August 1, 2025 | Career, Product Discovery

Interviewing Customers

Customer interviews aren’t optional — they’re how good products start.

If you can’t see the world through your customer’s shoes, you’re just guessing.

— Kristy Sullivan

What are customer interviews?

Customer interviews are regular conversations designed to understand your customers’ goals, needs, and context. They help you uncover unmet needs, hidden frustrations, and what really matters.

They’re not:

Usability tests
Sales or support calls
A place to pitch or defend your solution

The focus isn’t on your product. It’s on the person using it and what they’re trying to do.

How often should you do them?

Aim for at least one interview per week. Consistency matters more than quantity. Build a habit your team can stick with.

The interview process

Define what you want to learn
Decide on incentives
Recruit customers
Set up the interview
Run the interview
Take notes and record
Synthesize and share what you learned

1. Define what you want to learn.

Start by aligning as a trio on your learning goal. What are you trying to understand?

Examples of strong questions:

What challenges do new users hit in their first week?
Where do people drop off or lose confidence?
What are they doing today without our help?
What’s holding them back from seeing the full value of the product?

Then write open-ended prompts to guide the conversation. Keep refining them as you learn.

2. Decide on incentives.

Do you always need to offer one?

Not always. Try asking without one first; many customers are happy to help. For repeat panels or hard-to-reach groups, a small reward helps.

Good options:

Gift cards or credits
Free months or upgrades
Company swag
A signed book from a founder or author

Steps:

Confirm your budget
Decide on the reward
Mention it clearly in your invitation
Send it promptly and let them know when and how to expect it

3. Recruit customers.

Where to look:

Current users, especially those active in the last few days
Ask support and sales, they know who’s stuck or frustrated
Build a small panel of people open to multiple interviews

Scheduling tips:

Block out a few windows on your calendar as a trio
If scheduling is a pain, do a calendar audit
Use a round-robin scheduler so you all rotate
Test the link before sending

Keep your invitation short and clear:

Subject: Help shape [Product/Service]

Hi [First Name],

We're working to improve [Product/Service] and your input could really help.
Would you be up for a quick 15-minute call to share your thoughts?

[Book a Time]

Thanks for helping us build something better.

4. Set up the interview.

When someone books a spot:

Add their name and contact to the calendar invite
Drop in the interview guide and note-taking doc
Reserve 15 minutes before and after the session for prep and debrief
Confirm you’ll be recording (in both the invite and at the start)
Double-check your mic, camera, and lighting

5. Interview customers.

Talk to five (5) customers per learning goal. Start broad, then revisit a few over time to spot changes.

Who should run interviews?

Your product trio. One person leads, the others observe and take notes. Rotate so everyone builds the skill.

Structure:

Start casual. Build trust.
Explain why you’re there.
Ask open-ended questions tied to real behavior:
“Tell me about the last time you tried to [task].”
Listen actively.
Repeat back what you heard to confirm:
“Did I get that right?”

✅ What works?

Share responsibilities across the trio
Focus on stories, not hypotheticals
Interview weekly, not just when something breaks
Synthesize after every session
Share short, visual summaries

🚫 What to avoid?

Letting one person own all the interviews
Sticking to a rigid script
Treating discovery like a one-time project
Sending raw notes and hoping people will read them
Waiting to analyze a big batch of interviews at once

6. Record and take notes.

Always ask if it’s okay to record. Most people will say yes.

Confirm in your booking form, then ask again at the start.
Stick a “Don’t forget to record” note on your screen.
Take notes in a shared doc that your trio can access.
Use a simple template so notes stay consistent and easy to read.
Ask if they’d be open to future interviews, especially if you’re building a panel.

✅ What to capture:

Specific stories (not opinions)
Context: when, where, and what triggered the situation
Pain points, workarounds, moments of success
Memorable quotes
Your observations , clearly marked as your own

🚫 What to skip:

Hypotheticals (“Would you use X?”)
General opinions (“I like clean design”)
Surface-level preferences

7. Synthesize and share.

Don’t wait.

Right after each interview, spend 15 minutes together filling out a snapshot:

Key opportunities
Any early insights
A mini user journey
One standout quote
Basic customer info

Snapshots make learning easy to remember and easy to share. No one wants to dig through raw notes.

Know the difference:

Observations = what happened
Insights = why it happened

Keep those separate to stay objective and avoid jumping to conclusions.

Communicate what you learn

Make the insights easy to see, fast to digest, and hard to ignore.

Use snapshots to keep it visual and short.
Tell the story: what the customer tried to do, what got in the way, what they did instead.
Highlight opportunities: “Customers struggle to compare providers side by side.”
Share in chat (i.e., Slack, Teams), standups, and team reviews. Don’t wait for a slide deck.
Pair a quote with a screenshot, a sticky note, or a quick annotation to bring it to life.

Conclusion

Customer interviews aren’t a box to check; they’re a habit that helps you stay grounded in reality.

They remind you that real people are using your product to solve real problems. And sometimes, they’re struggling. Sometimes, they’ve found brilliant workarounds. Sometimes, they’re doing things you never expected.

The point of discovery isn’t to validate what you’ve already decided. It’s to listen first, learn fast, and lead with context. Interviews give your team the kind of clarity you can’t get from dashboards or guesswork.

Start with one conversation. Then another. Then make it part of how your team works every week.

Take Action

Want to get started? Try this:

Block one hour this week with your trio to plan your first interview.
Draft one clear learning goal and 3–5 open-ended prompts.
Invite 2–3 customers to a 15-minute chat. Keep the ask simple.
After the call, fill out a one-page snapshot together.
Share one quote and one opportunity with your team.

That’s it. Then repeat.

Small, steady learning builds a team that knows what matters and builds with confidence.