Zoominfo Product Strategy Insights
Traditional customer health scores at ZoomInfo failed to drive action across Product, Sales, and Customer Success — they were overly complex, misaligned to strategy, and lacked ownership. We needed a simpler, outcomes-focused approach that could identify and prioritize customers with true upmarket growth potential.
Michael Perlis
Director, Product Analytics
My Role
I led the design of a new customer health framework that combined quantitative product data with qualitative LLM-driven insights to guide product strategy and C-Suite decision-making.
Challenges
Existing health scores used dozens of disconnected metrics, created noise instead of clarity, and didn’t correlate with retention or expansion. Leaders needed an operating model that was simple, explainable, and directly tied to our growth strategy.
Solutions
I developed a 2x2 model using Setup Quality (technical implementation strength) and Product-Market Fit (strategic alignment from customer conversations analyzed via LLM). Accounts were plotted to identify four clear action quadrants, enabling deep-dives on high-fit, low-utilization accounts aligned with our upmarket strategy.
To turn insights into action, I built an operating cadence with C-Suite and functional leaders that connected data to strategic decisions:
Focused Account Selection: Identified 20 high-potential accounts that were representative of our upmarket growth strategy.
Monthly Deep-Dive Rhythm: Analyzed four accounts per month to uncover adoption barriers, product gaps, and growth opportunities.
Product Strategy Analytics: Tracked key metrics tied to core product pillars, surfacing patterns that linked feature usage to retention and expansion.
Cross-Functional Context Gathering: Partnered with Sales, Customer Success, and Onboarding teams to layer customer sentiment and field insights on top of quantitative data.
Executive Working Sessions: Facilitated monthly forums with Product and GTM leadership to review findings, prioritize product investments, and scale learnings across segments.
Impact
The new operating model delivered measurable business outcomes within six months:
15% Improvement in Contributory Network Adoption: Developed targeted talk tracks for GTM teams to pitch our contributory network, a key strategic pillar for their growth.
10% Conversion Rate Improvement: Discovered "stale recommendations" as a critical user pain point through our research loop, leading to recommendation engine improvements
10% Improvement in CRM Sync Utilization: Revealed significant underutilization of in-product analytics, resulting in UX improvements and enhanced GTM enablement
Enhanced Enterprise Measurement: Surfaced how traditional SMB KPIs were misrepresenting mid-market and enterprise accounts, leading to new cohorts and measurement frameworks
