Customer Interviews

What are customer interviews?

Customer interviews are a type of qualitative market research in which businesses talk to customers one-on-one to learn more about their needs, wants, and experiences.

Customer interviews can be used to gather information about a wide range of topics, including:

Customer satisfaction
Product or service usage
Brand perception
Customer pain points
New product development
Competitive analysis

Customer interviews are a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes, as they can provide insights that are difficult to obtain through other methods, such as surveys or focus groups. For example, customer interviews can help businesses to:

Understand the underlying motivations behind customer behavior
Identify customer needs that are not being met by current products or services
Develop new products or services that are tailored to the specific needs of their customers
Improve their existing products and services
Better understand their competitive landscape

Specific examples of how customer interviews can be used for market research include:

A new software company could interview potential customers to learn about their needs and pain points, and to get feedback on their prototype.
A restaurant could interview customers to learn about their preferences for food, service, and atmosphere.
A retail store could interview customers to learn about their shopping habits and to get feedback on their product selection and store layout.
A subscription service could interview customers to learn about their reasons for subscribing, their satisfaction with the service, and their suggestions for improvement.

No matter what type of business you have, customer interviews can be a valuable tool for learning more about your customers and improving your products and services.

Use cases for customer interviews include:

Customer interviews for product design

Customer interviews are a crucial part of the product design process because they allow you to understand your customers' needs, pain points, and desires. Insights from customer interviews are essential for designing products that are both useful and desirable.

Customer interviews for product management

Product managers are responsible for building products that people love and use. To achieve this, they need to have a deep understanding of their customers' needs, pain points, and motivations. Customer interviews are one of the best ways to get this information.

Customer interviews for product-market fit

A company can achieve product-market fit by building a product that customers love and are willing to pay for. This means that the product must solve a real problem for customers in a way that is better than any other solution available.

By talking to customers, you can gain valuable insights into the problems they are facing, their needs and pain points, the customer journey, and the competitive landscape. The information from customer interviews enables your team to develop a product that is tailored to the needs of your target customers and that has a competitive advantage.

Customer interviews for investment due diligence

Customer interviews are an essential part of the investment due diligence process when evaluating an investment in a company. In addition to providing insights into the company's product, customer satisfaction, and reputation, customer interviews can also help investors to identify potential risks and opportunities.

Customer interviews for acquisition due diligence

Customer interviews can provide acquirers with a deeper understanding of the target company's customer base, its competitive landscape, and its growth potential. The intelligence gained from customer interviews is critical to make more informed acquisition decisions and to improve the chances of success post-acquisition.

Customer interviews for vendor qualification

Customer interviews play a key role in the vendor selection process. By talking to customers directly, you can gain a deeper understanding of the vendor's products or services, their strengths and weaknesses, and their culture. Information from customer interviews should be part of any process for vendor qualification and selection.

Customer interviews for competitive Intelligence

Interviewing a competitor's customers can provide you with valuable insights into the competitor's product or service, its pricing strategy and sales tactics, its customer satisfaction and loyalty, and the customer pain points and unmet needs in the market. The knowledge gained from customer interviews informs the development of an effective competitive strategy and to improve the relative performance of your own product or service.

Customer interviews for new market entry

When evaluating new markets, customer interviews can provide valuable insights into the customer needs and pain points, the competitive landscape, and the potential distribution channels and marketing partners. The insights gained from customer interviews are used to develop a more effective market entry strategy and to increase chances of success.

Customer interviews for lost-customer analysis

Customer interviews are a powerful tool for understanding why a business is losing customers. By talking directly to customers who have recently churned, businesses can learn about the specific reasons why they left and what could have been done to keep them..

For example, if you learn that many customers are leaving because they are not finding the value they are looking for in your product, you may need to adjust your pricing strategy or add new features to your product. If you learn that many customers are leaving because of poor customer service, you may need to train your customer service team or implement new customer service processes.

Why are customer interviews important?

Customer interviews matter for a number of reasons:

To understand your customers. Customer interviews can help you to understand your customers' needs, wants, pain points, and motivations. This information can be used to develop better products and services, improve your marketing and sales strategies, and create a better customer experience overall.
To validate your ideas. Customer interviews are a great way to validate your ideas for new products, features, or services. By getting feedback from customers early on, you can identify any potential problems and make changes before you invest too much time and resources into developing your idea.
To improve your product or service. Customer interviews can help you to identify areas where your product or service can be improved. By understanding what customers are and aren't happy with, you can make changes that will make your product or service more valuable to them.
To build relationships with customers. Customer interviews are a great way to build relationships with your customers. By taking the time to listen to their feedback and show that you care about their experience, you can create a loyal customer base.

Customer interviews are important because they provide a direct line of communication with the people who are using your product or service. By talking to customers directly, you can learn about their needs, pain points, and expectations. Better understanding your customers enables you to improve your product or service, develop new features, and create a better customer experience.

What are the types of customer interviews?

Customer interviews can be conducted in a variety of different ways. Types of customer interviews include:

In-person - one-on-one

An in-person, one-on-one customer interview has the interviewer meet with a customer face-to-face to ask them open-ended questions about their experiences with the company's products or services.

In-person interviews are particularly effective because they allow the interviewer to build rapport with the customer and to get a better understanding of their body language and non-verbal cues.

Focus group

A customer focus group is a research method in which a moderator leads a group of customers in a discussion about a particular topic such as a new product, service, or marketing campaign. Focus groups are typically small, with 6-10 participants.

The moderator asks open-ended questions to encourage customers to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The moderator also uses a guide to facilitate the discussion and to ensure that all of the important topics are covered.

Email interview

An email customer interview has the interviewer send a list of open-ended questions to a customer via email. The customer then responds to the questions in their own time and convenience.

Email interviews are a convenient and cost-effective way to gather feedback from customers, especially those who are located in remote areas or who have busy schedules.

Online survey

An online customer survey asks customers a series of questions about their experiences with a company's products or services. The survey is typically hosted on a website or online survey platform and customers can complete it at their own convenience.

Online customer surveys are a popular way to gather feedback from customers because they are relatively inexpensive and easy to administer. They can also be used to reach a large number of customers in a short period of time.

Phone interview

A phone customer interview involves a phone call with a customer to ask them open-ended questions about their experiences with the company's products or services.

Phone interviews enable the interviewer to build rapport with the customer and to get a better understanding of their tone of voice and nonverbal cues. The interviewer is able to ask follow-up questions to probe deeper into the customer's thoughts and feelings and to gather feedback on complex topics that are difficult to capture in a survey.

Video interview

A video customer interview has the interviewer conduct a video call with a customer to ask open-ended questions about their experiences with the company's products or services.

Video interviews enable the interviewer to build rapport with the customer and to get a better understanding of their body language and facial expressions. Video interviews can also be recorded and transcribed, which enables the interviewer to review the interview later and to share it with other team members.

Behavioral interview

A behavioral customer interview is a type of qualitative research that focuses on understanding the customer's behavior, motivations, and decision-making process. The goal of the interview is to identify patterns and trends in customer behavior.

Behavioral customer interviews are often conducted using the STAR method, a structured approach to answering behavioral interview questions. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result.

Situation: The interviewer asks the customer to describe a specific situation in which they used the company's product or service.
Task: The interviewer asks the customer to describe the task they were trying to accomplish.
Action: The interviewer asks the customer to describe the actions they took to accomplish the task.
Result: The interviewer asks the customer to describe the result of their actions.

By asking the customer to describe their past experiences in this way, the interviewer can gain a better understanding of what motivates the customer, what challenges they face, and how they make decisions.

Ethnographic research

Ethnographic research involves observing customers in their natural environment to learn about their behaviors, motivations, and needs.

Ethnographic research can be conducted in a variety of settings, such as customers' homes, workplaces, or places where they shop and socialize. Observing customers online, through social media or other online communities are also options for ethnographic research.

How to conduct customer interviews? Follow these steps:

Set a goal and success metrics for your interviews. What do you want to learn from the interviews? What information will help you make better strategic decisions? Once you have a goal in mind, you can develop success metrics to measure your progress. For example, you might want to learn about your customers' biggest pain points, their needs and wants, or their satisfaction with your current products or services. Your success metrics could be the number of new insights you gain, the number of customers who share a common problem, or the average customer satisfaction rating.
Identify ideal customers. Who are the customers you most want to learn from? Consider your target market and the specific customer segments that are most important to your business. You may also want to focus on customers who have recently used your products or services, or customers who have expressed dissatisfaction.
Prepare your interview questions. Your questions should be open-ended and designed to elicit honest and detailed responses. Avoid leading questions or questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. Instead, ask questions like "What are your biggest challenges in using our product?" or "What would make our service more valuable to you?"
Recruit customers for the interviews. Once you have a list of ideal customers, reach out to them and invite them to participate in an interview through email, social media, or your company's CRM system. You can also offer incentives to encourage participation, such as gift cards or discounts.
Prepare your interview session logistics. Schedule your interviews at a time that is convenient for your customers and choose a location where they will feel comfortable speaking freely. Consider recording the interviews so that you can review them later.
Conduct the interview. Start by building rapport with the customer and explaining the purpose of the interview. Then, ask your questions and listen carefully to their responses. Be sure to probe for more information and ask follow-up questions.
Analyze the data. Once you have completed your interviews, take some time to analyze the data and identify common themes and patterns. Look for insights that can help you improve your products or services, develop new marketing strategies, or make better business decisions.
Share the insights with your team. Once you have analyzed the data, share the insights with your team and stakeholders. This will help everyone make better decisions based on the customer's perspective.

Tips for conducting effective customer interviews:

Be respectful of the customer's time. Keep the interviews concise and to the point.
Be an active listener. Pay attention to the customer's body language and tone of voice, as well as their words.
Avoid interrupting the customer. Let them finish their thoughts before asking the next question.
Be open-minded and receptive to feedback. Even if you don't agree with the customer, thank them for their feedback and listen carefully to their perspective.Be prepared to listen and learn.
Avoid going into sales mode. The goal of customer interviews is to gain insights from customers, not to sell them something.
Avoid leading questions. Leading questions can bias the customer's responses.
Probe for more information. Don't be afraid to ask follow-up questions to get a deeper understanding of the customer's perspective.
Take notes. Take notes during the interview so that you can capture all of the important information. However, be careful not to interrupt the customer's flow of thought.
Thank the customer for their time. At the end of the interview, thank the customer for their time and feedback. Let them know how you plan to use the information you have gathered.

How many customers to interview?

The correct number of customers to interview depends on the use case.

How many customers to interview for product design, product-market fit or product management decisions?

The number of customers you need to interview to inform a product decisions depends on a number of factors, including:

The complexity of the product or design change. For more complex changes, you will need to interview more customers to get a good understanding of their needs and wants.
The diversity of your customer base. If you have a diverse customer base with different needs and pain points, you will need to interview a larger sample of customers to ensure that you are capturing the full range of feedback.
The time and resources you have available. Customer interviews can be time-consuming and expensive, so you will need to balance your needs with your resources.

As a general rule of thumb, interview at least 10 customers for any product decision. However, for more complex changes or for customer bases with a lot of diversity, you may need to interview up to 20 or 30 customers.

The number of customers to interview is not a hard and fast rule. The most important thing is to interview enough customers to get a good understanding of their needs and feedback. If you start to see recurring themes and patterns in the interviews, then you can be confident that you have gathered enough data to make an informed product decision.

How many customers to interview for acquisition and investment due diligence?

The number of customers you should interview for due diligence of an acquisition target or investment opportunity depends on a number of factors, including:

The size and complexity of the target company. Larger and more complex companies will require more interviews to fully understand their customer base.
The industry and customer base of the target company. If the target company operates in a niche industry or has a complex customer base, you may need to interview more customers to get a good understanding of the business.
The specific risks you are trying to assess. If you are concerned about customer churn or customer satisfaction, you will need to interview more customers to get a good understanding of these issues.
The target company's key customers. It is important to interview some of the target company's key customers to understand their relationship with the company and their satisfaction with its products or services.
Your budget and schedule. Customer interviews can be time-consuming and expensive, so you will need to balance your needs with your resources.

As a general rule of thumb, interview at least 15-20 customers for due diligence of an acquisition target or investment opportunity. This will give you a good starting point for understanding the customer base and identifying any potential risks or opportunities. If you have the resources, you may want to interview more customers to get a more comprehensive understanding.

How to recruit customers for customer interviews?

There are a number of options for recruiting customers for customer interviews. Here are a few ideas:

Reach out to your existing customer base. This is a good way to recruit customers who are already familiar with your product or service and who are willing to provide feedback. Send an email or in-app notification to your customers inviting them to participate in an interview. You can also offer an incentive, such as a gift card or discount, to encourage participation.
Social media. Post a message on your company's social media pages inviting customers to participate in an interview.
Online communities. You can also join relevant online communities and groups, and reach out to members individually. There are many online communities where you can connect with customers who are interested in participating in interviews. Some popular options include LinkedIn Groups, Reddit, and Quora.
Use customer research platforms. There are a number of customer research platforms that allow you to recruit customers for interviews. These platforms typically have a large pool of participants from a variety of industries and demographics. popular options include User Interviews, UsabilityHub, and SurveyMonkey.
Third-party recruiters and expert networks. Hire a third-party recruiter to help you to recruit customers for interviews. Expert networks are useful for recruiting B2B customers.

Partner with other businesses. If you have relationships with other businesses that serve a similar customer base, you can partner with them to recruit customers for interviews. For example, you could offer to cross-promote each other's products or services, and to share your customer lists.
Attend industry events. Trade shows, conferences, and meetups are a great place to meet and network with potential customers. You can use these events to recruit customers for interviews, as well as to learn more about their needs and challenges.

Resources for recruiting customers interviews

Customer research platforms

Askable is a customer research platform that specializes in qualitative research, including interviews.
Customer Guru specializes in customer interviews and offers a variety of services, including customer recruitment
Respondent is a platform that allows businesses to recruit customers for interviews from a pool of over 3 million participants.
SurveyMonkey is a survey platform that also offers customer research services, including interview recruitment.
UsabilityHub is a remote user research platform that takes the guesswork out of design decisions by validating them with real users.
User Interviews is a customer research platform that allows you to recruit participants for interviews.
UserTesting is a user experience research platform that offers a variety of services, including interview recruitment.
Validately is a customer research platform that specializes in early-stage startups.

Online communities

LinkedIn Groups provide a place for professionals in the same industry or with similar interests to build valuable connections and ask for guidance
Reddit is a network of communities that consists of posts from its users. Users can comment on others' posts to continue the conversation
Quora is a platform to ask questions and connect with people who contribute unique insights and quality answers.

Expert networks for B2B customers

GLG is the world's largest expert network, with over 1,000,000 freelance consultants.
Maven is a software-powered expert network company offering expert interviews, surveys and B2B market research.
NewtonX is a B2B market research company that connects decision makers with verified expert insights they can trust.

Other tools for recruiting customers for interviews

Salesforce has a survey capability for conducting customer interviews. The Salesforce Sales Cloud has provides several capabilities for recruiting customers for interviews.
Calendly is a free online appointment scheduling software for scheduling customer interviews.

Tips for effectively recruiting customers for interviews:

Be clear about your needs. When recruiting customers for interviews, be clear about the type of customers you are looking for and the topics you want to discuss.
Offer incentives. Many customers are willing to participate in interviews if they are offered an incentive, such as a gift card or discount.
Make it easy to participate. Make it easy for customers to sign up for interviews by providing a clear and concise call to action.
Follow up promptly. Once a customer has signed up for an interview, be sure to follow up with them promptly to confirm the details.