As a product manager, you are in charge of strategically guiding a product from beginning to end. You work on the product by researching various feedback and data analyses. The ultimate goal is to make the product useful to consumers and to deliver value to all stakeholders. You have a lot of commitments and big responsibilities. That is why you need the right product management tools to collaborate effectively, and improve your productivity. Tools that can help you to communicate, set priorities, define requirements, manage projects and so on.
But how do you pick the best product management software? Especially because you want tools that can help you from product conception to market delivery. This includes strategy, planning and sharing, prototyping, support for onboarded customers, user behavior analysis, and productivity.
While there are a number of product management tools available for all these use cases, you can’t just try each and every tool. Not only you’d have to figure out how to use them, but it can be overwhelming. After all, the entire process of testing multiple tools wastes time and resources. Which is a sin in product management.
That is why we created this list for you. Every SaaS product and product management tool is grouped under a certain category. Make sure you’re selecting the right tools according to your company, product type and stage.
With that, here’s the ultimate list of the best product management tools and software to have in your stack.
1. Product Road mapping
ProductPlan — ProductPlan offers a drag-and-drop method to build roadmaps easily. Teams can share unlimited numbers of roadmaps — keeping everyone in the loop. Because the tool includes a large collection of ready-to-use templates, the process is relatively simple. Overall, a fantastic product management SaaS that allows everyone to see the various stages of the project.
Roadmap Planner — Teams can use Roadmap Planner to keep track of product development stages in the future. The product management software is functional even when not connected to the Internet, and the user interface is simple to use. It is generally beneficial to those in charge of the product development planning phase.
Tara — Tara can be useful for many reasons. It promises a simple and powerful product development tool and offers many features at a reasonable price. It’s useful for getting daily analytics and insights. The product management tool is ideal for managing weekly sprints and tasks in a straightforward manner.
SharpCloud — The tool promises to be a quick and easy way to create roadmaps. SharpCloud demonstrates the most effective method for achieving your objectives. This makes sure that everybody is on the same page when it comes to the project’s goal. PMs can also visualize the decision-making process — making data easier to understand.
Monday.com — Monday.com is a viable product management tool that can be used by a team of any size. The tool has an easy UI that is simple and interactive. It includes flexible features to help teams collaborate on projects that require an agile workflow.
StoriesOnBoard — StoriesOnBoard is a user story mapping tool that assists remote teams in understanding the needs of their users. The software handles the start and continuation of important conversations between the development team and external stakeholders, making the ideation process easier for product managers.
2. Analytics
Google Analytics — The marketing team relies heavily on Google Analytics. It is, however, equally useful for product managers, who can use it to track user behavior and website visitors. But it’s more than that. Google added many features over time, transforming it into a powerful tool for gaining valuable insights. Furthermore, because it is a Google product, integration with other Google products such as Google AdWords, Google Search Console, and Google Data Console is pretty easy.
Baremetrics — Baremetrics is a well-known SaaS analytics tool for subscription-based businesses. If your company derives a significant portion of its revenue from subscriptions, you should include this product management software in your stack. Furthermore, a useful tool for identifying growth opportunities by understanding revenue and customers.
Adobe Analytics — Adobe Analytics is one of the most advanced tools in this category. It offers tons of features, as well as the ability to add custom ones. Omniture, a leading web analytics platform that was released in 1996, serves as the foundation for the analytical tool. The UX may not be the most user-friendly (though configuring the dashboard is simple), but the results are promising. According to Forrester Research, it can contribute to a 224% ROI.
Amplitude — Amplitude is a powerful solution that helps product teams better understand their customers and track visitors via collaborative analytics. By providing several visualizations and data tracking choices, the tool also aids in the tracking of high-level KPIs and detailed measurements. Overall, a fantastic tool for B2B and B2C organizations to analyze user behavior data.
Heap — Heap is known for its detailed and micro product analytics, which offer you a complete dataset of user behavior without requiring engineering resources. Product managers can dive right in and begin segmenting and evaluating customer experiences across the board. Heap allows users to define events and conversions in the past. This is a useful feature, particularly in situations where deliverables are constantly changing.
Mixpanel — Mixpanel provides several solutions to help product managers identify trends and understand user behavior by measuring and even predicting client usage across specific segmentation needs. The product management software includes a customizable dashboard and many possibilities to play with metrics. It’s a great tool for improving product and customer experiences.
Gainsight PX — Gainsight PX provides product teams with a powerful experience for understanding the entire customer lifecycle. It is a user analytics product engagement tool that helps you track usage, collect customer feedback, and provide in-app engagement initiatives to support adoption and retention.
3. Collaboration tools
Notion — Notion.so is a versatile tool which can be used for multiple use cases and is especially great for PMs. Product teams are often doing the most cross-functional work at companies and thus, must juggle many projects and needs. Notion’s advantages go way beyond note-taking. You can also build multiple views to the same database so you have Kanban, Calendar, List views, etc. with different filters.
Slack — Slack is a cloud-based chat application that enables product managers to collaborate on projects that are in a dead heat. It is a successful and well-designed platform that provides instant messaging, advanced message search, and file transfers. It is useful as a standalone app for desktops, mobile devices (iOS, Android, and even Windows Phone), and web browsers.
Zoom — Zoom has been around since 2011 but became popular during the pandemic. It is as simple as launching a video calling app that allows users to interact with one another during a video conference. It can aid the product team in the creation of new meetings or the direct connection of an ongoing meeting. Zoom’s features of screen-sharing and a support limit of one hundred users (which can be increased to five hundred) contribute to its reputation.
ProofHub — ProofHub is a task management application that provides a comprehensive set of collaboration and project management functions. It’s a well-known online tool and an abseil simulator that allows the management team to chew overwork with distant product management team members. One can create plans, file them, and monitor them, as well as discuss them with colleagues and stakeholders. It also allows users to evaluate and approve files online using a proofing tool.
Celoxis — Celoxis is one of the best online collaboration tools for teams, assisting them in efficiently designing, tracking, and collaborating online. Celoxis is a versatile collaboration software that provides a wide range of features, bilateral reports, and numerous custom-tailored affordances. Celoxis advances plans for better project management, custom workflows, risk management, and resource management for teams through smooth collaboration.
Google Sites — Google Sites is a fantastic tool that allows users to quickly and easily create a website design for their team to collaborate on, a place where everyone can quickly receive or get their updates, and create specific project pages. Google Sites can assist you in building what an intranet for your firm is.
Bitbucket — Bitbucket cloud tool allows users to collaborate and manage multiple projects at the same time. Bitbucket Cloud is primarily concerned with code sharing and team collaboration. It performs this effectively by implementing a sufficient yet simple access control system. Users can choose whether to keep the repository public or private. They can also use Access Control Lists to designate read and write paths (ACLs).
Range — Range is a set of collaboration tools that help teams build trust and stay in sync in order to move faster. Range allows you to combine high-level goals with day-to-day tasks and activities, ensuring that your entire team is aware of how projects are progressing. Set goals, review them in weekly meetings, and log tasks with a quick, periodic status update as they occur.
Asana — Asana is a well-known project management tool that can help PMs efficiently prepare and plan workflows. It combines team interaction with project management to assist teams in collaborating on tasks from multiple projects as well as recurring projects or assignments. To ensure productivity, Asana can easily track your tasks, projects, bugs, and many other components in a manageable manner.
4. Customer feedback and surveys
SurveyMonkey — It is one of the most popular surveys solution tools, with over 40 million registered users. Every day, the SaaS product claims to answer 20 million questions. Users can create complex questions that do not require any coding to receive quick and accurate responses. The tool is ideal for product teams because it allows — sharing of surveys, team analysis, custom graphics, and easy data exporting.
Typeform — Typeform operates in a different way than SurveyMonkey. It focuses on user interaction rather than creating a complex questionnaire. Typeform attempts to increase user response by interacting with the end-user. And the strategy seems to work well as with completion rates four times higher than what is considered average.
JotForm — JotForm is a coding-free online survey builder that seeks to undercut Typeform while also being more user-friendly. JotForm has created a customer base of 2 million in 12 years, developing forms in 177 countries and 12 languages. It is one of the best online form builders, with a drag-and-drop designer and a large number of templates.
Google Forms — Sometimes the simplest tool does the job. Google Forms doesn’t offer any exotic features and it is free to use. It’s the best choice for creating simple forms and gathering user data. Because this is a Google product, all responses are automatically saved into Google Sheets, making data transfer simple.
5. Design and wireframing tools
Figma — Figma is a well-known name in the design world. It is a cloud-based vector graphics editor and prototyping tool that also supports web-based collaboration. The tool includes some offline features for desktop and macOS applications. Figma is an easy and effective design tool that is also simple to learn for newcomers.
Balsamiq Wireframes — Balsamiq is a fairly simple tool to design a user interface. It doesn’t have a lot of features — focusing on what’s important becomes a priority. Users can use a drag-and-drop editor to arrange pre-built widgets. The product management tool does an excellent job of meeting all of the Wireframing, collaboration, and creativity requirements.
InVision — InVision is used by top tech companies, so you know you can trust the tool. InVision’s Inspect feature, which is one of the most advanced, converts designs into detailed specs, allowing the development team to get up and running quickly without having to engage in endless back and forth. When it comes to offering collaboration between developers and design teams, InVision wins many points.
Adobe XD — Adobe XD is a web-based UI and UX design tool for creating wireframes and mockups. It will be most useful to those who are already familiar with the Adobe design suite. The tool includes 500+ plugins and other useful features to boost creativity. Adobe XD works well within the Adobe Creative Cloud, so if you’re already a part of the ecosystem, it makes sense to use this tool.
Sketch — Sketch is more than just a wireframing design tool. It can be used from the earliest idea to the final artwork. Simply put, it is a multifunctional tool that is easier than photoshop but has similar functionality. The software for product management is equally popular among designers and marketing teams.
Cacoo — Cacoo has a powerful editor, easy-to-use interface, and models for online diagramming, mock-up, mind-mapping, and wireframing. Cacoo presents and collects feedback, simplifies workflows, and enhances collaborative effort. The SaaS product feels like having your whole team on your side in real-time collaborative editing, graphical comment, and revision history features. Cocoo is one of the best tools for real-time collaboration.
6. Software Development tools
Azure DevOps — Azure DevOps is powered by Microsoft and can be used with an agile development tool that can be extended to optimize workflows and deployments. The product management tool covers the whole life cycle of the application and provides DevOps. The entire DevOps workflow is equipped with popular open-source tools and third-party services.
Jira — Jira is regarded as the best project management software for agile teams and software developers. It is trusted by over 65,000 organizations worldwide, including some of the world’s largest tech companies. Apart from project management, Jira is well known for bug and issue tracking.
PivotalTracker — Pivotal Tracker is an agile project management tool that assists software development teams in maintaining realistic expectations about when work will be completed based on their current performance. A simple tracker allows for real-time discussion of a prioritized backlog. Product owners and developers know where they stand when everyone understands what’s going on.
7. User experience testing tools
Adobe Target — Adobe Target is a rule-based testing and targeting tool that can be integrated with Adobe Analytics to optimize its operation and determine a website’s performance. The cloud solution provides scalable AI-powered testing, personalization, and automation. The tool can generate reports that can be used for marketing offers, personalization, and UX testing, allowing the marketing team to determine which offers to make.
Hotjar — Hotjar operates differently than traditional analytical tools. Rather than providing large sums of numbers, it allows product managers to see how users interact with their product. It employs interactive heatmaps of user clicks and actions, session recordings, and feedback polls to assist PMs in developing a solid, data-backed understanding of what and how people are doing on the product.
Usertesting.com — UserTesting provides designers, product managers, marketers, and executives with customer experience feedback such as websites, mobile apps, prototypes, and real-world experiences. The platform assists in hearing and talking to customers as they interact with websites, applications, or prototypes. This product management tool provides real-time insights.
UsabilityHub — UsabilityHub is a remote user research platform that helps you to swiftly identify design flaws, saving time, effort, and the user’s time. The tool provides a variety of tests for product management to perform, including first-click tests, design surveys, and preference tests. The platform also includes a participant panel of over 170,000 testers.
Optimizely — Optimizely offers AI-powered personalization and experimentation, which includes A/B testing, multivariate testing, and server-side testing. The tool is simple to interact and you don’t require coding to build experiments. Although complicated features or product rollouts may require development effort. Optimizely delivers real-time statistical analysis of trial data and has API output.
8. Onboarding Tools
Whatfix — Whatfix is a multifunctional tool when it comes to round code-free user onboarding and practices. It benefits from building real-time instantaneous walkthroughs that can provide customers with an unusual onboarding experience. Whatfix also helps in implementing energetic engagement at the time of onboarding and training the users. As an extension to this, Whatfix transforms its walkthroughs automatically to various formats such as annotated videos, articles, slideshows, interactive URLs, PDFs that can be reused as needed during the user’s lifecycle.
Intercom — Intercom is a customer messaging product management software, which is excellent for user engagement. It holds multitudinous abilities that make this platform stand out in the market. It offers a live chat facility to communicate with the customers that topple on to the website. The tool also provides an email, push, and in-app messaging platform to capture and help users. Intercom is a public information center where users can instantly find solutions to all their doubts.
Userlane — Userlane is a user onboarding retention and automation platform, which develops SaaS for product management. The platform is a direction layer that runs on the peak of software applications based on the browser to present consumers with a completely interactive onboarding experience. Userlane is far from those tooltip solutions that only present components in the user interface or recommend pop-ups with instructional knowledge.
Inline Manual — With the help of the onboarding procedure, the inline manual allows you to build simple tutorials for new users and let them increase their strength and marketing efforts through managed activities. In addition, the tool offers customer guide blogs inside your app and delivers support emails linked to the fields your destination market is striving to include in your app.
Chatbot — Chatbot is a complete messaging platform that enables you to create automatic replies by just utilizing drag and drop. Users can select from a variety of response formats and efforts to enhance their user onboarding procedure. Chatbots have excellent trial features, so users can make sure their chatbots operate ideally before you should attach with different users. Users can install their chatbot in just a few clicks along with their customizable templates. The tool also provides features such as customer segments, reports, archives, and user data to help you save the user’s essential information.
Groove — Groove is another ticketing solution for teams that allow users to collaborate via email, live chat, social media, and conference calls. Groove offers support 24/7 through a learning platform that incorporates all of the tools. With their current alliances, they recently teamed up with Olark to integrate live chat into their aid widget.
A general rule of thumb for product management is to select the least number of tools necessary to meet the needs of your team.
Wouldn’t it be nice if one tool could take care of all of the above mentioned use cases? Well, that’s what we’re building at Zeda.io — a product management suite for product managers to define, manage, and collaborate on their products at one place. So you don’t have to juggle between different tools to manage your products.
