Rewriting the product playbook to build resilience: Our biggest news from Pendomonium Virtual

Are you still calling shots from the same playbook you wrote in January? Considering the seismic shifts in both society and business we’ve seen this year, there’s probably a good chance you tossed it out the window—or at least made some major modifications.

You’re not alone. Virtually every company found itself in the same position this year. That includes us over here at Pendo, and it’s why we decided to center our annual conference, Pendomonium, around the theme of rewriting the product playbook. The conference was entirely virtual this year, but it was still jam-packed with content from thought leaders in product, expert tips from Pendo power users, and some big announcements.

Here are a few of the highlights from Pendo CEO Todd Olson’s keynote address:

Experience the power of Pendo—for free

Data isn’t worth much without the tools to act on it. That’s why we want to put Pendo in the hands of product managers everywhere, at no charge, for products with up to 1,000 monthly active users.

With Pendo Free, you’ll be able to leverage codeless analytics to find out exactly how your product is being used and uncover spots where users are running into trouble. Then, you can enjoy unlimited use of Pendo’s in-app messaging and guidance features to build onboarding flows, deploy tooltips, and deliver targeted messaging or support content to lead them to success.

How engaging is your product?

Last year we introduced Product Benchmarks, an interactive tool that lets product people compare their product’s KPIs to benchmarks drawn from over 1,000 digital products. Now, we’re expanding on that with our Product Engagement Assessment.

You can take this interactive quiz and get a free consultation to help you understand how your products are performing, diagnose issues with engagement, and develop an action plan to improve it. 

Get users to an ‘Aha!’ moment

Every product has its ‘Aha!’ moment—that one critical behavior or action that exemplifies the product’s value and locks users in for the long haul. On Facebook, it’s when a new user makes seven friends within their first 10 days on the platform. For Dropbox, it’s the first time a user saves a file to their device. 

Since these “Aha!” moments are so crucial to your product’s success, why not just guide users to them the moment they log into your app? As Todd put it: “Don’t let them search around for these critical events on their own. Take them right to them, get them hooked into the product as quickly as possible.” 

We built Pendo Core Events to help you do exactly that. Now, you can designate tagged features and track events as “core” in each of your apps, and we’ll provide an additional layer of insights to help you understand the relationship between those core events and long-term retention.

Taking your feedback and acting on it

2020 has been a challenging year (to say the least), but it’s also been full of opportunities for each of us to become more agile, resilient, and compassionate, and to make an impact.  

Software product usage in industries like education and collaboration technology skyrocketed as work and school went virtual, while other industries, like health care, hospitality, and travel, saw plummet as businesses began to shut down. We were inspired by Pendo customers like Toast, Coursera, and WebPT, who stepped up and sprang into action, building out new features (e.g. telehealth or curbside pickup management) in record time or offering free access to parts of their products to support the communities they serve.

Talk about rewriting the playbook.

These companies were able to act so quickly under pressure by listening to their customers, collecting feedback, and consistently evolving their platforms. Here at Pendo, we’re doing the same. Over the last year, we’ve cranked up the maniacal focus we place on our customers, delivering or moving into development more than half of the top 10 most requested features through Pendo Feedback.

“Those are shipping right now, to you,” said Todd. “We are using that data actively to prioritize our work. We’re listening, and we want you to engage.”

And, we’re becoming more self-service by revamping our entire install process and onboarding experience to become more product led. More to come on that soon.

The playbook your product team needs

Speaking of playbooks, Todd wrote a book that will help your organization adopt the product-led strategies that have helped companies like Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Peloton become wildly successful. In “The Product-Led Organization,” Todd explains how to put your product at the heart of your customer experience and turn it into a growth engine by harnessing key moments along the user journey. 

A conversation with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

We were also thrilled to welcome a very special guest who knows a thing or two about playbooks: basketball legend and long-time activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Olson and Abdul-Jabbar sat down for a discussion that spanned his 20-year career in professional sports, a lifetime of social justice activism, the relationships that shaped who he is today, and where he sees society going amid the year of upheaval that is 2020.