Why Your Product Feels Broken (Even When Your Data Says It’s Not)

Your metrics are green. Your A/B tests are “winning.” Your dashboard looks beautiful.

So why does your product still feel like garbage?

Why are users leaving after two weeks? Why is your support team answering the same questions over and over? Why are you lying awake at 2 a.m., thinking something’s off even though the numbers say everything’s fine?

I’ll tell you why.

You’re either measuring the wrong things, ignoring your users, or you’ve lost the ability to trust your own judgment.

It’s one of three problems. And by the end of this article, you’ll know exactly which one is killing your product.

Let’s go.

The Diagnosis Problem

Here’s what I’ve learned running Allelic Media and working with founders who know their product should feel better than it does:

Most founders think they have a design problem. They don’t. They have a diagnosis problem.

They’re treating symptoms. Changing button colors. Tweaking microcopy. Running more tests. And nothing changes.

Because they’re not fixing what’s actually broken.

There are three problems that kill product UX. Three. That’s it. I’m going to walk you through each one. Ask yourself some honest questions. By the end, you’ll know which one you’re dealing with.

Problem One: Metrics Addiction

This is when you worship data so hard that the numbers start running your company instead of informing it.

Here’s the test.

Question one: When’s the last time you made a design decision without data backing it up? Not because you were being lazy — because you knew your user well enough to make the call.

If you can’t remember, that’s a problem.

Question two: If an A/B test told you to do something that felt wrong — something that might hurt users long-term — would you ship it anyway because the numbers said so?

Be honest with yourself.

Question three: Have you ever celebrated a metric win that you secretly knew meant nothing? The number went up, but deep down you knew it wasn’t a real win?

If you’re nodding along, you’ve got metrics addiction.

Here’s what it looks like in the wild. You test a more aggressive popup. Conversions go up 4%. Everyone high-fives. You ship it.

Three months later, retention is down. Reviews are getting worse. Users are annoyed. And you’re sitting there wondering what the hell happened.

I’ll tell you what happened. The metric won. The user lost. And you optimized yourself into a worse product.

Data is a tool. It’s not your boss. Stop letting it make decisions for you.

Problem Two: User Disconnect

Here’s your test.

Question one: When’s the last time you actually talked to a user? Not a survey. Not a support ticket. A real conversation. Face to face or screen to screen.

If it’s been more than a month, that’s a problem.

Question two: If I asked you to describe your user’s biggest frustration — in their words, not your marketing copy — could you do it?

Most founders can’t. They think they know. They don’t.

Question three: Do you catch yourself saying “users want X” in meetings without any real evidence? Just vibes? Just assumptions based on what made sense two years ago?

That’s user disconnect.

Here’s how it happens. You start out close to your users. Maybe you were one of them. Then you raise money. Hire people. Get buried in operations and investor updates.

Suddenly you’re three layers removed from anyone who actually uses your product.

And the dangerous part? You don’t notice. You keep making decisions for users who don’t exist anymore. Users from two years ago. Users you imagined.

The fix is embarrassingly simple. Go talk to people. Not once. Every week. Make it a non-negotiable habit, not a crisis response.

If you’re not talking to users regularly, you’re flying blind. Period.

Problem Three: Gut Avoidance

This one’s sneaky. This is when you’ve lost confidence in your own judgment — so you hide behind data, processes, and “best practices” to avoid making real decisions.

Here’s your test.

Question one: Do you delay decisions because you’re “waiting for more data” — even when deep down you already know the answer?

Be real with yourself. You know. You’re just scared to commit.

Question two: When something doesn’t work out, what’s your first move? Do you take responsibility? Or do you point at the data? “Well, the test said to do it this way.”

That’s not leadership. That’s cover-your-ass design.

Question three: Do you copy competitors or follow “UX rules” even when they don’t fit your specific users or context?

That’s gut avoidance.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth. Making judgment calls is scary. If you trust your gut and you’re wrong, that’s on you. But if you trust the data and you’re wrong? Hey, you’ve got a scapegoat.

The problem is, great products aren’t built by people hiding behind spreadsheets. They’re built by people who understand their users so well they can make bold calls — calls no A/B test would ever surface.

Data tells you what’s happening. It doesn’t tell you what should happen.

That’s your job. That’s what you’re here for. Don’t outsource it.

So Which One Are You?

Maybe it was one problem. Maybe it was all three. Most founders I work with are dealing with some combination.

Doesn’t matter. The point isn’t to feel bad about it.

The point is to see it.

Because here’s the thing — once you know which problem you’re actually solving, everything gets simpler. You stop chasing random fixes. You stop wondering why nothing’s working. You start addressing what’s actually broken.

Clarity is the unlock. Now you have it.