CUSTOMER INTERVIEWS ARE

IMPORTANT

BEFORE

NOW

• Lead Prototyper at Manulife RED

Lab (Communitech, Kitchener)

• BSc Comp Sci / MBA

• 4 years in startups

• 4 years in large orgs

ALI RUSHDAN TARIQ

@alirtariq

www.artariq.com

Best Practises of

Customer Interviews

3 Stages of Interviews

Pre-Interview Interview Post-Interview

Prepare

Empathize

+

Learn

Reflect

+

Adjust

Pre-Interviews

• WHO - Go for a SPA treatment

• WHAT - Prepare your interview

• WHERE - Choose the right environment

Segment 1

Segment 2

Segment 3

A vague group of

seemingly

connected

customers

Results: conflicting/unclear

Segment 1

Segment 2

Segment 3

Results: patterns emerge

SPA Treatment

Size Pay Access

2 3 3

1 3 1

2 2 2

Wedding

videographers

Real estate agents

Hobbyists

=12

= 3

= 8

1: 100s

2: 10,000s

3: MMs

1: -$ or -P

2: $ or $

3: +$ or +P

1: Weeks

2: Days

3: Hours

PREP

• Decide before-hand what you want to know

• List your riskiest assumptions

• Set success criteria, e.g. “We expect 6 out of 15

people to not floss because they hate the experience

of it.”

• Write a loose script

Choose the env

• The closer to the interviewer the better

• Ideally, you want to be in their natural environment

• Fish where the fish are (and do not fish where there

are no fish)

In-Interview

• Don’t ask leading questions

• Don’t ask about future actions - ask about past (&

present)

• Pay attention to Say, Think, Do, Feel

• Take notes (recorder or written by your partner)

• Ask for referral

Leading questions can hurt

Tell me about the last time you …

What was the hardest thing about …

Ideally, someone should take notes for you

If not, then try to voice record

If not, then write your notes after

BlueprintShort intro

Brief description of your intent

Warm up questions (“what do you do?”)

Ask for a story

Ask about riskiest assumptions

Dig in!

Ask for referral

Thank them

Post-Interview

• Thank the interviewee (and ideally reward them)

• Review notes

• Adjust accordingly

Offer something in return for people’s time

(Coffee / early access / praise)

SAY THINK

FEELDO

Success Criteria Actual

Risky Assumption #1 At least 20% 25%

Risky Assumption #2 5 out of 15 people 3 out of 15

Risky Assumption #3

At least 3 of 10 people

spent $50 on this in

the past

Nobody spent $50 on

this in the past

3 Stages of Interviews

Pre-Interview Interview Post-Interview

Prepare

Empathize

+

Learn

Reflect

+

Adjust

ALI RUSHDAN TARIQ

@alirtariq

www.artariq.com

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