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Customer Interviews

Ask Teresa: What Do You Do with Atypical Customer Stories?

Ask Teresa: What Do You Do with Atypical Customer Stories?

When we interview customers, our goal is to learn as much as we can about their context. This will help us understand their specific needs, pain points, and desires (otherwise known as opportunities) which will inform our product decisions. But what happens when you hear a story that stands out

Story-Based Customer Interviews Uncover Much-Needed Context

Story-Based Customer Interviews Uncover Much-Needed Context

Customer interviews are one of the most impactful activities a product team can do. But only if we use the right methods. An early customer interviewing mistake is to spend your interview time exploring your solution ideas. You might present a prototype and ask, “What do you think?” Or even,

The Interview Snapshot: How to Synthesize and Share What You Learned from a Single Customer Interview

The Interview Snapshot: How to Synthesize and Share What You Learned from a Single Customer Interview

When you start interviewing customers every week, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by how much you are learning. When we use our customer interviews to collect specific stories about past behavior, every conversation can uncover dozens of unmet customer needs, pain points, and desires (AKA opportunities). I recommend teams

Tools of the Trade: Finding People to Interview Before You Have Customers

Tools of the Trade: Finding People to Interview Before You Have Customers

The foundation of continuous discovery is weekly touchpoints with customers. These touchpoints will allow you to collect stories that help you identify opportunities and build out your opportunity solution tree. It sounds simple, but what happens if your product is so new that you don’t have any customers yet?

Product in Practice: Making Customer Interviewing a Habit in an Early-Stage Startup

Product in Practice: Making Customer Interviewing a Habit in an Early-Stage Startup

Founders have all sorts of reasons for starting companies. Sometimes it’s because they’ve personally experienced a pain point and want to address it. Sometimes they’re dissatisfied with what’s available on the market and think they can do better. And sometimes it’s because they have an

Product in Practice: Learning to Interview Continuously

Product in Practice: Learning to Interview Continuously

It’s no secret that Product Talk is built on the foundation of continuous discovery. Yes, all of the content we create—whether it’s this blog, the Product Talk Academy courses, the community, or the Continuous Discovery Habits book—focuses on the various facets of continuous discovery. But it’

Tools of the Trade: Recruiting Customer Interview Participants

Tools of the Trade: Recruiting Customer Interview Participants

When it comes to continuous discovery, there’s no such thing as “the perfect tool.” Instead of seeking the best tool out there, it’s much more effective to look for the best tool for your team. Teresa often says, “The best tool is the one that your team will