Customer Needs Discovery

LEAN Customer Interviews & AnalysisJan 2015

More information ? about.me/gregtwemlow

- Innovation Accounting by Ash Maurya

This presentation based on you being at Problem/Solution Fit stage of LEAN startup

You are about to conduct research to test your “problem” hypotheses. This stage is critical and the MVP without a clear problem statement is almost certain to fail. This is the stage where most startups fail. Historically that has been around 90% of startups.

The Process of Testing Hypotheses Starts with Customer Research1. Customer Research - prepare questions with your

report in mind, i.e. how will you analyze ?

2. Clarification process - extend research, refine

3. Founder team analysis/brainstorming of solutions to confirmed problems - extend research, Pivot?

4. Determining features for your MVP or landing page tests

This guy didn't do customer research and built the wrong product to solve a problem people didn’t care about

1. Talk about their life instead of your idea

– The Mom Test

by Rob Fitzpatrick http://robfitz.com/

Google “mom test fitzpatrick"

4 Rules of Customer Research (distilled from 125 pages of The Mom Test)

The Mom Test:

2. Ask about specific use-cases in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future

The Mom Test:

3. Never jump in and interrupt with your conclusion

The Mom Test:

4. Talk less and listen more

if you fail to follow these 4 rules, then you WILL deal with Mom

Research = Discovering what you don’t know

In-context observations/interviews - observing behavior & possibly intercept (question them for a few minutes) or plan to ask them “can you ask questions for maybe 10-15 minutes”

Group interview (via a friends & family recruiting drive) - time efficient but not information rich. Role is to facilitate an open discussion. (May need an incentive - cheese & Pinot Noir)

Research prompts - diaries, surveys

Research using Google - become an expert

Discovery Requires DisciplineHave a plan - we need to speak to ?? people and ask a standard list of (rehearsed) questions

Make an effort to establish rapport - use empathy

It's all about them not you (or your product)

Patient listening not interrupting - allow for long pauses

Don’t be judgmental - clarify to ensure you understand

Ideally the audience gets value from the conversation - reciprocity

Scenario

A discovery interview is ideally held in a work setting like the interviewees office. Cafes and curbside are

often noisy and have too many distractions.

It’s a good idea to have a support person.

If YOU are the Support PersonBe alert to level of engagement, body language, tone, level of detail in responses

Quick debrief after each conversation - give feedback to the questioner

What expressions and emotions are evident

Anything surprising ? Maybe questions should change or extend

Example F2F Discovery Conversation

“We are interested in your view of what’s the hardest part about [problem context] ?

“We are asking for your help and are really interested in your perspective about [problem] - and thank you

very much for giving up your time.”

“What are the implications of that?”

"How often do you experience this problem?"

"Can you tell me about the last time it happened?"

"What, if anything, have you done to solve that problem?"

“How do you feel about spending money to solve the problem ?”

“What other solutions have you tried?”

“How effective are these solutions?”

“What would your dream solution be?”

“Is there anything else I should have asked?”

and a few Survey Don’ts

Don’t ask…

I’m creating a solution to solve world poverty - do you think that's a good idea ?

Could I interrupt your day with a few questions ?

Don’t ask…

I have an idea for a business — can I run it by you?

Don’t ask…

“So, how old are you?”

Don’t ask…

The reaction may surprise you.

The Overall Research ProcessInitial discovery (probably the F2F part)

Clarify, extend and test the research - possibly by survey/email/phone - further discovery with people who are interested/willing - leads to the team discussion on results/insights

Team discussion - what insights became apparent through our research, did our testing confirm customer behaviors, how does that impact our idea - do we proceed or pivot

Brainstorm what features you need to address the actual problem of your core target market - leads to creation of an MVP and the true test of the customer research

Your MVP decision check list.

How to run a great surveyAgree your survey questions - pay attention to how you will analyze the responses

Build an email list

Format the online survey - Use a cool presentation, i.e. makes you look like pros (like typeform.com)

Manage the emails - tools like https://www.intercom.io

Some Relevant Linkshttp://psr.iq.harvard.edu/files/psr/files/PSRQuestionnaireTipSheet_0.pdf

http://blog.fastmonkeys.com/2014/06/18/minimum-viable-product-your-ultimate-guide-to-mvp-great-examples/

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/26-customer-development-resources/

There is a caveat…

“….don’t simply believe what your customers say, but try to dig deeper to learn about their real-world behavior before you accept an idea or hypothesis as validated.”

http://blog.strategyzer.com/posts/2015/1/15/dont-believe-your-customers

More information ? contact Greg Twemlow gt@gregtwemlow.co

Customer Needs Discovery

Small Business & Entrepreneurship

Transcript of Customer Needs Discovery

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