Great products solve real problems, are understandable by users, and perform their tasks as easily and efficiently as possible. In order to be successful, product managers and leaders need to understand their customers and their pain points. So, how can product managers and leaders ensure that they provide their consumers with a seamless user experience? This week, Product Talk host and Product Leader, Neha Shah, interviews Rent the Runway Sr. VP of Consumer Product Preethi Ramani on how to create a seamless user experience.
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On a Seamless User Experience
Product managers and leaders need to meet their end-user where they are. In order to provide a seamless user experience, the interaction between the user and your product needs to be frictionless. End users do not always have time to engage with your feed, sometimes they just want the job done quickly. Here is what you need to know about creating a seamless user experience:
Host (Neha Shah): “It comes down to the fundamental truth that customers want [a seamless user experience]. The term now is frictionless. They almost don’t want that extra interaction. They’re like, just let me do my job, make sure your technology helped me do my job. And then we can all be on our way.”
“{End users] don’t have the time to sit and engage with your feed. They just do my job quickly.”
“These people are sitting in front of a computer or their phone and they just want to connect with their guests. Honestly, they’re like just get out of my way as much as possible, the less I have to interact and the more seamless you can make the interactions, the better.”
“So fit into my existing tools fit into my existing workflow. Don’t push your product down my throat.”
On Implementing Data to Ensure a Seamless User Experience
To be a good product manager, you need to know what your customer wants, what problems they are having, and what their preferences are. To figure this out, you need to analyze the data. Understanding data can help product managers and leaders make better decisions when it comes to their product. The data analyzed can help you make the adjustments necessary to ensure you deliver a seamless user experience. This is how they implement data at Rent the Runway:
“When you return the rentals that you have at home and get new ones, we ask you a few quick questions. Things like, how many times do where it, and how you like to how it fits where you wore it. We call this the happiness survey.”
“The data that it generates is gold because it enables us to make the experience so much better for our customers. For example, we are using that data to power super smart fit recommendations.”
“We are also telling you which styles are going to flatter you based on 1000s of happiness survey responses from members. Unlike the traditional e-commerce retailers, our subscribers are using and interacting with RTR more than 80 days a year.”
On the Importance of Understanding Your Customer
In this new Age of Product, our devices sometimes know us better than our friends and family. Through analytics, companies are able to personalize their end-user experience and provide their end user with content that is designed specifically for them. By involving the end user in the design processes, you are almost ensuring that you deliver a seamless user experience. Check out what Preethi had to say about understanding your customers:
“Spotify does a great job because it makes me feel like they know I’m on that app for hours. And I feel like they know me well enough to not just show me what I like, but encourage me to expand my comfort zone. So, Discover Weekly is how I explore and find my next set of feeds.”
“That’s what we’re aspiring to do at RTR. We want to really know your style. But we also want to encourage you to explore and experiment with designer clothing.”
“So, those are some of the opportunities and challenges that we are prioritizing on the consumer side. And tech and AI are really integral to for us to be able to leverage this unique and enormous data set that we have to solve these challenges build.”
On Utilizing New Technologies
With the development of new technologies, many things have gotten exponentially easier. We now have easier access to services and goods, faster means of communication, and better products. Many companies, including Rent the Runway, are using AI and tech to leverage data and solve problems. These are some of the ways that Rent the Runway is utilizing data to provide a seamless user experience:
“These beautiful colorful outfits zipping about on automated lines over my head, robotic arms picking up garments RFID scanners and screens were everywhere.”
“We have something like 30 different methods for cleaning garments. So, as soon as the robotic arm would pick up and scan something from the incoming built, it would automatically get sorted into one of 30 bins. And then when the bin got filled up, it would sort of automatically go to the right cleaning station and a new one would appear.”
“We have built a company in an operation that expects returns to be the norm. And that reverse logistics is a core part of our business and the tech that powers that is very sophisticated.”