As a product developer, knowing the needs and desires of your buyers can mean everything to making and keeping your product relevant in your marketplace. If your internal vision deviates from the needs of the market, eventually your product will be surpassed by competitors may drift into irrelevancy.

There are several ways a product leader can use win loss analysis to keep your offerings in line with buyer needs.

  • Developing Product Roadmap
    Internally, you may have ideas on where your product should be developed. And while these ideas may have the right intentions, they may not be aligned with what your buyer’s need. With win loss analysis, you are able to learn the key improvements your buyers want in your solution by asking them directly what is working—and not working—with your product, what features matter the most to them and how they perform in your product, and how your product compares to the competition.
  • Understanding True Value of Features
    It is hard to know what features really matter to your buyers. You may feel your product has certain key benefits or features that are important to your market, but do you know if your buyers see these same benefits as invaluable? Not only that, but do your buyers really understand that those features are available to them? Many times, features are built into a product, but they are not effectively communicated to the buyer. Win loss analysis helps you gather the voice of your buyers and what they perceive are the strengths and weaknesses of your product.
  • Increase product impact on buyer needs
    You must hit on the critical points of need your buyers have in order to compel them to buy. Win loss analysis tells you the key criteria that are most important to your buyers and how you perform in fulfilling those needs. This isn’t information gathered from a focus group or internal think tank, but is information gathered directly from those evaluating your products and those of your competitors. With the knowledge of what impacts the buyer the most, you can focus your product to solve those needs.

Keeping your product in line with customer needs is your main goal, and win loss analysis gives you the key information to ensure your product roadmap stays on the path that makes the most impact for you buyers and customers.