The art and science of great customer interviews - Part I

1. Crossing the threshold 2. Restating objectives 3. Kick-off question 4. Accept the awkwardness 5. The tipping point 6. Reflection and projection 7. The soft close

By walking in your customer’s shoes you will gain empathy and personal understanding, but you don’t want to rely solely on your own experience. By watching people shop, you can witness honest behavior, but you won’t be able to get into their heads to know their motivations. By talking to people, you gather intel on both behavior and motivation, but

What you want to listen for is: What is the underlying problem/need this product solved for them? How often do they experience the problem? Were they previously paying to solve that problem? What did they use? How much time does this problem take for them? How important is the problem for them? If they don’t solve it, or it’s solved poorly, what ar

Ask good questions which pass The Mom Test Deflect compliments, anchor fluff, and dig beneath signals Take good notes If relevant, press for commitment and next steps With your team, review your notes and key customer quotes If relevant, transfer notes into permanent storage Update your beliefs and plans Decide on the next 3 big questions

When you run the interview, let the flow of the conversation follow the sequence of events in the customer’s story. Identify the goal and take them back to the moment they first realized they needed to achieve it. From there, use these questions as they walk through the journey to uncover the information you need.