Customer interviews

“There are no facts inside your building.” So, you need to get out and talk to customers. As we have spoken before, if you want to find out new things regarding the problem you want to solve, potential customers and their real needs you have to go and talk to them. The customer interviews are part of Design Thinking and Minimum Viable Product testing. Interviewing customers is the quickest and cheapest way to find out new things and learn.

A lot regarding the customer interviews can be found out from Rob Fitzpatrick’s book “The Mom Test” which is all about how to get good and useful feedback from potential customers regarding your idea if everybody is lying (knowingly or unconsciously).

Here is a video from Rob Fitzpatrick himself explaining the theory in 16min:

So now you know that you should go out and talk. What’s next?

  1. Start with the goal of the interviews. One of the main goals at the very beginning is to try to narrow down the problem and ideal customers so you can dive deeper into that specific problem and customer needs. What is the thing you don’t know? What do you want to find out? Set three questions or goals, that you want to find out during the interview. For example, when you plan developing an app, what do the customer think of the problem you want to solve with your solution? Do they feel the same problem or something else? What apps or solutions your target group is already using for a similar purpose? What are the places where you can find possible users? Is there something you don’t know at all and want to have at least some first impression from customers?

2. When you have figured out what do you want to find out start writing down the interview question script. Remember, before asking any of the questions ask yourself:

  • Will this question help me to achieve the interview goal?
  • Is this a MUST HAVE question or a NICE TO HAVE at this point? (May I ask this later when I have narrowed down the customer group)?
  • Does the conversation feel natural?
  • What could be the possible answers?
  • How EXACTLY this question/answers will help me to learn?

Sample interview

There are sample interview questions with an explanation in brackets why this question should be asked. You are welcome to edit these questions to your needs. DOWNLOAD Customer_interview_questions (apps and other solutions) (.docx)

  1. What kind of experience you have had regarding this problem (describe the problem behind your business idea)? (This gives a chance to have either agree or disagree that there is a problem at all and it’s painful enough)
  2. Is there anything else regarding this problem that comes to your mind? Any other maybe even more painful problems before/after that? (just to continue the discussion and dive deeper (5 WHYs)
  3. How do you cope with the problem now? What is your solution? (to find out how they solve the problem, if they are solving it at all and how their existing solution is different to what you have in mind. Also, how ‘expensive’ is the existing solution – easy or difficult to solve, takes little or much time)
  4. How did you get to the existing solution? (Did you figure it out yourself, did you Google it? Did you ask your friends? Where were you looking for help? So next time we can be there with our product)
  5. What expenses/discomfort this problem creates? (In form of money and time/discomfort etc. Try to get the negative keywords and feeling of amount – how big is the problem?)
  6. What would be the ideal solution to this problem? (Let them be unrealistic, be creative, no limits. Probably you will get some useful insights what should/could the solution look like in the future so you know the direction to go to.)
  7. Does the problem look different in different situations? How? Why? (To find the very best / most painful situation or the simplest to solve)

3. Discuss the questions with your teacher and mentor beforehand talking to target group. In case it is needed, change them based on their feedback.

“The first rule of user research: never ask anyone what they want.” — Erika Hall, Just Enough Research

 Remember – if you want to be successful you have to listen to your customers. 

The takeaway:

  • Define interview outcome/goal
  • Write it down
  • Write interview question so each leads closer to the goal
  • Prepare the interview script (even before/after questions)
  • Talk to people – A LOT!
  • Adjust the interview questions and script so you learn what you need and so that the conversation feels natural
  • Don’t worry if at the beginning you feel a bit lost and don’t understand if there is something really useful you are learning from interviews. At first, all the interviews might seem random and there is no pattern at all. The more you talk the more sense it should make. If still after 10 interviews you feel lost – check if you can narrow down customer segments or make questions more specific.
  • Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

Video: Steve Blank 6min video The Lean Approach: Getting Out of the Building: Customer Development: