What Makes a Great Product?

Product professionals weigh in on Great Products

• Using it improves the user’s life for the better and truly delivers on its value proposition.
• Attention to detail and the overall experience. It’s about surprising and delighting users.
• The offering provides real value and makes you depend on it.
• It should be a pleasure to use and get users to smile.
• You feel great afterward. You walk away feeling understood. You feel accomplished after using it.
• A product that has financial viability so it can stick around forever.
• It’s the perfect balance of feel and function. The magic is in that intersection
• It solves a pain point in such a visceral way that it sparks emotion.
• It does the things that people want to do in a seamless and easy way, and then also does the things that people don’t even know they want to do.
• It’s purposeful; it creates something that makes the world a better place. It creates prosperity for the people building it. And passion; it makes people happy and engaged with the world. It helps people really unleash their own passion. A great product has passion, purpose, and prosperity.
• It causes people to love it, want to buy it, and tell their friends about it.
• They reliably do the thing that they say they are going to do. They don’t require an explanation. They just work.
• The products that I most admire, that I use daily and I think are delightful and fantastic picked something that was really core to living.
• The biggest thing is getting the problem right. If you miss the problem, the whole thing is over because no one’s gonna care. You can never spend too much time on the problem.
• It provides an elegant solution to a problem for real customers and adds value to the customers and to the business.

What makes a product great

• Delivers great value – the product solves a real user’s [or market’s] problem
• Price per value – users are willing to pay for the value they receive from the product
• Improves life – the product provides meaning and makes the user’s life better
• Easy onboarding – getting started with the product is easy; the desired value can be achieved quickly
• Aesthetically pleasing – the product is attractive; the solution provided is “elegant”
• Emotionally resonates – the user feels good when they use the product
• Exceeds expectations – delivers more value than expected
• Social proof – credible reviews testify to the value of the product. There is a buzz in the market praising the product
• Habit-generating – becomes part of the user’s ecosystem; they can’t imagine not using it.
• Scalable – the more of the product that is produced, the less the cost per unit
• Reliable – the product can be counted on to operate correctly with no errors
• Safe – the product can be operated in a safe manner and causes no safety issues
• Compliance – the product meets all regulatory & industry requirements
• Easy-to-use – the product is intuitive; it learns about the user and anticipates their needs
• Performs well – the product is responsive; it delivers results in a timely manner.

How can I build great products?

Products That Count has thousands of free resources to help you build great products. Our podcasts, eBooks, videos, articles, blogs, and infographics will help you learn the craft of product, as well as help you become a

• Great Product Manager
• Great Product Leader
• Great Chief Product Officer (CPO)

Products That Count’s resources are straight from the minds of C/VP-level product leaders from companies such as Netflix, Amazon, and Etsy, who understand the unique challenges of product management. These diverse product executives are actively engaging in solving similar challenges to what you’re encountering in your product roles and are excited to share how they’re doing it. Learn how to build great products from practitioners, not consultants.

In addition, the 2022 Product Awards from Products That Count celebrate the tools that give Product Managers their superpowers, enabling them to deliver market-leading products & services that delight existing customers and bring in future customers across current and new markets. Check out the Product Award Series to learn about the award-winning products that you should be using.

Does your Product team need help?