Customers won’t tell you what they want – but they can't hide what they need

Nobody knew that they needed a microwave - just that they'd love to have a hot dinner, ready in minutes, after a long day.

But how do you know what product or service to create, when customers often struggle to express their wants?

Steve McCarthy , Principal Venture Builder at Mach49 recommends open-ended interviews — not only for seasoned researchers, but also for budding entrepreneurs. And he's pulled together critical tips for those critical customer interviews.

The time to start is now. Enjoy.

By Elke Boogert, Mach49 Managing Editor

Customers won’t tell you what they want – but they can't hide what they need

By Steve McCarthy , Principal Venture Builder and Global Lead, Delivery Methodology

People are notoriously bad at voicing what they want. How then, do you ensure you don’t build a product or service nobody wants to use or buy? Here’s a guide for getting the most out of customer interviews.

Speaking to a customer – when was the last time you did that? It can be scary. Do you really want to hear from a complete stranger what they think of your (potential) product or service?

They are though – necessary. Through carefully constructed interviews, asking the right questions and really listening, we can pull out insights that help us understand what matters to customers and what problems or needs we should solve. We can discover real needs and insights to drive disruptive growth and make sure we don’t build a product nobody wants to use or buy.?

There’s a strategy for how to do open-ended interviews. How you interview and learn from your customers requires practice and skill, as well as following proven method. It’s important to remember that everybody can do this.

First things first: why would anybody talk to us??

Many people don’t realize that customers are unrecognized experts. When people learn that somebody wants to hear about their pain and perspective on a topic that matters to them, most are eager to talk. People really love to sound smart, be helpful, and feel that they’re shaping the future. We’ve found that most of the time people are willing to give us 30-45 minutes of their time to speak to us for free, simply because of these factors. On the other hand, if they’re not very eager to talk about a topic, it can be a signal that this isn’t an area of interest for them, so we may need to focus on a different group of potential customers.

Our method for success

1. Stay neutral

It can be very easy to introduce unintended bias into the process, so make sure to prepare before starting your open-ended interviews with your customer base. The primary aim of customer interviews is not to validate how much you know but to uncover what you don’t.?

2. Prepare everything

When you talk to customers, we recommend having a guide already created with questions pre-prepared and designed to invite people to recount stories of their experiences and the frustrations they feel.

(For insight into how to build an interview script, check out ????♂?Christian Lindener ’s Build In Public initiative).

3. Focus on pain and emotion

During interviews, ask customers to tap into what experimental psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist Endel Tulving termed ‘Episodic’ memory, which involves traveling back in time and re-experiencing a person’s collection of past personal experiences.?

For example, if I were to ask you what the capital of France is, you’d likely say “Paris”. This is semantic memory – what you know.

In contrast, if I ask you to tell me about the last time you went to Paris, you’d give me a very different answer (assuming you have been to Paris of course). This is episodic memory, and it’s in these moments that we’re likely to learn the most, so our questions are often designed to retell stories. Remember, it’s unlikely anyone will tell you specifically the problem that needs solving. But pain, emotion and stories will provide the clues. Some example questions:

• “Tell me about the last time you attempted [x]”
• “Tell me about a time when you felt frustrated with process [y]”
• “Tell me about the last time you felt genuinely delighted by a [product/service] you used. What happened?”

4. Ask for a vision of a (better) future

It’s important to understand how customers imagine the future, because through this type of questioning we learn about the things that matter most (and might need to be solved first). And we will also get a few solution ideas as well to inform what we might build.

Unfortunately, just asking “what do you want?” or “what should we build?" won’t ever get you the insight you’re seeking. These questions typically elicit vague and generalized answers or ideas based on existing products or incremental improvements rather than innovative solutions.?

But here are two powerful future-oriented questions we love to ask during customer interviews

• “Imagine you have a time machine and you travel [x] years into the future where your biggest problems have now been solved. Can you describe to me the experience now when [carrying out a process or using a product/service]?” Giving people a DeLorean for a moment and unshackling them from the constraints of the status quo can be a really cathartic experience. Their answers to this type of question helps reveal their hopes, aspirations, and ideal outcomes. Customers might reveal what they feel is missing in current solutions or processes, shedding light on unarticulated needs and latent pain points. But it allows us to assess how open customers are to change and how willing they might be to adopt new solutions. This can be crucial for understanding potential adoption barriers and helping us craft strategies to overcome resistance.
• A similar question we love to ask is: “If you had a magic wand (or “one wish”) to make your experience with [process or product/service] better, whether it is technically feasible or not, what one change would you make?”. Like the Time Machine question, the Magic Wand question encourages imaginative and unrestricted thinking allowing customers to express their desires and needs more freely.

Done right, the benefits of open-ended interviews are clear

1. They require relatively little in terms of financial investment compared to large-scale market research studies or product development cycles based on unvalidated assumptions. They allow for rapid insights directly from your potential customers, helping you iterate on your value proposition efficiently.?
2. We believe with the right training everyone can do open-ended interviews. Being a good listener, asking the right follow-up questions, and creating an environment where interviewees feel comfortable sharing their honest opinions are skills that do require time to develop. However, the fundamental process is accessible to all, regardless of the stage of the business or the resources available.
3. Engaging in meaningful conversations where you show genuine interest in understanding the customer’s experiences, needs, and frustrations can create a strong connection. This empathetic approach not only yields better insights but also fosters trust, which is essential for building lasting relationships with your customers.
4. Participants in these early interviews can become invested in the journey of your solution, especially if they feel their input is valued and reflected in the development process. These early evangelists can become valuable advocates for your product, providing feedback, promoting to their networks, and significantly enhancing your product-market fit through their engagement.

As we always say at Mach49, customers can’t tell us what they want, but they can’t hide what they need.

We talk to customers so that we don’t build a product nobody wants to use or buy. If you follow the steps I’ve outlined, you’ll make the most of every customer conversation you’re a part of.?

Want to know more? Get in touch.?

Principal Venture Builder and Global Lead, Delivery Methodology STEVE MCCARTHY has over 15 years of experience helping startups, blue chip companies, and public sector organizations develop products and services that put users first. At Mach49, he blends his expertise in innovation, psychology, design, and marketing to help global businesses disrupt their markets by pursuing customer-centric opportunities for growth.

Steve specializes in storytelling, teaching client teams how to articulate their journeys in succinct, stimulating narratives. He has led multinational teams and projects in the automotive, leisure and hospitality, healthcare, and engineering industries. He holds a BA and MA from Kingston University in London.

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