A Product Owner’s Guide to Make the Best of the Lockdown

You are quarantined, the market is not.

The CoronaVirus has hit the world economy and the market, but this is temporary. Your future is not. Entrepreneurs are struggling to keep their projects up and running and some are struggling to launch their products in an audienceless market.

This can better be elaborated with an example,

For a company like Uber, this lockdown may result in a loss of millions of dollars, since most of the people are working from home.

The strange thing about a market is how it can change anytime. You could bloom one minute and collapse the other.

An advantage of this pandemic is that every business owner is facing the same issue and dealing with it their way.

Some are planning on doing nothing during the lockdown, while some are working even harder to flourish the market with their innovation once it is back to normal. If we look at the brighter side of the lockdown, we’ll notice that we have plenty of time on our plate, to prepare ourselves for the right moment.

I remember reading about how WhatsApp was founded, when the world was tackling recession. While many companies completely lost to the outer forces, companies like WhatsApp, Pinterest, Airbnb, Uber, and Slack, stood out and set their foot in the market with only success in their minds.

How were they different from others? How did they manage to outshine when everyone was struggling?

If you know the answers to these questions, you know their secret to success.

If you have doubts about whether after this quarantine, your product will still be standing firm in the market or not? Or if you are unsure about, if your idea will ever become an innovation. Then this article is for you.

We have broken down everything that you need to know, in two parts.

Firstly we have tried to focus on products that already have a good user base, that might have thousands or even millions of users, but it’s functioning is hindered by the current market situation.

Second, we have focused on the products that are still in the idea phase and can rock the market when launched.

Here is how you can make the best of the lockdown:

For those entrepreneurs who have their products up and running, with a good user base, this is what you can do during this lockdown:

This is the perfect opportunity for you to get ahead of the competition, while your competitors are still skeptical about whether they should invest their time and efforts now or not, you have already achieved clarity.

Hard times bring out the best in you.

Hestabit

Airbnb is another such startup that originated because the CEO couldn’t afford rent.

The co-founders all lived together in an apartment when their landlord increased the rent, one of them decided to move out, and two of them stayed.

Examining the problems their friend faced while he searched for a hotel as they were all occupied, they came up with the idea of putting that one empty room on a per-day rental basis, they provided their guests with an air bed and breakfast. That’s what Airbnb stands for ‘air bed and breakfast’

You are still one step ahead of where they started.

Use this to your benefit.

Somethings that you can do, to make your product even better:

Analyse Microinteractions: Micro Interactions are tiny attracting moments that are built in an application.

For example “a thumbs-up sign”, or “brightness adjustments” are both microinteractions, that your application provides you with. It is one of the best techniques that provide instant feedback, increases consumer satisfaction and keeps the users engaged.

While you have time to prepare yourself for an even higher competitive market, it would be a good idea to analyse and improve your application’s microinteractions.

With improvised microinteractions, your application would become more easy and attractive. A well defined and advanced microinteraction helps you to build an app that is user friendly.

Things to keep in mind while designing and updating microinteractions:

Think, how your users would think.
Create animations that enhance the user experience
Make your app fun and entertaining
Know how much is too much (don’t put too many animations)
Don’t be too technical, use a language that connects you with your users.

Define Future Releases: Some tasks require a lot of time and are generally difficult to achieve in a short period when we are working in a highly competitive market.

Suppose a company is working on launching a new, even better product. They will have to launch it before the rival brand does, normally.

However, currently the market is down and no new brand will launch their product right now. This makes it a perfect opportunity to work on all your future releases.

If you work on all the requirements your product would need when you launch a higher version, you would be well prepared to compete with your rival brands.

Imagine, millions of people bored with their old technologies, eagerly waiting for new ones to be released, and once the lockdown is over, the market would be flooded with consumers as well as new updated releases.

A prepared snail can win an unprepared fly.

Fix bugs: Lockdown is the best time to devise the perfect go-to product, a product which is the one-stop for all your consumers. Many might say nothing is perfect, but your product can be. Considering you use this time to make it perfect.It is vacuous to think that a product can be created in one go, with no glitches.

So, while you have the time. Fix those glitches, and bring out the perfect product that is completely ready to compete in the competitive market.
Upgrade the overdue UI/UX of your application: A good application is what hooks the consumers to keep using it. There is a reason why applications like Facebook and WhatsApp focus majorly on their designing even after already having millions of subscribed users.

An application that is well designed, easy to use and pleasurable to the people, will always be their top choice. Since, you have the opportunity to upgrade your user interface and enhance your user experience, grab it!

There might never come a time where you can fully contribute to just preparing yourself for a highly competitive and demanding market. Pick up that phone, and get in touch with your designing team, this is the time.

And, those entrepreneurs who have are still in the ideation phase. Here is how you can use this lockdown to your advantage:

It does not matter that you are on step one, there are solid chances that you will be ten steps ahead of those who are already ahead of you, considering you use this time efficiently.

When brothers Walt and Roy Disney, started their little company in a garage, now known as Walt Disney they did not even have an idea of how to connect to their audience. Only in the great depression, the company could find it’s identity with the release of Mickey mouse.

An idea is all it takes to achieve great heights.

Now that you already have an amazing idea, you can start working on making your dream come true.

Some suggestions for you to plan it out:

Define your product: The process of idea to innovation is like a ship in a turbulent sea.
It will float, and eventually get to its destination, but for that, you have to get through all the hurdles first.

Like a good captain can stabilize the ship, a good business analyst can help you overcome your troubles.

Now that you have an idea for a great product, discuss it with an efficient business analyst, who can guide you through the journey of your idea creation to your final product. Hiring an expert for the most crucial part of your product construction will enable you to sail easily in the turbulent market.
Validate the monetization method and overall product: An idea might belong to one person, but the process that the idea goes through is a contribution of several people.

Hence, it is important to have the right people, at the right part of the process to guide you through your product journey.

Every product out there in the market is a combined effort of many people. Although, you might have everything sorted, every planning is done, but re-checking will never go waste.

With the gift of time, the lockdown has provided you, plan things better.

Ask your project manager to validate the monetization method and make necessary changes according to the need of your product and its demand.
With the help of your project manager, re-evaluate your overall product. Find if there’s a scope for improvisation, if yes, make sure you have the “go-to” product ready before you launch it.

Get your product developed for “post corona” rush: Three months is nothing when you have a lot to do. This is the right time to get your goals list tick marked. Launching a product in a market low in audience base is half-witted, but what’s even foolish is to wait for the “right” time.

“Now is always not the right time.” if you keep on procrastinating and waiting for the right time to get your product developed, three months from now you will be facing a market you were not prepared for.

Once the Corona disappears, the market will go back up again and this time at an even higher pace. People are desperately waiting for the lockdown to get over, right now the supply is up and the demand is down, but three months from now it would be totally different.

The market would be flooded with consumers, and that would be the right time to launch the product you have developed.

If you waste these three months in doing nothing but waiting, you would never be able to match the pace.
Get one step ahead: The pandemic has interrupted many businesses, mostly the ones who had to halt their work due to the inability of managing huge team sizes. This is where it works to your advantage.

The competition is low, and three months from now, the ones who had to terminate their work would be on the same start point as you will be.

Use this time efficiently to get ahead in the game. You can prepare yourself for a great introduction, conquering all your business rivals when your product gets launched in the market.

Now is the time! Keeping in mind all the efforts and struggles, this requires, it would be a smart decision to collaborate with other teams who can help you reach your milestone.

Partner up with a team: