How to Become a Successful Product Manager | Part-1 of 4 | Market Intelligence | Case Study

Introduction

As Product Managers, achieving significant impact is crucial. Finding the right balance between strategic and tactical aspects of the job and addressing customer needs through innovation are key.

Product Managers come from a lot of backgrounds

• Engineering
• Project Manager
• Marketing
• Sales
• Customer Success Team
• Product Support
• Finance.
• Legal etc.

Two important things about product management: anyone can be a product manager, and having experience in multiple teams gives you an upper hand. The key mantra for success is prioritization – saying yes to few things and politely declining a lot of requests.

Now, let's dive into "how to become a successful Product Manager?" In this blog, we'll work together on a real-life case study, making it more engaging and practical. Let's get started!

Market Intelligence

Let's start by developing a deep and intuitive understanding of obvious and non-obvious needs of Fluxy's customer. We want to answer 3 questions.

• What are their needs, motivations, and hopes?
• How are they meeting their needs today? What's changing (trends)
• What do they think about our new product?

Most importantly, we have to figure out the Why. Where is the emotion? Why would they need an online AI Tutor?

Learn about customer

There are multiple ways of learning about customer.

• Best way - customer interviews
• Trade Shows
• Join sales calls
• Monitor customer support call

• A/B testing
• Analytics Data
• Customer Reviews
• Talking to industry experts

Alright, assuming you have gathered some data points, Now it's time to share it with the team. We will do it in 2 ways.

Market Analysis

Customer Segmentation

So far we understood our customer. Now let's take it up a notch and understand a group of customers. There are many ways of doing it, we will focus on needs-based segmentation to divide the market into similar customer groups and identify growth opportunities.
Profiling these segments helps target specific customers and refine product design and marketing efforts.

1. Segment description: Parents seeking educational support for their child's academic success. These parents are motivated to provide the best learning resources and support to their children. They are actively looking for solutions that cheaper yet effective in improving their child's academic performance.

2. Customer characteristics : A married couple. They prioritize their child's academic success and see it as a key factor for their child's future. These parents are proactive and willing to invest time, effort, and money to ensure their child receives the best education possible. They are likely to be well-educated and have above-average income levels.

3. Needs, motivations, issues to solve : The primary needs and motivations is their child's academic success and future prospects. They seek a solution that can: - Simplify and enhance their child's learning process. They are open for a product that

• Offers engaging and interactive learning resources.
• Helps their child to perform well in school and achieve good grades.
• Assist their child in understanding challenging subjects, like Maths.
• Provides a cost-effective alternative to expensive private tuition.

4. How are they meeting their needs today? Currently, parents in this segment try different things.

• Enrolling their child in after-school tuition or coaching classes.
• Purchasing educational books and materials.
• Utilizing online learning platforms or educational apps.
• Seeking help from teachers or peers.
• Considering expensive private tuitions despite financial constraints.

5. Location/geography: New Delhi / India

6. Customer example: Radha, a married parent living in Delhi NCR, is concerned about her child's academic performance. She wants her child to excel in school and have a bright future. Radha is actively looking for a solution that can make her child's learning process more engaging, interactive, and effective.

7. Key trends: Increasing private tuition fees is an issue. Many parents opt for private tuition to provide personalized attention and support to their children, especially in challenging subjects like Maths. However, the increasing fees associated with private tuition can be a financial constraint for families.
As a result, parents are seeking cost-effective alternatives that can still deliver effective educational support for their children.

Market Size

1. Internet Penetration in India : India had over 759 million internet users, making it the second-largest online market in the world. (Source: IAMAI)

2. EdTech Market Size: - The EdTech market in India was estimated to be worth around $3.5 billion in 2020, and it was projected to reach $10.4 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of approximately 29.5%. (Source: RedSeer Consulting)

3. Users and User Base: - The number of online education users in India was projected to grow from 46 million in 2019 to 130 million in 2023. (Source: Statista)

4. Online Test Preparation : - Online test preparation platforms, especially for competitive exams like JEE and NEET, experienced a surge in user engagement and enrollments due to the pandemic's impact on traditional classroom learning.

6. Regional Language Content : - EdTech companies started offering content in various regional languages, attracting more users from non-English-speaking regions of India.