The biggest mistake PMs make with customers

Hey friends,

You’re here because you know that great product decisions start with great customer feedback. But here’s the thing, most PMs (my past self included) don’t actually know what to do with it.

I used to think collecting feedback was enough. Run a survey, check NPS and CSAT scores, talk to a few noisy users, boom, done. But the real challenge isn’t gathering the feedback, it’s knowing which pieces to act on and how to translate them into real product decisions.

The 3 feedback traps I’ve fallen into (and how to avoid them):

1. Loud ≠ Important → Just because a request is repeated often, or one user hounds you for updates, doesn’t mean it is the most impactful. Prioritization matters.

2. Data without context is dangerous → A metric going up or down doesn’t tell you why. Always dig deeper.

3. Over-promising, underdelivering → Saying “We’ll look into it” and then doing nothing? Users notice! Instead, close the loop, even if the answer is no (or not right now).

How I do it now:

Before making any roadmap decision, I ask:
✅ Does this solve a real problem?
✅ is this a pain point across a segment, or just a vocal minority?
✅ How / can we measure the impact of solving this?

Sometimes, the best action isn’t building something new, it’s tweaking the existing experience or changing how we frame things.