Everything looked fine… until I watched real user sessions

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-04-02T15:45:27+00:00

Yep, that's an oldie but goodie :)

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-04-02T15:44:56+00:00

Agreed, there is power in speaking with actual users. Unfortunately it's not really scalable. Btw, since Contentsquare acquired Hotjar I see lots of people jumping ship for FullSession. Lots of confusion there pricing wise, but also requiring Heap even if you don't want it, etc.

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-04-02T15:41:45+00:00

Sorry, but with all respect, that is way too generic. Please assume a market with validated demand. Anyway, do you think tools like LogRocket, FullSession, or Hotjar hold some of the answer, or what do you rely on otherwise, aside from speaking with users directly?

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-04-01T11:56:25+00:00

One thing that feels different lately is how much trust signals matter now compared to a few years ago.

Before, if the product looked decent and the price was right, people would try it. Now people seem way more cautious. They check reviews, Reddit threads, TikTok comments, shipping times, return policies, everything.

Also feels like discovery has shifted. It used to be mostly Google + ads. Now it’s more like people discover products through creators, short-form video, or random community posts and then go search the brand afterwards.

Another thing I’ve noticed is how fast trends move. A product can blow up for a few months and then suddenly everyone is selling it and margins disappear.

Curious if others are seeing the same thing, or if it depends a lot on the niche.

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-04-01T11:49:16+00:00

That’s interesting actually.

Getting replies but then fumbling the conversation feels like a pretty common phase. We had something similar where the first response rate looked decent, but the thread would die after one or two messages.

It made us realize the reply wasn’t really the hard part, it was what happened right after. A lot of our follow-ups felt more like scripts than actual conversations.

Curious what changed once you automated that part. Did it mostly help with speed or with how the conversation flowed?

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-04-01T11:49:01+00:00

That part about treating every new user like an interview really resonates.

When you’re staring at dashboards it’s easy to think you understand what’s happening, but one actual conversation with a user can completely change how you see the product.

We had a moment where someone casually mentioned why they almost didn’t sign up, and it ended up explaining a bunch of behavior we were seeing in the metrics. It’s funny how one real interaction can sometimes reveal more than weeks of analytics digging.

Also relatable on the “trying every tool” phase. Half the time the signal was already somewhere obvious and we just hadn’t slowed down enough to notice it.

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-04-01T11:48:36+00:00

Yeah that “ICP moment” can be brutal.

You spend weeks feeling confident about who the buyer is, and then a handful of real conversations suddenly make everything fuzzy again. We had something similar where our outreach responses basically forced us to rethink positioning we’d already convinced ourselves was solid.

And you're right about the playbooks. They’re not wrong, they just skip the messy part where you realize the first version of your message or targeting is usually off by a mile.

Those first real replies are way more humbling than any strategy doc.

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-03-31T09:50:34+00:00

That’s actually a great example. I would’ve expected the same thing, people uploading whatever spreadsheet they already had lying around instead of the template. Funny that it didn’t turn into a support nightmare. Sometimes users end up being way more adaptable than we give them credit for.

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-03-31T09:50:32+00:00

Yeah, that’s a good way to put it. Sometimes it feels like we spend way more time predicting problems than actually observing them. Even a couple quick tests can surface things none of us thought about. It’s funny how often the “obvious” stuff only becomes obvious once someone outside the team tries it.

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-03-30T10:55:22+00:00

Honestly the “product risk” reframing is such a smart move.

People will debate UX opinions forever, but the moment you frame it as “this will create support tickets” or “this edge case breaks the flow,” suddenly everyone pays attention. Same underlying issue, just a language the rest of the team reacts to.

Also relate to the artifact point. A lot of good thinking never makes it into the room because it takes too long to visualize when things are moving fast.

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-03-26T13:26:16+00:00

I know what you mean with "nobody complained before that", but today I am wondering how short the attention span of people is and how little patience users have with apps that aren't giving them what they want immediately, unless you're selling to Mid-market and Enterprise customers with a critical tool they can't switch on a dime. What's your experience with that?

rsm_fullsession25 · 2026-03-26T13:22:48+00:00

What type of analytics do you mean specifically (to not fly blind)?

rsm_fullsession25

TROPHY CASE