Episode 133: Perfecting UX Personalization with Michelle Parsons of Product School

In this episode of Product Thinking, Michelle Parsons, Product Executive in Residence at Product School, joins Melissa Perri to share what makes a stellar consumer product, the challenges of implementing user personalization, and Michelle's experiences at big consumer names like Spotify and Netflix. They also delve into the role of personalization in the dating app Hinge and its mission to create meaningful connections.

Michelle is a product leader with expertise in search, discovery, and personalization within top-tier consumer tech companies. She is also a Mentor at First Round Capital and a Member Board of Directors at Sky's the Limit. Before her current role, Michelle held the title of Chief Product Officer at Hinge. Her dynamic career includes roles as the Product Innovation Leader for Global Kids & Family at Netflix and a pivotal stint at Spotify, where she focused on Product, Personalization, and the Recommendations Platform.

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You’ll hear them talk about:

[00:50] - According to Michelle, the essential components of a stellar consumer product go down to three main elements. First is user-centricity, as the foremost priority should be recognizing and addressing the genuine needs of the user. The second one is brand-product harmony, where a brand's offline marketing matches the actual product. Ideally, what's portrayed offline should seamlessly resonate with the online experience, ensuring a consistent and consumer-driven focus. And third, personalization or tailoring the product experience to individual preferences.
[06:59] - When diving into product personalization, it's essential to center on the user. Understand the challenges they're trying to overcome and where personalization can tailor their experience, reduce barriers, and enhance satisfaction. Every company's approach differs, but people have shared traits within our demographics. Using these similarities helps to create insightful user models.
[09:54] - Every successful product is built on a foundation of strong partnerships. Think, are you optimizing for quantity, like many likes, or quality, such as genuine matches? Take Netflix: is it about discovering new shows or revisiting familiar ones? Spotify showcases the complexity of this choice. While the homepage promotes familiar tunes, features like Discover Weekly introduce new music based on listening habits. Meanwhile, Year in Review offers an overview of your year's favorites, and Songs You Missed reveals overlooked tracks popular among similar listeners. So clear outcomes and hypotheses guide product development and data insights.
[25:37] - Dating apps like Hinge aim to cultivate genuine relationships. Users seek meaningful connections, hoping to find lasting companionship. If the app successfully guides them to this goal, they'll naturally promote it, adding the platform to their love story. Another example is Spotify and its Discover Weekly playlist, which can spark widespread interest. While platforms like Spotify encourage ongoing engagement, dating apps have a clear endpoint – finding love. However, negative or unsafe experiences lead to user burnout and deter potential users due to shared negative feedback within social circles. In contrast, Hinge stands out by seamlessly merging its branding with its product, ensuring a trustworthy and exciting user journey.
[32:38] - Reducing friction always delivers better outcomes, right? Most of the time. However, the desired outcome shapes the approach. For instance, on dating apps, a single photo prioritizes physical appearance over personality, which doesn’t foster meaningful connections. Therefore, apps like Hinge must constantly ask: What is the user's desired outcome, and how can the product deliver?

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Previous guests include: Shruti Patel of US Bank, Steve Wilson of Contrast Security, Bethany Lyons of KAWA Analytics, Tanya Johnson Chief Product Officer at Auror, Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School, Stephanie Leue of Doodle, Jason Fried of 37signals, Hubert Palan of Productboard, Blake Samic of Stripe and Uber, Quincy Hunte of Amazon Web Services

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