Customer Research

The following are notes from a role and time when I was leading customer research efforts for a startup, through group discussions and 1:1 interviews. I might rewrite them into a more comprehensive post at some point, but decided to prioritize “published” over “polished” for now, so please excuse the lack of polish, and I hope they're helpful!

Notes

• In the early days: it's community research (not customer research) - community members first, then customers/users
• Start with group discussions
  • See who shows up - this good info for you.
  • Keep the discussion topics high-level, open, conversational, inclusive
  • Give people an opportunity to see that they’re in good company (they’re not the only one participating)
    • Plus, begin building a sense of belonging from the get-go
  • Offers a value proposition to members — the chance to connect, relate to, and learn from other people doing the same kind of work (or some other facet of relatability) - maybe even find some support from others (eg, in dealing with / navigating the challenging aspects of their work).
  • Create an environment where people can build off one another’s input, feedback, etc.
    • sometimes people aren’t sure what to say or how to contribute…until they see/hear how other people contribute and find a spark of inspiration to share their own/new/different ideas and/or build upon/add to what someone else shared.
• As you start to better understand the specifics of what you want to learn from people, move toward 1:1 meetings/interviews/conversations
  • Get their unique perspectives, unbiased by others
  • Practice asking questions, iterate toward the most important questions
  • Make sure they talk more than you talk
  • Talk to whoever is willing
• Start to narrow down the target segment - get more specific with who you invite to these conversations, based on their relevance to your product/service — ie, who will find your business/solution interesting; who experiences the problem the most and feels most strongly (emotionally) about their need for a solution.
• Where/how to find people:
  • Website form - collect names, email, other info you need to “qualify” them (eg, social profiles?)
  • Friends and family and colleagues / connections / followers
  • Widget on website asking for specific info
  • Referrals from everyone you interview — who else should we be talking to? Will you make an intro?
• Who to include from your team:
  • CEO/founder / co-founder(s)
    • Help establish the importance of it (people appreciate meeting founders; helps ensure them that their time is well spent and they’re part of something special)
  • Designers?
  • Others?
    • eg, Community lead — facilitator, note-taker, communicator
• Making use of the research
  • Share internally
    • Recordings (if convos are online), notes, names and companies of people you’re talking to
  • Disseminate the information and learnings to all team members
  • Help everyone in the company feel like they’re part of the process, too
    • They might have different interpretations, pick up on something you missed, and/or have ideas for new questions to ask (informed by their unique role and insight into the company, product/service)
• Helpful resource:
  • The Mom Test (book)