{"id":77491,"date":"2022-01-20T15:15:21","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T15:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/?p=77491"},"modified":"2025-01-13T16:26:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T16:26:00","slug":"product-features-to-drive-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-features-to-drive-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding the Right Product Features to Drive Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Product features walk the line between boon and burden, between adding value for your customers and draining resources from your team. The key is to find the right mix <\/strong>of product features that will drive success for your users and throughout your company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Finding<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is a product feature?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Essentially a feature is a capability, a thing your product can do. Yet the way features are marketed to customers is a bit different from how they\u2019re defined within product teams. Most customers don\u2019t see the granularity of features within a product. When I look at a product, I see little features everywhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Big Label features: <\/strong>These are overarching features that are marketed as services or solutions. For example, at ProdPad we have Roadmapping<\/a>, Idea Management<\/a>, and Customer Feedback & Discovery<\/a>. These are the things you see in the main navigation menu, \u201cthe tabs at the top\u201d so to speak.

2. Small Function features: <\/strong>Within those larger solutions, there are so many different things you can do \u2014 small functionalities that you can use or not use \u2014 to make the tool work for you in the right way. These are also <\/em>features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the right mix of features is important<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your product\u2019s capabilities can cut both ways. Features can provide more value (e.g. usability), and they can also cause more friction if you have too many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the word \u201cfeature<\/a>\u201d has gotten a bad reputation in the last few years. There\u2019s advice to avoid being \u201cfeature driven\u201d or becoming a \u201cfeature factory,\u201d which implies you\u2019re building functions just for the sake of it.

On the one hand, this is valid. Teams finally understand that \u201cbuild, build, build\u201d doesn\u2019t work as a proper product strategy<\/a>!

But on the other hand, people do <\/em>buy products ultimately because they have the right features <\/em>that solve their problem. The product\u2019s benefit is only realized because the collection and balance of features is just right. If the mix is wrong, then the user won\u2019t see that benefit. Instead, the tool is overwhelming, underwhelming, or just confusing.
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How to identify the right product features<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most important part of finding the right product features is to eliminate the wrong ones. This sounds obvious, but it\u2019s worth remembering.

More often than not, your job as a product manager is to invalidate ideas<\/strong>. After all, most potential features are not the right thing to add to your product!

If you want to improve metrics, you can usually get a lot further by improving the positioning of the existing features. This could be new marketing and copywriting or new design. It could require a little investment in user education or customer success.

If all that doesn\u2019t work, then focus on adding new stuff to the development pipeline. That\u2019s where the product roadmap<\/a> comes in.

Your roadmap should only include the features you believe are necessary, based on your strategy and overall objectives. Of course, identifying those things requires two elements of good product management: <\/p>\n\n\n\n