customer-research

Customer research

Research earns its cost only if a decision hangs on it. Name that decision before recruiting anyone.

Choose the method by question

• Why did this happen / what do they actually do — interviews. Small n, deep.
• How common is this — survey. Only after interviews have told you what to ask; a survey written

from assumptions returns your assumptions.

• Why did we win or lose — win-loss, with losses weighted higher. Losses are where the truth is

and are systematically under-sampled.

• Which framing works — message testing against a real choice, not a preference rating.

Interviewing

Ask about the past, not the future. "What did you do last time" is evidence; "would you use this"

is politeness.

• Open broad, follow the energy, and go quiet after their first answer — the second one is where the

substance is.

• Chase specifics: when, what happened next, what did that cost you, who else was involved.
• Never describe your solution before you have their problem in their words. Once they know what you

want to hear, the interview is over.

• Watch for the workaround. Anything someone has built a spreadsheet to survive is a validated

problem.

Synthesizing

Code the transcripts before forming a view — findings assembled to support an existing belief will

be. For each finding record: the claim, how many independently said it, a verbatim quote, and what

would change if it is true. A finding that changes nothing is trivia.

Separate what people said, what they did, and what you inferred. Conflating the three is

the most common way research misleads.

Never

• Recruit only happy customers. The sample that answers your email is not your market.
• Lead: "How much would this feature help?" has one answer.
• Present a single interview as a finding.