Container xChange is simplifying the logistics of global trade by providing an infrastructure for container leasing, trading and management.
xChange covers the entire transaction process. From finding new partners, to shipping containers and managing payments. xChange makes using 3rd party equipment as easy as booking a hotel.
Lennart Schlüter, Head of Product at xChange, invited his product teams to June. This way, they have good visibility on how clients are using their product.
Background
xChange is on a mission to simplify the logistics of global trade.
The co-founders identified the problem of empty container repositioning.
To solve this, they came up with a very first, excel-based, solution to connect supply and demand in container logistics in 2017.
Now xChange counts more than 300 employees from 65+ countries and is helping more than 1,500 companies.
Challenge
In the last months, xChange’s product expanded as many new features were added.
Product teams decided they should narrow their focus and analyze the impact of the features they own.
Specifically, PMs wanted to understand how often customers used and returned to their product.
They knew that answering questions like “How users are interacting with the feature? Who are these users?” would ultimately help the team to build a better product.
Beyond that, Lennart wanted to have a complete picture of which one of their products was performing the most, and which one brought the most revenue to xChange.
Solution
Iterate on features until they are successful
xChange has 300 employees and multiple teams focused on specific products.
Every team has two reports for every product:
- Most engaged users or Power Users
- Feature Release
The first one is used to get a sample of the most engaged users in that specific product.
Product managers use this list to understand who is the typical user of the product and how’s their experience with it.
Yet, some features are supposed to be used with a particular cadence and not very intensively. In this case, the most meaningful users to contact are the ones in the Power Users report and not in the Most Engaged one. Specifically, the most interesting are the ones that lie in the 4-day bar (users that use the product 4 days last week).
At the same time, by looking into the Feature Releases, teams understand how users are engaging with the features of their product.
After this, once the profile of the ideal user and the use case is crystal clear, they:
- Decide whether an iteration is needed to nail the product
- Communicate to the GTM team the insights so that they can adjust positioning and marketing campaigns
This process is followed by PMs also when the feature is being built. They quickly ship a v1 to production and let users interact with it. Thanks to this procedure the team is able to gather feedback from the most meaningful users and come up with the final release in a shorter time.
Naming convention
To make sure reports can be used by everyone, the creator names them with the following convention: [name of the product] + plain English description.
This ensures a good organization of the various metrics.
Making sure all types of accounts remain engaged
xChange has various products, but also various types of clients.
These are the different kinds of companies that are using their platform. This includes traders, freight forwarders or even brokers.
For each category the team has:
- An Active Companies report
- A Company Retention one
This way, it’s easier to understand which group is doing better and which one is struggling the most to take value from xChange.
Looking at products and audiences singularly and then comparing them allows Lennard and his teams to:
- Understand which Products are performing better and bringing the most revenue
- Understand which types of companies are better retaining and expanding
Outcome
By setting up specific reports for every product the product teams at xChange are now able to shorten the time between the first iteration and the final one. By using June, they have more knowledge about how their clients are using the products!
At the same time, Lennart can now assemble all the pieces of the puzzle. It is now clear to him which are the most profitable parts of the product and which type of customer it's better to go after.
