Question 1: How can product managers effectively balance the desire to innovate and introduce new features with the need to address buyer resistance? What strategies can they employ?
Product managers can effectively balance innovation with buyer resistance by understanding the psychology behind consumer behavior. According to the article Eager Sellers and Stony Buyers, a main reason some buyers resist new products is due to the behavior of irrationally overvaluing the products they currently own while on the other hand companies overvalue their innovations. This mismatch will lead to product failure if not understood by product managers.
Product managers can employ several strategies to address buyer resistance. First, they should anticipate slow adoption especially when dealing with innovative products that require significant customer behavior change. Managing expectations can prevent premature product failure, like with the TiVo DVR from the reading, which struggled with consumer behavior changes despite its advantages. Another key product strategy is minimizing the required behavior change. Products that offer significant value without changing established customer habits (like the Google search engine) stand a better chance of success.
Question 2: What role does the concept of “loss aversion” play in buyer resistance? How can product managers leverage this knowledge to facilitate the adoption of new features?
As shown by the research of Kahneman and Tversky, people value losses more than equivalent gains, and “loss aversion” plays an important role in buyer resistance. For consumers this means they will overweigh the potential downsides of new features more heavily than the benefits. Product managers can use this knowledge to market innovations in a way that emphasizes the avoidance of losses rather than purely the attainment of new benefits. For example, focusing on how a new product prevents issues consumers might face with current solutions can be more persuasive than simply touting its new features.
Question 3: Discuss the concept of “feature creep” and its potential negative impact on product development. How can product managers avoid falling into this trap while addressing eager sellers’ demands?
“Feature creep,” the gradual addition of unnecessary features, can negatively impact product development by complicating the user experience and taking up signifcant development resources. This often comes from demands by eager sellers who push for continuous feature updates. Product managers can avoid this “trap” by only focusing on core product/user needs and prioritizing simplicity over excessive innovation.
