0 to 1 · Customer discovery · Feedback loop
Establishing a design partner program, from 0 to 20 enterprise customers
Built a direct customer channel from zero during the AppScan Standard revamp: 20 enterprise design partners across APAC, EMEA and the US, who shaped core features, changed the configuration architecture, and killed a feature that confused users.
Context & problem
When the AppScan Standard revamp started, I had no direct access to customers and not much data as it is a desktop application. Discovery relied on heuristic evaluation, earlier interviews, and internal stakeholders - technical advisors, sales, and developers. That was enough to understand the product, but it was second-hand knowledge of the people using it.
Direct customer contact was scheduled for the release, as part of the launch marketing plan. This was part of the AppScan Standard revamp launch. The problem was twofold: validating a revamp of an enterprise product without a channel to its users, and having no mechanism to keep learning from them after launch.
Approach
Use the launch as a recruitment channel
I planned the launch with two goals: promote the revamp, and open a lasting channel to customers. Every touchpoint was designed to end with permission to follow up.
Outbound
Blogs, videos, and guest interviews
An internal feedback channel with HCL teams using the product
Three hands-on online conferences for customers and prospects
Inbound
An in-product feedback button. I pushed for it despite tight timelines, development constraints, and no existing feedback infrastructure.
Turning reach into relationships
Feedback breaks built as lead forms. Each conference session had planned breaks for an online feedback form. Every form also asked for consent to contact the participant after the event.
Chat as an entry point. The team encouraged attendees to raise questions and issues in chat. Those threads led to personal conversations and further consent to continue offline.
Comments as conversations. I tracked and replied to YouTube comments on the launch videos.
Direct follow-up. I contacted customers by email and scheduled sessions directly, or through the technical advisor who knew the account when there was one.
Impact
The 20 partners spanned APAC, EMEA, and the US, and included business partners alongside small and medium customers. Expectations differ by region, and behavior differs by customer size, so this range let us validate ideas against different contexts and surface problems a single segment would have missed.
Events: 11 partners from 120 participants
In-product feedback: 9 more over the following six months
The feedback button did more than collect practical feedback — it identified users willing to engage. In two cases, some of the most negative feedback we received came from customers who became two of our most committed partners.
What the program changed
Defined a core feature. The split between basic and advanced configuration came out of discovery sessions: raised by one customer, then validated with several others.
Changed the configuration architecture. We tested the proposed architecture with partners and restructured it based on their feedback.
Killed a feature. Discovery showed an existing feature was creating confusion. Partners in other regions confirmed it, and we removed it.
How I led it
I defined the launch goals from the start, by tacking 2 problems we had - both exposure, and lack of communication with our customers.
I owned the program end to end: planning the launch channels, making the case for the feedback button against delivery constraints, coordinating marketing, technical advisors, sales, and development, and running partner onboarding and follow-up.
What I learned
Recruitment has to be built into every touchpoint. Forms, chat, and comments each worked as a consent step. A separate recruitment effort after launch would have reached far fewer people.
Negative feedback signals investment. Customers frustrated enough to write in detail were often the ones most willing to help fix the problem.