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When it comes to B2B customer interviews, here’s a simple strategy that can make a huge difference: Ask one question at a time. It's a natural tendency to combine questions. Here's an example, "What made our solution stand out, and what were you using before?" ^Those are two questions. Here's why it matters 1. Creates Clarity: When you ask a single question, people can focus on one idea. Multiple Qs at once, get interviewees unsure of which question to answer first, leading to incomplete or less detailed responses. 2. Unlocks Deeper Insights: By asking one question at a time, you encourage people to explore thoughts and experiences in more detail. 3. Prevents Overwhelm: If questions cover different topics, or require people to recall different pieces of info, they often provide surface-level answers to each question, rather than thoroughly addressing any of them. 4. Enhances Follow-up Opportunities: By focusing on one question, you can better gauge their response and ask meaningful follow-up questions that lead to richer discussions. It takes discipline to master this approach, but once you do, your customer interviews will deliver more actionable insights. #B2BMarketing #CustomerInsights #MarketResearch #CustomerFeedback #InterviewTips #BusinessGrowth #MarketingStrategy #SalesandMarketing #B2BSales #ClientEngagement #BusinessDevelopment #MarketingExcellence #CustomerExperience #CustomerJourney Repost ♻️ to help others Follow Haroon Mushtaq, tap the 🔔

A great customer interview can provide a ton of value. We love Hannah Shamji’s tips on running great customer interviews based on her experience with hundreds of customers for B2B, B2C and DTC companies. She explains that talking to many customers helps get reliable information and that these interviews should help make better business decisions. Check out her post: https://lnkd.in/gXq9_9Cn She also emphasizes improving interviewing skills, asking follow-up questions, and building friendly connections with customers to get honest answers. We agree that simple, everyday details often provide the most useful insights! We like the ideas so much that we put them into a customer interview cheatsheet! While Helio is not designed as an interview tool, many tips for conducting interviews are relevant to creating effective survey questions. Here’s the cool thing – Helio allows you to follow up with specific participants to explore their answers further asynchronously. As we've discovered, surveys to a target audience are an excellent starting point for teams aiming to understand customer needs. They help identify various issues and challenges your audience faces. Thanks for the inspiration Hannah! #uxresearch #productdiscovery #marketresearch #productdesign

🎙️ 𝗣𝗦𝗔 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲: If you’re sticking to a script in customer interviews, you’re leaving gold on the table. 💰 Here’s the deal: If your customer interviews are more about sticking to a script than truly understanding the person in front of you, you're doing it wrong. Scripts are comfortable. They’re predictable. But they also put blinders on your ability to uncover the real insights that drive product success. The best interviews aren’t about asking the right questions—they’re about listening to the right answers. 👉 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱: 1️⃣ 𝗗𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁: Start with a few key questions, but let the conversation flow naturally. Be curious, not rigid. 2️⃣ 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀: Pay attention to what’s not being said. Customers might not always articulate their pain points directly, but their tone, hesitations, and body language can reveal a lot. 3️⃣ 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗯𝘀: If something a customer says piques your interest, dive deeper. Ask follow-up questions that explore the "why" behind their answers. 4️⃣ 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁: It’s easy to think about the next question while someone is talking. Resist that urge. Give your full attention to the conversation, and you’ll uncover insights you never expected. Your customers are telling you what they want—if you’re 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯. So forget the script and start focusing on the conversation. That’s where the magic happens. ✨ 👊 If you’ve experienced the power of informal customer interviews, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! #ProductManagement #CustomerResearch #GrowthHacking

As customer marketers, we know that asking the right interview questions is critical to producing an impactful case study. And for the first time ever, we’re sharing the powerful interview questions we use when conducting customer interviews in a brand new cheat sheet. Here’s what you’ll find inside: ✨ 26 questions you need to start asking in your case study interviews ✨ Favorite questions and tips from customer marketers in our industry ✨ 19 bonus questions for specific types of customer stories Grab the link to the cheat sheet in the comments 👇 #CustomerMarketing #CaseStudy #LeadMagnet #ContentMarketing #MarketingTips

Customer interviews help you understand buying decisions, refine messaging, and create relevant content. One of my go-to questions is "How would you solve this problem if you weren't working with us?" Would love to hear your favorite questions to ask customers. Please join the discussion about amplifying your customers' voices Monday at https://lnkd.in/eBPRu7Jv with Erika Heald

Story-Based Customer Interviews Uncover Much-Needed Context Customer interviews are one of the most ... #customerinterviews #prodsenslive #ProductManagement https://lnkd.in/dbE7-sHR https://lnkd.in/dbeSzJXp

“I don’t know where to find people for customer interviews.” (3/5 mini series on Customer Interviews) I see this to be one of the main barriers to skip customer discovery. When it’s hard to get to interviewees & testers. In some industries such as healthcare that becomes more and more challenging. Yet, the insights you get can be invaluable. So, here’s an approach that might help you in reaching your potential customers. It’s the concept of “watering holes”. In nature, that’s where animals come together to drink water. It’s a spot where you will find a bunch of them at the same time. Same counts for humans. We have our “watering holes” where we connect with similar people from a group. So, the goal is to find your target segment’s watering holes. Some examples: 💻 Of course online, e.g. LinkedIn or Instagram. But think a step further. Which channels? Groups? Keywords? 💬 In forums to discuss, rant, share. Such as Reddit, Facebook groups. 🤝 Don’t forget offline. There’s a conference for almost anything these days. 🎤 Ask them about their watering holes. End every interview with the question “Who else should I speak to?” Let’s support each other in this process—drop a comment with the type of people you're looking to interview, and maybe someone here can point you to the right watering hole. #CustomerDiscovery #Interviews #IdeaValidation #Assumptions #Hypotheses #EarlyStage #Entrepreneurship

As I know, a structured client interview process can transform the daunting task of engaging with clients into a powerful tool for driving business growth. Here's a proven 10-step approach to conducting client interviews that will help you uncover valuable insights and generate high-quality leads: 1. Define your assumption. What key question or hypothesis do you want to explore with your clients? 2. Craft a compelling customer interview script. Structure it to elicit rich, actionable feedback about your assumption. 3. Identify the ideal client touchpoints, both online and offline. Cast a wide net to maximize your reach. 4. Pre-screen potential interviewees to ensure you're talking to the right decision-makers. 5. Assign roles wisely. Have one person focus on asking questions, while another captures detailed notes. 6. Conduct client interviews with an open and attentive mindset. Listen closely for pain points, motivations, and unmet needs. 7. Debrief immediately after each session. Take time to process the insights while they're fresh. 8. Refine your interview script based on early learning. Iterate to improve the quality of your data. 9. Synthesize the collective insights using affinity sorting. Identify key patterns and themes. 10. Translate your findings into compelling visual assets, such as personas or empathy maps. These will serve as powerful tools for guiding your future marketing and sales strategies. By following this structured approach, you'll not only streamline the client interview process but also uncover a wealth of valuable intelligence to fuel your IT lead-generation efforts. Embrace this proven methodology, and watch your pipeline flourish. #B2BInsights #LeadGenerationStrategy #BusinessGrowthTactics #ITMarketingResearch #SaaSFounders

I've done 1000+ customer interviews over the years and I wish I could say they’ve all been good, but I have awkward ones pretty often. But here’s the deal: It doesn’t matter. Awkward conversations are unavoidable. Sometimes, you’re going to get: Short answers. Tangents that make you triple-check the clock. More product feedback than actual insight. But here's the thing: How you feel during a customer interview is not the right metric for success. You can have an awkward, cringe-worthy call that still uncovers golden insights. Or you can have a smooth, comfortable chat that teaches you nothing new. What matters is the quality and depth of the data you get — not if the conversation flows easily. I’ve trained dozens of teams on how to get gems from difficult customer calls. If your team is doing interviews and you’re wondering if they’re missing valuable insights (which is very common), DM me. I can train them.

Customer interviews provide qualitative insights that validate and contextualize desktop research. Think of interviews as a bridge between broad trends and individual experiences. So, if customer interviews are not part of your process, you're missing a huge piece of the puzzle.