Product Research Rules

Chapter 5. Interviews Are a Foundational Skill

Speaking with your customers is critically important, and equally important is how you speak with them.

Take it from April Dunford, author of the highly acclaimed book Obviously Awesome (Ambient Press) and a globally recognized expert in product positioning, who shared with us an interviewing story from early in her career. Her company had recently launched a new database product with a splashy marketing effort and high sales expectations, but it had failed utterly, only selling about two hundred copies. ”And at a hundred bucks a pop,” April explains, “we’re not feeding our children with that!”

April was the newest member of the marketing team, so her boss directed her to speak with at least half of the existing customers—that is, one hundred people—to ensure that they wouldn’t be too angry if the company shut the product down. “So the first 20 conversations go like this: ‘We don’t have that product. Oh, wait. Yes, we fooled around with it for a couple of days, but we don’t use it!’”

Then came conversation 21. “Tony [the customer], says to me, ‘Oh, I love that thing. Oh my god. It’s like magic. It’s totally changed my life!’ I didn’t tell him we were turning it off. He basically said, ‘You will pry that thing out of my cold, dead fingers.’” April dug deeper. Tony loved the product, she learned, because it allowed field sales teams to report back and easily update their information after sales trips. (This was long before SaaS and ...