We’ve discussed many aspects of product management in the past, such as the biggest obstacles, most important metrics and what is involved in becoming a professional in such a difficult and abstract field. What we haven’t discussed are the various important product management KPI factors to look at. This is important, and to ignore this aspect would be irresponsible on our part.
Where a number of other issues in product management vary depending on whether the scenario is ecommerce or brick and mortar, your product management KPI factors are pretty uniform. The fact is that even if you’re directly dealing with the storefronts be they physical or digital, you’re not customer-facing, which means that direct revenue and customer satisfaction metrics and KIP factors aren’t that transparent to you, or at least not as directly applicable and relatable.
Below, I will discuss four KPI factors for product management that’re important, and I’ll do my very best to explain why they are so crucial. These will hopefully give you a solid view of how to know when things are going smoothly, and what goals to aspire to in the future, as product management is such a difficult field to rein in.
#1 – Stakeholder Satisfaction
Ok, let me explain what this one really means. Stakeholders are people within the company whom are affected by the product’s nature, production and marketing, as well as the target demographic of customer. While not being entirely customer facing, this one is a little harder to really measure – the stakeholder satisfaction of internal units will partly reflect that hard to relate customer satisfaction as well.
This one’s importance is kind of obvious, so I won’t waste your time shuffling around explaining why it’s important, as I may with others.
#2 – Requirements Management
This one also involves talking to stakeholders, but it’s not about their satisfaction so much as feedback they get on clarity of distribution and representation of the product – how well the customer defines it as per the required identity of it.
For brick and mortar, this is about labeling and placement, for ecommerce, it’s about how shopping prioritizes and displays commerce components and depictions. Not being customer facing, you have to involve stakeholders to relate to this data.
#3 – Project Management
This one’s all about how accurately to predictions products are released, and how quickly estimated customer adoption of the release is met. This basically shows how effectively and efficiently a project is conceived, implemented, and returns results.
This one may not be obvious until pointed out, but in retrospect, seems pretty “well yeah” once you see it …
#4 – Innovation
This is all about the frequency of improvement, be it provoked by need or by continued development as a base process, that a product is refined. This can pertain to brand enhancement, physical changes, any number of things. If you’re not coming up with new ways to improve a product, even if it’s a good product, then you’re flirting with stagnation, and that is rarely productive.
There’s a balance to be had here, of course, but it’s an important KPI to keep an eye on.
So, I trust that these product management KPI factors help you to see the sorts of metrics and conditions that you have to focus on in product management in order to see success, or to respond to the lack thereof to logically improve. It’s not easy, but it’s a rewarding field if you have the patience and fortitude for it!