Product strategy example

Product strategy example for a regional bank

A banking product strategy states which customers a bank product serves, which of their money problems it solves first, and how that brings deposits, fee income or lending onto the bank's balance sheet. It is owned by the head of the product line and agreed with the business line executive, risk, compliance, operations and technology.

This is the Banking version of the product strategy template.

Horizon: 18 months4 priorities · 12 outcomes

Use this template

What this product strategy template includes

ContextThe situation, the challenges to solve, and what is deliberately left out.
Product visionThe future the product is working toward.
Target customer and problemWho the product serves and the job they need done.
Positioning and differentiationWhy this product and not another.
Strategic betsThe few areas of investment and what each is expected to prove.
Product principlesThe rules that guide trade-offs.
Priorities and measuresThree to five priorities, each with an owner, outcomes with a baseline and target, and the initiatives behind them.

Worked example

A complete product strategy for a fictional organization: regional bank with $42 billion in assets, setting the strategy for its small business banking product.

Worked exampleProduct strategy

Organization	Regional bank with $42 billion in assets, setting the strategy for its small business banking product (5,000 staff)
Ambition	Be the primary operating account for half of our small business customers by mid 2028, so the bank's cheapest deposits grow again.
Horizon	18 months

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

The bank serves 124,000 small businesses holding $6.2 billion in deposits, 58% of it in noninterest-bearing operating balances, which makes this the cheapest funding the bank has. Those deposits fell 4% in the past year and 13% of accounts closed. Only 41% of customers run their main inflows and payroll through us; they hold an average of $86,000 against $25,000 for the rest. Opening an account takes a median of six days and, for most applicants, a branch visit, and 64% of online applications are abandoned. Business online banking is the consumer platform with a second login: no user roles, no invoicing, and no ACH origination without a $250-a-month treasury package.

Challenges

Card acceptance, invoicing and bill pay have moved to payment processors and accounting tools, and the balances follow: 46% of the accounts that closed last year had moved card settlement elsewhere first.
Any business with more than one owner must visit a branch to open an account, so the established firms most likely to bring full operating balances are the ones lost at application.
A line of credit under $100,000 takes nine days and a set of paper financial statements, although the account history that would support the decision already sits on the core system.

We will focus on

Businesses with $250,000 to $5 million in revenue that already bank with us or operate inside the branch footprint.
Primary operating relationships: the account where sales land and from which payroll, suppliers and taxes are paid.
Four product bets, each with a named risk and compliance partner from the first design review.

We will not

A separate digital-only business bank under a new brand, even though it would launch sooner than changing the main platform.
Building payroll, accounting or card processing ourselves. We connect to the providers customers already use and keep the settlement account.
Winning lending-only customers through online loan marketplaces. Credit is offered to businesses whose cash flow we can see.

Product vision

Vision	A business owner opens an account from a phone in ten minutes, gets paid, pays staff and suppliers, and borrows for a slow month from the same place, with a banker at a nearby branch who knows the business when something needs a conversation.
Time frame	Three years for the full vision. This strategy runs 18 months, to the end of Q2 2028, and is judged on the share of customers who use us as their primary operating account.

Target customer and problem

Target customer	The owner or office manager of an established local business with $250,000 to $5 million in revenue: contractors, medical and dental practices, restaurants, professional firms and small distributors. Most have one to three owners, a part-time bookkeeper and an outside accountant.
Problem	Money moves through four or five tools that do not agree with each other. Card sales settle two days later in one place, invoices are chased from another, payroll draws from a third, and the owner logs in to the bank only to check that nothing bounced. Cash shortfalls are discovered, not forecast.
Current alternative	A checking account with us or a competitor for balances, a payment processor for card sales, accounting software for invoices and bill pay, and a personal credit card or an online lender when cash is short.
Why now	Small business deposits fell 4% in a year in which our consumer and commercial balances held steady. The business online banking contract ends in 2028, and the replacement platform the bank has chosen supports user roles, instant payments and data connections that the current one cannot.

Positioning and differentiation

We are the only	Bank in our footprint where a small business can open an account the same day without a branch visit, take and make every kind of payment from that account, and still walk into a branch and talk to someone with authority to decide.
Differentiators	Card sales settled into the account the same day. ACH, bill pay and invoicing included in the standard account. Credit lines decided in a day on observed cash flow. Deposits held on our own balance sheet, with a named banker in 205 branches for the moments that need one.
Where we will not compete	Companies above $10 million in revenue that need lockbox, sweep accounts or foreign exchange; they are referred to commercial banking. Startups looking for venture debt. Businesses outside our states. Rate-led deposit gathering: we do not pay promotional rates on operating accounts.

Strategic bets

Bet	Hypothesis	Evidence so far	Investment
Same-day digital account opening	Removing the branch visit for multi-owner businesses lifts completed applications from 36% to 65%	71% of abandoned applications stop at the branch appointment step; a two-market pilot with remote owner verification completed 58%	3 squads and an identity verification vendor, $9 million
Payments inside the operating account	Customers who invoice, pay bills and settle card sales with us make the account primary and keep three times the balances	Customers settling card sales with us hold 2.1 times the balances of similar customers who settle elsewhere	4 squads and a processor partnership, $14 million
Roles for owners, bookkeepers and accountants	Separate logins with limits, plus a live feed to accounting software, remove the main reason bookkeepers steer clients to other providers	52% of 900 owners surveyed share their password with a bookkeeper; 38% of business support calls concern shared or locked logins	2 squads, $6 million
Credit decided on account cash flow	Twelve months of account history lets us decide lines up to $100,000 in a day and approve more good borrowers without raising the loss rate	Back-tested on three years of accounts, the cash-flow model approved 24% more applicants with no rise in modeled losses	2 squads and 5 credit risk modelers, $8 million

Product principles

Risk and compliance sit in the squad from the first design review. Nothing reaches a pilot with an open control question.
Verify a customer once. Identity, ownership and signing authority collected at opening are reused for payments and credit, never asked for again.
Partner for what customers already use, own the account. We integrate payroll, accounting and card processing and build only what moves balances onto our books.
Every digital flow has a banker behind it. A customer who stalls online is called by a named person within one business day.
Fraud loss per account is a product metric. A faster flow that raises it does not ship.
We win operating balances by being where the payments are, not by paying a promotional rate.

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: Head of Digital Onboarding

Open a business account the same day, without a branch visit

Nearly two thirds of online applications are abandoned, most at the point where a second owner has to appear in a branch. Every later bet depends on customers getting through this door.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Online business applications completed and funded	36%	65%	Q4 2027
Median time from application to a funded account	6 days	1 days	Q4 2027
New business accounts opened without a branch visit	18%	60%	Q2 2028

Initiatives

Replace in-branch owner verification with remote identity and ownership checks for entities with up to four owners
Pre-fill business details from public registration records and ask only for what is missing
Send applications that fail automated checks to a central review team working to a four-hour standard
Have branch bankers start the same application on a tablet, so there is one process and not two

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 2Owner: Head of Small Business Payments

Bring payments back into the operating account

About 38,000 customers accept cards and only 11,200 settle with us. Balances sit where the payments run, so the account has to do what the processors and accounting tools do today.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Customers using us as their primary operating account	41%	50%	Q2 2028
Customers sending an ACH payment or an invoice from the account each month	9%	28%	Q2 2028
Card-accepting customers who settle sales into our account	11.2K customers	19K customers	Q2 2028

Initiatives

Include ACH origination and bill pay in the standard account, with limits set from account history
Add invoicing with a pay-by-bank link and a card option, reconciled automatically to the deposit
Offer same-day settlement of card sales through the processor partner at no extra fee
Retire the $250-a-month treasury package for businesses under $5 million in revenue

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 3Owner: Director of Product, Business Digital Banking

Give owners, bookkeepers and accountants their own access

Bookkeepers and accountants decide where many of their clients bank, and today they work from the owner's password. Accounts they can work in properly are accounts that stay.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Accounts with two or more named users	0%	25%	Q2 2028
Annual small business account attrition	13%	10.5%	Q2 2028
Small business deposits	$6.2B	$6.6B	Q2 2028

Initiatives

Launch owner, bookkeeper and accountant roles with payment limits and dual approval
Build direct data feeds to the three accounting packages most of our customers use
Give accountants one login across every client who grants them access
Move business customers to the new online banking platform in four waves ahead of the 2028 contract end

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 4Owner: Head of Small Business Lending

Lend against the cash flow we can already see

Only 22% of primary customers borrow from us, and a nine-day decision sends the rest to a credit card or an online lender. Account history is better evidence than the paper statements we ask for, so faster decisions should not cost more in losses.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Median time to decision on lines up to $100,000	9 days	1 days	Q1 2028
Primary customers with a line of credit or business card from us	22%	28%	Q2 2028
Annualized net charge-offs on lines under $100,000	2.4%	2.2%	Q2 2028

Initiatives

Take the cash-flow underwriting model through independent model validation and into production for existing customers
Show eligible customers a pre-approved limit inside online banking
Run the new model alongside the bureau-score model for six months and compare losses each month

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Blank product strategy template

The same structure with a prompt in every field. Copy it, or download it as a Word or Excel file.

Your planProduct strategy

Organization	[Describe your organization in a few words, with its size]
Ambition	[One sentence on where you want to be at the end of the plan]
Horizon	[How long the plan runs, for example 12 months]

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

[Where things stand today: the facts that make this strategy necessary]

Challenges

[A problem the strategy has to solve]
[A problem the strategy has to solve]

We will focus on

[Something you are choosing to concentrate on]
[Something you are choosing to concentrate on]

We will not

[Something you are deliberately leaving out]
[Something you are deliberately leaving out]

Product vision

Vision	[Your vision]
Time frame	[Your time frame]

Target customer and problem

Target customer	[Your target customer]
Problem	[Your problem]
Current alternative	[Your current alternative]
Why now	[Your why now]

Positioning and differentiation

We are the only	[Your we are the only]
Differentiators	[Your differentiators]
Where we will not compete	[Your where we will not compete]

Strategic bets

Bet	Hypothesis	Evidence so far	Investment
[Bet]	[Hypothesis]	[Evidence so far]	[Investment]
[Bet]	[Hypothesis]	[Evidence so far]	[Investment]
[Bet]	[Hypothesis]	[Evidence so far]	[Investment]

Product principles

[A principle that settles a recurring trade-off]
[A principle that settles a recurring trade-off]
[A principle that settles a recurring trade-off]

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 2Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 3Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 4Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

How to adapt it

01
Start from the balance sheet. Say what the product is for in funding or revenue terms, such as low-cost deposits or fee income, before describing a single feature.
02
Define the primary relationship in a way your data team can measure, for example main inflows plus recurring outflows, and record today's share.
03
Name the customer by revenue band and business type, and say which segment is referred to another division of the bank.
04
For each bet, write down the evidence you have and the control questions risk and compliance will ask. Put their reviewer next to the product owner.
05
Decide what you will partner for and what must sit on your own core, and put each partner through third-party risk review before it enters the roadmap.
06
Include at least one loss or fraud measure among the outcomes, so speed is not bought with risk.

How to run it

A plan only works if it is reviewed on a rhythm. This is the cadence the example assumes.

Check-in	Outcome owners update progress and confidence weekly.
Review	Priority owners review outcomes and unblock initiatives monthly.
Reset	Leadership revisits priorities and targets quarterly.

Tability keeps this cadence for you. Each priority becomes an objective, each outcome a key result with its baseline and target, and each initiative a tracked task. Owners get a check-in reminder and the plan shows what is on track.

Track this plan in Tability

Still comparing tools? See the 10 best strategy software tools.

Common mistakes

Counting accounts opened instead of primary relationships. Dormant accounts cost money to maintain and bring no balances.
Treating compliance as a launch gate. Controls designed in the final month add steps that undo the speed the product was built for.
Copying a fintech feature list without asking which features move deposits or fee income onto the bank's own books.
Running the digital flow and the branch flow as separate products, so customers get two answers and branch staff distrust the new one.

Questions, answered.

What does a product strategy look like for a bank?

It has the same parts as any product strategy, a target customer, a problem, positioning and a few bets, but it is anchored to the balance sheet. A bank product strategy says how the product brings deposits, loans or fee income, names the risk and compliance constraints, and measures success by relationship depth more than by sign-ups.

How is a banking product strategy different from a software product strategy?

The main difference is that a bank earns from balances and credit, not from subscriptions. Features matter only if they change where customers keep and move money. A bank also works within capital, liquidity and conduct rules, on a core system that changes slowly, so sequencing and partner choices carry more weight than in a software company.

Which metrics should a bank product strategy track?

Track primary relationship share first, because it predicts balances and retention. Add deposit balances and mix, application completion and time to open, active use of payments, attrition, and credit usage with a loss measure beside it. Avoid leading with accounts opened or app downloads, which rise easily without changing the bank's funding or income.

Where do risk and compliance fit in a bank's product strategy?

They belong inside the strategy, not after it. Each bet should name the control questions it raises, such as customer verification, fraud, fair lending or model validation, and a reviewer who joins from the first design session. Strategies that leave this to launch approval usually ship late and with extra steps for the customer.

Should a bank build new product features or partner for them?

Partner for services customers already buy elsewhere and that do not hold balances, such as payroll or accounting, and build what keeps the account and the data on your own systems. Whatever the split, the bank stays accountable for the customer outcome, so each partner needs due diligence, clear data terms and an exit plan.

Product strategy example for a regional bank

Get the Word file

What this product strategy template includes

Worked example

Context

Product vision

Target customer and problem

Positioning and differentiation

Strategic bets

Product principles

Open a business account the same day, without a branch visit

Bring payments back into the operating account

Give owners, bookkeepers and accountants their own access

Lend against the cash flow we can already see

Blank product strategy template

Context

Product vision

Target customer and problem

Positioning and differentiation

Strategic bets

Product principles

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

Get the Word file

How to adapt it

How to run it

Common mistakes

Questions, answered.

What this product strategy template includes

Worked example

Open a business account the same day, without a branch visit

Bring payments back into the operating account

Give owners, bookkeepers and accountants their own access

Lend against the cash flow we can already see

Blank product strategy template

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

How to adapt it

How to run it

Common mistakes

Questions, answered.

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