Customer interviews: When to use them, how to do them

Customer InterviewsWhen to use them, How to do them

Jana Sedivy

Customer Interviews are not as easy as they seem

Cranky Product Manager @ http://crankypm.com

A good interview…

• Gives you actionable insights that help you make a business

decision.

• Leaves the customer feeling listened to

The key to good interviews

1. Know what questions you need answers to

2. Choose the right method

3. Talk to the right people

4. Set expectations beforehand

5. Listen

#1 Start With the Question

“We need to do a survey!”

Start with the question

What business decision do you need to make?

What information is going to help you make that decision?

#2 Choose the right method

Choose the right method

Where are you in the development cycle?

Ideation Requirements gathering

Concept Validation

Usability Evaluation

Customer/User Definition

Choose the right method

Goal: Identify the features that will benefit your customers the

most

Method: “table-stakes and delighters (Kano Model)”

Requirements gathering

The questions (and therefore the method) depend on where you are in the development cycle.

Choose the right method

Goal: Define target personas

Method: “Persona discovery interviews”

Customer/User Definition

The questions (and therefore the method) depend on where you are in the development cycle.

Choose the right method

Goal: Find out if your product and messaging are resonating with target customers

Method: “Test Pitch interviews”

The questions (and therefore the method) depend on where you are in the development cycle.

Choose the right method

Goal: Find out if customers can use your product

Method: “Usability Evaluation”

The questions (and therefore the method) depend on where you are in the development cycle.

#3 Talk to the right people

If these are your customers

http://bit.ly/16gRZse

Don’t ask his opinion

(Even if he’s very smart)

http://bit.ly/16gRZse

Are the customers and the users the same people?

Grudin’s Law: “If the product does not benefit the people using it, it will not get used, or it will be subverted.”

http://bit.ly/16gRZse

If you can’t find any customers

That might be a sign they don’t exist!

#4 Set Expectations Beforehand

Customers are not mind readers

• Just because you have been thinking about this for weeks doesn’t mean they know they know about it.

• Tell them what your objective is

• Many times, in different ways

• Make sure they understand the kind of people you need to speak with – and can provide them

• Tell them how long it will take

#5 Listen

2 ears 2 eyes

1 mouth

Use in those proportions!

“I just want to make sure I understand…”

“Tell me more about that…”

“Does this situation come up often for you?”

“I just want to clarify…”

Types of interviews

Goal-oriented Interviews

Purpose: Identify opportunities for innovation

Goal-oriented Interviews

• People don’t want “features” they want to accomplish their

goals.

• Identify goals that are Important and also Poorly Satisfied

• Create a list of “goal statements”

• For each, ask participants to rate them in terms of Importance

and Satisfaction on a scale of 1-5

Goal-oriented Interviews

• Examples for an interview in unified communications:

• Aim for ~15 goal statements

• Ask “is there anything that we missed?”

• If customers != users, you need different goal statements for each

Goal Statement Imp Sat

5 2

3 3

3 4

Goal-oriented Interviews

• Ask a lot of probing questions

“Can you tell me more about how you do that today?”

“I noticed that this is the only one you rated a “5”. Can you tell me

more about that?”

“I might be wrong, but you seemed surprised by that question. Did I

catch that correctly?”

Goal-oriented Interviews

• The scoring system gives the interviewee structure to think about the question.

• The conversation and details are more important than the numbers.

• Most people will answer most questions with “medium” (normal distribution in statistics). You are interested in the big differences.

• Can be turned into a survey – but you will lose the details.

Table-Stakes and Delighters Interviews

Purpose: Identify biggest impact goals/features

Kano Model of customer satisfaction

Table-stakes and delighters interview

• Table-stakes:

• “Must-Have” features. Those that have come to be expected. Creates dissatisfaction if done poorly, but no extra satisfaction if done well.

• Incremental:

• “more is better” more memory, more customization etc.

• Delighters:

• Customers don’t expect them (or know to ask for them) but they create great satisfaction

Table-stakes and delighter interview

• Do the goal-oriented interview

• Substitute features for goals if appropriate

• Put all goal statements/features onto index cards

• Ask participants to choose 5 cards that are “must haves”

• Ask them to vote on cards with sticky dots

Table-stakes and delighters interview• Give the participant two yellow dots and ask them to place it on

card(s) “that if we could do that, it would make you want to tell your friends/colleagues about it. Even if you don’t believe we could do it!”

Table-stakes and delighters interview

• You will notice:

• Cards selected as “must haves” are often not also rated as “Most Important”.

• Don’t challenge the interviewee and demand that they be consistent! Ask them about the difference.

• When asked for delighters, people will sometimes give you new insights “You know what would be really cool…”

Test-Pitch Interviews

Purpose: Determine if your product value proposition is resonating

Test-Pitch Interviews

• You are planning to develop a product.

• Does anyone care?

Format:

• Slide deck presentation with decision makers in the room.

• Prepare them for the fact that this will sound like a pitch, but

there is no pressure.

Key elements

• Start with their problem

• “We think your challenges are x, y and z. Are those issues for you right now?”

• This is how we solve problem X. Does that sound like a solution that would work for you?

• Keep conversation at goal level (not features) early on

• Tell them what your product does not do• “Are any of these deal breakers for you?”

• Tell them your roadmap• “Would you move any of these?”

Key elements

• Tell them about your pricing• “Would you be getting good value with these numbers?”

• Ask them about their procurement process• “How do decisions get made?”

• Ask them what stuck• “If you met your boss in the hallway after this meeting, how

would you describe us to him/her?”

What you are looking for

• Are you understanding their problem?

• Does your description of the problem resonate?

• Is your pricing out of touch with reality?

• Are there unexpected parts of your message that are sticking?

Other kinds of Interviews

Other kinds of interviews

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Other kinds of data about your customers

Data you already have:

• Customer service call logs

• Product discussions forums

• Social media conversations

• Feature request databases

• Sales/Account Managers

Data you can get:

• Surveys

• Ethnographic studies

Thank you!Jana SedivyauthenticInsight.com@janasedivy