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A 4-step framework for building delightful products | Nesrine Changuel (Spotify, Google, Skype)

Overview

Shownote

Highlights

Transcript

Chapters

Pins

A 4-step framework for building delightful products | Nesrine Changuel (Spotify, Google, Skype)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

Sep 28
Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

Sep 28
OverviewShownoteHighlightsTranscriptChaptersPins

Shownote

Nesrine Changuel helped build Spotify, Google Chrome, and Google Meet. Her work has helped her discover the importance of emotional connection in building successful products. At Google, she served as a dedicated “delight PM,” a role specifically focused o...

Highlights

Creating products that resonate deeply with users goes beyond functionality—true success lies in forging emotional connections that enhance satisfaction and loyalty. In this conversation, a seasoned product leader shares insights from her experience shaping some of the world’s most-used digital platforms, revealing how delight can be systematically designed, not left to chance.
04:58
Delight is not a luxury—it's a competitive advantage in crowded markets.
09:23
Delight is the intersection of joy and surprise, not just usability.
12:29
Valley moments are points of user anxiety and stress in the product journey.
15:11
Revolut's eSIM feature anticipated users' needs before they realized them
17:21
Delight comes from reducing friction, anticipating needs, and exceeding expectations—not just visual flair
18:38
Delight in products must combine joy and surprise with practical value like removing friction and exceeding expectations
25:08
Buffer built trust by offering refunds to inactive users
29:55
Motivational segmentation reveals why users engage with products
31:06
Emotional motivators include personal and social drivers that influence user engagement.
33:59
A 'delight grid' is a matrix for placing functional and emotional motivators and selecting solutions to place in it.
34:46
Deep delight occurs when a feature fulfills both functional and emotional needs.
36:52
Delight features can cause harm if not inclusive, like Deliveroo's Mother's Day notification
40:22
Inclusion is a critical factor when validating product ideas.
42:22
Fixing Spotify's Discover Weekly bug reduced engagement, proving familiarity drives user satisfaction
47:51
Inactive tabs feature reduces clutter and user shame by auto-organizing unused tabs
54:29
The first advice for getting buy-in from skeptical leaders is not to convince them.
55:02
Delight becomes persuasive when tied to user pride and business outcomes
59:41
The 50-40-10 rule balances essential features, improvements, and delightful innovations in product roadmaps.
1:05:41
Fast-growing companies often have the most delightful products because they invest in exceeding user expectations.
1:06:48
Delight fades without novelty; constant updates are key to sustained engagement.
1:10:27
Working on delightful features motivates PMs through visible user joy
1:21:17
Delight is a movement for products to stand out

Chapters

Introduction to Nesrine and product delight
00:00
Why delight matters
04:56
What makes a feature “delightful”
09:17
The three pillars of delight
12:29
Pillar 1: Removing friction (Uber refund example)
13:03
Pillar 2: Anticipating needs (Revolut eSIM example)
15:07
Pillar 3: Exceeding expectations (Edge coupon example)
17:21
The “confetti effect” and when it actually works
18:35
B2B vs. B2C: Why all products need emotional connection
22:02
The Delight Model: A 4-step framework
29:52
Step 1: Identifying user motivators (functional and emotional)
30:57
Step 2: Converting motivators into product opportunities
33:55
Step 3: Identifying solutions with the delight grid
34:46
Step 4: Validating ideas with the delight checklist
36:46
The Delight Model summarized
40:22
The importance of familiarity (Spotify Discover Weekly story)
42:18
Real examples: Chrome’s tab management solution
45:21
Google Meet’s solution for “Zoom fatigue”
51:32
Getting buy-in from skeptical leaders
55:02
Prioritizing delight: The 50-40-10 rule
59:39
Creating a culture of delight in your organization
1:02:41
The habituation effect
1:06:45
When delight goes wrong: Apple reactions example
1:08:15
How delight motivates product teams
1:10:21
Lightning round and final thoughts
1:12:24

Transcript

Lenny Rachitsky: I feel like there's two buckets of teams. There's the product teams that are just like, of course, we need to make our product delightful. That's how we win. And then there's just a bunch of product teams that are like, what are you even t...