Should every product feature add value for every user?
No, and assuming it should is a costly mistake. Value isn’t universal: a feature like the iPhone’s ProRAW or Amazon Prime’s extra perks is decisive for some segments and invisible to others, yet everyone pays the same, and lighter users rarely feel shortchanged. Product maturity is knowing the role each feature plays: which ones activate the purchase, which retain users, which defend against competitors, and which are simply excess. From there come harder but more profitable calls: communicate benefits by segment, move to tiered pricing, or thin the product by removing costly features nobody uses.
Features, Value, and the False Idea of Universality
There is a fairly widespread obsession in product —especially in digital environments— with adding features. More screens, more buttons, more options, more “value.” The equation may seem simple: if we add more things, the product will be better and the customer will be willing to pay more.
This logic only holds if we assume that value is universal, homogeneous, and, above all, actually used. And that is very often not the case.
Segments that use vs. segments that don’t
Just look at any iPhone. Apple systematically integrates features that a significant portion of users will never use. Advanced automations, shortcuts, complex privacy settings, or productivity capabilities that largely go unnoticed.
They are there because for certain segments they do add value, while for others they are completely irrelevant. And yet, everyone pays the same price.
“When real product usage is analyzed and segmentation is done properly, very clear patterns emerge: there are segments that intensively use ‘advanced’ features and segments that barely scratch the surface.”
What’s interesting is that this latter group of users doesn’t complain, because they don’t perceive an imbalance between what they pay and what they use. The value they extract, even if partial, already feels fair to them.
Forcing the commercial narrative to highlight features that this segment doesn’t use —and never will— is usually a sterile effort and, in many cases, unnecessary.
This point is uncomfortable for many product and marketing teams, because it challenges a deeply rooted belief: that everything that is built must be explained, activated, and exploited by all users.
Take Spotify as an example. For many users, the real value lies almost exclusively in playlists and weekly discovery. Social features, shared sessions, or advanced library management exist, but they are neither the reason for signing up nor the reason for staying for the majority.
This needs nuance. Some features exist to justify the perceived value for a subset of the market, while other segments pay the “full price” without any issue because their mental balance between cost and benefit is already resolved.
One benefit as trigger and as anchor
The situation becomes even more interesting when we look at products that incorporate multiple benefits, but where one of them acts as the true purchase trigger (what “activates” us to buy) and, at the same time, as the retention anchor. It is the benefit that gets the customer in… and the one that keeps them from leaving. In a startup MVP, including it is essential
The rest may add value, but they don’t decide. Something similar happens with Amazon Prime: fast shipping is the trigger and the main retainer. Prime Video, Prime Reading, or Prime Gaming add layers of value, but a significant share of users does not actively consume them and still feels the price is more than justified.
Invisible benefits: communicate, segment, or remove
In these cases, it’s not uncommon to find additional benefits that are not just unused: the user doesn’t even know they exist. This is where genuinely strategic decisions come into play: segmenting customers or thinning the product itself.
- Segmenting. A first option is to start communicating these benefits in a segmented way, understanding what each group values and what willingness to pay is associated with each benefit. This analysis often opens the door to tiered pricing models, better suited to capturing the maximum value from each segment without artificially forcing the product.
- Thinning the product. The less glamorous alternative, but often the more profitable one. If there are features that are unknown, underused, and also generate costs —development, maintenance, support, or infrastructure— removing them while keeping the price has a direct impact on margin. Not everything that is built must survive, especially if it is not decisive in acquisition or retention decisions.
Defensive features in saturated markets
This analysis should not be confused with the addition of new features in highly competitive markets.
“In the SaaS world, for example, it is common to see platforms iterating at high speed, adding capabilities almost continuously. They don’t always do this because customers explicitly ask for them, but because they need to close gaps that could enable new competitors to enter.”
These are defensive features rather than differentiators.
These additional layers are rarely the main reason for purchase, but they can be decisive in preventing a potential competitor from finding an opening. From the outside they look like excess; from the inside, they are barriers to entry. And again, not all segments value or use them, but their mere existence strengthens the product’s position in the market.
From features to decisions
The common mistake is to treat all these situations with the same logic: communicate more, explain better, push usage. Reality is more uncomfortable and, at the same time, more interesting. Not all features are designed for all customers. Not all value needs to be explicit. And charging the same price to those who use less is not always a problem.
Product maturity lies in understanding which features activate, which retain, which defend, and which simply don’t matter. And from there, making decisions —on pricing, communication, and roadmap— that are not always comfortable from a narrative standpoint, but are coherent with the bottom line.
