Maximise the Value of Customer Interviews. Avoid These 9 Common Mistakes!

For successful customer interviews, avoid These 9 Common Mistakes!

1. Forgetting to define clear research goals. This can lead to ineffective questions and incomplete or misleading data.

2. Not deciding on the target audience. Collecting insights from the wrong people leads to incorrect assumptions.

3. Selecting the wrong interview format. For example using a survey instead of a one-on-one interview. This can produce incomplete or insufficient data. [Customer interviews are almost always valuable. ;-)]

4. Asking leading questions. A leading question suggests a particular answer or assumption. This can influence the response. This can introduce bias and result in incomplete or inaccurate data.

You should use open-ended questions. This allows interviewees to provide their own viewpoint and opinion.

5. Allowing personal biases to affect the interview process. This can influence the data collected and lead to poor strategy. Try to listen to the interviewee's responses without judgment.

6. Failing to establish rapport with interviewees. This can make them less likely to share honest opinions. They may also to provide incomplete insights.

7. Not actively listening to interviewees. This can cause you to miss key information about the customer's needs, pain points or desires.

8. Not following up with additional questions. This can limit the amount of detailed information gathered. Follow on questions:

• get more data the customer's needs, pain points or desires
• show you are actively listening
• build greater rapport

9. Focusing on what the interviewer wants to hear rather than what the interviewee wants to say.

This can bias the data and lead to poor decisions.

Summary

For successful customer interviews:

• define research goals
• pick the right target audience
• use the appropriate format
• avoid leading questions
• avoid personal biases
• actively listen
• prepare, follow up, and focus on the interviewee's perspective

That’s a wrap!

What would you add to this discussion of Customer Interview preparation?

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