Elegantly Killing a Product: My Google Podcast Experience
As product managers, we often find ourselves navigating the delicate balance between innovation and practicality. While launching new features and products is what we’re all excited about, there comes a time when we must face the inevitable: sunsetting a product or feature. It’s a task that is underappreciated but essential for maintaining a healthy relationship with our customers and keeping a well-performing product or portfolio.
So what does it take to gracefully phase out a product and how it impacts user experience?
How to do it Well
I recently experienced this with Google Podcasts. An avid user, I loved this product’s simplicity and absence of distracting clutter—qualities that set it apart from other podcast apps, in my opinion. But one rainy day in October last year, Google dropped me an email: they were discontinuing Google Podcasts. My initial reaction? Disappointment and of course, the inevitable: “yet another entry for https://killedbygoogle.com/ - ha!”. I didn’t think much of what it required from a product manager at the time. I was more concerned about my own experience as a user.
Yet, the initial email emphasized continuity: I’d still enjoy my podcasts without any additional cost, they assured me. It was a relief because they had mentioned existing subscriptions would transfer to YouTube Music and somehow I had the idea I would have to pay for that, but my fear lasted the seconds it took me to reach the line in the same email where it was explained I could continue as before, just in a different app.
Fast-forward to March 2024. I had read the first email back in October 2023, and for whatever reason the announced transition was stamped in my memory. I guess that’s how much I like my podcasts. As April arrived, I only kept on smiling at the irony of project estimation—how often things veer off course. Then, in late April, I opened the app to find a discreet banner: “On June 23rd, you won’t have access to Google Podcasts.” My heart skipped a beat. But the solution was just a tap away.
I tapped, and YouTube Music opened. Surprisingly, I had the app installed all along—I’d simply forgotten. The message read, “We’re loading your podcasts.” Within seconds, my subscriptions appeared, and my listening experience continued uninterrupted.
It’s a Thankless Job
Killing a feature or product is a thankless task. Users rarely see the months spent ensuring a smooth transition. Between the fear of disrupting users’ routines and messing up their loyalty for our business, and the pressure of stakeholders to stop wasting resources on something we decided to not invest in anymore… the job is hard. This is why I appreciate it when it is so well done. In this case, all I had to do was tap twice, and wait a few seconds. But I bet what really happened was much harder than that.
Admittedly, I’m not entirely thrilled with YouTube Music’s UI. The minimalism of Google Podcasts was my favorite part of it. But perhaps I’m an outlier. Everyone else seems to listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I am the weird target of podcasters saying “or wherever you get your podcasts.”
Anyhow, the message here is that elegantly killing a product isn’t just about annihilating it—it’s about orchestrating a graceful exit. As product managers, we can learn from this example: communicate transparently, execute flawlessly, and remember that behind every transition there is a possibility of a retained customer somewhere else in our portfolio. As users, don’t forget the unsung heroes that had to make this thankless job to keep you happy (or at least to avoid ruining your walks!).
In my experience, companies often kill their products too late. I believe this is partly due to the stubbornness and resilience of Estonians. We don't want to give up on things, even if they don't seem to bring the desired results. We keep trying, hoping the rocket will take off. In my experience, discontinuing a product always brings a good feeling - it creates room for doing other things and, often, companies struggle with spreading their attention too thinly across many topics.
I would also highlight here example of successful exit in my career - the sale of the DigiDoc portal from SK ID Solutions to Dokobit. Initially, the DigiDoc portal was created simply as a demo environment for digital signing to promote its use. It became surprisingly popular, but supporting it was not SK's main focus - our revenue came from issuing and using EID, not from the portal itself. Dokobit, on the other hand, had a similar environment and it was their main business - so we decided to sell the DigiDoc portal to them at a small price.
Everyone won from that deal:
- SK was able to focus on its core business, while EID usage did not decline as the portal continued to be operated by Dokobit.
- Dokobit gained a large number of subcribers, a significant portion of whom likely converted into paying customers.
- End users received a better digital signing environment because Dokobit was more interested in investing in it than SK was (since it was their main business).
This is a great example of successful product termination and offering the same value as part of another solution. In addition to Google having one less products to maintain, it can be assumed that integrating podcasts into Google Music will generally bring more users there. This opens up the opportunity to also earn from music listening (assuming that some podcast content listeners will convert to also music content listeners), and thereby attract users from competitors like Spotify.