Pendo’s Tiffany Chin on Product-Led-Growth & Digital Transformation

Pendo’s Tiffany Chin on Product-Led-Growth & Digital Transformation

Interview by Maja Skokleska
Published: May 17, 2023
designrush

Who Is Tiffany Chin

Tiffany Chin is the VP of Design at Pendo and is a patented visionary design leader with a track record of success at companies like Salesforce, IDEO, and Google. She has a deep understanding of design strategy, user experience design, and user research, and has created exceptional digital and analog experiences for users across a wide range of industries, from health to finance to technology.

"Incorporating data-driven insights into the design process is crucial for creating effective user-facing products." Tiffany Chin

A few years ago, most organizations struggled to deliver effective user-facing products quickly and cost-effectively. Today, they are adopting digital transformation initiatives to ensure the design and development of products that meet the consumers' changing demands and bring business success.

From IoT to analytics platforms and software applications, nowadays, businesses have access to a vast number of digital tools and technologies that can have a significant impact on the design of their new products.

Meet Pendo — software developed to help companies build better software for their clients’ needs.

In this interview, we speak to Pendo’s Vice President of Design, Tiffany Chin, who discusses digital transformation and product-led growth (PLG) as a strategy that helps with digital transformation efforts.

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Spotlight: 72% of customer interactions are now digital. Yet, most organizations struggle to complete digital transformation initiatives, with their biggest struggle being incorporating data-driven insights into their user-facing products. What’s your input on this, and what are possible ways companies can cope with these challenges?

Tiffany Chin: In my practice and on my team, I like to step back and hone in on the problem that digital transformation is trying to achieve. The problem is, what are the jobs that need to be done? What will we solve with a particular experience? What can digitally bring that will truly transform an initiative?

Digital transformation can take time and iteration. The first iteration might get you partially there, but the needle can move so much more. Many early attempts at digital transformation tried hard to recreate analog processes exactly how they’ve always been done.

For example, the transformation of paper-based forms into digital could be: scanning an existing form, emailing the form, printing, filling it out, scanning the form, and emailing back, it could be an editable Word document, it could be a table PDF form, or it could be an online form that automatically fills out the form with predictable answers getting most of a job done for filling out the form. Each is a digital transformation of the form, and each has a purpose and place in the modern world, but vastly different experiences.

Incorporating data-driven insights into the design process is crucial for creating effective user-facing products. This can involve conducting user research, analyzing user behavior data, and utilizing testing to inform design decisions. Additionally, companies should prioritize creating a culture of continuous improvement and experimentation to stay ahead of changing customer needs.

It’s difficult to not mention Pendo here, as it currently is incredible at helping companies with digital transformation, from finding out what users of your product are doing, to acting on areas where they are struggling with a process critical to the adoption of the product at hand, for better success.

What is product-led growth (PLG) and why should companies consider following this approach?

Product-led growth is a way to interact with customers, help showcase new features, and onboard new users to a product. It is a more holistic approach to releasing a product that helps with adoption and stickiness. It is an almost free way to get more pipeline into your product and a great place to experiment with new ways to give value to customers. It's an approach that prioritizes the product experience and user adoption to drive business growth.

Companies should consider following this approach because it can lead to higher customer retention, increased revenue, and a more efficient sales process.

How does product data impact product management and why is it essential for making better business decisions?

By understanding what features are being used or underutilized, you can more effectively invest in your key areas for growth, adoption, feature prioritization, or any other key area that needs to be leveraged.

Data reduces the investment risk and helps product management place safer strategic bets on what to build, iterate, keep, or sunset.

As the world becomes increasingly digital, demand for digital product managers has risen, leading to the emergence of product management platforms like Pendo. What challenges does Pendo aim to solve for companies and project managers?

Pendo aims to be the product platform and one-stop shop for your product development lifecycle. From the desired business outcome to product analytics discovery, experimentation, insights, in-app messaging, customer feedback, and product road mapping; you will know what product to build, if the product is successful, and how to continue to be successful with the product.

Pendo helps teams make data-driven decisions, streamline the product development process, and create better user experiences.

With consumer expectations changing and being higher than ever before, how can Pendo help companies meet them?

With Pendo, you have a direct line to your customers, you can validate with them if your product is meeting their needs, where it falls short, and what you can do about it. You can also watch the core pieces of your product to see where you can act and help users adopt sticky features in a quick personalized segment way.

This can inform product development and help companies stay ahead of customer needs.

User feedback is crucial for product improvement. How does Pendo's platform enable organizations to collect and utilize feedback from users to enhance their products?

Pendo's platform enables organizations to collect and utilize feedback from users through various channels, including in-app feedback, surveys, and NPS (Net Promoter Score) surveys.

This feedback can inform product development and help teams prioritize features and improvements. One thing I’m super excited about is the ability to have Pendo sift through the feedback and give you high-level themes of what the feedback is saying without having to read through hundreds of responses to get the synthesis.

In a recent survey, PLG was identified as the perfect way to grow in a downturn. What PLG strategies can businesses leverage to grow in a challenging economic environment?

By implementing PLG, a product gains a whole new cost-effective pipeline to revenue growth. A business can improve the customer experience by helping to onboard customers to new features or existing ones, unlocking the value of the product. PLG can focus on customer retention, offer value-based pricing, and utilize viral growth loops to acquire new users.

Over 8,700 companies, including Cisco, Cision, and Salesforce, use Pendo to provide better software experiences. How do huge companies like these leverage product-led tactics to drive efficiency, productivity, and sustainable growth?

Pendo focuses on solving the job to be done of building great products. This remains true for both small and large enterprises. Pendo is like a buddy to a company, helping with things like driving efficiency, productivity, and sustainable growth by focusing on creating a great user experience, prioritizing customer success, and utilizing data to inform product development and business decisions.

Lastly, please tell us about your upcoming festival Pendomonium. What is it about and who should attend?

Pendomonium is a 2+ day event for anyone that wants their product to succeed. It’s an action-packed music festival-like atmosphere that both inspires and educates on all the ways you can get more out of your product with Pendo. Pandemonium brings together product leaders and innovators to discuss the latest trends and best practices in product management.

Anyone interested in product management and innovation should attend. The festival features keynote speakers, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities. It’s super fun, and energizing to be surrounded by people with a passion for product.

Thank you for your time, Tiffany Chin. Best of luck to you and Pendo!

Keep up with Pendo on LinkedIn and read about other successful businesses here.

 

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