Design a Better Business

EXAMPLE CUSTOMER SAFARI

Page 102

The Customer Safari is the best way to meet your customers in the wild. Hold your horses – don’t talk to them right away! You will learn the most while observing them in their everyday lives; interviews and questions come later. Watch out! Your customers might lie to you.

1 ADOPT THE RIGHT MINDSET

The key rule for a safari is to be prepared. Part of that preparation is filling in the Customer Journey Canvas (page 100). What are the assumptions you want to test? What are the questions you want answered? Make sure you have the right team together and that everyone has a curious mindset. Be aware that your existing mental model is coloring your perception. Doing this beforehand allows you to deviate later.

2 START WITH THE OBVIOUS

Having trouble getting started? Which customers to interview? What is a good location? Start with the obvious: interview existing customers. If you don’t have any existing customers yet, go interview some customers of a competing product or service. The point is that there is no “perfect” customer to observe or interview: in the beginning everything is new.

3 DO IT YOURSELF

Sometimes finding a place to observe your customers is not enough – to get a feel for what they see and experience, it can be really worthwhile to ...