Talk to Humans. Then Build for Them.

Your customers hold the answers—if you ask the right questions.
Customer interviews and surveys are critical for uncovering the “why” behind behavior. They help validate assumptions, sharpen messaging, and prioritize what actually matters to your audience.

Why it's Important

Clarifies what motivates users, not just what frustrates them
Surfaces emotional drivers that shape brand resonance
Helps you speak your customers’ language—not internal jargon
Prevents costly misalignment between product and actual need
Creates an evidence-based foundation for all positioning and messaging

How to Implement

Define your goals - Are you validating a problem? Testing messaging? Prioritizing features? Be clear upfront.
Identify interview targets - Reach out to potential, current, and churned users across segments. Use warm intros, LinkedIn, or incentivized cold outreach.
Create a structured discussion guide - Mix open-ended and probe-style questions. Avoid leading language.
Conduct 8–15 interviews per segment - enough to see patterns without analysis paralysis.
Record (with permission) and transcribe interviews for deeper analysis—use tools like Otter or Descript.
Tag and synthesize themes - pain points, triggers, benefits, language, objections, decision-making criteria.
Build short surveys (5–10 questions) to test hypotheses at scale using Google Forms, Typeform, or Maze.
Share the voice of the customer across teams via clips, quotes, and highlight reels. Make it visceral.

How You Know You Got It Right

You’re hearing recurring themes across different users and segments
Your messaging aligns with actual language from users
You’ve uncovered insights that change or reinforce product priorities
Stakeholders cite interview findings when making decisions
You can clearly articulate the problem from the user’s perspective
Surveys confirm patterns from interviews (and vice versa)
Your team feels more confident about who you’re building for

Real-World Examples

Superhuman

Ran hundreds of interviews to score product-market fit and built their onboarding around productivity triggers surfaced in interviews.

Monzo

Used feedback from early adopters to build transparency and trust into their messaging, tone, and feature prioritization.

Webflow

Identified that designers felt “boxed in” by dev cycles—this emotional insight helped position Webflow as empowering creative freedom.

Make It Better

Ask “why” three times to uncover root causes
Include someone from product or design in live interviews
Watch for emotion, hesitation, and repetition—insight often lives there
Keep surveys short and mobile-friendly
Close the loop—share what you learned with participants when possible

Don't Make These Mistakes

Asking leading or overly hypothetical questions
Only interviewing happy customers or friends
Skipping synthesis—transcripts aren’t insights
Using surveys without first doing interviews
Treating responses as requests—look for patterns, not feature lists