Navigating Product Features: Types, Strategies, and Examples

Product features have always been an essential part of product development. One may even say they’re what separates product success from failure. That’s especially true now as the competition in virtually every industry has become fiercer.

A company or its products cannot prosper without leveraging product features to their maximum potential. But then again, that’s not an easy task.

It does, however, become easier once you understand the significance of product features, and that’s why you’re here. Today, we delve deeper into product features, their types, examples, and strategies to leverage them more effectively.


Introduction to product features

Product features are exactly as the name implies.

They represent features or elements of a product that determine its capabilities or characteristics. These features apply to virtually every product, be it physical or digital.

A product feature is a product’s characteristic that enables it to provide value. 

For example, a smartphone will always offer numerous features and benefits. Including:

  • 5G connectivity
  • Biometric security
  • Expandable storage
  • Fast charging
  • High-resolution camera
  • Water and dust resistance

Source: Apple

Why learn about product features?

Product features will always have corresponding product benefits.

Using that same logic, we can argue that characteristics or elements that offer no benefit are not product features. At least you cannot consider them as such.

A prime example of a victim of “useless” product elements is New Coke.

New Coke is a formula released by Coca-Cola in the 1980s. It was advertised as an improved product, supposedly featuring better taste. Alas, the reality was far from that.

Five years after its launch, it became clear that New Coke was unsatisfactory.

The flavour was unappealing, and so customers wanted the original formula back. In a sense, the New Coke formula didn’t serve any purpose but to disappoint customers.

Source: Coca-Cola

As such, we cannot call it a product feature. However, it’s essential to understand that these “useless” elements are often unintentional, resulting from incompetency.

Simply put, a successful product management process requires understanding product features.

Five different types of product features

First, you must remember that product features come in different types or categories. These categories, so to speak, can vary according to several factors.

However, product specialists decided to establish five main categories.

#1. Functionality

Overview

Functional features enable the product to perform specific tasks or fulfil its intended purpose. Without the functionality, there is no product.

One may argue that it’s the most critical category of product features.

Example

Source: Apple

The Apple AirTag is a small, lightweight device you can attach to various items. 

These may include wallets, keys, or bags. It’s a sticker with one functionality—item tracking. AirTags allow you to find missing objects with the device.

Take away the item tracking feature; it becomes nothing more than just a sticker.

#2. Added value

Overview

This type of product feature refers to any functionality that extends beyond the core utility of the product.

As the name implies, it’s a functionality that provides additional value—something that the end-user normally wouldn’t expect.

Example

Source: Apple

In the case of Apple AirTag, a function that would belong to this category will be audio cues. To be precise, rather than just showing a dot on a map, the device can also generate audio cues. In doing so, it allows for a much easier finding.

This feature of audio cues is something other than what end-users would typically expect from such a product. As such, their perceived value of the product increases by realising it exists.

#3. Design

Overview

Design product features are precise, as the name implies.

Source: visme

They stand for the overall look or feel of the product. That applies to both physical and digital products. You can think of this category as the artistic aspect of a product.

Example

Apple AirTag is known for its minimalist and sleek design.

Examples of its physical design features may include:

  • Sleek edges
  • Compact form
  • Small size
  • Lightweight
  • Removable cover
  • Circular indentation

Meanwhile, its digital design features (user interface) may include the following:

  • Intuitive app interface
  • Clean item visualisation
  • Visual and auditory feedback

#4. Quality

Overview

Quality represents the product’s reliability, performance, durability, and consistency. A quality product feature ensures that the product functions as intended.

Example

Quality encompasses a variety of aspects. In the context of AirTags. It may include:

  • Water resistance
  • Dust resistance
  • IP67 rating compliance
  • Battery life

All of these contribute to the product’s reliability. In addition, they ensure that the product can fulfil its intended purpose.

#5. Experience

Overview

As the name implies, this category corresponds to user experience. This product feature focuses on creating as positive user experience as possible.

One thing about experience is it’s an intangible attribute. They are unlike the previously mentioned types, which all come in the form of tangible attributes, for the most part. 

Experience features are intangible attributes and revolve around intuitiveness, emotional appeal, and convenience.

Example

Apple AirTags would typically consists of the following experience features:

  • Seamless pairing
  • Breezy setup
  • Customisable notifications
  • Streamlined integration

Product features are almost always crucial in a product roadmap.

They are what provides value to a product. Unfortunately, as valuable as they may be, not all product teams can leverage product features in the development cycle.

The following section should help in that regard.

A step-by-step guide to leveraging product features

#1. Define a product goal or vision

Ensuring the success of your product is crucial to establish its core functionality. 

This begins by defining a clear product vision that aligns with your marketing strategies and business goals. Take Airbnb, for instance.

Its core functionality is centred around its goal – providing users with a convenient and efficient means of finding lodging options.

There are several things you must undertake.

Let’s look at it from the perspective of Airbnb.

  • Understand the main problem you want to solve. Airbnb addresses the frustration of individuals struggling to find suitable lodging options, offering a solution that simplifies the search process.
  • Identifying your target audience. In the case of Airbnb, the target audience comprises travellers seeking unique and personalised lodging experiences.
  • Envision your desired outcome/s. For Airbnb, the desired outcome is establishing itself as the preferred choice for travellers. 

#2. Understand your target audience

Next, you must gain a deep understanding of your target audience.

This entails identifying several aspects of your audience, including their:

  • Needs
  • Pain points
  • Preferences

Combining qualitative and quantitative research methods effectively gathers the necessary data. Surveys, in particular, are convenient.

Source: MyPerfectWords

Qualitative methods such as user stories, focus groups, and interviews may uncover nuanced information and provide in-depth insights into customer perspectives.

Direct engagement with customers is key to this step.

#3. Perform market and competitor analysis

The third step is all about the target market of the product you plan to develop. You must understand its industry and its potential competition. At this stage, you’ll need to:

  • Check up on the current customer demands
  • Study similar products from your competitors
  • Identify their product’s strengths and weaknesses
  • Determine how you can differentiate your product

Source: HiSlide

Unlike the previous step, this primarily relies on thorough research rather than direct interactions with external parties. For this step, you will need to look into market reports, online resources, social media monitoring, and industry publications.

#4. Generate a list of potential product features

You should now have a wealth of data and insights in hand. You can now leverage your team’s expertise and creativity to generate a list of potential product features.

This brainstorming session should focus on aligning the product features with your identified customer needs. You must also keep the market trends in mind.

There needs to be a set number on how many features are recommended. It ultimately depends on your judgement. But you must only define features you believe have a purpose.

However, at the end of this step, you must have a comprehensive list of product features that hold the potential to resonate with your target audience.

#5. Validate the potential product features

Just like organising a to-do list, you need to determine the urgency and significance of each feature. The core functionality should take precedence, as it addresses the primary needs of your users. Conversely, additional features hold lesser priority.

In other words, you must prioritise features. This may require you to compare product features with one another.

Source: roadmunk

Once you have a list ordered by urgency, you must validate these new features.

Engaging in user testing can be handy in this regard. By actively involving users in discussions, you can assess their response to each new feature.

Negative customer feedback can indicate areas for improvement and lower priority, while positive feedback signals a higher priority.

#6. Feature implementation

The development team takes the lead in implementing the product features. However, you’ll still be a product manager during this cycle.

Specifically, you need to make specifications and requirements for your product features clear to the team. Make sure they need no guesswork. Ideally, you would provide them with visual aids and documentation on what you want to do.

Documentation, in particular, will play a crucial part in the succeeding steps.

#7. Represent product features to stakeholders

In most projects, stakeholders must “buy in” or actively support your idea before you continue. That’s your primary goal for this step.

Representing product features means effectively communicating each feature’s benefits, characteristics, and purpose.

In doing so, stakeholders can understand the feature’s value proposition and make informed decisions.

That applies to customers and investors, though you may have to tailor your approach to the stakeholders.

  • For customers, you must showcase the product features’ benefits and how they will serve them.
  • For investors, you must highlight the market potential and profitability these features add to the product.

#8. Monitor and analyse the success of each feature

At this point, you now have a product consisting of multiple elements. Now, you must determine whether it was the right choice to add each specific product feature.

Source: AssessTEAM

You can do this by monitoring each feature’s relevant key performance indicators (KPIs). By doing so, you can determine each feature’s level of success.

Below are examples of product features and the KPIs that showcase their success:

  • Weekly active users of Discover Weekly (Spotify) 
  • Conversation rate of One-Click Purchase (Amazon)
  • Search success rate of Autocomplete Search (Google)
  • Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Score of Voice Assistant (Amazon Alexa)

By monitoring and analysing these KPIs, you can gain insights into the performance of each feature.

High KPIs signify success, indicating that the feature meets user needs and drives positive outcomes.

Meanwhile, low KPIs suggest areas that may require improvement or further optimisation.

#9. Regularly review and update existing features

A product feature can experience an initial period of success only to face a decline in acceptance.

One example of a product feature that fell victim to changes in market demand is Facebook’s Trending feature.

This feature displayed popular articles, news, and topics on the platform. It was an excellent way for users to get a quick overview of current events.

Later on, however, user trust towards the Trending feature declined, primarily due to accusations of political bias.

As a result, in 2018, Facebook completely took down the feature.

Source: Facebook

You must continuously monitor and address market trends and user feedback. That way, you can ensure acceptance and relevance of product features.

If Facebook didn’t do the same, the Trending feature would have remained on the platform. It would have then negatively impacted the platform in its entirety.

As tricky as this strategy may seem, its success, particularly by other companies, speaks volumes of its effectiveness.

Case studies: real-world examples of successful product features

#1. Spotify

Source: Spotify

Spotify, the renowned music streaming platform, is a prime example of effective product feature utilisation.

Among its countless features, one standout success story is its Discover Weekly playlist.

It was initially conceived to provide artists a platform to promote their songs. However, Discover Weekly surprised everyone by resonating strongly with users.

Through meticulous A/B testing and validation, Spotify discovered the playlist’s immense appeal. What started as an unexpected product feature ultimately became a resounding success. This highlights the power of strategic feature implementation.

#2. Airbnb

Source: Airbnb

Airbnb is likewise a renowned platform in the travel industry. One feature that stands out from the platform is Instant Booking, which is becoming the go-to choice of its users.

The feature allows you to book immediately without first sending a request for approval to the host. It was already an excellent candidate for the next feature of Airbnb since it fulfils a specific customer need—convenience.

#3. Mambo

Source: Mambo

Mambo stands out as a leading provider of gamification solutions for organisations. 

Their platform offers a range of game-related features that can be seamlessly integrated into various non-game environments.

It may be tempting to view these features as arbitrary additions. However, each platform element is purposefully designed to address specific customer needs.

The following features, for example, are backed by compelling statistical data.

  • Rewards system
  • Behaviour tracking
  • Custom points
  • Notifications
  • Level
  • Peer-to-peer recognition
  • Leaderboards
  • Coupons system
  • Missions
  • Access control
  • Simulations
  • Purchase tracking
  • Segmentation
  • Activity streams
  • Webhooks

These pieces of data demonstrate their significant impact on enhancing user experience. Mambo’s gamification solutions exemplify the power of leveraging product features to drive engagement and achieve organisational objectives.

#4. Fitbit

Source: Fitbit

Fitbit, a popular health-oriented application, goes beyond tracking activity levels and overall fitness by incorporating a gamified system that engages its users.

With a keen focus on addressing customer needs, Fitbit ensures that every feature serves a purpose, caters to a user story, and adds value to the user experience.

For instance, the Sleep Pattern metric caters to individuals struggling with their sleep, while the Calories Burned metric caters to those seeking weight loss.

These features’ intentional design and inclusion have contributed to Fitbit’s growing user base since its inception. Most importantly, it highlights the effectiveness of leveraging product features to meet customer needs and drive success.

These real-world examples serve as inspiration for product managers. Specifically, they showcase the benefits of strategically leveraging product features.

After all, these companies were able to incorporate features effectively. As a result, they have established themselves as leaders in their respective fields.

Wrapping up: mastering the ABCs of product features

Product features sometimes sound like an elementary subject. However, at this point, you should now realise that there’s a lot more to uncover. The different types, their contribution to the product, and strategies to leverage them are just the start. Hopefully, this guide could bring you up to this speed.

If you want to integrate specifically game-oriented product features into your platform, Mambo can be your trusted partner. Mambo offers a range of features, such as progress bars, levels, and leaderboards, allowing you to enhance user engagement.

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