Product strategy mistakes that cost you customers (How to fix them)

Are you struggling to work out why your customer numbers aren’t increasing as expected? Well you’re in the right place, let’s get you back on track with your product strategy so that you can gain and retain customers for growth. With proven strategies we can give you the fixes to some of the most common problems when it comes to customer retention.

1. Your product isn’t solving the right problem

Ask yourself why would our users choose our product over our competitors? If you’re making assumptions about what you think your customers need, that’s a red flag in your product development. If your website or mobile app doesn’t address a genuine pain point, customers will turn to your competitors.

The fix:

• Define your problem space. Without doing so, solutions can become misaligned. Collectively look at your business goals, user needs and any technical constraints to understand the full landscape of why and who you’re designing for.
• Understand what your unique selling point is to differentiate you from your competitors.

2. Poor product-market fit

If your target audience doesn’t find value in your product, they won’t stick around. Many businesses fail because they try to serve too broad a market or misunderstand their ideal customer.

The fix:

• Clearly define your users through key personas and build your strategy around their needs. Have a think about what your ideal customer profile looks like (ICP), who is most likely going to benefit from your product or service and outline their key characteristics and behaviours.

3. Feature overload

More features doesn’t always convert to more sales or more engagement. A common mistake is adding too many features without ensuring they drive real value. If a user is feeling overwhelmed they can easily leave an experience.

The fix:

• Prioritise features using impact vs effort, this will help to analyse the customer value and technical implementation to find the; Quick wins, strategic priorities, nice-to-haves and out of scope features. Based on your current resources and time you have available you can then release features for impact.

4. Lack of a clear roadmap

These could be short term or long term goals but without a clear and aligned product roadmap, teams end up working on disconnected initiatives, leading to inconsistent experiences for customers.

The fix:

• Align your product strategy with business objectives and customer needs. Use OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to ensure alignment across teams and to have clear metrics to measure success.
• The key is to always remain adaptable to market changes or a shift in users, constantly reacting, reviewing and updating your roadmap for success.

5. Ignoring customer retention in favor of acquisition

Your first user should be just as important as your last user, don’t fall into the trap of ignoring customer loyalty. Many companies focus heavily on acquiring new customers while neglecting existing ones. A high churn rate means you’re constantly replacing lost users instead of growing sustainably.

The fix:

• Analyse user behaviour through product usage data to identify key touch points, pain points and opportunities for engagement to optimise the product journey.

6. Poor internal alignment between teams

You know what they say, teamwork makes the dreamwork! If you’re trying to do everything and achieving nothing this could be a sign that you’re not pulling together as a team with a clear vision. If management, product, marketing, design and engineering aren’t aligned this could lead to mixed messaging and a confusing customer experience.

The fix:

• Organise a strategy workshop to get everyone aligned and on the same page, whether that’s in person or remote, regular sessions can be so valuable.
• Communication is key, have regular checkins with teams across the business to adapt to product and market changes, quickly and effectively.

Fix your strategy and win back customers

Just remember your product problems are fixable. By aligning with real customer needs, focusing on product-market fit, and improving internal collaboration, you can turn things around and drive sustainable growth.

If you’re reading this and are relating to these issues but are feeling overwhelmed of where to start – get in touch! We’ll be happy to chat through where you’re at with your product, ranging from start ups to scale ups or established enterprise products, we have extensive experience transforming products for growth.