion revenue opportunities

Not all user segments engage with your product in the same way. A low PES in a growing segment might indicate that users aren’t fully making use of premium features – a prime opportunity for upsells and expansion revenue. 

If you notice that adoption and stickiness are strong, but growth lags behind, it could mean you’re missing opportunities to introduce power users to additional features or higher-tier plans. This calls for a rethink of your product pricing strategy.

2. Uncovering product-qualified leads (PQLs)

A spike in PES within certain new user segments? That’s your cue to identify Product-Qualified Leads (PQLs): users who are already finding value in your product and are primed for conversion. Instead of chasing cold leads, your Sales Team can prioritize accounts that are actively engaging with core features, making for a much smoother conversion process.

3. Reducing customer churn

A low engagement score in certain user segments is often the first sign of trouble, whether it’s a clunky onboarding process, underwhelming feature adoption, or a lack of perceived value. By catching declining PES early, you can intervene before users churn. This could mean tweaking your user activation flow, introducing proactive customer support, or re-engaging users with targeted content.

4. Improving the overall product experience

Engagement isn’t just about keeping users active – it’s about making sure they’re getting value. A well-tracked PES helps pinpoint underperforming areas of your product, so you can refine features, remove friction, and enhance usability. If adoption is low for a key feature, is it too hidden? Too complex? Not meeting user expectations? PES helps answer those questions.

How do I improve my product engagement score?

Say you’ve worked out your PES and it’s not a pretty picture. What do you do? Well, boosting your product engagement score (PES) is all about making your product more intuitive, engaging, and valuable to users. 

Improving your PES isn’t about chasing a number – it’s about ensuring your product delivers real value to users at every stage of their experience. The more intuitive, engaging, and essential your product becomes, the higher your engagement score (and customer retention) will climb. 

Here are some practical ways to increase adoption, stickiness, and growth – aka the three pillars of PES.

• Enhance new user adoption with better onboarding
  First impressions matter. A seamless onboarding experience helps users reach their “wow moment” faster, increasing their likelihood of sticking around. Interactive walkthroughs, tooltips, and personalized guidance can ensure new users understand how to use key features right away, leading to higher activation and engagement rates.
• Introduce secondary onboarding for deeper engagement
  Not every feature needs to be introduced on day one. Secondary onboarding helps reactivate users by guiding them toward advanced features they may have missed. This approach boosts long-term engagement and product adoption, while also reducing churn by reinforcing value over time.
• Provide in-app self-service support
  Users shouldn’t have to leave your product to get help. Embedding a resource center, tooltips, or FAQs within the app makes it easier for users to troubleshoot issues, reducing frustration and improving overall satisfaction – both of which contribute to better product engagement scores.
• Leverage gamification to drive ongoing interaction
  People love a good challenge. Leaderboards, badges, and progress tracking can make using your product feel more rewarding. By incorporating game-like mechanics, you can encourage repeat usage and long-term engagement, keeping adoption and stickiness high.
• Implement churn prevention measures
  Spotting disengaged users before they leave is key. Use in-app nudges, personalized emails, or targeted experiences for users showing signs of churn (like a drop in logins or feature usage). Churn surveys can also help you uncover why users are leaving, giving you the insights needed to improve retention and PES.
• Use micro-surveys to gather real-time feedback
  Small, well-timed in-app surveys help you understand where users struggle and what they find valuable. These insights can guide future improvements, ensuring your product continues to meet user needs and drive engagement.
• Identify and promote high-value features
  Not all features are created equal. Dig into product analytics to determine which features are most used by high-retention customers. Once identified, use in-app messaging or prompts to guide new users toward these valuable features, ensuring they experience the core benefits of your product sooner.
• Make your product an essential part of users’ daily routines
  The more integrated your product is into a user’s day, the stickier it becomes. Use behavioral data and user interviews to understand how customers use your product, then create nudges and automation that help them unlock their full potential within their workflow or daily habits.

Product engagement score best practices

Your product engagement score should be easy to calculate, but easy doesn’t always mean foolproof. To ensure you’re measuring the right things and getting reliable insights, follow these best practices:

• Measure for separate user segments: A single PES across all users won’t tell the full story. New users, power users, and enterprise accounts will have vastly different engagement patterns. Breaking down PES by user segments helps you pinpoint areas where engagement is thriving – and where it’s struggling.
• Define your user activation trigger: Logging in isn’t the same as meaningful engagement. Set clear activation points based on users interacting with core features or reaching their “wow moment”. If they log in every day but don’t take action, they’re not really engaged.
• Track your own PES over time; don’t compare it to competitors: Your PES is unique to your product, customer base, and business model. Rather than benchmarking against competitors, focus on tracking trends over time to see how engagement evolves with new features, updates, or onboarding improvements.
• Adjust the weighting to match your priorities: Not all engagement actions are equal. Customize your PES formula by giving more weight to the actions that drive retention, growth, or expansion revenue. This makes your score more reflective of what success actually looks like for your product.

The all-in-one engagement score

Your product engagement score (PES) makes it easier to quickly understand how engaging your product is. A strong PES can reveal hidden expansion opportunities, uncover Product-Qualified Leads (PQLs), reduce churn, and highlight areas where your product experience needs work. 

But tracking it isn’t enough – you need to actually act on it. That means investing in onboarding, guiding users toward high-value features, leveraging self-service support, and continuously improving engagement strategies.

At the end of the day, a great PES isn’t about comparing yourself to others – it’s about tracking your own progress and making informed decisions to drive product success. 

When measured and used correctly, it helps you retain more users, increase revenue, and create a product that people love to use. Keep refining, keep improving, and let your PES be the guide to better engagement. 

The product engagement score is just one of many Product Management metrics you can track, designed to make your life easier. To make sure you’re tracking all the important metrics and KPIs, check out our complete list of Product Management KPIs to keep you focused on the metrics that matter.

What is a Startup Product Manager? 

A Startup Product Manager is a PM working for a startup organization. Cool, case closed, let’s pack up and go home. Okay, let’s be serious. From a top-down view, the idea of a Startup Product Manager seems simple, but the role opens up a whole can of worms. 

Why have one? Why make this distinction? What’s different between a Product Manager at a startup and one at an established company?

Well, a lot actually.

A Startup Product Manager isn’t just managing a product; they’re helping build the company around it. Unlike in a larger business, where there’s structure, support, and clear direction, a startup PM operates in a space where everything is being figured out in real-time. They’re responsible for shaping the product vision, aligning scrappy teams, and making decisions that can literally determine the company’s success or failure.

This role exists because startups don’t have the luxury of trial and error on a large scale. Every move needs to be strategic, every resource optimized, and every decision made with both short-term survival and long-term growth in mind. A Startup PM thrives in uncertainty, turns ambiguity into action, and drives momentum when there’s nothing but ideas and potential.

What does a Startup Product Manager do?

In addition to all the usual Product Manager tasks and responsibilities, a Startup Product Manager will need to do a few extra things, or perform typical Product Manager tasks in a different way: 

• Define the product vision: A Startup Product Manager needs to first understand the founder’s vision for the business and its product, and then turn that into a realistic, actionable product vision statement that aligns with customer needs and market opportunities. 
• Create a roadmap from scratch: Product Managers look after the product roadmap – a Startup Product Manager needs to build it from the ground up. This involves developing product strategies and deciding which prioritization frameworks the team is going to use. 
• Cross-functional communication: Like normal, a Startup Product Manager communicates with Design, Marketing, and Sales teams, but with this being in a startup environment, there may not be many staff. Instead, you’ll be communicating with C-suite staff, founders, and HIPPOs, so the way you communicate will be different.  
• Product positioning: A Startup Product Manager needs to work out where the product fits in the market. A typical PM will usually be tweaking the product positioning from an established position, but a Startup PM will need to figure it all out first through customer research and interviews. 
• Resource allocation: Startups aren’t typically going to have a lot of budget, so a Startup Product Manager needs to prioritize where that budget is going to go and where it should be used. Unlike a usual PM, a Startup PM needs to be skilled in working with a shoestring.

As you can probably tell, these responsibilities require a slightly different skill set. Let’s cover those.

Startup Product Manager skills

Here are the skills you need as a startup Product Manager. As expected, A LOT of the skills you need for a typical PM role are going to be useful here, but there is some nuance that makes the role unique and special. 

Some skills you’ll need to improve to excel specifically as a Startup Product Manager include:

Leadership and initiative 

In a startup, there’s no roadmap – you have to create it yourself. As a Startup Product Manager, you’re not just executing a vision; you’re defining it. There’s no one above you setting priorities or making the tough calls. That’s your job.

You need to be comfortable taking the lead, making critical decisions, and setting the direction. Teams will look to you for guidance, and hesitation can stall progress. A Startup PM doesn’t just keep things moving – they decide what needs to be done. If you’re waiting for instructions, you’re in the wrong role.

Entrepreneurial mindset

As a Startup PM, you’re not just managing a product, you’re helping build a business. That means thinking like a founder and adopting the founder mode mindset. 

You need to balance customer needs with business viability, making scrappy trade-offs, and finding creative ways to maximize limited resources. You’ll need to be resourceful, adaptable, and deeply invested in how the company grows.

Business intelligence

You need to understand not just how your product works but how it makes money. This includes financial modeling, customer acquisition costs, lifetime value, product pricing strategies, and overall market dynamics. 

Knowing your unit economics is just as important as knowing your user experience.

Communication

You need to be great at communication anyway as a PM, but the stakes are increased when working in a startup. There are fewer places to hide in a startup, so you need to be comfortable being called upon and sharing insight, instructions, and information. 

Being clear, confident, and a good listener are all things that are going to enhance your communication.

Growth and marketing knowledge

Unlike established companies with dedicated growth teams, and Product Marketing roles, startup PMs often wear the growth hat too. 

In this position, You should understand go-to-market strategies, viral loops, conversion funnels, and retention tactics. Knowing how to get your first 1,000 customers – and then scale from there – is a massive advantage.

Agility and flexibility

Startups are unpredictable. A strategy that made sense last month might be obsolete today. You need to be comfortable with ambiguity, quick to adapt, and ready to change course based on new data. 

If you thrive in rigid structures, this role will be a challenge. But if you love fast-moving environments where no two days are the same, you’ll excel.

In this position, you’re much more likely to shift gears and implement a pivot strategy based on your initial research and discovery, so you need to be able to go with the flow. 

You also need experience 

Even if you have all the skills, if you’re serious about being a Startup Product Manager, you’re also going to need a lot of experience. This isn’t something for fresh-faced PMs, you need to have had a few spins around the block. 

But why? 

Well, it’s because the First Product Manager is going to have a lot of responsibilities, and their decisions are going to have more weight and impact. In essence, this is a Senior Position, as you’re going to be part of the early-stage founder team. 

Let’s put it this way. Say you’re starting a new business and need a Designer – just one designer to help you get started. You’re going to want someone experienced and skilled who has proven success over someone straight out of education, You can trust that wiser head more. 

So, if you want to become a Startup Product Manager, you need to get experience as a PM at a bigger place first, learning from more experienced Product Managers.

How much do Startup Product Managers get paid? 

So why would you want to become a Startup Product Manager? Well, for many, the wage is one major pull. But, do Startup Product Managers even earn more than typical Product Managers? 

Well, it depends on where you go and who you ask. In many cases, a Startup position earns just a fraction more, but it’s so marginal that there may not be a noticeable increase in pay for this position.

So yes, if you look at the aggregated data online, there is a payment incentive to become a Startup Product Manager, but not a huge difference to make a song and dance over. 

So why is this type of Product Management attractive? To start, there are other financial incentives, like equity and shares in the company that can pay dividends, as well as the fact that working at a startup can be more existing and faster paced, and a smaller team may suit certain people. 

What does a Startup Product Manager roadmap look like? 

As a Product Manager, one of your primary aims is to manage the product roadmap. Well, what does a roadmap for a startup look like? The answer is that it’s pretty different, thanks to the extra responsibility you’re going to have as the company’s first Product Manager. Here’s what you can expect from a startup product roadmap: 

• Shorter time horizons: Startup roadmaps will typically focus on the near future, covering single quarters, with a looser sketch of what the remaining months look like. 
• More initiatives in the ‘Now’ column: Due to this shorter time horizon, you’ll have far more Initiatives that need immediate attention, falling in your ‘Now’ column as you look to establish your product.
• They’re more flexible: Roadmaps are dynamic and change at all times, but expect a startup roadmap to be more volatile as plans change and pivots are made based on your discovery.
• You’ll have fewer quick wins: As a Startup Product Manager, you’re setting the scene, and setting the groundwork. This means that a lot of early tasks in your roadmap are going to be more time-consuming – making MVPs, developing your pricing strategy, that kind of thing. They’re impactful, but you won’t find many Initiatives that are quick to achieve – that’s done once you iterate your product. 
• Focus on attraction over retention: The Initiatives on your product roadmap are going to be more focused on attracting users to your product instead of building retention. 

Now, the above describes a populated startup roadmap, but the reality is that for many First Product Managers, that roadmap may be completely empty. A blank canvas or an empty abyss. And you’re the one who needs to populate it. 

Things like your objectives and key results, KPIs, product vision, and overarching goals need to first be set to help guide your Product Roadmap. That’s both super existing but super scary. It’s all on you. 

To help you craft a great product roadmap for your startup, we’ve got a startup roadmap template in our interactive sandbox. You can find it in the roadmap section of the ProdPad sandbox, and use it for free to give you a blueprint to follow. 

Check it out!

Do startups need Product Managers?

Yes. Absolutely. While some early-stage startups try to operate without a Product Manager, those that bring one in early set themselves up for success far more effectively. In the chaotic early days, everything happens at once – customer research, product development, market positioning, investor pitches, and growth experiments. Founders juggling all these responsibilities can quickly become overwhelmed. 

A Startup Product Manager steps in to offload key responsibilities, giving the founder space to focus on securing funding, growing the business, and setting the company’s strategic direction.

A key advantage of having a PM early on is turning vision into execution. Founders often have big ideas but lack the time or process to translate them into a clear, actionable roadmap. 

A PM ensures that product development is guided by strategy, balancing speed with smart decision-making. Without this structure, startups risk wasting time and resources chasing too many ideas at once, leading to misalignment, delays, and a product that doesn’t resonate with users.

Beyond execution, a Startup PM helps keep teams aligned. Startups move fast, and when Engineers, Designers, and Marketers all have competing priorities, progress can quickly stall. The PM acts as a central connector, streamlining communication and ensuring that everyone is working toward the same goals. 

They also play a crucial role in understanding customers, gathering feedback, and validating ideas before valuable time is spent on the wrong solutions.

Perhaps most importantly, a Startup PM helps optimize limited resources. Startups don’t have the luxury of large budgets or endless engineering hours, so every decision needs to count. By focusing on the most impactful work, a PM helps the startup build smarter, faster, and with greater confidence – setting a strong foundation for future growth.

The First Product Manager

Being a Startup Product Manager isn’t just about managing a product – it’s about helping shape the future of the company itself. In the high-stakes, fast-moving world of startups, you’re the one setting the course, making the tough calls, and ensuring every decision drives the business forward. There’s no blueprint, no safety net, just you, your team, and the challenge of turning an idea into something real.

But that’s what makes this role so powerful. You have the chance to build not just a product, but the very processes and frameworks that will guide your startup’s success. And one of the most critical decisions you’ll make early on? How you structure your roadmap.

Since you’re defining the strategy from scratch, why not start with the best approach: the Now-Next-Later roadmap. 

 The Now-Next-Later roadmap is a flexible, outcome-driven format that helps keep your team aligned without overcommitting to uncertain timelines. If you’re ready to set your startup on the right path, check out ProdPad’s Now-Next-Later roadmap template to learn how to use the best roadmap format there is.

What is an agile release train? 

An agile release train is a key component of SAFe and is a framework that brings together multiple agile teams and turns them into one collective unit. Designed to help teams stay agile as they scale, it’s a way to connect different teams so that they’re working towards the same goal – without causing disruption or bloating individual teams.

Think of your classic train. One carriage is filled with one agile team, another with a different squad. Although separate and divided into different carriages, everyone across both teams is on the same train, going to the same place – or working towards the same outcome.

At its core, the agile release train is a key component of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). This helps businesses continue to use agile practices even when scaling beyond individual teams. Instead of siloed groups working independently, this approach aligns 50 to 125 people across multiple teams, ensuring they plan, commit, develop, and deploy work together in a predictable, structured way.

Unlike traditional project-based approaches, which often lead to misalignment and bottlenecks, an agile release train operates on a fixed schedule, typically structured around program increments (PI) lasting 8 to 12 weeks. This cadence keeps everyone on the same page, allowing for continuous development, quick adaptations, and faster value delivery.

The beauty of this model is that it brings together all the necessary expertise – from Developers and Designers to Architects and business leaders – to ensure smooth execution and delivery.

In short, if agile teams are individual sprinters, the release train is the relay team, working together, passing the baton efficiently, and driving toward the shared finish line.

What are the core principles of an agile release train?

So what makes an agile release train? Well, in essence, it’s all about structure, rhythm, and predictability – three things that make you wonder who thought naming it after a train was a good idea. When was the last time a train actually ran on time?

Anyway, here are the core principles every agile release train should follow:

Fixed schedules 

An agile release train operates on a set schedule, typically broken into 8 to 12-week program increments. These increments act as a train timetable. Teams know exactly when work starts, when it needs to be delivered, and when they’ll regroup to plan the next phase. This structure creates a reliable cadence, preventing the chaos of constantly shifting deadlines.

Bi-weekly increments

Within each program increment (PI), work is tackled in two-week cycles called system increments. These shorter iterations allow teams to check progress frequently, adjust course if needed, and maintain momentum. It’s a balance between structure and flexibility, ensuring continuous delivery without overcommitting too far ahead.

Known velocities 

Predictability is key. The capacity of an agile release train shouldn’t be a wild guess, but based on historical data. Teams measure how much work they can deliver over time, creating a known velocity that helps with planning. This stops teams from biting off more than they can chew and letting people down, reducing bottlenecks and improving forecasting.

Significant events

An agile release train thrives on communication, and that’s where key events come in. Program increment (PI) planning sessions align teams on priorities, retrospectives ensure continuous improvement, and system demos provide regular checkpoints to showcase progress. These touchpoints keep everything running smoothly and ensure teams remain connected to the bigger picture.

Why use an agile release train in Product Management?

In the fast-paced world of Product Management, aligning multiple teams toward a common goal can feel like herding cats. This is where the agile release train comes into play, serving as a structured approach to synchronize efforts across various teams.

The primary aim of an ART is to bring together multiple agile teams, aligning them toward a shared mission. By incorporating all necessary expertise into a cohesive unit, ARTs ensure that deliverables are implemented, tested, and released efficiently. This keeps everything running smoothly even when businesses reach the enterprise level.

The benefits of the agile release train include: 

• Enhanced alignment: Agile release trains ensure that all teams are on the same page, working toward common objectives, which reduces miscommunication and streamlines workflows.
• Predictable delivery: Operating on fixed schedules with known velocities allows for more reliable planning and forecasting, ensuring that stakeholders have clear expectations about delivery timelines.
• Continuous improvement: Regular significant events, such as Program Increment (PI) planning sessions and retrospectives, provide opportunities for teams to assess their performance and implement improvements continuously.

What are the key roles inside an agile release train?

An agile release train isn’t just a bunch of teams working in parallel – it’s a structured, coordinated effort with key players ensuring everything runs smoothly. Think of it like a real train: you’ve got people working inside each carriage (the individual agile teams) and others overseeing the entire operation, making sure the train stays on the tracks.

The Conductors and Engineers – Roles that span the whole train

Release Train Engineer (RTE) 

If this were a real train, the Release Train Engineer would be the one in the control room, ensuring everything runs on schedule. Acting as a servant leader, the RTE keeps the train moving by facilitating collaboration, removing roadblocks, and ensuring processes are continuously improved. 

They don’t dictate the route but rather keep teams aligned and ensure that every carriage (team) is functioning effectively.

Business Owners 

These are the executives or senior stakeholders who set the destination for the train. They ensure that the work being delivered aligns with business goals and provides real value. They define success, prioritize initiatives, and make critical decisions when trade-offs are necessary.

The crew inside each carriage – Roles within agile teams

Product Manager 

That’s you! Product Managers are the visionaries inside the train and ensure that teams are building the right thing. They define the product strategy, prioritize features, and work closely with customers and stakeholders to make sure the product hits its value proposition.

Remember though – Product Managers are not the leaders of the team. They’re not the ‘boss’ of each carriage. Instead, PMs direct the development of the product, empowering the rest of the team to do their best work.

System Architect 

The technical mastermind, the system architect ensures that the train isn’t just moving forward but doing so in a way that is scalable, sustainable, and technically sound. They define the system’s overall architecture, ensuring that teams aren’t just delivering features like a feature factory but building a solid, long-term foundation.

Of course, each agile team within the train will have the usual team members you’ll expect to find in an agile Product Team structure like Scrum masters, Developers, Designers, and testers working in tandem. 

But these key roles – both within individual teams and spanning across the entire train – are what ensure that an agile release train stays on track, delivering value with efficiency and predictability.

How do you launch an agile release train? 

Getting an agile release train rolling isn’t as simple as throwing a few teams together and hoping for the best. You can’t do what they do in Japan and get a platform conductor to push salary men into each carriage during rush hour. 

An agile release train requires careful planning, coordination, and the right people in the right seats. Here’s how to get your agile release train out of the station and running smoothly.

1. Initial prep – Define the destination

You wouldn’t hop on a train without knowing where it’s going. Well, the same idea is true for your agile release train. Before you even think about assembling teams, you need to get crystal clear on why you’re launching an agile release train in the first place. What problem is it solving? What value should it deliver? 

Define the product vision, objectives, and scope of the train. This is your North Star, ensuring that all teams are aligned from day one.

At this stage, key stakeholders – including Business Owners, Product Managers, and System Architects – should work together to clarify success metrics, identify dependencies, and outline the overarching product roadmap. Think of it as laying down the tracks before the train starts moving.

2. Team alignment – Assemble the crew

An agile release train is a team of teams, so assembling the right people is crucial. Each team within the train should have cross-functional skills, including development, quality assurance, UX, and deployment capabilities. But beyond individual skills, teams need to be aligned with the train’s overall objectives.

At this stage, you should:

• Fill all necessary roles (Release Train Engineer, Product Manager, System Architect, Business Owner).
• Clarify team responsibilities and how they’ll interact with one another.
• Foster a shared understanding of goals, priorities, and expected outcomes across all teams.

3. Establishing the train – Define structure and processes

Now that you’ve got your teams, it’s time to define how the train will actually operate. What’s the timetable? When is the train arriving and departing the station? This means setting up:

• Cadences: The agile release train follows a fixed schedule, so define when key events (PI planning, retrospectives, demos) will take place.
• Communication channels: How will teams coordinate and share updates? Whether it’s daily stand-ups, Slack channels, or centralized dashboards, make sure information flows smoothly.
• Roles and responsibilities: Who’s making decisions? How do teams escalate roadblocks? These questions need clear answers.

Think of this step as establishing the rules of the railway – without them, the train risks derailing.

4. Conducting PI planning – Align teams on the first journey

With the structure in place, it’s time for Program Increment (PI) planning, the event that gets all teams aligned on their objectives for the upcoming increment (typically 8-12 weeks).

PI planning involves:

• Reviewing the vision and priorities set in the initial prep stage.
• Identifying dependencies between teams to ensure a smooth workflow.
• Committing to deliverables that can be achieved within the increment.
• Creating a roadmap for the upcoming sprints, ensuring that teams know what’s expected and can plan their work accordingly.

This is where the train officially leaves the station (Cho-cho!). Once PI planning is complete, teams start executing their plans in bi-weekly increments.

5. Continuous improvement – Keep the train running smoothly

Launching an agile release train isn’t a one-and-done effort – it’s an ongoing process of learning and refining. A train that only makes one trip is a pretty ineffective train. Regular retrospectives and feedback loops ensure that teams can identify bottlenecks, optimize workflows, and continuously improve.

Some ways to foster continuous improvement:

• Hold inspect & adapt workshops at the end of each PI.
• Gather feedback from stakeholders and customers to ensure the train is delivering real value.
• Empower teams to iterate on their processes, removing inefficiencies and blockers.

How do I get an agile release train right?

You know how to run an agile release train, but how do you do it well? How do you go from the notoriously unreliable British Rail network to the best-in-class Japanese bullet trains? Here are some best practices to help you take your agile release train to top speed and keep it running smoothly:

1. Foster collaboration – Teamwork makes the dream work

If you want your agile release train to succeed, you need to foster open communication and collaboration across all teams. After all, an agile release train is a team of teams. No team can operate in isolation – there are no quiet carriages here – the best outcomes happen when everyone is working in sync. Encourage teams to share knowledge, work together on dependencies, and solve problems collectively.

This could look like:

• Frequent check-ins between teams to discuss progress and challenges.
• Cross-team workshops to work through roadblocks.
• Transparent tools where everyone can see what others are working on and the current priorities. A product roadmap tool like ProdPad would be great for this.

By building a culture of collaboration, you’ll avoid the awkward silos that can slow down the progress of an agile release train.

2. Maintain alignment – keep everyone on the same track

Alignment is key in ensuring that everyone’s efforts contribute to the common goals of the agile release train. Even the most agile teams can get lost in their day-to-day tasks, so you need to make sure everyone is clear on the train’s direction.

Make sure:

• Teams understand the product vision and North Star metric and how their individual efforts fit into the bigger picture.
• Regular updates and synchronization events (like PI planning) help keep all teams aligned with the same priorities.
• Stakeholders and business owners remain engaged to provide course corrections as necessary.

The more aligned your teams are with the overall goal, the smoother the journey will be.

3. Embrace flexibility – don’t be afraid to adjust the schedule

While the agile release train runs on a fixed schedule, flexibility is essential for its success. Think of this like a train schedule that you can depend on but with a little wiggle room built in. Sometimes a train arrives a little late, things can change – whether it’s market shifts, new customer needs, or unexpected technical challenges – so you need to be able to adapt.

A well-run agile release train can adjust its course without losing momentum.

4. Focus on value delivery – keep your eyes on the prize

At the end of the day, everything you do on the agile release train should be about delivering value to your customers. This keeps teams motivated and ensures that the work being done is meaningful.

Focus on:

• Prioritizing customer needs and aligning the product roadmap with real-world value.
• Measuring success by outcomes, not just outputs (i.e., don’t just deliver features – deliver features that customers love).
• Removing unnecessary activities that don’t contribute to customer value.

By keeping value at the forefront of every decision, you’ll ensure that the agile release train is more than just a delivery process, it’s a high-performing, value-creating machine.

All aboard!

As we’ve explored, the agile release train is a game-changer in the world of Product Management, especially when scaling agile practices across multiple teams. By aligning various squads around a shared goal, ART ensures that everyone is moving in the same direction with precision, structure, and predictability. 

The benefits of adopting this model are clear: enhanced alignment, predictable delivery, and continuous improvement – all essential components for successful Product Management in today’s fast-paced environment.

If you’re planning to adopt agile methods in your Product Management processes, then transitioning to an agile roadmap is crucial. It’s time to move away from traditional timeline-based roadmaps and embrace the agile framework. Check out our comprehensive guide on how to shift from timeline roadmaps to agile roadmaps, and learn the best practices to make this transition smooth and successful.

What is the HEART framework? 

The HEART framework gives you a structured approach to measuring and improving user experience (UX) in software products. Developed by Product Managers and UX Researchers at Google, it provides Product Teams with a clear way to assess how users interact with their product, focusing on five key experience-driven metrics. 

It essentially gives you categories in which you can judge the overall quality and performance of your UX. It’s like in various Olympic Sports. Judges may score a snowboarding run out of 10, but what are they actually looking at that determines a good performance? Well, that score is broken down into subcategories like difficulty, execution, amplitude, and overall impression.

By breaking down what makes a good run (or UX design), you know what you need to work on to improve.

With the HEART framework, you’re taking a vague notion of ‘good UX’ and figuring out the elements of what constitutes good UX, as well as how to measure those elements. By using this framework, teams can move beyond gut feelings and anecdotal feedback to define success in terms of user behavior, satisfaction, and long-term engagement.

Here’s how Kerry Rodden, part of the team that introduced the HEART framework, defines it:

HEART helps teams break down the broad concept of “user experience” into more specific, measurable outcomes. It also encourages teams to consider multiple aspects of the user experience when defining metrics.

So what are the five metrics? Well, the acronym HEART stands for:

• Happiness
• Engagement
• Adoption
• Retention
• Task Success

Let’s break these all down to truly understand what we’re talking about here:

H- Happiness 

Happiness measures how your user base feels about your product. This is a subjective but critical metric because a satisfied user is more likely to stick around, recommend your product, and engage with it over a period of time. Happiness metrics typically rely on user surveys and direct customer feedback loops to gauge user sentiment.

When quantifying happiness, we’re looking at overall user satisfaction, perceived ease of use, and loyalty. A product that frustrates or confuses users is unlikely to succeed, even if other metrics – like adoption – look strong initially. By understanding user sentiment, teams can identify pain points and opportunities for improvement.

Some common metrics to track happiness include:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) – Measures how likely users are to recommend your product.
• Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) – Gauges how satisfied users are after completing an action.
• User sentiment surveys – Collects qualitative feedback on how users perceive the product.

E- Engagement 

Engagement looks at how actively users interact with your product. Unlike retention, which measures whether users return, engagement focuses on how deeply and frequently they interact when they do return. A product with high engagement is likely to deliver value, while low engagement can signal disinterest or usability issues.

We want to see how often and in what ways users are engaging with our product. This helps us understand whether users find value and gives clues as to how UX can be improved.

Some common metrics for assessing engagement include:

• Daily/Weekly/Monthly active users (DAU, WAU, MAU) – Tracks how many users are actively engaging over different timeframes.
• Feature usage rate – Measures how often users interact with key features.
• Session length and frequency – Tracks how long and how often users spend time in the product.

A – Adoption 

Adoption measures how many new users start using your product or a specific feature. This is a crucial metric for understanding growth and whether new features are resonating with users.

We’re focused on how easily new users onboard and how quickly they begin using core features. A high adoption rate suggests strong onboarding and a clear value proposition, while low adoption may indicate friction in the experience.

Common adoption metrics include:

• Signup rate – The percentage of visitors who create an account.
• Feature adoption rate – The percentage of users who try out a new feature after its release.
• Time to first key action – How long it takes new users to complete a meaningful interaction.

R – Retention 

Retention measures how well a product keeps users coming back over time. Unlike engagement, which looks at usage depth, user retention tracks whether users return at all. High retention is a sign of a product that provides continuous value.

We want to understand how often users come back to our product after their initial visit. Strong retention means users are finding enough value to make your product a consistent part of their workflow or habits.

Some common metrics for retention include: 

• Retention rate – The percentage of users who continue using the product after a set time period.
• Customer churn rate – The percentage of users who stop using the product.
• Returning users – A measure of how many users have used your product more than once in a pre-selected period of time.

To track retention of your users, you can also run cohort analysis to see how retention different based on different types of users. This can highlight if your UX isn’t resonating with a specific user persona. Check out our glossary post on cohort analysis to learn how to do it yourself: 

T – Task success

Task success focuses on how efficiently and effectively users complete key actions within your product. This is particularly important for task-oriented products like search engines, productivity tools, or e-commerce platforms.

We’re tracking whether users can successfully complete tasks without frustration. A product that is difficult to navigate or prone to errors will have lower task success, leading to lower satisfaction, which indicates poor UX.

Some common metrics for task success include:

• Task completion rate – The percentage of users who successfully finish a task.
• Error rate – The frequency of failed actions or user mistakes.
• Time to completion – How long it takes users to complete a task.

Who invented the HEART framework?

The HEART framework was developed at Google in 2010 by UX researchers Kerry Rodden, Hilary Hutchinson, and Xin Fu. They needed a way to help Product Teams move beyond vague “Is this good UX?” debates and instead track meaningful, user-centered metrics. So, they identified these five core HEART categories to focus on.

The idea was simple: UX isn’t just about making things look nice; it’s about making sure users are happy, engaged, and actually sticking around. With HEART, teams could break down the user experience into measurable chunks, track progress, and make data-driven Product Management decisions instead of relying on gut feelings.

The useful thing about HEART is that it’s designed to work at every level, whether you’re analyzing an entire product or just one key feature.

Instead of drowning in endless data, HEART helps teams focus on what really matters, making sure users aren’t just visiting, but actually loving the experience.

Why is the HEART framework important? 

User experience can be tricky to measure. Sure, you can count sign-ups or page views, but do those numbers really tell you if people love using your product? Instead of drowning in vague metrics, Product Teams can focus on actionable insights that improve the overall experience.

In other words, HEART isn’t just a catchy acronym, it’s a practical tool that helps teams have meaningful conversations about UX, backed by real data.

The full list of benefits of the HEART framework includes:

• Clear focus: Helps teams zero in on key UX areas instead of tracking random data points.
• User-centric decisions: Puts user experience at the heart of product improvements.
• Measurable success: Turns abstract UX goals into trackable key metrics.
• Scalability: Works for both high-level product performance and specific features.
• Better team alignment: Provides a common language for discussing UX across teams.
• Actionable insights: Helps teams identify what’s working and what needs improvement.

Who should use the HEART framework? 

Originally designed for UX teams, the HEART framework is a natural fit for anyone focused on offering a quality user experience. It helps User Experience Designers measure how people interact with a product and where improvements can be made. But it’s not just for UX teams. 

Product Managers can (and should) use HEART to gain valuable insights into how their product is performing and identify opportunities for improvement.

For Product Managers, HEART isn’t just a measurement tool, it can also act as a prioritization model. By analyzing Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, and Task Success, PMs can weigh competing feature ideas and determine which initiatives will deliver the most strategic value. 

Instead of relying on gut feelings and assumptions, they can use real user data to back up their product decisions, ensuring that development efforts are focused on what truly moves the needle.

Whether you’re optimizing UX, refining product strategy, or making a case for your next big feature, HEART helps teams focus on what really matters.

How do you follow the HEART framework? 

The HEART framework is a great tool for focusing on the areas of UX that matter the most, but how do you turn the notions of ‘happiness’ and ‘task success’ into measurable, and more importantly, actionable metrics? 

Well to do that and follow HEART, you also need to implement the Goals-Signals-Metrics process. This process is the HEART framework’s right-hand man, giving you steps to help you identify what you need to measure. 

Coincidentally, Goals-Signals-Metrics was also developed at Google around the same time as HEART. It helps you translate high-level ideas from HEART into refined, trackable measurements. Here’s a step-by-step guide to using this approach in a way that keeps you focused and data-driven.

Step 1: Goals

When using the HEART framework, it’s easy to get a rush of blood to the head, and excitedly pick out metrics that suit each category. But before you even think about metrics, you need to get crystal clear on what you want to achieve for each part of HEART.

Start by defining broad, strategic goals that align with your user experience priorities and business objectives. These aren’t granular metrics; they’re the big-picture outcomes that your product or feature is aiming to deliver with its UX.

Keep your goals specific and actionable. For instance, rather than saying “increase user engagement,” refine that to “improve the experience of this feature so users engage with it more per session.” This clarity helps guide the rest of your process.

For a Product Management platform like ProdPad, a goal for the happiness section of the HEART framework might be:

“Improve user satisfaction with the roadmapping experience to reduce friction and increase feature adoption.”

Step 2: Signals

Once you have your goals for all HEART categories you want to determine what signals will indicate progress. These are observable user behaviors or attitudes that act as hints as to whether your goals are being met. These signals are the qualitative or quantitative insights that bridge the gap between abstract objectives and concrete actions.

Make sure to choose signals that are both easy to track with your existing tools and sensitive enough to reflect changes from your design tweaks. For example, instead of simply counting page views, consider tracking the time users spend on certain pages.

For the happiness goal above, a potential signal might be:

• Increased positive sentiment in user feedback about roadmap usability.

Step 3: Metrics

The final step of this process is converting those signals into precise, quantifiable key metrics. This means taking your chosen signals and determining exactly how you will measure them. Metrics should be clear, actionable, and directly tied to your goals.

Think about how you can present your data in a way that tells a story. For example, rather than tracking a raw number of videos watched, measure the average number of videos watched per user per session. This makes it easier to spot trends and understand user behavior.

For the example above, you might track:

• CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) for the roadmap feature.

When plotting your HEART metrics, it’s useful to pop them into a table like the one below to easily map things out. 

One thing to note is that you don’t have to measure all aspects of the HEART framework. Some areas may not be relevant to your product, so use it as a guide to pick the best for you.

While the HEART framework offers a comprehensive way to think about user experience, the Goals-Signals-Metrics method helps bring that vision into sharp focus with real-world, actionable data. 

By starting with clear goals, identifying the right signals, and developing measurable metrics – not vanity metrics – you create a streamlined process that keeps your Product Team aligned and your product on the path to success.

What are the common mistakes when using the HEART framework?

When applying the HEART framework, it’s important to be aware of some common pitfalls that can hinder your success. Here are some frequent mistakes, and how to avoid them:

• Metric overload: Trying to track too many metrics can dilute focus and overwhelm your team. Instead, zero in on a few relevant KPIs that truly reflect your user experience goals. Remember, quality beats quantity when it comes to meaningful data.
• Being too ambitious: Setting overly broad or unrealistic goals can lead to frustration and misalignment. Start with achievable targets and build on them. By focusing on incremental improvements, you create a clear path toward long-term success.
• Doing it on your own: The HEART framework thrives on collaboration. Working in isolation can result in missed insights and a narrow perspective. Engage with your cross-functional teams – from Design teams and Engineering to Marketing and Customer Support – to ensure your goals and metrics reflect a holistic view of the user experience.
• Failing to iterate: Once you’ve established your metrics, it’s easy to think the job is done. However, the user landscape is always changing. Regularly revisit and refine your goals, signals, and metrics based on new data and evolving product needs. This iterative approach ensures your framework remains relevant and effective.

By avoiding these common pitfalls, you can harness the full power of the HEART framework. A disciplined, collaborative, and iterative approach not only keeps your team aligned but also ensures that your metrics drive actionable insights and sustainable product improvements.

Build UX your customers will love 

The HEART framework is more than a guide on how to measure the success of your UX, it’s a structured way to understand how users truly experience your product. By focusing on Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, and Task Success, teams can move beyond vanity metrics and gut feelings, making data-driven decisions that enhance user satisfaction and long-term success.

But remember, just like the one pumping blood in your chest cavity, the metrics you devise from the HEART framework need to be unique to your product. That’s why it’s best to follow the Goals-Signals-Metrics approach when using the HEART framework instead of plugging in common metrics without validating if they’re right for you. 

Whether you’re a UX Designer, Product Manager, or part of a cross-functional team, the HEART framework helps bring clarity to the complex world of user experience. So, next time you’re debating how to improve your product, don’t rely on your heart, use HEART to guide the way. 

While we’re on the topic of setting metrics and KPIs, take it one step further by reviewing the metrics you use to analyze the performance of your product. We’ve got a whole list of product KPIs that you can use to help pick out the right ones for you.

What is needfinding?

Needfinding is the art of uncovering unmet user needs before the product development process begins. It’s the crucial first step towards building something truly valuable: before a single feature is planned, before a roadmap is drawn, and certainly before any code is written. 

Essentially, needfinding is about understanding the problems that your users face, so that your product can address them meaningfully. 

Okay, so far this sounds like your typical customer research – what’s the catch? 

Well, instead of figuring out what customers demand and then doing that, needfinding is all about figuring out why they want what they want so that you can create something that addresses that why. 

Rooted in design thinking, needfinding goes beyond surface-level requests to discover the root of what’s being asked for. While users can tell you what they want, often these desires are informed by solutions they already know. 

What’s truly valuable is uncovering needs that users may not be able to express directly. By prioritizing these insights, product teams ensure they’re not just building a product, but solving a real problem in a meaningful way.

Done well, needfinding aligns innovation with actual user behavior and expectations, setting the foundation for products that resonate, differentiate, and succeed in the market.

Needs vs. wants

In the 1970s, Stanford professor Robert McKim laid the groundwork for needfinding, distinguishing it from other product research methodologies by prioritizing customer needs over wants. 

While many approaches take customer desires at face value (the customer knows best after all) needfinding digs deeper, focusing on the fundamental problems that require solving.

But what’s the difference?

A want is a specific feature or solution that a customer believes will improve their experience, often shaped by personal preferences or familiarity with existing options. A need, on the other hand, is the core problem that requires solving, whether the customer recognizes it or not. It’s the gap between the current reality and an ideal solution.

Henry Ford famously illustrated this distinction:

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

A faster horse was the want. A solution customers could envision based on their experience. But their need was more fundamental: faster, more efficient transportation. Ford’s success came not from delivering what people asked for but from solving their deeper problems. What was leading them to ask for faster horses?

This is why needfinding is such a powerful tool for Product Managers. By focusing on needs rather than simply fulfilling wants, product teams can break free from incremental improvements and uncover game-changing innovations. Rather than building something that looks like what the competition already offers, needfinding enables teams to identify opportunities for radical product improvement that will benefit their customers.

Why is needfinding important?

Needfinding is the foundation of user-centric product development. Without it, teams risk building solutions that miss the mark, and focus on output over outcome, like a feature factory. This can lead to you wasting time, money, and effort on products no one truly needs. Here’s why it’s essential:

1. Prevents costly mistakes
   Developing a product is not cheap. Without a clear understanding of unmet needs, teams may invest in features or solutions that fail to resonate with users. If you don’t identify the core problem early on, you risk spending time building features that no one will use. By prioritizing needfinding as part of your product discovery, companies can focus their resources on solving real problems, increasing the likelihood of success and minimizing costly mistakes.
   
2. Goes beyond what customers say
   Listening to customer requests provides only part of the picture. People often express what they want, but their deeper needs may remain hidden. True needfinding involves observing users in their natural environments, uncovering pain points they may not even articulate. This is where traditional surveys and feedback forms often fall short. Observing users’ behaviors in their own environments allows you to understand the unspoken challenges they face. You can then design solutions that address the root problem – not just the symptoms.
   
3. Informs the product roadmap
   Needfinding ensures that every feature and decision on the roadmap is grounded in real user needs. Instead of relying on assumptions or internal guesses, product teams gather qualitative insights through focus groups, interviews, and firsthand observations. This data-driven Product Management approach aligns product strategy with actual market demand, leading to higher adoption rates and long-term success. The result? Products that users truly want to use, not just products that you think they need.

In short, needfinding isn’t just another research step: it’s the key to building products that matter. By understanding what users truly need (not just what they say they want), companies can innovate in ways that create real impact.

How do you do needfinding?

Needfinding is hard. It requires blending techniques like observation, questioning, and interpretation to uncover what users truly need. 

It’s tempting to take requests at face value, but that rarely leads to the best solutions. Think of it like dealing with a toddler who can’t quite express themselves yet. They might beg for an ice cream cone at the beach, so you get them one – only for them to demand a slushy next. You oblige again, but soon enough, they’re still unhappy.

Why? Because the real problem isn’t a lack of treats: it’s that they’re overheating. If you take a step back and look deeper, you realize the best solution isn’t ice cream; it’s a shady spot under a parasol and a cool hat. Problem solved.

So how do you do the equivalent of this for your customers as a Product Manager? Well, there’s a few methods.

Key methods of needfinding

• User interviews: One-on-one conversations with users help uncover their experiences, pain points, and expectations. Of course, to get deeper insight into the why behind the wants, you’re going to need to ask open-ended questions that encourage honest, detailed responses. We’ll cover interview questions in a bit.

Best for: A deeper understanding of customer need, emotions, and motivations.

• Surveys: Surveys are an efficient way to collect data from a large audience, helping quantify user needs and preferences. This can help you understand what your general user base wants. After all, you don’t want to build a solution for just one person.

Best for: Identifying trends and patterns across a broad user base.

• Observation: This is probably the biggest part of needfinding. Instead of asking users what they need and learning about a subjective experience, watch how they interact with a product or service in their daily lives. People often struggle to articulate their needs, but actions speak louder than words.

Best for: Discovering hidden needs that users wouldn’t mention in interviews. You’ll be surprised by what you uncover when users aren’t aware they’re being observed.

Alone in a vacuum, each method may not reveal the deeper need. But, used together, it can uncover insights into what your users really need.

The needfinding process: step by step

Now that we know the methods, let’s break down the step-by-step needfinding process for conducting needfinding effectively.

Step 1: Frame and prepare

Before you begin your needfinding journey, it’s crucial to set a clear and solid foundation. This starts with defining the scope of your research. Begin by developing a hypothesis about what user needs might be. What do you think they need, before you back it up with research?

This acts as a guiding framework for your exploration. However, it’s important to remember that this hypothesis shouldn’t limit or box you in, sometimes users will reveal needs that completely surprise you, and being open to those insights is key.

Next, you’ll need to choose your target user personas with care. Who exactly are you observing and interviewing? This decision is vital because the quality of your findings will depend heavily on whether you’ve selected the right people whose behaviors, struggles, and preferences align with the context of your study.

Do you want to find the common need for all your users, or are you focusing on a specific type of user? 

Step 2: Watch and record

We’ve established that observation is a powerful tool in needfinding. It’s not enough to ask users what they need.

To continue the needfinding process, use replay tools like Hotjar to get an understanding of what users do. Follow their journey, the choices they make, and identify any obvious friction points. This gives you the chance to see firsthand what they do, where they struggle, and how they work around obstacles. Pay attention to how they interact with different features, noticing what frustrates them and what seems to be working well.

Recording these interactions is essential. In this step of needfinding, make note of specific pain points, any inefficiencies they encounter, or ways they adapt to challenges. For example, users may be using your product in ways you’ve not envisioned to work around a limitation. Spotting this can clearly show you what your users need from you.

Step 3: Ask and record

Once you’ve spent time observing users, it’s time to dive deeper with open-ended questions that will help clarify their behaviors and provide context to your observations. By now, you’ll have a solid understanding of what users are doing, but you still need to understand why they’re doing it and what it means to them.

When asking follow-up questions, focus on uncovering struggles and preferences. Avoid leading the conversation with your own assumptions and be open-ended. This open-ended approach lets them reveal things you may not have anticipated. 

For example, you might notice that users frequently export data from your SaaS platform into spreadsheets. At first glance, this seems like a standard workflow, but when you ask about it, you learn that the built-in reporting tool doesn’t let them filter data in the way they need. This insight is crucial – it tells you that the real need isn’t an easier exporting process, but better in-app filtering options.

Your observations should serve as a guide for these follow-up questions. If you’ve noticed a pattern in how users interact with a product or a certain obstacle that keeps cropping up, you can structure your questions around these areas. However, remain flexible and open to new information that might surface as the conversation unfolds. Don’t assume that you already have all the answers – users may provide valuable input that shifts the focus of your research.

Step 4: Interpret and reframe

Once you’ve gathered all your insights, it’s time to analyze the data and translate it into actionable needs. Start by looking for recurring themes in both the behavior you’ve observed and the feedback you’ve collected. Do certain pain points emerge consistently across different users? Are there common patterns of frustration, workarounds, or preferences? 

Identifying these trends will help you narrow down the core needs that are worth addressing in your product or service design.

With these themes in mind, you’ll want to brainstorm potential solutions and then prioritize them based on what will have the most significant impact. There are so many different ways you can prioritize ideas. Here’s an eBook filled with all the best prioritization frameworks:

Questions to ask in a needfinding interview

Crafting strong needfinding questions to ask in a customer interview or survey is key to uncovering real user needs beyond what they explicitly say. Here are a few guiding principles to keep in mind:

• Be focused without fixating – Stay open to unexpected insights instead of locking in on a single assumption.
• Ask “why” questions often – Uncover deeper motivations by digging into decisions and behaviors.
• Do not sell – The goal is to learn, not to validate an idea. Keep the focus on the user’s experiences, not your product.

With these principles in mind, here are some useful open-ended questions to guide your needfinding interviews:

Tell me more about why you…
Show me how you use…
Let’s imagine you’re doing X, how would you do that?
What are the biggest challenges you face when…?
What workarounds have you created to deal with this problem?
If you were telling a friend about X, how would you describe it?
Why did you choose to use X instead of another solution?

By structuring effective questions this way, you’ll gain insights into real problems and motivations, leading to stronger, user-driven product decisions.

Needfinding example

Here’s a fictitious example of needfidning in action, to illustrate that you’re searching beyond the want. 

• The product your company makes: A messaging app for professionals (like Slack)
• Your customers say they want: “More ways to customize notifications”
• What needfinding uncovers they need: Smarter context-aware notifications

Your company’s messaging app has been receiving a lot of feedback from users asking for more customization options for notifications. They wanted finer controls, and options to tweak alerts based on urgency, team, and time of day.

Instead of immediately building a complex notification settings panel where users can assign certain notifications to specific users and groups, you decide to conduct a needfinding exercise. You observe how teams actually used notifications and follow up with interviews.

What you discover was that users weren’t struggling with a lack of customization – they were drowning in notifications altogether. The real problem wasn’t about tweaking alerts, but about getting fewer, more relevant ones. Users felt overwhelmed and distracted by constant pings and wanted customization so that they could turn them off. 

So the real need? Smarter, context-aware notifications that prioritized important messages while filtering out the noise. Rather than just adding more customization, you can instead build an intelligent notification system that surfaces critical updates at the right time while muting less urgent ones during allocated ‘quiet times’.

That’s needfinding in practice, discovering the true underlying need by going beyond what customers think they want. Implementing this helps you offer a greater value proposition than simply doing what is asked of you. 

Find what users need

Needfinding isn’t about taking customer requests at face value, it’s about digging deeper to uncover the real problems behind their asks. By blending observation, questioning, and interpretation, you move beyond surface-level wants and discover the fundamental needs that drive user behavior. Done well, needfinding fuels innovation, informs your roadmap, and ensures you’re building products that truly matter.

Of course, before you can start your needfinding journey, you need a way to gather and make sense of customer feedback. That’s where ProdPad comes in. Our Feedback Management and Signals features help you group recurring feedback themes, spot patterns, and identify the underlying needs hiding in plain sight. With these insights in hand, you’ll have everything you need to kick off your research, prioritize the right problems, and build solutions that delight potential users.

Try them both out, and everything else ProdPad can do, in our interactive Sandbox.

What is a Product Marketing Manager?

A Product Marketing Manager is the person who’s sharing your product with the world. They’re the driving force behind getting your product in front of your target audience, making the product look compelling, exciting, and useful in order to drive acquisition to your offering. 

A Product Marketing Manager is like a town crier – but instead of shouting in the street of a medieval English village, they’re sharing the story of your product to millions through various marketing channels. To do this, Product Marketing Managers need a deep understanding of the product they’re trying to promote, the audience they’re trying to promote to, and the competitors they’re promoting against. 

Here’s how April Dunford, an expert in Product Marketing and Product Positioning, defines the Product Marketing Manager role:

As a PM behind an amazing product, you’re already aware of how good your product is, right? You’ve seen it in action, built it to meet all your customer’s pain points, have all the evidence, and KNOW it can do the business. Not only that, but your internal team is behind it, thinking it’s the best thing since sliced bread. 

But, your potential customers, they’re none-the-wiser. They have no idea about the potential of your product. Well, the Product Marketing Manager fills this gap, letting your target customers know who you are, what you do, and why they should choose your tool. 

Product Marketing Managers (PPMs) are the product’s voice in the marketplace, and the market’s voice within the company, reporting on customer needs and the market intelligence they acquire. They ensure your product messaging resonates with the target audience while driving alignment between Product, Sales, and Marketing Teams.

What does a Product Marketing Manager do?

Product Marketing Managers have A LOT to do, and crucially, a lot of different things that influence and affect multiple areas of a business. They’re multitaskers, bridging gaps between teams, markets, and customers. 

A PPM isn’t confined to their own little marketing world. That would make their job impossible. Product Marketing Managers touch multiple parts of the organization, ensuring smooth coordination between Customer Success, Sales, Product, and the rest of Marketing. They can’t just sit in a dark corner and crack on, oblivious to everyone else. 

No, Product Marketing sits in the middle of multiple functions, having a hand in them all. They don’t just have multiple fingers in multiple pies, they’re practically wearing the pies as gloves.

So how does a Product Marketing Manager affect these four areas? What are they doing in their day-to-day that impacts these functional areas within a company? 

Here’s a quick breakdown of the type of work a Product Marketing Manager will do, and why that work is so important for all of these departments. 

How Product Marketing Managers work with Customer Success

Product Marketing can be a huge aid for Customer Success. With their eye on the wider market, PMMs can give CS a heads up on new trends, challenges or expectations that are emerging, and prepare them to communicate solutions and keep customers engaged. The insight gained from measuring and tracking the market and their understanding of the user journey allows them to anticipate challenges, communicate solutions, and keep customers engaged long-term.

PMMs support Customer Success by creating resources and communications that ensure users feel empowered and informed. Their contributions build stronger customer relationships and drive loyalty. Some specific Customer Success tasks include: 

• Crafting product updates like release notes to keep users informed about new features.
• Building and maintaining a help center, ensuring resources are easily accessible.
• Creating training materials and tutorials that empower users to maximize product value.
• Designing customer engagement campaigns to prevent customer churn and foster deeper adoption.

How Product Marketing Managers work with Sales

Sales teams rely on PMMs to provide the tools and insights they need to convert leads into loyal customers. Product Marketing loads Sales with vital information about potential customers so that they are better equipped and informed to drive growth. 

A PPM will be responsible for creating all sales collateral – things like info sheets, one-pagers, and even presentations – that include messaging that resonates with prospects. Some other ways Product Marketing helps Sales include: 

• Creating pre-recorded product demos and helping craft scripts for Sales demos 
• Gathering case studies and testimonials to build credibility and win trust.
• Managing product communication and training for Sales Teams, keeping everyone updated on the latest developments.

How Product Marketing Managers work with Marketing

PPMs are heavily involved in the marketing function. It’s kind of in the name. Product Marketing Managers sit at the intersection of marketing strategy and execution, influencing the marketing plan, how your product is positioned in the market, and how users move through marketing funnels.

Product Marketing Managers are influential in how a product is launched to the masses, deciding on the best channels and messaging to promote user activation. Some key marketing tasks a Product Marketing Manager will do include: 

• Defining and championing user personas, aligning Product and Marketing around target audiences.
• Shaping product positioning and crafting messaging that differentiates your product.
• Fueling marketing programs with customer insights and data-driven strategies.
• Designing upsell and cross-sell campaigns to increase customer lifetime value.
• Creating retention strategies to prevent churn and foster advocacy, including referral programs and external reviews.

How Product Marketing Managers work with Product

Would you look at that? Product is also in the name of a Product Marketing Manager. 

PMMs are the voice of the customer within the Product Team, ensuring that what the product development team works on aligns with user needs and market trends. They’re pivotal in influencing the product roadmap, offering key market and customer insights that help Product Managers prioritize features that address pain points, and then refine how those features are communicated.

By tracking user behavior and analyzing the competitive landscape, PMMs ensure that products stay relevant and valuable. Key product-related tasks performed by a Product Marketing manager include: 

• Gathering and advocating for customer feedback to help Product Managers make informed product decisions.
• Conducting competitive analysis to identify opportunities for differentiation.
• Refining in-app messaging and positioning to emphasize the product’s core benefits.
• Analyzing user journeys to identify and address bottlenecks.
• Supporting successful product launches with go-to-market strategies that increase adoption and engagement.

What are the key responsibilities of a Product Marketing Manager?

As made clear in the previous section, there’s a helluva lot of things a Product Marketing Manager can be getting up to. That said, let’s dust off the fluff and check out the core responsibilities of the role, the main pillars of what Product Marketing Managers are here to do. 

Think of the following as the core responsibilities of a Product Marketing Manager. If what we covered in the previous section are the day-to-day tasks, these are the overarching responsibilities. 

Here’s a breakdown of the essential core responsibilities that you’ll likely see in a Product Marketing Manager job description: 

1. Market and competitor intelligence

A PMM needs to know the competitive landscape like the back of their hand. This is a core expectation of the role. 

This involves analyzing competitor products, pricing, positioning, and go-to-market strategies. By identifying gaps and opportunities, PMMs ensure their product stands out in their marketing efforts. 

For example, a PPM can use their market intelligence to discover that a competitor’s feature is overhyped. From this, they can create messaging that highlights their own product’s superior capabilities. 

Beyond products, they also track broader market trends to anticipate shifts in customer needs or industry standards, keeping the company ahead of the curve.

2. Customer insight 

Understanding the customer is at the heart of product marketing. PMMs gather insights through customer interviews, surveys, and data analysis to uncover pain points, preferences, and behaviors. These insights guide product development, messaging, and marketing strategies. 

A Product Marketing Manager is like the translator between the Product Team and their users, making sense of what users want while also putting out messaging to meet their needs. As Tamara Grominsky, a Product Marketing expert, puts it:

So, Product Marketing Managers get the messaging of the product out there to the masses but also bring the messaging from the masses back to the Product Team.

In action, this can be something like a PPM getting feedback that customers struggle with user onboarding. From this, they may advocate for clearer guides and education to meet the needs of these users and improve customer satisfaction and thus, stickiness. 

3. Positioning and messaging

Crafting the right narrative is an essential part of being a Product Marketing Manager. A PPM needs to be able to take complex product features and translate them into benefits that resonate with target audiences. Positioning answers the “why us?” question, differentiating the product in a crowded market. 

For example, a PMM might position a task management tool not just as a productivity enhancer but as a time-saver for busy professionals. This messaging extends across sales collateral, website copy, digital marketing, and even in-product prompts to maintain consistency and clarity.

There’s a lot to unpack with Product Positioning. Good job we’ve spoken to THE authority on Product Positioning, April Dunford. 

April has literally written the book on Product Positioning (seriously, Obviously Awesome consistently ranks as a must-read for Product Managers), and you can check out what she had to say on Product Positioning in our webinar.

4. Product success

Some might argue, that a Product Marketing Manager is as influential to the success of a product as the Product Manager and their team. They drive the product’s growth by bridging the gap between the product and the market. They work on product launches, ensuring a seamless introduction to the market with clear objectives and measurable outcomes. 

This could include coordinating with Product Managers to refine features based on customer feedback loops or launching in-app campaigns to boost engagement. Their focus is on ensuring the product doesn’t just exist but thrives – increasing adoption rates, retention, and customer advocacy.

5. Sales enablement

Marketing and Sales have a symbiotic relationship, so it’s no surprise that sales enablement is such a huge part of a Product Marketing Manager’s role. 

PMMs empower Sales Teams to close deals faster and get users further down the funnel. This involves creating compelling sales enablement tools and collateral like pitch decks, product one-pagers, and demo scripts. They train Sales Teams on the product’s unique value proposition and how to handle objections. 

For example, if the product has a feature that outshines competitors, the PMM ensures Sales have the talking points to highlight this advantage. Additionally, they provide competitive battle cards, helping Sales Teams navigate and win against rival products.

Product Marketing Manager OKRs

To fully understand what’s important for a Product Marketing Manager, let’s take a peek at some common OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) for this role. These are the business goals that guide their work, ensuring every effort ties back to impactful outcomes. Think of them as the ‘why’ behind the entire function of Product Marketing.

These OKRs aren’t just tasks on a to-do list – they’re strategic goals that align with the company’s broader business objectives. Whether it’s building trust, fostering loyalty, or amplifying the product’s voice, these metrics keep PMMs focused on what truly moves the needle.

Tracking OKRs is also a great way to measure the performance of a Product Marketing Manager so you can see the value of the role and how they’re affecting the performance of the product.

Here are some common Product Marketing OKRs:

With this OKR, the core objective is to Strengthen the brand’s credibility by showcasing customer success and trust. 

Social proof is a cornerstone of modern buying decisions. Potential customers want to know others trust your product, and PMMs ensure that proof is visible, compelling, and easy to find. Working on this will encourage more users to try out your product, leading to higher user activation statistics. 

Some key results you’ll want to measure for this objective include:

• Increase the number of positive reviews on platforms like G2 or Trustpilot by X%.
• Publish X new customer case studies highlighting measurable results.
• Grow customer testimonials featured in sales and marketing assets by X%.

The reason for this OKR is to enhance the user experience to drive retention and loyalty. Happy customers stick around, use your product more often, and are more likely to recommend it to others. By improving satisfaction, PMMs help build a strong foundation for growth.

Some key results to track for this include:

• Improve the Net Promoter Score (NPS) by X points over the next quarter.
• Reduce churn rate among key customer segments by X%.
• Increase expansion revenue by 10% by the end of the year.

To achieve better customer communication, the Product Marketing Manager needs to ensure customers receive clear, timely, and valuable information. Communication is a two-way street, and PMMs make sure customers are not only informed but also feel heard. Effective communication drives deeper engagement and builds stronger relationships.

Some key results for this include:

• Increase email open rates for product announcements by X%.
• Achieve X% engagement on customer-focused webinars or workshops.
• Revamp help center content to improve self-service success rates by X%.

What skills do you need to become a Product Marketing Manager?

If you’re looking to become a Product Marketing Manager yourself, here’s a rundown on some of the key skills you need to have and learn so that you can excel in a career in Product Marketing. 

Communication & Leadership Skills

PMMs act as the glue between various cross-functional teams – Product, Sales, Customer Success, and Marketing. So, there’s no doubt that there’s going to be a lot of communication and stakeholder management needed. 

This requires exceptional communication skills to convey complex ideas clearly and persuasively. Whether you’re presenting a go-to-market strategy or crafting product messaging, clarity is key.

Leadership is equally critical. As a PMM, you’ll often lead cross-functional projects, aligning key stakeholders toward a common goal. Inspiring collaboration, resolving conflicts, and making tough decisions are all part of the job.

Strategic Thinking

PMMs must be able to see the bigger picture. This involves understanding market trends, competitor strategies, and customer needs to make informed decisions and build long-term strategies.

Strategic thinking enables PMMs to prioritize initiatives that drive growth and deliver value, whether it’s deciding on the right channels for a feature GTM, e or coming up with new ways to drive expansion revenue. 

Analytical Skills

Data is a PMM’s best friend. In a Product Marketing role, you’re going to be using all sorts of analysis and tracking tools to uncover customer insights. A successful Product Marketing Manager needs to be comfortable being elbow-deep in data. 

From tracking product adoption metrics to analyzing NPS scores, PMMs rely on data to make decisions and measure success. Strong analytical skills help you interpret numbers, uncover insights, and translate them into actionable strategies.

Storytelling and Messaging

PMMs should excel at telling a product’s story and need to hone their copywriting skills to do so. This requires the ability to distill complex technical details into clear, compelling messaging that resonates with the target audience and gets them excited about your product. Whether it’s writing website copy or delivering a product demo, storytelling is at the heart of great Product Marketing.

Market and Customer Research

A deep understanding of the customer is essential. PMMs conduct interviews, surveys, and competitor analyses to uncover what customers truly need. This insight informs everything from product features to messaging.

Collaboration and Teamwork

As a hub for cross-functional collaboration, PMMs work closely with a diverse team of key stakeholders. This requires empathy, adaptability, and a knack for bringing people together. Whether aligning with sales on value propositions or coordinating with Product Managers to bring a product to market, teamwork is essential.

You can’t really be a wallflower and succeed in the Product Marketing Manager role. 

What is the Product Marketing Manager salary? 

If you’re considering a career as a Product Marketing Manager (PMM), understanding the earning potential is key. As of 2025, the average base salary for a Product Marketing Manager job in the United States hovers around $144,000 per year, according to Product Marketing Alliance.

Of course, the salary for a Product Marketing Manager job isn’t set in stone, and can vary from company to company. A salary for a PPM can vary depending on: 

• Industry: Tech and SaaS companies, for instance, often offer higher compensation packages due to the demand for skilled marketers in those sectors.
• Location: Salaries can differ by location, with areas like San Francisco, New York, and other tech hubs offering higher pay to account for the cost of living and competitive job market.
• Experience: Naturally, more experienced PMMs command higher salaries. Senior-level roles or those with a proven track record will command a substantial pay boost, as they are responsible for larger teams and have better experience.
• Company size: Larger companies may offer more attractive total compensation packages, including bonuses, stock options, and more benefits.

Getting the word out there

Product Marketing Managers are the connectors between your product, your market, and your teams. They don’t just amplify your product’s voice; they ensure that every decision – from product development to customer engagement – is steeped in a deep understanding of market dynamics and customer needs. 

With their strategic positioning, customer insights, and market intelligence, Product Marketing Managers help your product truly resonate with your target market.

But Product Marketing goes beyond telling the story of your product, they’re also there to shape it and influence decision-making with their market insight and customer knowledge. They need to know what your customers are thinking, and what they want – even when that changes. 

Want to know more about what you need to do when working with Product Marketing when it comes to launching new products or features? Download a free copy of our Market Requirements Document and see what crucial information you need to share with Product Marketing and the wider team.

What is the Hook Model? 

The Hook Model is a powerful framework many Product Managers and Product Designers follow when designing habit-forming products. These are the types of products that your users keep coming back to time and time again, often due to behavioral design elements that create an engaging feedback loop that has users craving for more. 

When building digital products, the aim of the game is to create and launch something that’s sticky. If you can keep users around, your product is more likely to scale and grow. The Hook Model is a tool to help you turn your product into a regular habit for your users. It offers a framework to transform your product into the go-to option whenever a customer is faced with a problem or pain point your tool is designed to solve.

And as a Product Manager, think how much easier your life would be. Using the Hook Model to reduce customer churn and keep engagement rates high means you’ve got a product built to last. That’s immensely desirable for PMs.

At its core, the Hook Model is a four-phase process: 

• Triggers – Prompts that encourage users to take action and do something
• Action - A behavior that the user has to do to get hooked
• Variable rewards - A response a user gets from the action
• Investment - Something the user puts into the product – like time or effort – that encourages them to come back

Some of the most successful digital products have utilized the Hook Model. Think how Duolingo encourages daily language practice or how Instagram entices users to scroll endlessly through a visually captivating feed.

As Product Managers and Designers aiming to create successful products that users can’t resist, the Hook Model is something you need to know.

Who created the Hook Model? 

The Hook Model was created by behavioral design expert Nir Eyal. It emerged after more than a decade of research into what makes the world’s most captivating and addictive products. Eyal’s findings are distilled in his influential book, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, a must-read for Product Managers aiming to create a product experience that users can’t put down.

Eyal identified a repeating pattern in the product design of highly engaging tools and apps – one that connects user behavior to a product with enough frequency to form habitual behaviors. 

By tracking customer behavior and pinpointing psychological triggers, he crafted a Product Management framework that all these products follow that taps into natural human tendencies like craving novelty and seeking rewards.

The Hook Model draws parallels to the allure of slot machines: simple mechanics paired with variable rewards that make them irresistibly engaging. The same principles guide the design of apps, transforming them into indispensable parts of users’ daily routines.

Today, this framework has shaped products across industries, from social media and gaming to health and education. For Product Managers, designers, and development teams, the Hook Model is the blueprint for creating habit-forming experiences that resonate deeply with users – and keep them coming back for more.

How does the Hook Model work? 

The Hook Model describes four distinct phases for a user’s interaction with your product. Each phase plays a crucial role in building an experience that becomes part of a user’s routine. Let’s go through them again:

1. Trigger 
2. Action 
3. Variable reward 
4. Investment

These four phases flow one into the other, creating a never-ending cycle – a vortex – that users can’t get out of, cementing the usage of your product as a long-term daily habit, just like brushing your teeth. 

Here’s a look at each phase in a bit more detail, and how they work: 

Trigger 

All product hooks start with a trigger. The trigger is a prompt. A call to action. It’s the thing that first encourages a user to check out and try your product. They’re the initial motivation that drives a user to sign up, complete an action, and experience the value proposition of the product firsthand. 

To start the Hook Model cycle, you need to get your triggers in front of your target users, as much as possible.

What are the different types of Hook Model triggers?

There are so many different types of triggers you can try out to get users started with your product or service. They can be split up into two groups: external triggers and internal triggers.

External triggers 

These are the most common types of triggers that a new user will experience and are the external factors that encourage a user to check out your product. Most of these triggers are going to be marketing-based, be it social posts, paid ads, emails, and more. 

That said, some external triggers can also include things like word of mouth or online popularity. If you’ve got social capital where everyone is using your product, that’s going to entice others to try out this , cool sounding tool. 

External triggers can be: 

• Paid Triggers: These require financial investment, like paid ads or sponsored post to prompt users to engage with or re-engage with the product.
• Earned Triggers: These rely on time investment rather than money, such as media mentions or SEO content that organically attracts attention to the product.
• Relationship Triggers: These depend on word-of-mouth and social proof, like user-generated content or referral codes, where happy users share their experiences to influence others.
• Owned Triggers: These are the most effective because users have voluntarily opted in, such as newsletter subscriptions or push notifications, and engage with them regularly due to familiarity.

Internal triggers 

Internal triggers come from inside the user. In other words, they are less tangible things like emotions and feelings. 

Internal triggers often only come into play once a user has tried your product and grown an attachment to it. You can only really build this attachment if you’ve demonstrated your product’s wow moment and have matched the wants and needs of your customers. 

An internal trigger can be something like boredom, which leads to users turning to your app without the need for external prompts. 

As you can imagine, internal triggers are really powerful automatic behaviors. They’re the little impulses and voices in the back of a user’s head that tell them to start using your product. 

Action

An action is what a user does with your product. It’s the minimum they need to do to trigger user activation and experience the reward that keeps them coming back. You need to keep this minimum action easy to do, which influences the usability design of your product.

When thinking about the intended action you want your user to perform, you need to make it as easy as possible. You need to remove as many friction points to minimize the time and effort needed to get the reward. 

If the action is going to be a bit tricky or time-consuming, then you need to make sure that the motivation levels of the user are high so that they can actually be bothered to complete it. 

Remember phone-in radio competitions? Say you’re driving along in your car and your local radio station starts a competition offering $10 for everyone who simply phones in within the next 30 minutes. 

That’s a pretty easy thing to do, and the reward is pretty sweet. That should compel people to do it. 

Okay, but how about instead of just phoning in, you need to phone in, pay a 50c charge, and then answer 10 questions correctly only to get put into a raffle draw? All for only $10. That action is harder, and will likely put loads of people off. The reward doesn’t match what listeners need to do. 

But what happens if the prize changes to $100,000? Yeah, the required actions are still pretty convoluted, but the reward is more compelling, meaning that more will phone up and take the gamble. 

So, why is that? Well, that can all be explained by the Fogg behavioral model, created by Dr BJ Fogg. 

This model shows the essential components you need when crafting an action, and how they all need to come together for the action to work. For you to spark a human behavior and get users hooked, you need to maintain motivation, make that action easy to do, and keep prompting users to perform the action.

This action-to-reward ratio is something you’re going to have to figure out when building your product with the Hook Model. 

Variable Reward

A variable reward is the goal your users are striving for when they engage with your product. In other, more PMy words, it’s the value proposition they’ll see and feel after taking action.

When a user completes an action, they receive a reward. These rewards play a huge role in motivating customers to keep coming back. Think Pavlov’s dog: every time he heard that bell, he was excited for his treat.

But here’s the twist: some rewards are more powerful than others, and many lose their effectiveness over time. Let’s go back to that dog. Every time the bell rang, he knew he’d get food, but imagine if he didn’t know if it would be beef, chicken, or pork. The unpredictability would keep him more engaged, right?

The same goes for us. If the reward becomes predictable, we lose interest. That’s why social media platforms are masters of the Hook Model. Every time you log in, there’s a variable reward of new, unpredictable content. We never know what will pop up next in our feed.

In fact, social media is a lot like the random slot machines that inspired the Hook Model.

Types of variable rewards

As Nir Eyal outlines here, there are three main types of variable rewards that target different aspects of human desire: self-fulfillment, material benefits, and social validation. Each type can be strategically used to create a more compelling and habit-forming user experience.

• Rewards of the Self: These rewards come from personal satisfaction or self-fulfillment, like achieving mastery, which helps build lasting customer habits.
• Rewards of the Hunt: These are tangible, material rewards, such as unlocking new features or securing a good deal, driving ongoing engagement.
• Rewards of the Tribe: These rewards come from social validation and interaction, like receiving likes or comments, which encourage connection and engagement.

Investment

In the Hook Model, the investment phase is all about the user’s commitment to a product – of both time and effort. As users interact with your product, they put in effort that, over time, deepens their relationship with it.

For example, the more time a user spends within your tool, the better they get at it. As they become more proficient, tasks that once took time now happen with ease, making it even more likely they’ll return. In SaaS, this translates into product stickiness and user retention: the more your customers use your product, the more value they derive from it, which makes them less likely to switch to a competitor.

Additionally, when users invest in your product, they’re not just investing time. Whether it’s by adding data, customizing their settings, or uploading content, they’re also creating a sense of ownership. This makes them more likely to come back to reap the benefits of their work. Think of it as putting effort into building something you want to see grow.

The more users invest, whether financially, emotionally, or with their data, the harder it becomes for them to leave. In fact, higher investment leads to higher switching costs: migrating data, changing preferences, or learning a new tool becomes a costly and time-consuming endeavor.

This principle is crucial for Product Managers because it helps make your product indispensable. When users have invested in learning and customizing their experience, they have more reasons to keep engaging and fewer reasons to leave.

And now that you have invested users, you can start the loop again with another trigger, and create consecutive hook cycles that become more compelling each time you use them. 

Why is the Hook Model important for Product Managers? 

Integrating the Hook Model into product development is essential for Product Managers who want to create products that users love, keep coming back to, and integrate into their daily lives. This behavioral design framework helps PMs tap into psychological triggers that drive user habits, fostering engagement and loyalty. 

When used correctly, the Hook Model helps companies go beyond simply providing a functional product to creating an irresistible user experience.

As users become more accustomed to interacting with your product, they start to expect certain rewards, which drives them to return again and again. It’s no longer about creating a one-time interaction, but about cultivating a long-term relationship with your users. This process involves understanding their needs, emotions, and behaviors and crafting a product experience that aligns with those desires.

For PMs, understanding the intricacies of the Hook Model allows them to design products that are not just useful, but habit-forming. From product onboarding to personalized rewards, each interaction can be optimized to boost engagement and increase user retention. 

The beauty of the Hook Model lies in its cyclical nature: the more users interact with the product, the stronger their connection to it becomes, similar to growth loops.

Here are some of the key benefits of implementing the Hook Model in product development:

• Enhanced user engagement: By creating products that users are motivated to return to, PMs can boost user engagement and retention.
• Improved product stickiness: Products designed with the Hook Model become integral to users’ routines, making them less likely to switch to competitors.
• Increased Customer Lifetime Value: Habit-forming products encourage users to invest more time and resources, leading to higher customer lifetime value.
• Competitive advantage: By understanding and leveraging user behavior, PMs can create products that stand out in the market, offering unique value propositions.
• Data-driven insights: Implementing the Hook Model encourages continuous customer feedback loops and data collection, enabling PMs to refine and optimize the product based on real user behavior.

By embracing the Hook Model, Product Managers can craft products that not only meet user needs but also become an indispensable part of their lives, ensuring long-term success and competitive growth.

Example of the Hook Model in action

The best way to fully understand something is to see it in action, in live, living color. To get a complete understanding of how the Hook Model works, so that you can do it yourself, let’s break down the model for one of the most addicting products of the last few years. One that I’m sure you’ve used – maybe on your lunch break – regularly. 

Of course, I’m talking about: WORDLE

Trigger

Wordle’s external triggers are a key component of its success. The game’s viral nature is driven by players sharing their results on social media, sparking curiosity and drawing in new players. How many first started playing the brain game after a colleague Slacked over their results? This constant social sharing acts as a powerful external nudge.

Internally, Wordle taps into the natural human desire for problem-solving and mental stimulation. The game offers the kind of low-stakes challenge that makes players want to return each day, driven by the need for a sense of accomplishment and the satisfaction of cracking the code.

Action

Wordle is designed to minimize friction in its gameplay, making the action simple and quick. No account setup or login is required, which lowers the barrier to entry and lets players dive right into the puzzle. They type in their guesses and receive immediate feedback with each attempt, letting them know if they’re getting closer to the solution. This feedback loop encourages repeated actions, as players refine their guesses with every new piece of information.

The game is also streamlined in terms of time commitment. Each puzzle is one daily challenge, which keeps players engaged without overwhelming them with choices or complexity. The simplicity of the interface makes it easy for players to get started and continue playing every day.

Reward

Wordle’s rewards come in a variety of satisfying forms. First and foremost, players are rewarded with the excitement of cracking the puzzle. The process of figuring out the word through deduction and strategy gives players a sense of achievement. This is a ‘reward of the self’.

On top of that, Wordle taps into the social rewards system. After completing the puzzle, players can share their results on social media in the form of a color-coded grid, showcasing their score and streak. You can also see how you compare with the rest of the players. A ‘reward of the tribe’. This not only provides instant gratification but also encourages friendly competition, as players compare their results with friends and family.

Investment

As players engage with Wordle over time, their investment grows. Initially, the investment might be minimal – just a few minutes to complete a daily puzzle. But over time, players become more invested in their progress. They start tracking their streaks and aiming for a perfect score.

The game’s simple, recurring nature builds a psychological investment. Players who begin to solve puzzles consistently feel a personal attachment to their streak, which encourages them to return daily. This investment in both time and effort increases the likelihood of continued engagement, as breaking a streak feels like losing something of value.

Hooked on a feeling

In the fast-paced world of digital products, creating something that users keep coming back to is more than just a win: it’s a game-changer. By leveraging the Hook Model, you have the framework to design experiences that don’t just meet a need but become part of your users’ daily routines. Through carefully crafted triggers, actions, variable rewards, and investments, you can transform a casual user into a loyal one, keeping them engaged and coming back for more.

But creating habit-forming products isn’t just about implementing the right product strategy. It’s about consistency, refining your product to make sure it’s sticky, and making sure your users keep experiencing value at every turn. This is where the right Product Management tools come into play.

The ongoing collection and analysis of customer feedback is crucial to the successful implementation of the Hook Model. You need to understand what brings users to your product right now, what keeps them around and what causes them to leave. Armed with that intelligence, you can build a product strategy that works to better achieve the ‘hooked’ effect. 

Have you got your customer feedback in hand? Is it all feeding into your product strategy? Are you collecting feedback in an organized way and staying abreast of the themes and signals coming from your user base? If not, you need ProdPad in your Product Management life. 

ProdPad’s complete PM platform includes a market-leading feedback management tool that automatically analyses your feedback so you can make the right decisions and link that evidence to your product roadmap.  

Try ProdPad today and see how we can help you become a better Product Manager.