I Was Wrong — Interview insight
When trying to walk in another man’s shoes we try to put on new shoes. Unknown shoes. But often walking in another man’s shoes is pretty much the same as walking in our own shoes. So why do we get it so wrong?
In the past few days, I was privileged to have an opportunity to conduct actual customer interviews. Speaking to real people over real product. In a discovery phase of product development. This means that answers will actually affect the product and the content being produced.
Before even questioning people, the task was to assume things. Assumptions or better hypothesis were based on our knowledge (marketing, product, sales) and on our experience. And that’s where the things got interesting …
A little background
A while ago I wrote about I want to read about me, not you! I was sure the message is right and I know how to do it. Now I know the message was right ;-) But I also know, that I don’t know how to do it unless I ask some people about it. Real people, the target audience, if you will.
Wait, assumptions are worthless?
No. They are not worthless. They are very valuable. As long as they stay label as assumptions. Or even better — hypothesis. See, a hypothesis in marketing is an assumption that gets tested. There is an unlimited number of methods on how and why … Some are expensive and others are cheap and easy. A walk in the park, one might say.
Some of the methods I was using in this pre-launch were:
- data analytics (web analytics, customer insights, CRM, BI …)
- surveys
- 1-on-1 interviews
- real-life in-store and online experiments (lessons learned TBA)
Nothing spectacular, but they all started with one thing — a hypothesis. The Why (is this important), How (are we doing it) and What (are we doing or asking). BTW, did you notice the Golden Circle by Simon Sinek in this (again)?
But what if I’m tight on budget?
Especially small and medium businesses can rarely afford such a process. But what if I told you that 2–3 months of planned research can have a very positive ROI (return on investment) in the first year? The cost of research is marginal compared to going live with wrong things, messages or even products. I don’t have the numbers yet, but given the things, we (multiple marketing and sales experts, including some people who are in the industry for a very long time) were wrong about when we were thinking about the content and the product …
What is it about the shoes from the beginning?
Right, the shoes. But before I go there, do a short exercise — write down a couple of hypotheses you care about (see instructions above). Ready? Steady … GO!
Now, especially if you work in B2C — however, this does apply to most B2Bs as well — think like a customer. Literally. Like you were a customer. Like you ARE a customer. Do you personally need a discount to purchase this? Is the price too high? Are manuals good enough? Would you buy this in installments — or you don’t care about it? Do you even care about the product? Have you learned something new when making and reading the content for the product?
Now revisit hypothesis — and decide. Was the expert in you right or wrong, compared to you the customer?
My conclusion
Walking in another man’s shoes is risky and hard. Walking in my own shoes is often good enough. It is also much better than thinking like an expert. But whenever I can I will ask customers. They know best. And some things can be tested by other means — because sometimes we are wrong about ourselves. But that’s a topic for a new post someday …
