Translating business outcomes into product outcomes

Business outcomes describe how the organization benefits, often in financial or strategic terms. Examples include increasing revenue, reducing churn, or expanding into new markets. While these goals are important, they are usually too broad for product teams to act on directly.

To bridge this gap, teams translate business outcomes into product outcomes. A product outcome focuses on customer behavior inside the product that signals progress toward the broader business goal. For instance, if the business outcome is reducing churn, a related product outcome might be increasing the percentage of users who complete onboarding or return within the first week.

This translation ensures that product teams work on changes they can influence. It also helps maintain alignment: leadership can track progress on business results, while teams can focus on measurable product behaviors. When linked with continuous discovery, this practice allows insights from user research to directly guide which product outcomes matter most at a given time.