Close Spotify's Product-Driven Adoption Gap With Listeners Aged 40 to 60

Spotify's marketing team has found that people aged 40 to 60 adopt Spotify at a lower rate than other age groups. They have also shown that marketing is not the cause: the gap comes from the product itself. As a product manager at Spotify, how would you improve the product to raise adoption in this age group? ```hint Locate the drop-off first With marketing ruled out, these people reach the product and something inside it fails them. Work out at which step of the journey they fall behind other ages before you choose whom to design for and what to build. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - What counts as adoption here: signing up, becoming a regular listener in the first weeks, or converting to Premium? - Do we know at which step (sign-up, first session, first month) the gap with other ages is largest? - Which listening contexts and devices matter most for this group: phone, car, smart speaker or desktop? - Is the goal for the free tier, Premium, or both? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A definition of adoption and a plan to locate the gap in the user journey, building on the fact that marketing has been ruled out - A segmentation of 40-to-60-year-olds by listening needs and contexts, and a justified choice of one segment - Product pain points for that segment, grounded in onboarding, recommendations, content mix and listening contexts rather than age stereotypes - Prioritized solutions with a clear first version - Success metrics for the segment, plus guardrails that protect other age groups and the business ### Follow-up Questions - Your change lifts activation for 40-to-60-year-olds but lowers it for younger users. What do you do? - How would you confirm these pain points before building anything? - How would you avoid building something that feels patronizing to this group?