Product Management Digest 7 - Conversion

2014 May 20, by David Kim



PM Reading Digest - Conversion

Your weekly product management reading. Not too much, not too little, just right.

Funny thing happened on the way to last week's newsletter (it was a fantastic edition by the way - you should read it). I messed up the RSS setting and the letter got released without a title. So, last week, you probably scratched your head wondering why you had an email from me without a subject line.

Which reminds us to always test before you release. But, I digress.

But, there is a silver lining to the error, which is that I noticed that the click rate on the newsletter was a dismal 16.3%. Compare that to the prior week's of 38.6% and the week before that of 37.3% clicks. And this reminds us:

  • Copy writing and headlines matter a lot, and
  • You have to measure

Because without the analytics (thanks Mailchimp!) all of this would be total guess in the dark. These topics are especially relevant since we spoke about goal setting for success last week. Without the guardrail of measurements, you won't know if you are going off course. And at a more fundamental level, analytics won't mean anything unless you are speaking the right language.


Testing Yammer’s Signup Flow

Neil McCarthy

We had previously hosted a San Francisco meetup around this particular topic, and one of the big take-aways was that PMs understand and juggle both the global and local product priorities in designing and managing the conversion funnel. There is a video recording of this meetup, and we will include it as a bonus at the bottom of this newsletter. Read more.


The GA Conversion Funnel Survival Guide

KISSmetrics

This maybe just a primer for most of you, but for the newbs, it is a detailed introduction to anlytics and conversion funnels. Read more.


How to Sell Anything by Noah Kagan

Noah Kagan

While this is not strictly a product management topic, I think it is really important point for PMs to internalize - that you have to speak your customers' language. “Adam speaks French to his customers, and they speak Italian. So he's having a really hard time selling to them!” It's a four minute video, so watch it during your next coffee break.


10 Companies That Totally Nail Copywriting

Corey Eridon

And building on the prior piece, you might as well skip to learning from some of the best companies who know how to communicate to their customers, because as my experience of forgetting the title shows, words really matter. A lot. Yes, you may not spend your minutes word-smithing, but this is probably one of those underappreciated angles of ‘product sense.’

If you have your battle stories to share with data to back it up, please share it with the community. We would love to know and learn from your mistakes!


What are you reading? Please share it with the community.

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Want to help out? Write us: productloverssf@gmail.com. Hackers and writers welcome.

Bonus: Data-based decision making (Measure or Die)


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If you find any value and encouragement in the PMFT Digest, please consider becoming a Supporter with a small recurring or one-time donation of your choosing, between a cup of coffee and a mission taco.



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