Common Mistakes in Customer Interviews: A Guide for Product Leaders
We recently wrote about the importance of listening to what is actually being said when you interview customers or prospects.
Founders and product leaders often make mistakes that invalidate their research. This can lead to misdirected decision-making.
With today’s article, we hope to help you identify and avoid some of the pitfalls that often seep into product research.
What common mistakes do founders and product leaders make when interviewing prospective customers?
Conducting research with people who are not in your target audience. Or worse - relying on the opinions of friends and family.
Why it's a mistake: People that love you are proud of you no matter what, and they want to support you and make you feel good.
Asking questions rooted in assumptions. For example: “How often do you see yourself using this?" assumes that you would actually use it in the first place.
Why it's a mistake: Failure to check assumptions can propel you down the wrong path.
Making it clear to that a thing is your idea. Sometimes, leaders just can’t help themselves. They offer excessive background information, revealing in the process that they are deeply involved with the thing they’re asking about. "Clients kept telling me that they needed X, so I came up with this. I thought a lot about it and I ultimately did it this way because I really think this will be best. Do you think will be useful like this?"
Why it's a mistake: When you highlight your personal connection to an idea, human kindness often prevails. Nobody tells you your baby is ugly.
Asking for feedback on a particular solution, before fully understanding the problem it addresses.
Why it's a mistake. This is a particularly insidious mistake, as leaders often think they understand the problem. But participants respond to what you ask about, so if you're not asking for folks to elaborate on their experience with the problem, they won't. Their feedback may not reveal misunderstandings related to the problem. Better understanding the problem could yield even better solutions.
Asking participants to speak for a group of people, rather than for themselves. "Generally speaking, do you think people in your industry will find this helpful?"
Why it's a mistake: Most folks aren't qualified to predict the thoughts of an entire population. Their predictions should be taken with a grain of salt. If you want to assess trends within a population, ask more people.
Using yes or no questions rather than open-ended ones. "Does this make sense?" vs "What do you take away from this?"
Why it's a mistake: Yes and no answers convey less information than explanatory ones. People might say yes when a more full answer would reveal that the answer is actually no.
Responding with judgement, rather than keeping neutral. Even subtle judgements like, "Good job", "Yes, that's right." or "That makes sense" can infuse a sense of self-consciousness into the interview.
Why it's a mistake: A dynamic of "right or wrong" can lead interviewees to seek approval from the interviewer with each response. They might shy away from sharing bolder responses or more controversial stances.
Asking participants to predict their future behavior. "Would you buy this?
Why it's a mistake: People's predictions of their own behaviors are notoriously inaccurate. How many times have you planned to start going to the gym next Monday? Thinking people will buy something they won't is a costly miscalculation.
Ordering questions in an order that biases their response. For example, if you first brainstorm ways that one could do X, then you ask whether one SHOULD.
Why it's a mistake: Primed responses are biased responses. You've altered the participants frame of mind and their answer may no longer be what it would have been without the priming.
Asking questions on a whim, rather than repeating a structured approach.
Why it's a mistake: In order to truly identify a trend, you need to hear the same thing repeatedly. If you don't ask the same questions in the same way, you can't be sure that the things you've heard are trends.
Failing to probe into participant answers to truly understand them.
Why it's a mistake: Being a participant can feel awkward for some people, and others are naturally shy or concise. As an interviewer, it’s your job to make the participant comfortable. This will help them open up and give you what you’re there for - as much insight as possible!
While there are plenty of pitfalls to avoid in initial research, it's still an invaluable exercise for early-stage concepts. Because it takes time, money, and sometimes social capital to conduct solid user research, it’s important to go in with a strong plan.
If you're not familiar with principles of good interviews, take the time to study up on it. If your time is short, you can hire professionals to conduct research for you. Or, hire a professional to help you craft a research plan that you execute yourself.
Don’t hesitate to reach out if this is something you’d like to talk about.