Customer Prioritization

IN THIS LESSON

Segmentation gives you credible customer groups. Prioritization is where you choose one.

This step does not need to be complicated. You need a reasonable basis for comparing the groups, and then you need to make a decision.

A strong prioritization shows that you can:

• compare credible customer groups rather than simply describe them
• make a clear choice instead of equivocating
• explain why the advantages of your choice outweigh what you are giving up

The value is in the judgment behind the tradeoff.

Use Size and Impact

For most Product Sense cases, two criteria are enough:

• Size: How large is the customer group?
• Impact: How likely is this group to care about or benefit meaningfully from the product?

These criteria are useful because they capture the basic product opportunity without requiring much explanation. All else equal, a larger group gives you more potential customers. A group with stronger interest or need gives you a better chance of creating meaningful value for each of them.

You do not need precise numbers. The comparison is usually directional.

Suppose you segmented gardeners into new homeowners, experienced gardeners, and special-interest gardeners. You might reason that new homeowners are a large group with substantial need, experienced gardeners are a large group but have less need for help, and special-interest gardeners have very high interest but represent a smaller population.

That is enough structure to make the decision.

Do not add more dimensions simply to make the analysis look rigorous. Additional criteria consume time and usually require more explanation without materially changing the choice.

Make the Choice

Once you have compared the groups, choose one.

You will often be comparing groups that are all reasonable. That is the point. Product decisions rarely require distinguishing one obviously good option from several obviously bad ones.

You might say:

I’m going to prioritize new homeowners. They’re a large group, and I think buying a home creates a strong reason to care about gardening because you suddenly have a property you’re responsible for and want to improve.

That is already better than carrying several groups forward.

You do not need certainty. You need a reasonable conclusion from the information available.

If two groups are close, make the tradeoff explicit and choose anyway.

Explain the Tradeoff

This is where most of the value of the prioritization comes from.

Size and impact can point in different directions. One group may be much larger while another is much more motivated. Your job is to explain why the advantage you are choosing matters more than the advantage you are giving up.

For example:

Special-interest gardeners are probably more passionate and likely to engage deeply, but they’re a substantially smaller group. I’d prioritize new homeowners because they still have a meaningful reason to care while giving us a much larger population to serve.

Another candidate could reasonably choose the special-interest group:

New homeowners give us more reach, but their interest in gardening will vary a lot. I’d choose special-interest gardeners because I think their much stronger motivation will produce substantially more engagement, even though the initial audience is smaller.

Both arguments can be good.

The important thing is that the candidate identifies the tension, decides which side matters more, and explains why.

Do not try to make your choice look costless. A strong decision acknowledges what another option does better.

Avoid T-Shirt Sizing

A common mistake is to turn prioritization into a scoring exercise.

Candidates sometimes create a table, list every customer group against every criterion, assign each cell a high, medium, or low rating, and then read the table back to the interviewer:

New homeowners are high on size and medium on impact. Experienced gardeners are high on size and low on impact. Special-interest gardeners are low on size and high on impact.

This can look analytical while communicating very little.

The ratings are conclusions, not reasoning. The interviewer learns that you think one group is “high impact,” but not why. That explanation is the part that demonstrates judgment.

T-shirt sizing also gives equal airtime to information that is not equally important. If one tradeoff controls the decision, lead with that tradeoff rather than serially reporting every cell in a matrix.

It is also slow and tedious. Candidates can spend several minutes constructing a table, populating it, and narrating it when the actual decision may require only a few sentences. Interviews are communication exercises as well as reasoning exercises. An answer that is easy and interesting to follow makes your judgment more legible and makes you a more compelling candidate.

A private scorecard can still help you organize your thinking. Just do not confuse the scorecard with the answer.

Instead of:

New homeowners are high on size and medium-high on impact. Special-interest gardeners are medium on size and high on impact.

Explain the decision:

Special-interest gardeners probably care more intensely, but new homeowners are a much larger group and still have a strong reason to engage. I think that combination creates the better opportunity, so I’d prioritize new homeowners.

The second answer takes less time and reveals much more.

Keep It Moving

Customer prioritization should be relatively quick.

You are not trying to prove that you have discovered the objectively correct customer. In an interview, you rarely have enough evidence to do that. You are showing that you can impose enough structure on an uncertain decision to move the product process forward.

A useful spoken sequence is:

I’m going to prioritize based on size and impact.

Then compare the groups briefly:

Experienced gardeners are a large population, but I think their need is relatively low. Special-interest gardeners have very high interest, but they’re considerably smaller. New homeowners give us a large population with a meaningful reason to care.

Then choose:

So I’d prioritize new homeowners. I’m giving up some of the intensity of the special-interest group, but I think the larger audience more than compensates for it.

That is enough.

The next step is to understand what this customer is actually trying to accomplish and where that motivation is being blocked. That is pain-point analysis.