In our journey to create valuable software products and find product-market fit, we’re likely encounter “feature bloat” somewhere along the line. This happens when we’ve confused building features with creating value.
Early on, we tend to judge our product’s success by the number of functions it performs. However, the real measure of success should be the value it brings to customers. Nearly all startups lose sight of this in their early stages. Yet, we seldom address its root cause and consequences. Moreover, we rarely discuss its role in hindering our ability to find product-market fit.
Maintenance Over Time
Our products are not one dimensional, and each feature does not act in isolation. There should be seamless cohesion between the set of features in a product. As you stack new features on top of your offering, simply for the sake of doing so, it’s very unlikely that you’re able to maintain this cohesion.
Additionally, every new feature increases the maintenance burden. This includes more than just fixing bugs. Teams must update documentation, educate customers, and support them. The complexity of the product correlates with the maintenance demands. This can drain resources from more impactful activities.
It’s very possible to reach a point where you’re unable to add onto your product because of the existing complexity.
Perceived Quality of the Product
Importantly, a product with too many features often fails to excel in any area. Initially, users may be impressed by the number of features. But their opinion can change if those features don’t meet their needs. Specifically, the quality of a product is measured by its effectiveness in performing essential tasks for its customers.
An overloaded product can confuse users. This leads to a frustrating experience. If users struggle to navigate the product, their perception of its quality declines. This is a sure way to prevent any hope of organic growth.
Organizational Confusion and Lack of Focus
Feature bloat impacts more than just the product. It disorients the entire organization. As products grow more complex, team members may lose direction. Developers, marketers, customer success, and leadership can find themselves with divided focus. This leads to scattered efforts and a loss of unified purpose.
This distraction will eventually stifle innovation. There’s simply no way to mass produce high-quality features. Quality products are only developed with a narrow focus. You wouldn’t hire a generalist for a highly specialized role. To your customers, your software is the specialist.
It’s possible to have a “generalist” software, but if you pursue this, you’ll end up with a software that is too niche. That’s a good segue to the value proposition.
Confusing Value Proposition
Having a clear value proposition is essential when finding product-market fit. An overloaded product makes it hard to identify its core value. Users and potential customers might struggle to understand the product’s purpose. They might not see why it stands out from simpler alternatives.
This confusion extends to sales and marketing efforts. If the team cannot communicate the product’s primary value, selling it becomes challenging. This affects revenue and can lead to mismatched customer expectations. Consequently, when customers don’t get what they anticipate, dissatisfaction and churn increase.
Don’t Build Features!
I make that comment jokingly, but there’s some truth to it. Rather than building features, build solutions. Identify real-world challenges that your customers have which are directly related to your product’s area of expertise. Create a hypothesis for the impact that each feature can have. But don’t stop there — it’s crucial to validate your hypothesis before investing resources into this new venture.
The most reliable method to validate this for early stage startups is through customer conversations. You must take a methodical approach to these conversations with your customers, however. Otherwise, you risk building features based on corrupt data.
For this, I highly recommend The Mom Test. The idea behind the book is to ask questions in such a way that you’re not leading your customers to the answers that you want. Following this methodology is an absolute must as you talk to customers, so as to eliminate your biases from the equation.
How to Deal with Feature Bloat
When it comes to dealing with feature bloat, it’s important to equip yourself with data to help you determine if it’s affecting your product. With CohesiveData, you can get crystal clear insights into how customers interact with your product. This will empower you to make informed decisions about which features to refine or potentially remove to enhance your product’s value and effectiveness.
Not only that, but you’ll be able to quantify the impact that each feature has on your subscription revenue. If you’re ready to build a better product, let’s get in touch and see how CohesiveData can help you achieve your dream outcome for your SaaS.