How to Diagnose a Value Gap
If you’ve noticed one or more indicators of a value gap, your next step should be to determine what’s causing the gap so you can try to correct it.
Your goal at this stage should be to understand and articulate the differences between customer expectations and experiences with respect to your product.
Here’s how to start:
Review Customer Data
Your analysis can include data from a variety of sources, such as marketing analytics, sales call recordings, onboarding logs, product usage analytics, support ticket and escalations history, and customer survey responses.
A value gap can have many different causes, so it’s important to do a broad search. Look for patterns by market segment, customer region, product, subscription level, customer persona, industry vertical, use case, account manager,
If you’ve noticed high customer churn rates, you may want to segment the data between customers who churned and ones that you’ve managed to retain.
Interview Customers
Interviewing your current and past customers is a great way to gain insight into the expectations they had when adopting your product, their overall experience, and why they chose to stay or churn.
Interviewing New Users
New users of your product may have yet to see the value it provides, but they can provide great feedback on the perceptions and expectations that led them to subscribe. Focus your interview on understanding their JTBD and how they expect your product to impact their success.
Interviewing Long-term Users
Long-term users who have fully adopted your product can provide amazing feedback on the onboarding process, journey to value, and how your product has helped with their JTBD. Focus your interview on understanding the most important changes that your product has created in your customer’s business and in their daily life.
Interviewing Recent Churns
Customers churn when they fail to realize the value that your product provides. A recently churned customer can reveal insight into why that happened – and what you could have done to change the outcome.