How to conduct product analysis based on industry and business?

First of all, business is really important. A previous article in pmcaff said that in the early stages of a business , product interaction is not as important as you think. Only by choosing the right business model and iterating quickly can a product survive. It’s not that functional logic and interaction are not important. In fact, functional logic and interaction are the basic skills of a product. But making products is the same as being a person. Only when there are no major problems with the direction and principles can it be the prerequisite for healthy growth.

Secondly, from our personal point of view, the only way for a junior PM to advance to an intermediate or senior PM is to shift the perspective from interaction to business and think about problems from a higher-level perspective. We are accustomed to using the layering of product design in "The Elements of User Experience" - namely, the strategic layer, scope layer, structural layer, framework layer, and presentation layer - many junior PMs just start to write competitive product analysis and start directly from the structural layer analysis, and then write the framework layer and presentation layer. This makes it difficult to take into account the strategic layer and scope layer. However, if you want to have a deep understanding of the design of a product, you must start thinking from the strategic layer to effectively understand and guide the following layers. This is the understanding and thinking that a mid-to-senior level PM should have - your responsibilities are linked to your vision.

Finally, every Internet product is a miniature of a business model on a mobile phone. Of course, when the bubble was at its most intense in the past few years, perhaps the product itself could be played however it wanted. However, the bubble of the virtual economy now needs the real economy to take over. Even if we are making Internet products, we must be clear: we have to make money. We are all in the industry, and I believe everyone has some feelings about the company strategy or recruitment situation (or job hopping) this year.

Now that we have talked about why we all attach importance to product analysis based on industry and business, let’s take a look at the categories of this product analysis: We can simply divide it into two categories: 1) In-depth analysis of a certain product; 2) In-depth analysis of a certain issue, which may be an industry topic or a topic triggered by a product.

1) Based on a certain product

In the first case, the applicable analysis structure is relatively fixed. Generally speaking, we need to have an understanding of the overall industry (that is, the industry background). The next thing to pay attention to is the timing of the product's entry (the phased micro-environment and competitive product situation). The micro-environment you face at different times is different.

In this macro and micro environment, you need to consider the user base, user needs and how to meet them, and then the question of how to implement the product structure (this is similar to the product analysis written by many people. If you have the energy, you can also go into detail at the interaction and visual levels);

Next, just like you are the CEO of a company, after the product is made, you should consider monetization, right? Then let the product start to be commercialized and try to analyze the business model of this product; finally, make your speculation based on all the previous analysis (taking into account the previous environment, background, competitors and its own development stage). If you really take over the next step of the work, what kind of layout and iteration will you make?

If we fix these into a template, it may be the following 6 modules:

①Industry background

② Timing of entry

③User needs and satisfaction

④Product function module

⑤ Commercialization

⑥ Outlook

2) Based on a certain question

The second situation is actually quite different, and different research methods may be used for different problems. For example, industry issues are more inclined towards industrial economics, while product functions may be more inclined towards market and user needs.

But in general, it can be summarized into the following 4 steps:

① Problem deconstruction

When you get a problem, the first step to deal with is: what is the source of this problem? Why is this brought up? For example, when Alipay started to engage in social networking , no matter whether it was criticized or praised, the first thing to consider was why Alipay wanted to engage in social networking? Why did you change to this?

② Problem refinement

By further deconstructing and analyzing the problem, we can find the substantive problem behind the superficial problem - this is what you need to study and solve. Let's continue to take Alipay as an example. No matter how its homepage is changed or what new functions are added, these are all superficial. What is exposed behind is Alipay's fear of the rich scenarios of WeChat payment. In fact, Alipay's original intention was not to engage in social networking, but to expand payment scenarios and life service scenarios.

③Analysis of core issues

When you have grasped the problem that you really want to solve and study, make your judgment and decision around this problem. If Alipay wants to expand payment scenarios and life service scenarios, is it likely that the main service targets will be merchants or users? Which category has more advantages? At this stage, what strategy can it use to win? Just like a mind map, you can expand your associations, analyze, and continuously collect information to assist you in making decisions. This process is actually a very core part of exercising your thinking ability.

④ Conclusion

At this point, push your analysis back to the initial surface problem, and you will discover the deeper meaning behind these surface phenomena, and you will be able to make a judgment whether they are right or wrong. Continue to harass Alipay. When you know from a strategic perspective the iteration goals of Alipay's subsequent 3 or 4 versions, it may help you better judge whether the current social functions are right or wrong, good or bad.

Just now, 2 mainly talked about the framework and ideas, and 3 here mainly talks about some practical operation methods.

1) Data collection and research

Any analysis must start with basic data collection. Commonly used sociological research methods are divided into three parts: preliminary browsing - data organization - analytical abstraction. Preliminary browsing helps us form cognition, understand the background, and preliminarily screen out the information and literature we need. Data organization must first merge similar items to prove their authenticity. In addition, we classify them according to our product analysis structure. Using analytical abstraction is combined with the previously mentioned research and analysis of the problem.

Commonly used sources of information: news (some are official PR drafts, which need to be identified, but can also be used), previous research and analysis (like pmcaff, which has a lot of valuable analysis), academic literature (especially models and theories), official websites (which may be the product’s own official website, and for industry analysis, you should also pay attention to the information disclosure of national websites). The last one is the app store. A lot of information can be dug out from the product version history. The article I wrote before about Ant Fortune specifically used the information in this part.

2) Data collection and research

The steps and data collection and research are similar, I will focus here on some commonly used data sources. The first is definitely the data disclosed by the official, followed by third-party APP statistics (such as Appannie ), and then third-party industry research (iResearch, Nielsen, McKinsey, etc.). In addition, you can also collect some data yourself, such as manually counting app store or online user feedback, etc., but due to sampling limitations, this is for reference only.

3) Research and interviews

Grab your friends, whether in or outside of the industry, and ask them what they think about something. It would be even better if they have personal experience, as this will help you understand the problem from different perspectives and make it more likely that sparks will emerge during the discussion.

Cultivating this kind of product analysis thinking has two very important benefits for work:

① The upper level has a wide range of influence, trains one’s own global cognition, obtains the butterfly effect in advance, and applies it to one’s own business.

② Even if the field you are researching is not very relevant to your own business, training in this mode of thinking can help you better understand your company, your boss, and your own business. Needless to say, the benefits to your personal growth are self-evident.