Product discovery undoubtedly is the customer-centric approach to determining whether or not a product or feature should be developed. However, how can these decisions be made? Through continuous discovery.

One of the most important aspects of continuous discovery is customer research, and customer interviews are the bedrock of that. To have a good grasp of what your customers really want, you have to engage with them frequently. 

Some product teams view customer interviews as opening up a Pandora’s box, presenting a litany of problems that can be overwhelming. This perception arises because customer interviews have the potential to illuminate numerous loopholes in your product.

Let’s be honest; nobody desires to see their months of hard work and time invested in creating something assumed to be useful being thrashed. But in reality, there’s no better way to build good products than to ask people if the product is built for, the exact things they want. This helps you identify their pain points and condition your solution -your product- to meet those needs.

Thinking of a better way to make conducting customer interviews more productive and less exhausting? Here are some pointers you may want to employ in your next one.

• Focus on more listening than talking

You are trying to know more about your customers, their interests, their lifestyle, and how they interact with your product. Resist the temptation to turn it into a pitch or demo meeting.

Keep it as conversational as possible and ask the right questions. Try using more good open-ended questions with fewer assumptions than close-ended typical yes-no questions. This allows the interviewee to be as detailed in their feedback as possible. 

Also, focus on more questions that allow you to validate the problem.

• Take notes even while you record the interviews (and afterward). 

Even if you’ve recorded the process, valid points or insights are often forgotten after the interview. Jot down striking points while the interview is ongoing.

Also, go back over interview recordings to get key insights or better still, leverage the power of AI transcription and analyzing tools like the one here Insight7.

• Recommend probable solutions

Finally, make a couple of recommendations on what you think the team should change about the product or overall customer journey as a result of the interviews. 

Connect the recommendations to the summary.  

Ensure your recommendations align directly with the key insights highlighted in the summary. If it’s helpful, create a table that highlights the key insights and puts 1-2 recommendations right next to each insight.

Lastly, prioritize. Focus on the most impactful changes for the product rather than listing every tweak. Choose the top 2-3 adjustments that would significantly enhance its effectiveness.

Best Tool to Help Unlock Valuable Insights from Customer Interviews (Insight7)

In the intricate landscape of customer insights, where manual analysis often proves time-consuming and laborious, Insight7 emerges as a transformative force. Picture a scenario where the meticulous analysis of customer interviews is not just swift but ten times faster, thanks to its advanced capabilities in recording, transcribing, and distilling key information from conversations.

Gone are the days of grappling with siloed feedback across channels. Insight7 seamlessly integrates with platforms such as Gong, Hubspot, Gmail, and Slack, providing a unified view of customer insights. The result? Informed decision-making becomes a streamlined process, as you prioritize development based on attributes like revenue, industry, and size.

What truly sets Insight7 apart is its remarkable ability to identify customer pain points, desires, and behaviors in mere seconds. The platform goes a step further by facilitating segmentation of feedback based on key attributes, thereby revealing nuanced patterns within customer accounts and segments.

For Product Managers, Marketers, and Founders seeking to expedite product discovery, Insight7 stands as an invaluable asset. The tool not only automates the analysis of customer interviews but also distills critical insights, enabling expedited and well-informed product decisions.

You as a leader in Product, Marketing, and Customer Service can use Insight7 as a catalyst for transforming customer signals into sustainable growth. By effectively segmenting customer insights, they gain a nuanced understanding of what best-fit customers seek, enabling strategic prioritization and proactive trend identification.

It unlocks nuanced product insights, shedding light on win/loss dynamics, churn patterns, and upsell opportunities. Furthermore, it addresses the challenge of data silos, fostering seamless collaboration between product and Go-To-Market teams.

In essence, Insight7 doesn’t just function as a tool; it actively serves as a strategic ally poised to enhance your organization’s understanding of customer feedback. By automating analysis processes, saving time, and delivering actionable insights, Insight7 emerges as an indispensable asset for businesses poised for strategic growth.