The topic from today is from gut feel to growth, how tiny tweaks can win users. So starting right off, when was the last time you actually checked customer reviews?And I mean, like, not checking on how many stars your ad or whatever application or product you have, has. I meant, like, actually reading upon what customer needs are and maybe also talking about the talking to the customers. So I'm gonna share some of my techniques I used in the past. They might not fit to your product. So always, like, reflect and think what fits to your product, what fits to your style, and actually the problem you want to, fix. One method I really, really like, it's from Eva Eta Wodi. She's, like, the director of product at YouTube. She has the document. It's called the living document.

It's, collects the top top 10 product problems that everybody should know of. So you can actually share that document with your peer group, with your x u I sales business forever, and you review it on a regular basis. You can also use that technique and actually send the request out to other departments to tell you what in their point of view are the 10 most critical points of the product. Then you collect them, and, you bring them in an order and also prioritize what in your view is the are the 10 most critical points. That's just a very easy, understandable method. That's why I like it. And, it also gives you the benefit of helping with prioritization on what you actually work because the more people aligned with the actual problems that you're facing, challenges that you're facing, the easier it gets to narrow it down, at the end when you go into the discussion where the most, like, effort goes into.

Another thing is I really like is dog fooding. So your team should actually use the products that they are building. There are several varieties you can use it. So in the past, for example, one method we used is we, used an internal product test panel, for example, organized through a Slack group, which enables then internal users to test the product, for example, for new features or give feedback directly. It's easy. It doesn't cost a lot. You can get the feedback as fast as possible. I know and I know it's biased because, yeah, people know the product already, but at least it's something very quick and hands on. And moreover, you can also generate some kind of excitement about the product, what you want to actually have as a product manager within a company. So another thing I can really recommend is make use of people that join the company and that are new and are not yet biased and don't, wear these glasses on all the time and already know the product.

So, for example, you can create onboarding tasks to get unbiased views on your product, and the new employees then fulfill them. For example, if you are a shopping website and you work in ecommerce, you can ask them to order products or return products or whatever, also setting up their account and stuff like that. And I think the most important point is stay curious and keep the beginner mindset. And I think this part is easier said than done because the longer you stay in a in an environment and work, you could sometimes get lazy or just things go the way they are. So, for example, don't stick to your one test account account that you're using to test the product. Create it from the scratch again. Create new email addresses. Set up the account and see what it really looks like when you start from the beginning.

Another method I used, for example, if you are more in the b to b field, it's sometimes very hard to get, like, insights about the product, especially if it's complex and if the customers are not that easy to talk to or tackle. I did, like, a one one day internship at the doctor's office to check out the doctor software and to learn from the customer and clients and look how they are using it and how it's, like, also bind in their day to day business. And then it's a funny term. It's actually not really existing, but cat fooding is. Use products from your competitors as well. This might not something very new. It's just something to remind you, use them. Create, for example, also living documents shared with UX with other PMs and, map the customer journey, read public customer feedback, for example, such as in App Store reviews. Also use tools like SimilarWeb to figure out what, the competitors are up to.

And, also, maybe chop, check shop postings to see, what kind of people they are hiring so you could maybe tell in what direction the other products is are going to. Then a quick overview of, like, 10 micro methods you can steal or not. The one the first one, sounds easy is time management, but it's sometimes very hard to stick to. So just block time in your calendar and establish routines that you spend time, for example, on user feedback. I'm not blaming my former PMs, but many times I was, like, the only person reading on a regular basis the customer, reviews on customer, reviews on App Store, for example. And I don't get tired of reminding my people of, yeah, block time in the calendar and establish your routines because that's the benefit you bring as a, PM or head of product or whatever field you're working in related to product.

Then, conduct user interviews. It doesn't always need to be, like, the big quantitative research. You always you don't need to set up, like, talks with people, like, hundreds or millions. Even, like, one to five people, you get a lot of feedback out of them. And then I think the most underevaluated source is customer support. Talk to customer support. Go through your support tickets. Check the chats, the DMs. And, I think in a perfect world, if you already have it in within your company or not, twin with data science and then maybe combine it with customer support. So run key search.

Look what are the most, problems that are popping up with the product and, try to find patterns within, and make the data accessible for all teams. I think that's, like, the the most benefit out of it. And then, last but not least, best practices. Use them. You don't need to invent the wheel always new. And there are, like, so many tools I don't get sponsored. That's just like a rough, outline of what tools I used in the past. And there are things like Baymard Institute, which gives great advice on UX, for user, testing and product discovery. Maze is, very good user testing and stuff like that. I'm not, like, reading out all just, to give you, like, an overview. And I think, it might sound contradictive, but, especially as a product person and as we are here now in a talk about women and in women in IT, trust your gut gut instincts.

So many people, especially working in product, they are not, allowing themselves to having an opinion. As a PM, that's the benefit you bring to the table. And make use of user research and use these methods to update your mental model about your customers. Stay curious and bring clarity. I think that's, like, the the the benefit you bring as a PM. So be be loud and trust your instincts and also allow yourself to have an opinion on the product. So thanks for listening. I'm happy to receive any kind of feedback. I know it's only ten minutes here, so you can follow me on in LinkedIn and drop me a message or also write in the chat.

I'm happy to receive any kind of feedback. That was my first ever speech on a conference. So I'm very, very happy and glad that I was able to, contribute to the session. And I'm just seeing now there are 47 people joining. That's so amazing. I'm so touched by that. And I can also recommend you Lenny's podcast. So actually some of the methods I'm using, they are out of his podcast and, you can also listen to the session from Ebi Eta Wodi, which I told you. It's amazing. I really, love it. So thanks and have a nice day, evening, whatever time zone you're in. I hope you enjoyed my talk. Thank you so much. And if you have question, of course.