Competitors like TurboTax measure success by a binary "taxes filed" metric. Beluga Labs redefines success as a qualitative outcome: "maximized all possible savings." This shifts the value proposition from a simple chore-completer to an ongoing financial optimization partner, creating a stronger user relationship.
Unlike traditional software that optimizes for time-in-app, the most successful AI products will be measured by their ability to save users time. The new benchmark for value will be how much cognitive load or manual work is automated "behind the scenes," fundamentally changing the definition of a successful product.
Executives don't care about tactical benefits like 'five fewer clicks'. A crucial skill for modern sellers is to extrapolate that tactical user-level gain into a strategic business outcome. You must translate efficiency into revenue, connecting the dots from a daily task to the company's bottom line.
Users will switch from an incumbent if a competitor makes the experience feel effortless. The key is to shift the user's feeling from maneuvering a complex 'tractor' to seamlessly riding a 'bicycle,' creating a level of delight that overcomes the high costs of switching.
Instead of vanity usage metrics, Wiz focuses on a core customer outcome: helping customers resolve all critical risks. They gamified this by creating the 'Zero Criticals Club.' This metric proves the product is driving real organizational change, a key indicator of value and stickiness that is hard to replace.
Beluga Labs' 10-star product vision aims to transform the user's emotional relationship with taxes. By moving from simple filing to continuous planning, the experience shifts from a dreaded burden to an exciting event where users confidently anticipate a refund, making it feel like a "free money glitch."
To bridge the communication gap with leadership, reframe common product metrics into financial terms. Instead of reporting daily active users (DAU), calculate and present average revenue per daily active user (ARPA-DAU). Similarly, frame quality initiatives not as ticket reduction but as operating expense (OPEX) savings.
Instead of the common 'vitamin vs. painkiller' framework, the ultimate strategic goal should be to become irreplaceable in the customer's mind. This single question can align product, marketing, and customer service toward a unified goal of creating deep, lasting value.
Go beyond features (what it is) and benefits (what it does) by focusing on 'dimensionalized benefits': how the customer's life tangibly changes after experiencing the benefit. This is the ultimate outcome people are buying, and it should be the core of your marketing message.
Product teams focus on technical metrics like scalability, but customer-facing teams see success differently: it's when a client says they "couldn't run their business" without the product. The goal is to merge these two definitions by translating technical achievements into tangible customer outcomes.
Outbound Sync's founder filters all product decisions through one question: 'Will this help our customer close another deal?' This value-based 'True North' allows him to prioritize ruthlessly, even fixing upstream partners' data issues if it directly impacts his customers' results.