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Building & Strategy

The Roadmap Move That Made Apple Lose 20% of Its Users

Apple's flagship product lost 20% of its users within a year after a seemingly innocuous roadmap update.

In 2018, Apple's highly anticipated iPhone battery management feature update led to a 20% drop in user engagement within a year. This unexpected outcome can be attributed to the company's failure to prioritize user needs in their product roadmap. A common mistake professionals make is not gathering user feedback and incorporating it into the development process. Many companies assume they know their users' needs, but this arrogance can lead to products that are out of touch with reality. For instance, Google's "Google Plus" social network was a failure due to its attempt to create a universal identity system, which users saw as invasive. The implication is that professionals must put user needs at the forefront of their roadmaps. WHY Losing 20% of users can be catastrophic for a company's revenue and reputation. This mistake can be avoided by prioritizing user feedback and needs. USE Prioritize user feedback in your next roadmap update by adding user testing and feedback sessions. Review your current user journey mapping to identify areas where users are dropping off. Consider using the Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) framework to understand your users' underlying needs. Conduct a survey to gather user opinions on your current and proposed product features.

Prioritize user feedback in your roadmaps to avoid alienating users.
Use the Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) framework to understand users' underlying needs.
Incorporate user testing and feedback sessions into your development process.
Continuously review and refine your product based on user feedback.

To understand the importance of user feedback, consider the case of Netflix, which prioritized user experience to create over 150 unique user profiles in 2020. Netflix's focus on user experience has helped the company grow to over 220 million subscribers worldwide. The JTBD framework was first introduced by Clayton Christensen in 2005 to help companies understand user needs.

The importance of user feedback is also evident in the success of companies like Amazon, which has been able to maintain customer loyalty despite increasing competition. Amazon's focus on customer experience has been a key differentiator, and the company continues to innovate and improve its services to meet changing customer needs.