How To Find Out What Users Want

And It’s Not What You Think

Théo
Théo
Aug 27, 2017 · 3 min read
It’s not (only) about finding the sweet spot

The Mom Test is a book by written by Rob Fitzgerald when he was working in his first startup Dinnr.

Its aim is to help you ask better questions when doing market research and making sure the data you collect can be used to offer a product of good quality.

It is built around 4 main rules to ask good questions that are presented below.

1. Know precisely what you’re looking for

Your most important preparation work is to ensure you know the 3 big questions you want to ask potential users. Figure them out with your team and make a point to face the particularly tough, uncomfortable questions.

2. Ask good (i.e., thoughtful) questions

Here are the 4 rules to asking good questions:

1.Speak about your potential users’ lives instead of pitching them your idea.

2. Ask questions about past behaviours instead of generics or opinion about the future.

3. Talk less and listen more.

4. Ask what else you should ask. For example, ask: “Am I missing anything? What’s the question nobody ever asks you but you wish they would?” This will enable you to get information that you might initially have overlooked.

3. Avoid bad data using the below tips

  1. Deflect compliments. You want facts and commitment, not compliments.

2. Beware of certain words and expressions, such as:

  • Generic claims (“I usually”, “I always”, “I never”)
  • Future tense promises (“I will”, “I would”)
  • Hypothetical maybes (“I might”, “I could”)

3. Dig beneath opinions, ideas, requests and emotions

When you hear a request, it’s your job to understand the motivations which led to it. You do that by digging around the question to find the root cause. Why do they bother doing it this way? Why do they want the feature? How are they currently coping without the feature? Dig.

Because asking good questions is only the first part of a meeting with potential customers, he also details what are the results of a good meeting.

4. Learn to notice when a meeting goes well

A good meeting should bring your research team:

  1. Facts
  2. Commitment. There are three types of commitment:
  • Financial (pre-order, deposit…)
  • Time (clear next meeting with known goals, sitting down to give feedback, using a trial of the product…)
  • Reputation (intro to peers or teams, intro to a decision maker, giving a public testimonial or case study)

Strong commitment usually combine several elements mentioned above. For example, someone will agree to run a paid trial with their whole team.

3. Advancement. A meeting should always end with clear next steps. Here are a few examples of sentences that indicate you’ve had a good meeting:

  • “What are the next steps?”
  • “Can I buy the prototype?”
  • “When can you come back to talk to the rest of the team?”

Signs of a bad meeting

Here are a few examples of reactions that indicate the meeting did not go well:

  • “That’s so cool! I love it!”
  • “Looks great! Let me know when it launches.”
  • “There are a couple of people I can introduce you to when you’re ready.”
  • “I would definitely buy that.”

Meetings either succeed or fail. There is no such thing as a meeting that “went well”.


This article was inspired by The Mom Test, a book by written by Rob Fitzpatrick when he was working in his first startup. The title come from the idea of asking your mum about the validity of your ideas.

Its aim is to help you ask better questions when doing market research and making sure the data you collect can be used to offer a product of good quality. I really recommend you buy it if you want to learn more. It’s full of good advice!

Please 👏 to let me know if you enjoyed this article!

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Théo

Written by

Théo

ex PhD Candidate @Polytechnique, ex @ScPo Bordeaux. New technologies & trail running. Twitter: @_THEODORE__

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