Introduction to customer discovery
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The document outlines essential practices for customer discovery, emphasizing the importance of gathering insights through listening instead of lecturing during interviews. It highlights the significance of understanding customer archetypes, the iterative process of testing hypotheses, and ensuring effective communication to derive meaningful feedback. The goal is to reach product-market fit while being flexible and open to pivots based on gathered data.
Introduction to customer discovery
- 1. CUSTOMER DISCOVERY THE BASICS THAT GET YOU GOING Based on ‘ The Customer Discovery ’ video series by Steve Blank
- 2. WHAT TO TEST? First the problem, then the solution Hypotheses about: • Customer archetype (detailed) • What could be a good MVP? • What are the needs? • Insights in the BMC blocks Tons of interactions, fast-paced
- 3. DEATH BY POWERPOINT / DEMO Powerpoint / demo: • You talk, customer listens • No information gathering • Not 100%-fit time loss for customer • Time-intensive
- 4. DEATH BY POWERPOINT / DEMO Instead: • You listen, customer talks • Gather lots of information Flexible subjects (but prepare!) Can be short Customer archetype insights
- 5. DEATH BY POWERPOINT / DEMO Demo / MVP / project description possible: • In customer VALIDATION phase • On customer request • More feedback about product • No ‘sell’-alarm triggered
- 6. TYPES OF QUESTIONS Did I understand correctly that … Would something like X help you with Y? What question should I have asked you? Open-ended Walkthroughs / descriptions Try not to bias
- 7. PRODUCT –MARKET FIT = holy grail! Dilating pupils Changing attitude Breathing Intonation Is this for sale? Can we use this already? WAW, that would be great and help us a lot!
- 8. MULTIPLE PEOPLE INTERVIEWING Decide the roles! Prepare! Who is going to write? Who is going to ask questions? What is our goal? Don’t interrupt! Ask for extra input Decide on signs
- 9. PUBLIC INTERVIEWS Student doing research for school works! 50% chance of success 1 – 2 questions / 3 minutes May last longer, but don’t overstay! Lots of short conversations
- 10. CUSTOMER EMPATHY Empathize with the customer Understand your customer Don’t act like a know-it-all • more insights • better understandings • respect from customer more opportunities
- 11. THE OTHER 85% Why are they different? Why are there any outliers? Other needs? Other business opportunities? Spend equal amount on buy-in as buy-out 15%
- 12. UNDERSTAND THE SALES PROCESS Who is your user? Your buyer? Your saboteur? Your recommender? B2B often complex sales process Impacts business viability!
- 13. EXISTING VS NEW MARKETS EXISTING MARKET Customers know what they need Competitors / alternatives Comparison possible Feature requests / improvements NEW MARKET More difficult customer discovery process More focus on customer archetype than product Deep knowledge of customer behavior needed ‘Day in the life’ and walkthroughs
- 14. THE INTERVIEW Pre-planning Interview Analysis & insights
- 15. PRE-PLANNING Create a list of 100 names in your customer segment Aim for middle management No surveys! Only face-to-face, Skype, Hangout or calls Be ‘aggressive’
- 16. PRE-PLANNING Make appointment: Call after 5 PM (no secretary) ‘Since you know this sector the best, we would like some feedback from you’ Ask 20 minutes, get 30 Stress their importance to you Namedropping (if VC / incubator) Informal location
- 17. PRE-PLANNING Preparation: Do dry-runs Design pass / fail tests Think about open-ended questions
- 18. THE ACTUAL INTERVIEW Introduce yourself Set the expectations right (learning, no selling) Stress that they are important to you Let conversation flow Take picture of company / person
- 19. THE ACTUAL INTERVIEW Keep a relaxed tone No business card Record the interview (ask first) Take notes Listen and enjoy
- 20. BACK IN THE BUILDING What is the meaning of this data? Did the hypothesis fail / succeeded? Communicate the learnings! • Write a blog / report • Talk to the team (narrative) • Be open to ideas from within • Keep communicating
- 21. WHEN ARE YOU DONE? You see a pattern It becomes predictable You keep hearing the same thing Hypothesis failed? => Pivot Hypothesis succeeded? => Move to next hypothesis Product-market fit? => Move to customer validation
- 22. PIVOTING Not everything requires a pivot Don’t pivot too quickly Think about it for 72 hours Start the process all over again (but keep the learnings)