Why Designers Must Become Product Owners: Lessons from SaaS Customer Service Design

Pain Points

Designers of TB (technology‑backed) products are often not the actual users, so they cannot fully understand usage scenarios.

You are not a product user

The payer may not be your user

Because designers do not experience the product, they miss why users feel pain, why competitors add features, and how those choices affect product positioning.

Reflection

Designers need to think beyond UI and become owners of the product. When a product matures and features iterate, competition shifts to experience.

Observe users if you are not one

Like many SaaS companies, the team should rotate into frontline roles (e.g., customer service) to watch real usage. The author describes an “RPG plan” where designers temporarily act as the main character to observe tasks.

Understanding Users Across Industries

Different customers (education, automotive, e‑commerce) have distinct needs and habits; designers must collect large user samples to inform design decisions.

Example: a client in the children’s reading market needed a customizable avatar for customer‑service agents. After learning the pain point, the team prioritized the feature and released it.

Learning from Team Roles

Beyond product and development teams, sales and customer‑service teams, especially key account managers, interact directly with users and can surface valuable insights.

Key account managers often visit client sites, adjust robot settings, and try to productize repetitive support work, which aligns with designers’ goals of reducing learning cost and improving experience.

New Colleagues as a Treasure

New hires can test the onboarding flow, revealing hidden pain points for novice users. Their feedback helped identify confusing robot configuration steps and guided product improvements.

Industry Awareness

Designers must stay informed about industry trends, common pain points, and how competitors address them to shape effective solutions.

Final Thoughts

Designers should look beyond their own screens, understand users and teammates, and avoid isolating themselves. Engaging with the whole ecosystem leads to better products.