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Get More Useful FeedbackYour Surveys Suck,Go Talk to Your Customers

Cindy AlvarezThe Experience is the Product - http://www.cindyalvarez.com

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

http://www.cindyalvarez.com


Excuses

You’re probably not talking to your customers because:

• It’s time-consuming• Not enough data to be statistically significant

• What if they all say different things?• That’s X’s job


“It takes so long...”

Time spent prepping, conducting, analyzing 3 customer interviews: 2 hours

Time spent updating the homepage with based on interview data: 5 minutes

Time saved on acquiring the next 100 customers: 3 weeks


“It wouldn’t be statistically significant...”

If you don’t know what the questions are,having more answers is not going to help.


“What if they all say different things?...”

Forcing people to choose between A B C

doesn’t mean they weren’t secretlythinking D, Q, or Z.


“That’s X’s job...”

Having 1 person who talks to customers is like having 1 employee do push-ups and expecting the whole team to be in shape.


But why would customers want to talk to us?

Customers respond to personal, specific opportunities:

• to make their lives better• to vent• to sound smart

(No mass mails.)


Permission to Speak Freely

By default people will defer to you.

Be explicit that you’re looking to learn/listen:

• “I’m trying to learn about...”• “Can you tell me how...”• “I’d like to understand why...”


What should I ask?

http://www.cindyalvarez.com/communication/customer-development-interviews-how-to-what-you-should-be-learning

• 8-10 questions• Avoid yes/no questions• Feel free to ad-lib / don’t force it










What’s the magic word?


Magic Words #1 - Ask Questions

• When does it happen• Who is affected• How do you decide• What is the process• (Can I ask) Why is that frustrating


Sweet Emotion

Stop! Listen for the customer to sound excited frustrated embarrassed angry

and keep going on that topic.


Magic Words #2 - Validate

“Other people have told me...”


Magic Words #3 - There Is No Spoon

“If you had a magic wand, what would you be able to do?”

(What people tell you is constrained by what they think is possible.)


UN-Magic Word: YES

Agreeing with people signals an end to the conversation.

Instead,“Just to clarify, did you mean ________________?”


What will this do for me?


KISSinsights - We built a new product.

Customers were:

• embarrassed at not knowing enough about their customers

• frustrated at low survey response rates after high-effort survey creation

• magic wand: “I’d just sit next to my customers and ask them why they did that.”


http://www.kissinsights.com (signup is free)


http://www.kissinsights.com

http://www.kissinsights.com

KISSmetrics - We’re building new stuff.

Customers told us:

• process for analytics tasks was ad hoc/verbal/unscheduled

• we’re frustrated at not following through on improving our metrics as much as we’d like to

• magic wand: “I wish I knew what I should be measuring to meet our goals as a company”


email [email protected] to find out more


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Your mission, should you choose

to accept it...


You can totally do this in the next week.

Reply to all customer support emails with a question:

• “If we added that feature, how would you use it?”• “Would it be clearer if we explained it this way [insert new wording], instead?”

• “Is there anything else that doesn’t work the way you were expecting?”

• “Can I ask, how would you describe us to a friend if you were recommending us?”


Also totally doable.

Write down 5 things you wish you knew about your customers and how they’re using your product.

Turn those into 5 questions using the guidelines in this talk.


Stretch goal! But you can do it.

Interview 5 customers.

Share your notes with your team.

Brainstorm how you can address the issues you discovered.


Want to learn more?

I blog on Thursdays at http://www.cindyalvarez.com

I tweet about this stuff all the time at @cindyalvarez






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