Amplitude, the leading provider of product analytics, today released the results of a global survey examining the evolution of the product landscape from August 2021 to August 2022. The findings reveal that digital product usage has surged across industries, growing 16% year-on-year globally, despite economic turbulence. This figure rises slightly to 18% in the UK, which is trailing behind many other countries - including Germany (38%), France (33%) and Singapore (43%). The findings reveal concerns, and priorities, of leaders amid the escalating economic downturn - as well as unveiling industry trends that reflect global shifts, such as The Great Resignation.
The Product Report 2022 is the second annual report of its nature. Executives in marketing, product, data, and growth management roles were surveyed across 12 industries and eight countries. These include UK-founded companies, including dating app Paired, and pet-and-house-sitting app TrustedHousesitters.
In a downturn, double down: Product strategies ramp up
The survey revealed fears surrounding the economic downturn and its impact on product strategy and growth. Key findings include:
- 26% fear a potential loss in product strategy focus
- 25% are concerned about not pivoting fast enough
- 63% feel moderately or less equipped to shift their product strategy
Despite fears, respondents are doubling down on their product strategies. Their top priorities include customer retention (43%), product engagement (37%), and product-led growth (37%). Additionally, with 25% citing investments in competitive differentiation and 22% in product launches, it’s clear that trumping competitors is front of mind for many this year.
"In today’s economic environment, the importance of investments in digital customer experience cannot be understated. Consumer spend will continue to decline over the next 12 months, and the businesses that do not invest in their digital product now risk losing market share to their competitors,” said Daniel Bailey, Vice President EMEA, Amplitude. “If the past year proved anything, it’s that progress is not always linear. Despite market challenges, the companies included in our Next Hottest Product list like Paired, with 636% year-over-year user growth, are proof that investments in digital experience translate to increased engagement and sustainable growth.”
The Great Resignation shapes product landscapes
Use of staffing and job search products soared between 2021 and 2022 - globally by 118%. This is the largest growth across all industries analysed in this survey, and is likely reflective of the upheaval global workforces have faced in the wake of COVID-19 - from widespread redundancies to The Great Resignation.
At the same time, products related to continued education, language learning & skills coaching in adults, surged over this 12 month period - 48% globally. This trend could well be another side of the trend we see above, as workers seek to upskill themselves to become more employable.
FinTech & Crypto’s growth continues
Fintech - including banking, investing, budgeting, and payment apps - continued to add users over the last year. Fintech’s widespread adoption continued over this 12 month period, hitting a 22% baseline between June and August 2022. The report found several fintech apps surging in popularity globally. These include Italy-based Scalapay, which has grown 123% according to Amplitude’s data, and France-based Qonto, which has enjoyed a 75% increase in monthly active users.
By contrast, Crypto revealed a more complicated story. While activity slowed significantly after peaking at 78% growth in January compared to the baseline, overall crypto usage has grown by 25.8% since August 2021. To put that into perspective, that’s greater growth than we saw in the fintech category, suggesting that a decline in crypto values doesn’t equal a decline in crypto users. So, despite dire headlines on the crypto crash, the data is showing that overall positive growth continues.
BeReal: A lesson in product-led growth
The social app, BeReal, grew from 10,000 daily active users to tens of millions of daily active users within just 18 months. Data is a central part of BeReal’s culture, with almost all of its employees using Amplitude daily to understand user behavior. The company’s founder and CEO, Alexis Barreyat, shared that he spends several hours in Amplitude every day. When pitching to investors for fundraising, Barreyat even uses the Amplitude dashboard, rather than a standard pitch deck, to better show just how engaging the BeReal product is.
