CHAPTER 41 Customer Interviews

The customer interview is the most basic technique I'll discuss in this book. I wish I didn't need to include it because I'd like to be able to take it for granted that product managers already know how to do this well and do it frequently.

However, the reality is that this is often not the case. Or, if customer interviews are happening, the product manager is not present, so the learnings are not understood viscerally or taken as seriously as they need to be (see Discovery Principle #10 on shared learning).

But no question, this is one of the most powerful and important skills for any product manager and very often the source or inspiration for many breakthrough product ideas. Later, when we discuss techniques for testing your product ideas qualitatively, these skills will be a prerequisite.

There are many forms of customer interviews, so this is not really a single technique. Some are informal and some are more formal. Some have a user research methodology behind them (one of my favorites is the contextual inquiry), and others are more about just getting out of the building and learning what you don't know.

This is one of the most powerful and important skills for any product manager and very often the source or inspiration for many breakthrough product ideas.

But in every user or customer interaction, we always have the opportunity to learn some valuable insights. Here's what I'm always trying to understand:

• Are your customers who you think they are?
• Do they really have the problems you think they have?
• How does the customer solve this problem today?
• What would be required for them to switch?

Now there are lots of ways to get these answers, and if you have access to a user researcher, you would normally follow their lead. Here are some tips for getting the most out of these learning opportunities:

• Frequency. Establish a regular cadence of customer interviews. This should not be a once‐in‐a‐while thing. A bare minimum would be two to three hours of customer interviews per week, every week.
• Purpose. You are not trying to prove anything during these interviews, one way or the other. You're just trying to understand and learn quickly. This mindset is critical and needs to be sincere.
• Recruiting users and customers. I talk much more about this when we discuss the usability testing technique, but for now, be sure to talk primarily to people in your intended target market. You're looking for about an hour of their time.
• Location. It's always amazing to see customers in their native habitat. There's so much to learn just by observing their environment. But it's also fine to meet them somewhere convenient or have them come to your office. If you need to do this over a video call, that's not as good, but much better than not doing at all.
• Preparation. Be clear beforehand what problem it is you think they have, and think about how you'll either confirm or contradict that.
• Who should attend. My favorite is to bring three people to these interviews: the product manager, the product designer, and one of the engineers from the team (we normally rotate among those that want to attend). Usually, the designer drives (because they've usually been trained how to do this well), the product manager takes notes, and the developer observes.
• Interview. Work to keep things natural and informal, ask open‐ended questions, and try to learn what they're doing today (not so much what they wish they were doing, although that's also interesting).
• Afterward. Debrief with your colleagues to see if you've all heard the same things and had the same learnings. If you made any promises to the customer during that session, be sure you keep them.

I would argue that this hour consistently yields a great return on your time. It's critical to learn the answers to these key questions. However, I am a big fan of taking the opportunity of a customer interview to also try out some of our product ideas. We do that after we've learned the answers to these key questions, but it's such a great opportunity I really like to take advantage of it.

Later, when we talk about testing usability and value, you will see the techniques for this. But for now, just know that you don't have to wrap up after the interview—you can follow it up with a user test of your latest product ideas.

This hour consistently yields a great return on your time.