5 Habits of Those Who Ask the Right Questions

Uncovering insights involves digging deep into what matters to customers, what resonates with them, and what are things they care about most.?

In our recent Unbox webinar, Bea Camacho, Director for Southeast Asia at global design and research firm Ideo, shared practical tips for asking the right questions.?Asking the right questions helps in identifying unmet customer needs and inspiring new solutions.? In Unbox, we build digital awareness through?conglomerate-wide sessions?where we unbox trends and ways of working from?internal and external speakers.

1) Ask open-ended questions.?

Open-ended questions?require the customer or interviewee?to provide a?reasoned response.?

• Ask questions that get people to elaborate.?
• Avoid leading questions, avoid very narrow questions.?

Pro tip: Lots of "yes" or "no" questions usually don’t spark great conversations.?

???“What is your favorite place to spend time on a weekend?”?

?? “Can you expound on that?”?

?? “If you had a magic wand and you can wish for anything, what would that be?”?

? “You like visiting this place, don’t you?”?

? “Don’t you agree this place offers better facilities than others?”?

2) Design to make things tangible.?

Produce prototypes, which are inexpensive, scaled-down versions of your idea to investigate further. Here's what you can do using prototypes:?

• Get customers’ reactions and perceptions?
• Have customers imagine themselves in that situation or with that product?

Pro tip: Without something tangible, it’s hard for people to imagine what they want!?

3) Keep an open mind, leave biases behind.?

Try not to validate your own assumptions.?

• Ask specific questions, get specific stories.?
• Getting concrete examples helps pull out useful details.?

Pro tip: Always keep a beginner’s mind!

Scenario:?

??? Customer: “I want my experience to be relaxing.”?

?? Probe further: “What is an example of a relaxing experience for you?”?

???Customer: “It might be like a park, a spa, or feeling at home.”?

?? Probe further: “What does it mean for you?”?

4) Dig deeper for the “why behind the why”.

Stopping at the first answer may lead you to the wrong solution for the customer.?

Pro tip: If someone answers that he needs something to be “better”, dig deeper! “Better” can mean different things to different people.

Examples:?

• “Why are you busy?”?
• “Why does that matter to you?”?
• “Why is that something you care about?”?

5) Do the “So, What?” Test

Asking yourself “So, What?” drives you to come out with something actionable and valuable.?

Pro tip: Transform an observation into an insight by asking yourself, “So, What?”.

?

Scenario:?

?? You learn something new about your customer.?

?? Ask yourself:?

• “So what about this learning is useful to design new products or services?”?
• “So what is useful about this?”?

#GrowWithUsAtDTO #WeAreTheGokongweiGroup #designthinking #customercentricity JG Summit Holdings Inc.