Uncover customer insights & take action
Once your audience is sufficiently defined, you can begin to explore different ways to learn more about them.
It’s important to start by building some criteria for learning from your audience. We do this by creating an “assumptions test table” which outlines what our assumptions [about our customers] are, how we want to test those assumptions, and how they might be validated or invalidated.
Using our assumptions, and the details we are hoping to research further, you prepare your interview script. This script should be focused, clear and non-leading. Take a hard look at length because if it gets too long, you will start to see a drop off in completion. You don’t have to ask everyone, everything. These scripts can be refined as you learn.
These interview questions can produce multiple deliverables and testing mechanisms, and we suggest using a variety. You can use formal tools like UserInterviews.com or more ad hoc means like surveys, landing page promotion, social media posts, and contests.
The goal is to start building a list of folks who want to talk to you. The more folks you connect with the better, so it might make sense to use an incentive, especially for a higher-value request, like a 1-1 interview.
Ideally, you use a mix of research methods to have both a high-level summary for a wide audience but also detailed insights from your 1-1 conversation. All research should be documented and synthesized so you can identify trends or research gaps.
Research, particularly customer research, should be an ongoing process. Didn’t nail your target audience in the first round? Tweak your attributes and research methods and try again. Feel good about what you know about the current state of your customers? That’s great, but as things change (competitors, individual needs, industry), you should be checking in from time to time.
"Growing a new brand and user audience is tough, but the ability to stay agile and be resilient is what helps us best navigate and do our best in proving ourselves. We set out to serve the needs of freelancers, with a mission to help them achieve financial security. How we move forward will continue to be shaped by the users and where the market needs SumIt to go."
SumIt, Co-Founder Check out how we helped a founder use research into inform a beta launch.