Asking the right questions: “The Mom Test” Book

Imagine that you have a brilliant business idea or you’re planning to implement a new definitely useful feature to your product, how would you ask a question to your potential customer?
(choose 1 or 2)

1. Would you use such a kind of product / Would you use this feature?

2. How often do you use this and this now?

(the right answer you’ll find somewhere in the article)

Every day I spend around 20 min to read messages in different Facebook groups dedicated to marketing and startups and I’ve noticed one common pattern there: people don’t know how to ask the right questions to get valuable answers. It’s not only about the development of a new business idea or product feature, but also about the market research, customer development and further strategic steps in marketing and business as a whole.

Last year I had to conduct a customer interview for one fintech startup and actually it was very challenging for me because it was my first journalist experience and, second, I didn’t know how to ask the questions that would bring value for our business owners. So, I started googling and found one thin but a very worth-reading book: “The Mum Test” by Rob Fitzpatrick.

Pic is taken from the Internet

Today this book is my manual which I use all the time when I ask about someone’s opinion on the brand new idea or when I need to run a customer interview in both online and offline forms. Below you’ll find the key outcomes from this book in a case of having no time to devote for such compulsive reading.

DO:

1. Plan the 3 most important questions (BIG 3) you want to investigate. Try to form the rest questions around this BIG 3 list. It will help you to have a 360 grad overview of your main issues. These questions will be different for each type of person you’re talking to.
2. Start from broad questions and then zoom in until you’ve found a strong signal. Mix generic and specific questions during your conversation. It should sound casual and not like an interrogation.
3. Ask more about personal and professional experience, daily habits and frequent actions instead of abstract ideas and possible solutions.
4. Ask about specific actions in the past, about the positive and negative experience of using similar products. If you consider your idea unique than refer to indirect competitors or the main issues a person witnesses.
5. Ask your interlocutor to describe all the steps in detail of using a similar product. Listen and make notes carefully. Don’t miss the emotional questions (like “What did you feel…?”).
6. Try to ask for a commitment at the end of your conversation (it can be an intro to the colleagues or boss or a person who might be also interested in; pre-payment; one more meeting and etc.)

DON’T

1. Don’t look for approval or support. Look for the truth. It’s pleasant to receive positive feedback and compliments, but they are dangerous. They might be misleading.
2. Don’t try to convince your interlocutor that your idea is awesome. Listen what people tell and what kind of questions they ask.

Example:
Idea: I’m thinking to launch a platform where less-experienced people will ask for career advice professionals in the specific field. The issue is very simple: some people want to change their craft or they want to develop in a related field but they have no idea how to make this shift. So, they register in my platform and find a person from the desired field and request a call where they’ll be open to ask all questions and even get a series of consultations.

Customer interview: (GQ — good question, BQ — bad question)

GQ:

1. Do you think to change smth in your career path?
2. Whom do you usually ask for carrier advice?
3. When you attended a job fair for the last time what were you most interested in? Describe your experience there.
4. Where do you get info about your desired position/carrier?
5. Do you read some specific literature?
6. Have you ever tried to find a person on LinkedIn and ask some questions about their career? How was it?
7. Have you ever applied for the help of career consultant? How was your experience?

BQ:

1. What do you think about this idea?
2. 2. Would you use this platform when you decide to ask for advice of people who know more about your desired field?
3. 3. I’ve already gathered so many positive feedbacks about this idea, what kind of features would you suggest to add?

Learning from customers is a very complicated but useful process to get more behavioural insights. Read this book to get more illustrative examples and avoid this ⤵️

P.s. Thank you for reading this article until the end 🙌

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