What should Product Marketing professionals know about working with customer service teams?

I spoke with an entrepreneur recently who had launched a nutritional supplement for athletes that would provide necessary energy during a long run; it stated as a value proposition that it used "all natural" ingredients. He only realized after communicating directly to customers in a company social media platform that that particular selling point was irrelevant to his customers. They wanted it because it it was easy to digest and it allowed them to perform at levels that they had not been able to previously. Without the one on one discussion this crucial correction in messaging would not have been possible. The product sales soared after making this messaging change. Customer Service is not just a function, it is an activity.

The customer should always be at the center of your product roadmap. If you look at the perspective of a "augmented product" it includes customer service as a dimension. How many times have you heard of someone buying a product because of the "best warranty". Additionally, product market fit changes and what better feedback than your own customers to help you understand your own value proposition. The key point is to provide an efficient process for customer service reps to effectively collect data and infrustructure so that analysts can use the data. Qualitative insights are "good" but quantitative insights can really help drive change in your organization.

For hardware, its really important to engineer serviceability into the product in development. It will help field service engineers no end, faster time to fix for customer and more efficient service teams - but more importantly in my view the engineers job becomes easier which will have a big impact on the service teams morale over time.

Effective collaboration between PM and CS teams is essential for seamless customer experiences and product adoption. Product marketers play a crucial role in enabling this partnership, ensuring that CS teams are well-prepared to support customers effectively. Key considerations include comprehensive product knowledge, clear communication, thorough training, feedback loops, understanding customer personas, providing resources like FAQs, maintaining messaging consistency, valuing customer feedback, timely updates on product launches, leveraging success stories, and fostering cross-functional collaboration. This partnership serves as the foundation for a customer-centric approach, driving sustained business growth and customer loyalty.

To identify the best messages in customer service as part of the product marketing process: 1. Customer Feedback Analysis: Regularly review customer feedback to understand their needs and preferences. 2. A/B Testing: Test different messaging styles and content to see which resonates most with customers. 3. Monitor Engagement: Track which messages receive the most positive responses and engagement. 4. Competitor Benchmarking: Observe how competitors communicate and identify effective strategies. 5. Team Collaboration: Work closely with customer service teams to understand common queries and effective responses. 6. Data-Driven Insights: Use analytics tools to measure the impact of different messages on customer satisfaction and loyalty.