CUSTOMER DISCOVERY USE CASES

From A to Z: Customer discovery questions every startup should ask

Max Fergus

4 min readJul 5, 2023

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Customer discovery is a significant term in the startup buzzword lexicon, alongside “MVP,” “Agile,” and “A/B testing.’”

Like these other startup anthems, customer discovery has a few characteristics:

It has multiple interpretations depending on who you ask
People say it is really important
It’s not obvious how to actually do it

Most of the time, when you ask someone to describe customer discovery, the common answers include “finding customers for my product” or “validating an idea”.

Similarly, when you ask about common characteristics of customer discovery, you will often be told that this process is a “one-time event” or “just for startups.”

To further explain these misconceptions, let’s use an analogy.

More than once, I have heard a founder say, “We hired a data scientist too early.” It can be true that relying solely on data to make your final decision can take too long, especially early on in the startup life cycle. Data scientists will tell you to slow down when all you want to do is speed up.

This is also how a lot of startups feel about talking to users. It just takes too much time. However, just like the statement above about “finding users for my product”, this is a genuine misconception about the limitations of customer discovery.

The truth is that customer discovery, like everything in a startup, is a balance of your resources. Customer discovery isn’t meant to be a six-week process. More so, it is not a one-time event, and it’s surely not just used in startups.

So what is customer discovery?

Customer discovery, user research, and user feedback are all terms for the same thing: talking to users about their needs and experiences. If you can understand the desires and impulses of your customers, you will move faster and more confidently in every area of your business.

“What do you want to learn?”

I’ve been asked a lot lately about performing quality customer discovery by startups. My first question is usually, “What do you want to learn?” or “What is it that you are seeking to understand?”

This leads to a look of confusion and frustration. The truth is that many startups struggle with getting user feedback because they simply don’t know what they are trying to learn from these conversations.

In this article, we will look at the different types of customer discovery questions that startups can use customer discovery for.

First, it is important to remember that customer discovery is not just about “planning out your next feature” or “understanding why people aren’t using your product.” The process of getting user feedback can be used at every stage of the entrepreneurial journey and stretches far beyond the product team.

The following are different customer discovery categories and goals that you can use for your startup.

Validating an Idea:

Understand how consumers currently solve a problem with existing products
Identify the current customer buying journey and discover areas of friction
Compare your idea with competitors
Identify and understand potential customer segments
Understand the needs and wants of a potential new market segments

Product Development or Enhancement:

Identify user pain points with your product
Understand the reasons behind customer churn
Get feedback on new features
Understand how customers use your product in their daily lives
Assess the potential impact of changes in the product or strategy
Validate ideas for additional features or new product lines
Identify the customer journey and discover areas of friction
Measure customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement
Develop strategies to improve customer loyalty and retention
Evaluate if your product meets the needs and wants of your target market
Understand how consumers currently solve a problem with existing products

Competition:

Compare your product to competitors
Evaluate competitor’s product features
Analyze competitor’s pricing strategy
Identify faps in competitor’s offering
Study competitor’s customer success practices

Marketing & Branding:

Identify the type of content that resonates with your target audience and inform marketing strategy
A/B test messaging for new campaigns
Gauge consumer reaction to potential rebranding changes
Assess how consumers perceive your brand compared to competitors

Target Markets/User Personas:

Identify and understand key customer segments for your users
Explore potential new market segments
Understand how different users use your product

And some more…

Inform pricing strategy based on user willingness to pay
Identify potential partnerships or collaborations based on customer interests
Gather information about your onboarding experience
Understand where your customers hangout online and IRL
Validate whether your product’s value proposition aligns with customer needs
Understand the needs and wants of consumers in potential new geographical markets
Explore methods for improving customer service interaction and response times

So, what’s the summary?

Well, customer discovery can be used for almost anything that involves learning more about your users. In some ways, it should help you inform who your customers are, and what their motivations really look like. You might even find you have multiple different potential customers and which ideal customer profile you are better suited to serve.

Customer discovery is used for Pepsi testing different messaging before they finalize their Super Bowl ad, just like it is used for you trying to understand why users aren’t coming back to your product.

Next time you want to get feedback from users, consider starting with the thought, “What am I seeking to understand?” Once you have that, it’s a hell of a lot easier to get the feedback you need.

If you are a startup and want to do customer discovery better, schedule a time to chat and let’s talk: https://calendly.com/max-fergus3/30min

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