One in every of my principal jobs as a product supervisor is prioritization, which regularly means telling individuals “no, not now.” Tackling each new function or design change without delay is unattainable, however justifying “nos” with knowledge will lend credibility to these selections.
Since April 2021, I’ve been the Senior Product Supervisor for Showcase IDX, the main IDX WordPress plugin for actual property that permits realtors to show native MLS listings immediately on their web sites. eXp World Holdings acquired Showcase IDX again in 2020 to make use of the IDX expertise to enhance the search expertise for his or her international on-line brokerage eXp Realty.
The engineering and product groups frequently work to refine our person’s total search expertise—from property searches, evaluating choices, and requesting extra info—and assist them in the end discover a dwelling they love.
Knowledge sits on the coronary heart of this exercise. In my work as a product supervisor, I closely lean on my background in knowledge warehousing and analytics. I dealt with large-scale knowledge at unimaginable corporations like Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, and Rogers, which gave me a singular perspective on knowledge use inside large, advanced organizations. At Showcase IDX, I knew we had to make use of knowledge to unravel a looming downside – retention – and establishing the suitable instruments and knowledge tradition was essential.
The constraints of Google Analytics and SQL
A key aim of Showcase IDX is to drive development in net visitors for eXp Realty. To do this, we wanted to extend our shopper retention charges. Sadly, we couldn’t decide the very best methods to alter our product to spice up retention.
We primarily used Google Analytics for front-end journey monitoring, and SQL queries to question our backend databases, and each choices had limitations. On the time, Google Analytics solely allowed us to see high-level metrics akin to web page views, and SQL queries have been advanced for a non-technical person attempting to realize insights. We additionally couldn’t observe person actions in actual time or comply with them by your complete buyer journey. What steps did customers take after initiating a search? Which customers dropped off the funnel after that? We couldn’t drill deeper into behavioral relationships to find out which options mattered essentially the most, leaving us with large blind spots.
When product groups don’t have a approach of surfacing insights, it’s arduous to establish a path ahead.
We didn’t have a approach of surfacing the data we wanted, and with out that, we’d solely be guessing at what to strive subsequent, and what was working.
A transparent selection for better performance
Showcase IDX wanted a product analytics platform that might help our experimental strategy with well timed and correct insights. Past that, we knew sharing capabilities could be crucial for partnering with key stakeholders and enhancing confidence in our forecasts. Not solely would this construct belief in our product improvement course of, however it could direct higher funding selections and prioritize the suitable initiatives shifting ahead.
We thought-about investing extra in our present instruments, however since this was crucial to our strategic development plan, we determined to guage different choices in the marketplace. Our core aims have been easy: to trace correct MAU knowledge based mostly on a particular product utilization definition, measure person retention, observe conversion to key occasions, and decide which product options have been probably to affect enhancing retention and conversion.
Throughout our search, I couldn’t get Amplitude out of my thoughts. I had wished to strive Amplitude whereas in earlier roles, however there have been at all times obstacles to adoption. Once I obtained the chance to construct an enterprise-ready analytics platform from scratch, Amplitude was on the prime of my record.
After considering what we wanted from a product, govt, and engineering perspective, it turned clear that Amplitude could be our greatest choice. We knew Amplitude would work effectively inside our tech stack and grant us the performance we’d been dreaming of.
Establishing a constant path to adoption
I used to be lucky to have executive-level help, and we created a small, tight-knit group to work on implementation—important for one thing model new. I labored intently with an engineer and the implementation professional from Amplitude to develop a prioritized venture roadmap. We have been up and working in lower than a month. Then, I turned to our workforce.
From the beginning, knowledge turned part of our each day lives by curated Amplitude Analytics dashboards. I offered these dashboards throughout our all-hands and technique conferences and established a set of parameters we’d look at to trace traits. It was tremendous useful to make use of dashboards and reviews to point out individuals how monitoring results in traits and the way that impacts forecasting. We obtained used to asking questions as a gaggle and exploring knowledge accordingly to reply these questions, rising transparency inside our group.
We used the identical 4 or 5 chart sorts for the primary a number of months, and as we grew and gained somewhat extra bandwidth, individuals turned assured sufficient to discover and experiment independently. By way of repeated perception discovery and data-based choice making, different product groups additionally adopted Analytics of their day-to-day operations. There was a snowball impact; as soon as one group started to see the worth, one other group picked up the ball and ran with it—and all of us started to note some thrilling adjustments.
Difficult assumptions with knowledge
Our mission as an organization is to create significant connections between customers and brokers. To help that mission, we provide customers the choice to ask questions, request excursions, save a search, or save a particular itemizing. We initially theorized that customers would start to construct a connection by saving searches so they may return to them repeatedly.
We have been incorrect. As soon as we deployed Analytics, we realized that prospects have been extra prone to save a search, a lot later of their journey. We found different options that have been extra correlated with improved retention and chance of connecting with an agent. With that perception, we returned to the drafting board and began specializing in different factors within the buyer journey prioritizing deeper engagement previous to specializing in retention.
Utilizing Analytics additionally modified how we approached our viewers. Our product has at all times had a twin person base (brokers and customers), and we tried to account for this accordingly when making product selections. Our sister firm eXp Realty launched in 2009 as the primary cloud-based actual property brokerage. eXp World Holdings CEO Glenn Sanford grew that from dozens of brokers to now over 85,000 brokers globally—and noticed a corresponding bounce in brokers using and requesting new cloud-based instruments to develop their companies.
The corporate wished to develop the Agent Expertise product line to convey brokers into our shopper ecosystem and assist them (and customers) discover different brokers for help, referrals or mentorship. However we have been blind to the precise product utilization all through the agent group till we dug into the information in Analytics and realized that utilization amongst actual property brokers was 2–3X larger than we first thought. We discovered that one of many greatest issues brokers valued was having a group and connecting with different brokers.
With that information in thoughts, our group is tough at work growing, refining, and rolling out instruments for our unimaginable agent group. We’re investing in precedence initiatives that make their lives simpler and convey them nearer to customers.
Measuring the outcomes of data-driven adjustments
Analytics doesn’t simply assist us measure the outcomes of our adjustments. It helps us spot issues with our selections, too. Our prior UI had a search bar, filter buttons, and a “save search” button in a row. We modified the colour of that button and moved it to a unique place as a part of a UI redesign, and we observed a large drop within the variety of customers saving searches. We have been at a loss. What occurred through the launch?
In Analytics, we found that not everybody who beforehand clicked “save search” wished to avoid wasting the search. Customers typed one thing within the search bar after which hit the “save search” button, considering they have been simply performing a search, not saving it. Shifting the button solved that downside. Nonetheless, we noticed that individuals who wished to avoid wasting a search have been having a tough time doing that as a result of they couldn’t discover the button anymore. We modified the colour to one thing extra seen and saved searches returned to earlier ranges. In truth, conversions greater than doubled, as a result of now, it’s largely individuals with a excessive intention of clicking that button that may comply with by and end that motion.
As we gained extra insights, we additionally began to adapt our design philosophies. As evidenced by our Analytics, cell dominates our utilization and continues to develop. At any time when now we have a brand new product or a function, we strategy every little thing as a mobile-first design. We wish to know the very first thing a first-time person does. From there, we contemplate fast, affordable actions to get them by the funnel with out getting slowed down in a multi-step, high-pressure expertise that requires them to enter lots of info.
We used the insights from Analytics to revamp our UI and noticed a 20-25% enchancment in retention.
We used the insights from Analytics to revamp our UI, then tracked how our retention charges modified. We noticed a 20-25% enchancment in retention, and while you scale that when it comes to a whole lot and hundreds or thousands and thousands of customers, we begin to see the advantages of enhancing retention when growing a product-led development flywheel.
Analytics permits our entire group to unravel issues, uncover new ones, and clear up these too—all utilizing knowledge that adjusts to our wants.
Prioritizing at the moment for a prioritized future
I don’t should push as arduous to drive knowledge lately. It’s each heartwarming and humbling to step again and see individuals proceed to return to the desk with their very own evaluation. Knowledge has change into a giant a part of conversations and decision-making at Showcase IDX, and analytics play an enormous function in our product improvement course of. Analytics permits our entire group to unravel issues, uncover new ones, and clear up these too—all utilizing knowledge that adjusts to our wants.
The information we floor from Analytics permits us to focus our efforts and enhance our product whereas contributing to the expansion of eXp Realty. We’ve got the boldness to check smaller experiments, and ideate inside extra thrilling, nascent areas akin to Machine Studying.
It’s not straightforward to construct a data-driven tradition, however when it occurs, life as a product supervisor will get rather a lot simpler. I can confidently say “no” to lower-priority concepts and “sure” to initiatives that may keep true to our tradition of “Outcomes over Exercise”.
