Customer Obsession: A reality in your product or another abused term?
CEO: I just spoke with a customer, and they want us to add these three features.
PM: We must investigate further to understand the broader customer pain points and see if it’s worth implementing.
CEO: I’ve already spoken with the customer. He’s willing to pay for this and is in our top 1%. Let’s get moving.
PM: But this doesn’t align with our current business goals, and we already have a delivery plan.
CEO: Make it happen, or I’ll step in.
PM: I’m on it, but…
CEO: No "but." We’re a customer-obsessed business, and this is what the customer wants. We deliver.
The brief conversation above tells a lot about the misunderstanding that goes on in many businesses and product teams when it comes to Customer Obsession. Customer obsession is not about executing all customer requests without understanding what the actual pain point is, how the request fits into the bigger product/business goal and what will it cost the business.
Welcome to the 7th edition of PWJ.
Customer obsession is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but it’s often misunderstood. Many think it means responding to every customer request or demand, but that’s not the case. True customer obsession is about deeply understanding what your customers need and using that insight to drive your business forward by solving real problems, not just reacting to every suggestion. For example, companies like Paystack (a Stripe acquired Nigerian fintech) have mastered this—focusing on delivering seamless experiences that solve genuine issues. The result? Satisfied customers and growing businesses.
I will illustrate the customer obsession with a common family scenario in an average Nigeria home. Imagine a Nigerian family preparing for a birthday party. Each family member has different requests: the kids want a bounce house, the grandparents ask for traditional Nigerian dishes, and the teenagers suggest trendy foods like sushi. While it would be chaotic and expensive to meet everyone’s demands, the parents focus on what truly matters—creating a fun, memorable event for all. They balance the needs of each group while keeping the party simple and within budget.
This scenario mirrors the concept of customer obsession in business. True customer-first thinking isn’t about responding to every customer request but understanding their core needs. Like the parents planning the party, businesses need to filter customer feedback to identify what truly solves customer problems, ensuring their products are efficient and effective without unnecessary complexity.
At the same time, businesses must balance customer satisfaction with their own goals, such as profitability and growth. By strategically aligning customer needs with business objectives, companies can deliver meaningful solutions that meet customer expectations while driving long-term success, much like the parents who create a great party within their means.
For product teams, the challenge lies in filtering customer feedback wisely. Instead of rushing to build every requested feature, the goal is to align what customers need with long-term business goals. It’s a win-win when the solutions you build not only make customers happy but also contribute to the company’s success.
For people I have worked with in the past, they are familiar with my popular take on setting the clear lines between the role of the customer and the product team. The customers are responsible for detailing their pain points, no one understand their pain points than they do. On the other hand, the product team are specialists in empathising and developing sustainable solution to the customer pains. Therefore, a customer obsessed team will not base their solution on the solutions the customer of suggesting—if they have the solution, the pain point would not be their in the first place.
Another important distinction that’s often overlooked is the difference between what customers *want* and what they *actually need*. Customers may ask for more features, but what they often need is something simpler and more efficient. To uncover these real needs, tools like the *Empathy Map* come in handy. This tool helps product teams understand customer behavior on a deeper level by looking at what they say and do, think & feel, see and hear. This way, product teams can uncover underlying pain points and motivations, and ultimately focus on building solutions that genuinely improve the user experience.
The *Empathy Map* is more than just a way to collect feedback; it’s a window into the mindset of your users. It helps product teams differentiate between surface-level wants and the core needs that drive user behavior. When leveraging tools like this, companies can develop products that don’t just check boxes but actually solve meaningful problems.
While customers play crucial roles in the early stages of product development by sharing their pain points and experiences. It’s important to remember that they aren’t the ones making the final decisions. Their input serves as valuable data, while the product team processes that information and turns it into actionable insights. This ensures that the focus remains on solving the right problems, not just the loudest ones.
The job of the product manager is to bridge the gap between what customers are saying and the business strategy. They don’t just listen and react; they analyze the patterns in customer feedback and guide the development process in a way that aligns with long-term business goals. It’s about finding the balance between customer needs and the bigger picture—creating a product that delivers value to both the users and the company.
In the end, real customer obsession is about solving problems in a way that makes sense for both the customer and the business. By using tools like the Empathy Map to dig into what customers really need, product managers can turn insights into strategies that benefit everyone. When customer demands are balanced with business goals, the result is a product that not only meets user needs but also supports long-term success.