5 under the radar (but common) mistakes every product team should avoid:

1. The "Solutions First" Trap

• Starting with product ideas instead of customer needs
• Brainstorming features before understanding problems
• Asking customers what features they want Reality: product success requires knowing what job customers need done and which are needs are unmet before you devise solutions.

2. The "Wrong Target" Mistake

• Targeting overserved customers with premium solutions
• Offering cheaper solutions to underserved customers
• Using one strategy for all customer segments Reality: Different customer segments need different strategies

3. The "Gut Feel" Error

• Making decisions without customer data
• Guessing which customer needs are unmet
• Assuming you know customer priorities Reality: 86% of product team members disagree on how to define a need

4. The "Me Too" Mindset

• Copying competitor features
• Following industry trends blindly
• Making minor improvements to existing solutions Reality: You need 20%+ improvement to win customers from incumbents

5. The "One Size Fits All" Fallacy

• Using same strategy for all products
• Ignoring market segment differences
• Treating all customers the same Reality: Even Uber uses different strategies for different segments (Black vs Pool vs UberX)

Success comes from:

• Understanding your customer's job to be done
• Knowing which needs (outcomes tied to the job) are unmet
• Measuring the degree to which they are under/over served
• THEN choosing the appropriate strategy

Author

AiUTOMATING PEOPLE, ABN ASIA was founded by people with deep roots in academia, with work experience in the US, Holland, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam. ABN Asia is where academia and technology meet opportunity. With our cutting-edge solutions and competent software development services, we're helping businesses level up and take on the global scene. Our commitment: Faster. Better. More reliable. In most cases: Cheaper as well.

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