Product-driven account expansion projectProject Background
Spin.AI was strictly a SaaS data backup company for most of its existence. It wasn’t until recently that the company expanded its scope to offer SaaS security (which was the reason for my hire - to grow the SaaS security business). This transition resulted in two product subscription plans: SaaS Data Backup and SaaS Security.
Within my first few months of joining the company, I came to these three conclusions based on the data I analyzed, the feedback I received, and my observations:
Data Backup customers ≠ Security customers. Our legacy customers using SaaS Data Backup are IT professionals whose responsibility is to maintain system availability and uptime. Consequently, these customers are unfamiliar with cybersecurity concepts and solutions.
We have too many customers. We have a small team that serves 700 global SaaS Data Backup customers. One Account Manager is solely responsible for 500 accounts! It is impossible for him to effectively manage that many accounts so he prioritizes a small number of accounts while the remaining accounts are essentially untouched.
Showing is better than telling. A key function of SaaS Security is providing visibility into the customer’s risks and vulnerabilities through dashboards, tables, and graphs. When we meet with prospective customers, they are much more interested in seeing their actual risks and vulnerabilities than discussing hypothetical scenarios.
My first two conclusions reveal a challenge with an untapped revenue opportunity: Product Expansion. We had 700 customers that could potentially expand their subscription plan to SaaS Security. The challenge was: How do we educate our legacy customers about SaaS Security and nurture them with limited personnel and resources?
My third conclusion helped answer the challenge: We can educate our legacy customers by showing them their security risks and vulnerabilities.
The final question was: How do we do this?
Given our large number of customers, the only feasible solution was to enable SaaS Security for free for these customers. It was a low cost, efficient, and scalable approach to showing our customers their security risks and vulnerabilities.
Project Overview
Project: For 3 months, enable SaaS Security for all 700 legacy customers
Goals:
Educate customers about SaaS Security to boost product expansions
Collect and analyze user behavior to drive product improvements
Develop a playbook to execute similar projects in the future
My Role
Since I conceptualized this project and have experience in product management, project management, and business development, the CEO and company’s executives asked me to carry out this project.
Phase 1: Setup
An important step during the setup phase was crafting the user journey - from learning about this free initiative to upgrading their account. I created the documentation and collaborated with the engineering, design, and account management team to accomplish the following:
Designed the backend logic for enabling SaaS Security for users
Generated the messaging for account managers to include in their outreach
Created a tutorial in the UI to guide users through SaaS Security
Streamlined the user’s workflow to request a formal demo
Built a self-service portal for users to upgrade their account
Developed dashboards to monitor the project’s progress
Phase 2: Execute
For the project’s entire duration, I carefully monitored the project’s progress and user behavior so that the team can learn, adjust, and adapt. I identified users that showed high product engagement for the account managers to prioritize and supported SaaS Security technical discussions and demos.
Phase 3: Retrospective
When the experiment ended, I performed a detailed analysis and created a report that included:
Project results
New user insights
What worked well and what didn’t work well
I presented this report in front of the entire company during the quarterly all hands meeting. This report also serves as the foundation for future similar projects.
Results
Below are the project results:
13% increase in opportunity pipeline
4% increase in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
Gained new user insights, which contributed to:
A new Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
The product strategy and roadmap
A new strategy and process for account expansions
With the success of this project, the executive team plans to execute similar projects on a semi-annual basis.
My Key Takeaways
Product research and feedback can be used for more than just product development
As an experienced product manager, I constantly pursue feedback, conduct research, and analyze data. However, it wasn’t until this experience that I realized I’ve been underestimating the value of this information. As demonstrated through this experience, all of the information and knowledge I gained helped identify a sales opportunity and make a direct impact on company revenue instead of using it for product development. This leads me to believe that product managers are uniquely positioned to drive impact in areas beyond product development because the role naturally requires close collaboration with so many different departments.
The playbook for establishing “authority” as a product manager
“Product managers are CEOs of the product (without authority)” is a common mantra in product management that I have experienced many times before, but typically in the context of leading engineers. The challenge is similar when a product manager is tasked to lead a team of account managers! Through this experience, I used three tactics to help address the fact that I had no formal authority over the account management team.
1) During the project’s early stages, spend time with each account manager to learn their priorities and challenges
2) Involve the account management executives early and often to build them into an advocate
3) Share the project’s progress, challenges, and successes as much as possible so the account managers feel invested and engaged
These three tactics can be tailored and applied in many situations to help establish “authority”. In my case, these three tactics helped me build a rapport with the account management team and inspired them to become major contributors to this project’s success.