6 Product Management Fears (and how to overcome them)

There are six primary product management fears, but they all play into one another. When one of these fears becomes reality, so do the others.

1. Fear of building the wrong things
2. Fear of losing customer trust
3. Fear of receiving bad app ratings and reviews
4. Fear of losing app customers
5. Fear of losing budget
6. Fear of being slowed down

And the cycle continues.

In this guide, we go over exactly how to overcome each of these individual fears.

Before we dive into the details, we wanted to terrify you just a tiny bit more by sharing some scary stats. Sorry in advance!

Scary product management stats

• Unless asked directly, only about 1% of consumers leave feedback. Thus, decisions made based on this feedback are at risk of isolating 99% of the overall customer base. (Source)
• The average PM works on or manages 9 products at any one time. (Source)
• Despite market research being a reported priority for PMs, 69% reported spending zero hours a month interviewing potential customers, 66% spent zero hours on win/loss analysis with evaluators, and 39% reported zero hours interviewing customers. (Source)
• Only one out of every 26 customers is likely to bring up their complaints. The other 25 customers will simply take their business elsewhere without a word. (Source)
• About half of customers (51%) expect companies to ask them for feedback directly, whether it be over the phone, on the company’s website or in any other form. (Source)
• More than half of customers (55%) who leave feedback in a mobile app said they are not likely to remain a customer if their feedback goes seemingly ignored. And yet, 67% of respondents who do leave feedback in a mobile app never receive a response from the company. (Source)
• 56% of product managers (PMs) report they have too many responsibilities. (Source)

What are common product management fears and challenges?

Fear #1: Building the wrong things

The number one fear product managers experience is building the wrong things. With limited time and resources, running too far in the wrong direction can be catastrophic. Sometimes this stems from a lack of data or a lack of trust in the data you do have. Regardless of the cause, this fear can paralyze your team.

• 22% of PMs say they have too many ideas and prioritizing their roadmap is difficult (Source)
• 16% of PMs say they don’t have the data they need to make educated product decisions (Source)

Fear #2: Losing customer trust

Customers need to trust that brands care about their physical wellbeing, whether that’s in-store or through delivery services. They need to trust their money is being spent wisely on sound investments – and if not, that there’s a forgiving refund policy. And let’s not even get started on online privacy and safety. When there’s so much at stake all the time, trust is paramount.

When you lose customer trust, you risk losing that customer completely. And we all know it’s harder to win customers back (or acquire them in the first place) than to just keep customers. While this might sound terrifying, it’s actually relatively easy to win trust back if you know what you’re doing.

Fear #3: Bad app ratings and reviews

Consumers are more skeptical of digital marketing than ever before, and peer recommendations in the form of app store ratings and reviews stand as one of the greatest drivers of discovery and conversion. Bad app ratings can lose people before they even give your app or your brand a chance. And for many companies, it’s a challenge to identify and fix a negative star rating (especially without the right tools in place to hear from customers directly).

The opportunity cost of a star is huge. How huge? Moving a three-star app to four stars, for example, can lead to an 89% increase in conversion. For a look at the full opportunity cost analysis, consider the chart below. Jumping from two-stars to three-stars in the app stores can increase conversion by up to 306%. Jumping from three-stars to four-stars still has a dramatic impact, increasing conversion by up to 92%. So, you’re completely justified in this being one of your fears if you’re a product manager (and even if you’re a mobile marketer).

• 90% of customers consider star ratings as an essential part of their evaluation of a new app (Source)
• 79% of customers check ratings and reviews before downloading a new app (Source)
• 55% of consumers say a one-star or two-star app store rating of a well-known brand’s app negatively impacts their view of the brand as a whole (Source)
• 55% of customers check ratings and reviews before making an in-app transaction (Source)
• 53% of consumers check ratings and reviews before updating an app (Source)

Reminder: We dive into each one of these product management fears and outline exactly how to overcome them in this guide. 

Fear #4: Losing app customers

If you’re building the wrong things and not listening to your customers, they’re going to leave. It’s as simple as that. These customers could be using your website rather than your app or perhaps leaving your brand completely. Regardless of where the customers go next, preventing churn and increasing customer retention is a priority for all PMs because keeping existing customers is far cheaper than acquiring new ones.

However, even in the best of times, average mobile customer retention isn’t great. According to research from Appsflyer, MixPanel, and Localytics, average 90-day retention for mobile apps across categories is only between 20-30%, leaving lots of room for improvement.

Apptentive’s data tells a slightly different story: Apptentive’s data shows an average 90-day retention rate of 58%—an increase of double the industry average. If consumers engaged with a Love Dialog in the first 90 days, their average retention rate went up to 79%.

So, why are Apptentive customers more successful in keeping their app customers? Download the guide to find out.

Fear #5: Losing budget

This is the most tangible consequence of the previous four fears listed here becoming reality. If you’re losing customers and less and less people are using your app, you’ll struggle to justify keeping your current budget (and forget about asking for more). PMs are already stretched too thin, so losing budget or headcount can be absolutely catastrophic to making progress on your product roadmap.

• 29% of product managers report not having enough budget (Source)

Fear #6: Being slowed down

We all might have the same amount of hours in a day as Beyonce does, but that doesn’t mean we’re not slammed with work and slowed down by inefficiencies at every turn.

If you don’t have the right tools in place (or a budget for a tool to begin with), you’ll be hard-pressed to efficiently meet your goals. Collecting, analyzing, and acting on feedback can be tedious if you don’t have the right systems like Apptentive in place.

If you’re operating within an agile framework, you’re not chasing dates but instead chasing metrics. While this is great, it also creates pressure to move fast and try new things.

• 47% of PMs say they don’t have enough time in their day (Source)
• 33% of PMs say their team is too small (Source)
• 20% of PMs say there are too many decision makers, which slows down progress (Source)
• 16% of PMs say they don’t have the authority to make decisions (Source)

How do product managers face these fears?

We go over each of these fears in heavy detail, outlining exactly how to overcome them in this guide. Download your copy and keep it on your computer for future use.