Congratulations! You’ve made the decision to start talking to your customers or potential customers. (And if you haven’t, you might want to see why this is essential to increasing your revenue by reading this and this.)

If you’re working on your discussion guide, I wanted to offer a little guidance on what you might want to ask (and what you definitely should not).

What Not To Ask

And the number one question NOT to ask in your customer interviews is (Drum Roll Please….) “Would you buy this?” Or any of its relatives like “Do you like this?” and “What do you think of my idea?”. These questions are like asking your grandma if she likes your cooking. Of course she does!

“Would you buy this?” is a tricky question because here’s the thing. Most of the people you’re interviewing are nice people (I hope). And they don’t want to hurt your feelings. And you’re not actually asking them to hand over money (which is the only true sign that someone will buy something BTW). So almost always they will say yes. “Yes I would buy that or something like it.” “Yes, I like your idea.”

Unfortunately, asking this question has led more entrepreneurs than I want to count down the garden path towards creating a product or service (or entire business) around something that never really takes off. Because it turns out that liking your idea and buying your product or service to solve a problem or challengeare actually two very different things. So let’s not get sucked into that one ok?

So if you’re not supposed to ask people if they like your idea or if they would buy your product, what ARE you supposed to ask them?

Three Great Questions for Customer Interviews

Question #1: “What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing? (related to the area your business is in of course)

• “What’s the biggest challenge you face when you’re trying to cook dinner on weeknights?”
• “What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing when you’re trying to decide what to wear to work?”
• “What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing when it comes to exercising regularly?”

These questions give you insights into barriers and invite your customer to give you details. And it’s usually the details that yield the biggest insights.

Question #2: “How Do You Currently Solve This Problem?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Your biggest competition is probably not coming from the other people who do what you do. It’s coming from however your customers are solving the problem now. 

A Real Story

My brother-in-law once had an entrepreneurial idea for a widget that would hold down the gas pump lever when the little stand that is integrated into the handle has broken off. He got the idea when he had to stand outside in the cold the whole time he was pumping gas instead of being able to get back in the car. But after talking to a few people, we determined that his solution – a little plastic part you would keep in your glove compartment – was unlikely to be more popular than the work around – just standing there, holding the handle yourself until you’ve filled the tank.

Understanding whatever hack or workaround your customer is using now can guide your thinking in two areas. One, it will help you understand just how badly they want a solution. The other, is that it will help you understand the “must haves” vs. the “nice to haves” that you will need to design into your product or service.

Question #3: “What Would Make You Say, ‘Shut Up and Take My Money’?

Another way to ask this question is, “What would make you say, ‘I need this in my life right now!’.  ‘If I could waive a magic wand…’ questions work here too.

Instead of focusing on challenges, questions like these tap into people’s desires. They help you understand what your customer really wants on a deeper level. Even if what they’re looking for is completely unrealistic, it’s super helpful to understand what they really want to accomplish. They help you get clear on the transformation your customer is seeking which will help you with product/service design, pricing and messaging.

To recap:

Out: “Would you buy this.”

In: “If I could waive a magic wand…?”

Your goal with customer interviews is to uncover challenges, understand workarounds and potentially grok the deeper why behind your customer’s decision making. This is what makes customer insight conversations so powerful.

Once you have a portfolio of answers from your customer group, you will start to see patterns emerge. And this is what’s going to transform your product/pricing/messaging from guesswork to a business strategy that truly resonates.

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