customer-interviews

Customer Discovery Interviews

Overview

Customer discovery interviews are the bedrock of evidence-based product management. This skill turns casual user conversations into structured discovery — helping you uncover real problems, avoid solution bias, and build products people actually need. Rooted in The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick and Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres.

When to Use

• You're entering a new problem space with unvalidated assumptions
• You need to understand why users behave a certain way
• You want to test an opportunity before exploring solutions
• You're preparing for a product discovery sprint
• Don't use for: usability testing (use validation-interview instead), market research surveys (too structured), or customer satisfaction calls

Instructions

Phase 1: Plan the Interviews

1. Define your learning goals — What 3-5 things do you want to learn? Frame as open-ended questions about past behavior, not future intent.
2. Write the interview guide — Start with broad context, narrow to specifics. Never ask "Would you use X?" — ask "Tell me about the last time you dealt with Y."
3. Recruit participants — Aim for 5-8 per segment. Use customer discovery criteria: they should have the problem, not necessarily use your product.
4. Avoid bias — Do not mention your solution idea. Do not pitch. Do not lead.

Phase 2: Conduct the Interview

1. Build rapport — Thank them, explain the goal is to learn, not sell. Ask permission to record.
2. Ask about specific moments — "Walk me through the last time you..." beats "How often do you..."
3. Listen for emotion — Strong frustration, workarounds, and surprising effort signal real problems.
4. Use the Mom Test principles:
   • Talk about their life, not your idea
   • Ask about specifics from the past, not hypotheticals about the future
   • Listen for commitments (time, introductions, money) — compliments are cheap
5. Dig deeper — When they mention something interesting: "Tell me more about that." "Why did you do it that way?" "What happened next?"