The missing stakeholder: Users

We should communicate with our users to the same degree we do with other stakeholders.

Users are your stakeholders, too; you probably already know that, but do you practice it? When discussing stakeholders, we are quick to include the C-suite, our managers, business partners, sales teams, marketing, and more in our stakeholder maps and communication plans. How often do we forget about our users?

“But Steedan. I think about the users; that’s who we’re building for!” This is true, but do you put them on the same playing field as your other stakeholders?

Do you proactively inform your users of changes? Do you actively seek their input before you make impactful decisions? Or do you ship your features, expecting them to like and use them? Remember, their input is invaluable and can significantly shape the direction of your product.

I’m sure you’re all striving to do user research and learn from your users. Whether those are businesses or consumers, do you think of them as stakeholders?

This past week, I was reminded of how important our users are as stakeholders in our product and how important it is to communicate with them to the same degree we do with other stakeholders.

One of the brands I’m working on is undergoing a design overhaul and platform shift. As I dug into the project, I was surprised to find no plans to communicate these changes with users beforehand. The general consensus is we’ll roll the change out gradually but still expect a significant reduction in conversion rate.

But what if we could do better? I can’t guarantee the impact proactively communicating changes to users will have. But imagine the potential benefits of a more engaged user base and a smoother transition. I could be wrong, it’s always possible that broadcasting this now will spook our users. However, you can bet I’m going to test this and see what happens.

If the results are positive, we’ll notify all of our users of the upcoming changes.

So why wasn’t this thought of already? As is probably the challenge where you work as well, everyone is very busy. Delivering value to your users in the first place can be a struggle. Being proactive and communicating with users ahead of time requires even more effort and coordination.

It’s critical to have systems in place to facilitate this communication, whether that be marketing emails, app banners, or popups that don’t require code changes to roll out. If you don’t have a dedicated team to handle this, it may be up to you to get the messaging out while the rest of the teams work on development.

Success depends not only on development but also on a strong communication and rollout plan. The best feature in the world won’t succeed if users don’t know about it. I know it’s often acceptable to be reactive in communicating changes to our users. However, if you want to set yourself apart from the competition, consider treating users more like your internal stakeholders.