“Success is not delivering a feature, it is learning how to solve the customer’s problem.” Eric Ries, Author of the Lean StartUp
As Eric rightly said, we need customer interviews to understand the customer best. The Product Manager who knows and feels the customer’s pain points, should be able to solve their problem better.
In this blog, I am going to share about the top 5 tips to Customer Interviews for Product Managers from my experience.
Top 5 Tips For Customer Interviews for Product Managers
There are many tips for the customer interviews for Product Managers.
The top 5 tips are below:
- Set a Goal
- Have a Conversation
- Be an Active Listener
- Be Curious
- Avoid Leading, Closed questions
Set a Goal
Have an internal discussion with the team and what they wanted to learn from this interview. From that, devise a concise goal specific to the needs. Remember that, the goal should not be very broad like, is to learn about end users. Prepare the relevant questions based on the defined goal.
Have a Conversation
Keep in mind that the interview should not strictly follow the checklist of questions. When we conduct an interview as a conversation, it will make the customer comfortable and we will get great insights from the customer. This insights will be useful to build the better features of the product.
Be an Active Listener
Being able to be a down-to-earth person to listen and observe and to learn and adapt to do action with compassion. Without empathy, you can’t build the product with the right solution. Be focused on the moment and act accordingly.
Be Curious
Great product managers are dazzlingly curious. If something fails, then they will ask the right questions to understand why it failed and try to find out the root cause of the problem. They are always willing to find opportunities to talk with the customers.
Avoid Leading, Closed Questions
The customer should be wowed and feel valued by the way you treat them. Express your thank you to them for doing the business with you. For example you should not ask the questions which lead to a one word answer like Yes or No.
I hope these tips help you to enhance your product leadership too!