In a recent survey, Pendo and Mind the Product asked over 500 product professionals how their work and their companies’ priorities have changed in response to current economic conditions. Here are some key takeaways that we learned.
The rise of product-led growth
A key finding from our report revealed that 54% of respondents say their organisation has either implemented or accelerated implementation of Product-Led Growth (PLG) during the economic downturn.
Utilising product across all stages of the buyer journey was already becoming more common prior to the downturn, as 29% of respondents say their company already introduced this before turbulent times.
Yann Sarfati, Co-founder and CEO at Userled comments on the rise of PLG in his recent guest post for Mind the Product: “Product-led growth is more than a buzzword. It’s an innovative approach to scaling businesses and growing revenue.” Instead of relying on investment in marketing and sales, PLG takes a more organic approach and users become the main source of growth. “Specifically, this means that sales teams rely on a low-touch or zero-touch approach to securing new customers,” he adds.
Initiatives such as freemium models, targeted cross-sell opportunities, self-guided tours, in-app promotions, and ad campaigns are just a few examples of the ways in which companies drive product-led growth, a model that’s growing in popularity as companies become forced to do more with fewer resources in today’s economy.
A commitment to product
In addition to the PLG movement, our survey found that 73% of respondents agree that their team is empowered to drive product direction. What’s more, 70% of respondents admit that they would like their organisation to speak up about its commitment to product.
A few months before the economic downturn, many workplaces were battling to address ‘The Great Resignation’, however, since then, this movement has slightly slowed, with coverage shifting to ‘quiet quitting’. Despite the popular movement, 74% of respondents say that they have not quiet quit in result of the current turbulent economy. It seems as if on the flipside, product teams recognise the increasingly important role they have to play in times of instability.
Despite feeling motivated to weather the storm, employees across all functions are feeling the pressure of fewer resources. Asked to identify their biggest challenge, the most common answer (60%) was lack of personnel resources.
If there’s one thing to take away from the survey findings it’s that increasingly more companies are coming out of the economic landscape looking to product to drive business performance.
To see our full set of findings, download The power of Product in an economic downturn here.
Comments
Join the community
Sign up for free to share your thoughts