What do you think about the role of empathy in product development?
I'm not into building products for an audience I did never experience their struggle or know their jargon. I'm more into building a product in a field that I master and for people I care about.
We started working on a SaaS product recently. Still, through the process of making it, I told my work partner, I'm not connecting to the product where there is no chemistry involved, which means that I don't feel connected to people who will use it. Then, I started a subreddit and talked to the targeted audience to assess the problem and feel their pain.
The subreddit turns to an intensive conversation of what struggles they're are going through; I end up replying to more than 70 messages in the same conversation.
My guess here is: when we can't connect to the user experience we are developing and where empathy is not involved in the making process, our product might be more likely to be irrelevant to the market.
I'd love to know your thoughts about how empathy in the making process can lead to building a successful product.
A lot has been said about the business benefits of being empathetic with your product. Paul Graham (Y Combinator co-founder) even discourages people from building products unless they themselves have the problem they're solving.
I agree with all that.
But I think there's another interesting benefit to having this kind of empathy: you naturally give yourself a lot more stamina to keep working on the business. It sounds a little squishy, but I'm really big on focusing on ways to enjoy the long-term process of working on a business. 1 person out of 1,000 finds "success" in the first few months of entrepreneurship. But for the rest of us we're looking at years and sometimes decades. So working on a product as an actual member of the community you're serving is a superpower.
So working on a product as an actual member of the community you're serving is a superpower.And this is why I decided never to build a product unless I know/communicate with the potential clients to understand their goals, most significant challenges, values, motivation, what's important to them, and what they care about.
It feels like such a no-brainer, of course you need to understand the person you're building a product for. How else could there be a product market fit.
In my day job as a customer success engineer, one of the first questions I ask customers during onboarding and with support is: "what are you trying to achieve or what problem to solve" (in various ways ;))
Just answering a support question with "yes we have that" or "just click on that button" might answer the question, but often doesn't solve the underlying issue. I have to understand, have empathy for the customer and their situation, to be able to truly help them.
Same for product development
Empathy is really important towards building a good product. Actually, many startup founders engage in empathy-building processes without realising it!
For example, it is common for founders to directly interview customers, especially during the early stages of a startup. This helps them better understand their problems and pain points, and thus build up their empathy towards their customers.
Moreover, startup founders also tend to personally deal with support emails/calls early on. And what better way to understand what your customers are struggling with?
Actually, many startup founders engage in empathy-building processes without realising it!I guess this applies when founders build an audience/product asynchronously; I shared on my post a mistake of finishing a product then seeking an audience. This is where I felt the empathy disconnection.
It's like we started building things for an imaginary audience.
Yup, there is definitely a lack of empathy if you're building a product and seeking an audience only after it is finished. It certainly helps if you're solving a problem you have yourself, but it is still not ideal.
We often assume users are in the exact same situation as us, but it's far from the truth.