Doing Customer Development Interviews Right

I once had a student tell me, “I’ve done market testing for my startup, and ninety percent of people say they will buy my product when it’s available!” I was impressed, so I asked him about his methodology. He said he had texted ten friends about his startup idea, and nine of them thought it was awesome. Then I was much less impressed.

As this student demonstrated, most new entrepreneurs do customer interviews wrong because they are more interested in affirmation than insights. We all want to be told our startup idea is awesome (and that we’re handsome, too!). Humans crave affirmation, but if you approach customer development interviews as a search for affirmation, your new venture is likely doomed from the start.

Steve Blank, who first articulated the Customer Development concept, suggests that early-stage startups mostly have a bunch of untested hypotheses about their business models (who the customers are, what features they want, how much they’ll pay, etc.), and it’s a mistake to build a product around untested hypotheses. So, get out there and talk to a bunch of customers before you start developing the product!

It’s a simple enough concept, but as the student I mentioned proves, many entrepreneurs go through the customer development motions without actually uncovering any meaningful customer insights. Worse yet, they get false positives. 

Common Mistakes in Customer Development Interviews:

Thinking you’re pitching

Entrepreneurs work hard on their startup pitches, and then they want to use them everywhere, including on customer development calls.Remember, the point of these calls is learning about customers and discovering hidden insights. Once you go into pitch mode, you’re not learning anything; you’re just telling them what the solution is before you even understand what their problems are.

Digging for compliments.

Deep down, we’re all insecure people who crave compliments. But, as Rob Fitzpatrick’s terrific book, The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you, puts it: “Compliments are the fool’s gold of this process: shiny, distracting, and worthless.”¹ Digging for compliments isn’t going to give you any market insights; it’s just going to give you false positives.

Not asking why.
When your interviewee states their biggest problem, always ask them why. When they tell you, ask why again. Keep peeling back the onion until you find the customer’s real underlying problems. In the consulting business, it’s axiomatic that the problem a client hires you to solve is always different from the problem the client actually has. The same is true with customer development 

Staying inside your echo chamber. 

Most of us surround ourselves with friends who think like we do. We all love our friends, but they are the wrong people to interview in a customer development process because you won’t learn much from people who think like you do. Get out of your echo chamber for your customer development—it’s less comfortable but much more insightful.

Not asking about purchase authority.

I once had a software startup that thought production managers at advertising agencies would be our core customers. We talked to production managers all across the country until we were one-hundred-percent confident that we were building a product they would love. When we launched, we discovered that they did love it—but they didn’t have the spending authority to buy it. There are many kinds of businesses where it’s important to understand how the money flows. Don’t hesitate to ask.

Talking more than listening

The more you’re talking, the worse you’re doing. It’s certainly true for dating, and it’s just as true for customer development interviews.

Sending out a survey

Many people put together a survey and send it out for their customer 

development process rather than having one-on-one calls. I am not a fan of this. Real insights happen during actual conversations between humans. To me, sending out a survey is lazy, pre-defines the answer set, and is very unlikely to uncover hidden insights.

Not focussing on learning.
Again, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen entrepreneurs think this process is about pitching and hearing people say, “Wow, cool idea!” They finish the call quite pleased with the affirmation, but they’ve learned absolutely nothing. These calls are about uncovering insights and learning about customers. Before the call, make a list of what you’d like to understand about this customer so you can steer the conversation in ways that uncover those things. 

Not ending with an ask.
Many entrepreneurs end a customer development call with something like, “Well, thanks. I’d love to stay in touch!” This is really pretty meaningless and contains no commitment on the other person’s part. True commitment comes with time, reputation, or money. My favorite way to end a customer discovery call is to say, “Thank you so much! Is there anyone else you think I should talk to?” You’ll get some great referrals, and someone making an introduction means that they are investing their reputation in helping you. That’s a powerful signal.

Here’s the thing – I did customer development interviews wrong for a long time, and I lost a lot of investor money before I finally figured it out. Be better than me. Ask good, open-ended questions that may provide unexpected insights. Don’t pitch your solution; instead, aim to understand their problems. 

And don’t dig for compliments and affirmation. You can get those from your mom.