3 Behaviors To Avoid When Communicating With Your Customers

Every time a spouse expects their partner to read their mind, things go south.

Example: My wife would sometimes expect me to plan a special day in a certain way. However, instead of asking her directly, I'd attempt to infer her wishes from her reactions & past experiences. Invariably, I'd go off on another tangent.

As a result, the day would end with a negative report card.

I'm sure married couples can relate to this.

When communication breaks down and you're trying to think on "behalf" of another party with a broken validation compass, you're treading on thin ice.

Similarly, it's crucial for Product Managers to avoid this behavior with customers.

• Stop developing specs in silos and attempting to concoct what your customer wants based on just "inferences" and "data"

Your darts will start missing the board completely if you don't give context to the evidence you've gathered via customer interviews. If matters go beyond the point-of-no-return, churn will start paying visits.

• Avoid "waterfall communication" with customers. You need touchpoints to be frequent & iterative to get your product right

Cyclical check-ins & prototype feedback sessions de-risk your build from missing out a major expectation.

• Realize that negative feedback doesn't always find a voice

For example - for every bad Amazon review, there are probably several others who didn't have the time to put in the effort. Just because they didn't say anything doesn't mean they don't exist.

Therefore, it's equally important to get in touch with churned customers and get closure on that "divorce".