Customer Discovery is an art.
It doesn't just matter what you say, but how you say it. The goal is to avoid leading the witness to say things you want to hear.
The most common mistake I see in customer discovery is that founders may be asking the right question, but they're asking the wrong people. Know your customer. Know your ideal customer profile, or persona.
5-10 conversations are not enough. There isn't enough critical mass there. You want to talk to at least 30 people. At least. So you can start seeing patterns on what people say they want and don't want.
Customer Discovery can happen in many ways. It's not just phone calls or online surveys. It's phone calls, AND surveys, AND focus groups, screen-shares, in-person demos, or even Spaces conversations.
Leave emotion at the door. When we did user testing for Evolve App, we often told our interviewees that we didn't design these screenshots so they won't offend us if they want to share that some of this looks crap.
Leave ego at the door, too. You may have been thinking about it all day long for the last 6-weeks, or 6-months, but until you do great (proper) customer discovery you may be building the wrong thing. Go in with an open mind that you could be wrong.
A couple great one-liners you should add to your toolbox:
🛠 "Can you unpack that for me?"
💫 "If you had a magic wand, how would it work?"
👀 "How are you doing that now?"
❤️ "Is that important to you?"
🤓 "What else?
⁉️ "Why?"
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