Get More Useful Feedback

Get More Useful Feedback Your Surveys Suck, Go Talk to Your Customers Cindy Alvarez The Experience is the Product - http://www.cindyalvarez.comWednesday, February 23, 2011

Excuses You’re probably not talking to your customers because: • It’s time-consuming • Not enough data to be statistically signiﬁcant • What if they all say different things? • That’s X’s jobWednesday, February 23, 2011

“It takes so long...” Time spent prepping, conducting, analyzing 3 customer interviews: 2 hours Time spent updating the homepage with based on interview data: 5 minutes Time saved on acquiring the next 100 customers: 3 weeksWednesday, February 23, 2011

“It wouldn’t be statistically signiﬁcant...” If you don’t know what the questions are, having more answers is not going to help.Wednesday, February 23, 2011

“What if they all say different things?...” Forcing people to choose between A B C doesn’t mean they weren’t secretly thinking D, Q, or Z.Wednesday, February 23, 2011

“That’s X’s job...” Having 1 person who talks to customers is like having 1 employee do push-ups and expecting the whole team to be in shape.Wednesday, February 23, 2011

But why would customers want to talk to us? Customers respond to personal, speciﬁc opportunities: • to make their lives better • to vent • to sound smart (No mass mails.)Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Permission to Speak Freely By default people will defer to you. Be explicit that you’re looking to learn/listen: • “I’m trying to learn about...” • “Can you tell me how...” • “I’d like to understand why...”Wednesday, February 23, 2011

What should I ask? http://www.cindyalvarez.com/ communication/customer-development- interviews-how-to-what-you-should-be- learning • 8-10 questions • Avoid yes/no questions • Feel free to ad-lib / don’t force itWednesday, February 23, 2011

What’s the magic word?Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Magic Words #1 - Ask Questions • When does it happen • Who is affected • How do you decide • What is the process • (Can I ask) Why is that frustratingWednesday, February 23, 2011

Sweet Emotion Stop! Listen for the customer to sound excited frustrated embarrassed angry and keep going on that topic.Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Magic Words #2 - Validate “Other people have told me...”Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Magic Words #3 - There Is No Spoon “If you had a magic wand, what would you be able to do?” (What people tell you is constrained by what they think is possible.)Wednesday, February 23, 2011

UN-Magic Word: YES Agreeing with people signals an end to the conversation. Instead, “Just to clarify, did you mean ________________?”Wednesday, February 23, 2011

What will this do for me?Wednesday, February 23, 2011

KISSinsights - We built a new product. Customers were: • embarrassed at not knowing enough about their customers • frustrated at low survey response rates after high-effort survey creation • magic wand: “I’d just sit next to my customers and ask them why they did that.”Wednesday, February 23, 2011

http://www.kissinsights.com (signup is free)Wednesday, February 23, 2011

KISSmetrics - We’re building new stuff. Customers told us: • process for analytics tasks was ad hoc/ verbal/unscheduled • we’re frustrated at not following through on improving our metrics as much as we’d like to • magic wand: “I wish I knew what I should be measuring to meet our goals as a company”Wednesday, February 23, 2011

email saas@kissmetrics.com to ﬁnd out moreWednesday, February 23, 2011

Your mission, should you choose to accept it...Wednesday, February 23, 2011

You can totally do this in the next week. Reply to all customer support emails with a question: • “If we added that feature, how would you use it?” • “Would it be clearer if we explained it this way [insert new wording], instead?” • “Is there anything else that doesn’t work the way you were expecting?” • “Can I ask, how would you describe us to a friend if you were recommending us?”Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Also totally doable. Write down 5 things you wish you knew about your customers and how they’re using your product. Turn those into 5 questions using the guidelines in this talk.Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Stretch goal! But you can do it. Interview 5 customers. Share your notes with your team. Brainstorm how you can address the issues you discovered.Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Want to learn more? I blog on Thursdays at http:// www.cindyalvarez.com I tweet about this stuff all the time at @cindyalvarezWednesday, February 23, 2011

Get More Useful Feedback

by Cindy Alvarez on Feb 23, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

Get More Useful Feedback — Presentation Transcript