Monday, November 11, 2013

Customer development interview template

I've spent the last week interviewing customers.  It is incredibly challenging to unearth the core motivations of a potential customer base.  Luckily I stumbled across the http://customerdevlabs.com/2013/11/05/how-i-interview-customers/ where Justin Wilcox lays out his basic template:

Ground Rules:
No pitching
Ask about past and present
Do not ask about future.  Would you/will you questions will result in unreliable data (nobody can project that well).

Questions:
  1. Tell me a story about the last time you...
  2. What was hardest?
  3. Why was that hard?
  4. How do you solve it now?
  5. Why is that not awesome?
Bonuses:
Take note of any feelings/emotions
Ask why 5 times for each question
Repeat the cycle 3 times

This system has already produced some great insights for Contastic and I hope I can do the same for you all!  Let me know how you're using this in the comments below.

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