Customer Conversations - A Getting Started Guide.
Understanding your customer is always the most important thing you can do.
The best way to do it is by talking to them.
Here’s a brief guide to getting started whether you’ve never conducted Customer Conversations or you just want to level up.
Talking to customers always makes sense.
Understanding your customer is always the most important thing you can do. Everything—everything—is based on it. Disconnecting from your customer is sawing off the branch you’re sitting on.
If you are concerned that post-COVID is a bad time to ask your customers for some time—don’t be. Things have changed for people—a lot. Your customers want your product or service to help them. This is the way to learn how different things are for your customers and what you need to do differently to help them is to talk to them.
You aren’t imposing. If people don’t want to talk to you they can ignore your email. If you do this well then you will be helping them out, showing interest in them, and rewarding them for the opportunity because conversations with your customers are just so valuable.
Build customer relationships
It's always better to be more to people than just a product or service—that goes double in times of crisis. Think of each interaction as a thread; many threads create a strong tie.
And a $50 Amazon Gift Card goes a long way.
Understand customers better
Don’t make assumptions. You cannot serve your customers if you do not understand them.
Remember: understanding you customer is always the most important thing.
Learn how to help customers
Once you pass about 3 customers you’ll be surprised how little you actually know about them.
Things have changed for your customers recently. A lot. So how can you help?
Here’s what we’ll cover:
A specific focus.
What do you want to learn from your customers? Conversations should be relaxed, but not without purpose. Show respect by being considerate of their time. Find a relevant topic of conversation (that isn’t just COVID!) to focus on so you don’t do all the talking and ramble for the entire time. And make sure this is not a sales call.
The customers.
Who should you be talking to…and how do you find them? There’s no formula but there are some guidelines you can use to get a jumpstart on sizing your list and picking the right customers.
Scheduling and setup.
The logistics of these conversations are pretty straightforward so don’t let them dissuade you. Your customers will now be more familiar with a video chat than ever so barriers to getting them on the line are at an all time low.
A plan for the conversations.
This is the most daunting part of the process for most people getting started with customer conversations, but don’t sweat. It’s not as hard as it seems and I’ve got guidelines and templates to help you manage it.
Follow up.
After you’ve had the customer conversations, you should always follow up.
Have a specific focus for the conversation.
It’s not a great use of customer goodwill to have a rambling conversation about whatever comes to mind. That also makes applying what you learn very difficult. Come up with specific focus for the conversation. The right level of detail depends mostly on your situation.
A single open-ended question that would touch most or all of your customers but that also focuses on one aspect of their interactions with you is usually the best starting point.
Good and Bad Examples of Focus
Too general
If you are too general your conversations will be meandering.
Avoid general focuses like:
Why do people choose us?
What do they think of this feature?
What is important to our customers?
Way too specific
If your focus is overly specific your conversations will hit dead ends.
Avoid specific focuses like:
Why do some people buy on weekends?
Is our email send frequency right?
Does our website navigation make sense?
Just bad
There are things you might like to learn from customers but not everything is suited to this format.
Avoid bad focuses like:
Do they like our logo?
Should we change our prices?
What would convince them to buy more often?
About right
Finding the sweet spot isn't hard, it just takes some thought.
Here are some good focuses:
What is the biggest roadblock our new customers hit?
Is there a major pain point we are not addressing?
Find the right customers.
We’re assuming this is the first time you’ve done this so make it your goal to talk to 10 people.
How do you find your 10?
Responses Needed
A good starting point is to assume that between 20% and 25% of the people you ask will agree to a conversation. So If you want to talk to 10 people, you’ll want to have a pool of about 50 to ask.Starting List
Double the number to create your starting list. So for 10 conversations requiring a pool of 50 customers your starting list will be 100 people. Dig into your CRM and build a list of 100 customers. How exactly you do this will depend on your CRM but most offer a dynamic or smart list that will be helpful here. Don’t worry about being editing yet—think of this as “grab 100 customers in 2 minutes or less”. Don’t overthink it. You’ll take a detailed pass in the next step.Clean Up Your List
Review your list. This is where you’re going to do your editing. Look at each entry on the list and consider if a conversation with them makes sense. Consider each entry in the context of the others—are any too similar? See the guidelines immediately below for a little more information on who and how you to include or remove them from the list.There’s Your Base List!
You now have a list of customers that you would like to have a conversation with about your specific focus to learn how you can serve them better. That’s already a pretty big win! Your list is probably around 75 or 80 people if you followed the process above.
First pick a good cross section of customers
It is best if your pool of potential interviewees are representative of your customer base, according to the best data that you have. This step isn’t a research project so don’t over-invest your time here. Just check your list and see that your customers don’t all “look the same” unless your entire customer base does. You have some customer data in your CRM that tells you a little about your customers, so just do some diligence on your list to make sure you aren’t picking only certain types of customers.
B2B Examples: check company size, geography, purchase history, industry, customer role, etc.
B2C Examples: check demographics, geography, purchase frequency and recency, product purchased (size, price, category), etc.
Filter by your specific focus
Look back to your specific focus and make sure that you don't have customers in your list for whom your specific focus is not applicable. For example, if you want to ask customers about your onboarding experience, don’t include customers who haven’t onboarded recently.
Be mindful of changes, overlap, duplicates, etc.
Your situation is unique; think about that when you look at your list. Some examples:
If you are a B2B company do you want to have a conversation with more than one person at a single company?
Has anyone on your list left or changed positions recently?
Do you have relationships with competitors of anyone on the list?
Are there any conflicts of interest?
Don’t cherry pick customers
It’s tempting to talk to your biggest or best customers. Generally speaking, your biggest and best customers already have your attention and channels for feedback. You are probably also serving them pretty well.
You will almost always find the most opportunity by talking to (and better serving) marginal customers. If you’re serving your best customers well and have good customer satisfaction scores, you will be better off talking to customers that you could get from a 6/10 to 8/10 by serving them better, rather that focusing on your customers who are already at 9/10—there just aren’t many surprises or easy wins there.
Scheduling and Setups that work.
Reaching Out
This is the first real roadblock that people setting up their first customer conversations hit—but its only a roadblock because if you haven’t done it before, it feels like there are a lot of tiny complicated details.
Choose a gift or reward. A $50 Amazon Gift Card is an easy choice, but if you know something more relevant for your audience—or if you know they might require a higher amount to get interest—chose that. Don’t skimp and don’t offer a corporate reward (like a free month of a B2B service) to an individual.
Write an email inviting them to the conversation.
Use friendly language—“I” and “you”, not “customers”. Don’t call it an interview.
Use a scheduling tool like Calendly to invite people to choose the best time for them. See Scheduling for how to time your conversations.
People may be nervous to give out their cell phone so use a tool like Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams.
Send the email out of your CRM but from your email address if at all possible. If that isn’t possible, track the emails in your CRM that you send from your email app. If that isn’t possible, just send the emails directly.
Since you’ve never done this before, make an initial send to half the list. You don’t know your exact response rates yet and you don’t want all your time slots to already be full when willing interviewees click through from your email.
Monitor your open, click, and response rates over 3 days. If you don’t get your initial 10 send to the second half of your list.
Scheduling
You’ll need to set aside some time to devote to the conversations. The easiest approach when you’re getting started is to allow a couple of hours per day—that’s 2 to 3 conversions per day—for a week. Pick a consistent block of time that works for you and aligns with the likely timezone of your customers.
Like pancakes, allow for your first 1 or 2 conversations as “warm ups”; if they go well, that’s great, if not—well, you allowed for it so give yourself a break.
Scheduling Tips
It is better to schedule too short than too long.
Start with 30 minute blocks per conversation.
Allow yourself a 15 minute break between conversations.
If it goes well and you get then hang of it you can bump them up to 45 minute time slots—if you also bump up your reward.
Longer than 45 minutes is hard, especially for remote conversations.
If a conversation is going really well, don’t keep them longer, ask for permission to followup by email.
Like spending time with friends, customer conversations that go well could enjoyably last all day. Don’t let them.
Conversation Setup
Face-to-face conversations are often the most successful. Video conversations are a close second and during COVID-19 pandemic, conducting customer conversations over video from your home office is perfectly acceptable.
The easiest way to conduct these conversations is with 2-3 people on your end to diversify interests and perspectives, but that is tough in the time of COVID. If getting your team in the same room responsibly is possible then that is ideal. Otherwise try to keep it to 2 team members on your end.
Use an image background for your call or do something inviting to your environment—like putting a plant or bouquet in the background—but minimize visual and audible distractions on your end.
Setup Tips
Remember that 1-on-1 conversations with a stranger can be intimidating for your customer and challenging for you.
Video conversation is hard. Over communicate that you are listening with visual cues and by validating their statements when it is your turn to talk.
If they give you permission (you’ll ask during Introductions) then record the conversation—so know if your platform can do it and how. You want to be able to review the conversation later and learn how improve your conversation style.
Have a plan for the conversation.
Introductions
Let them know what to expect.
Cover the Basics
Warm up and get them talking.
Go Deeper
Dig into your specific focus.
Wrap It Up
Tell them how helpful the conversation was.
Introductions
Your Goals
Show gratitude.
Frame the conversation.
Ask for permission to record.
Make them comfortable.
Talk about yourself as little as possible.
Duration: Aim for less than 5 minutes. A lot less.
When you get connected with your customer you’ll want to get to the conversation as soon as possible. Get them situated and let them know what to expect, then get rolling.
Framing the conversation.
Framing the conversation means introducing yourself, what you’re hoping to learn—your specific focus—why you wanted to talk to them, and how long you expect the conversation to last.. You’re not trying to impress them—if they don’t need to know your title then don’t give it. This should be more like striking up a conversation with a stranger and saying “you know, I was wondering…” and less like they’re talking to someone holding a clipboard outside a grocery store.
Recording: do it.
If you have the technical capabilities to record the conversation—audio or video—and the customer agrees to it then you should do so. Rewatching conversations and reading transcripts can be immensely helpful for you and for your team members who were not able to participate. You will also find that at least half of your conversations will have something interesting that you forgot or missed.
Remember this is not a sales call. Don’t pitch them on anything or try to convince them of anything.
You’re here to listen.
Cover The Basics
Your Goals
Get them talking.
Talk just enough to keep it flowing.
COVID is the elephant in the room—don’t let it dominate the conversation.
Get past any Yes or No questions.
Don’t recap the obvious.
Identify anyone with an agenda.
Duration: Aim for 5 minutes.
Once you’ve moved past the introductions build some momentum by starting with easy questions. If your specific focus resonated your customer may lead the way. If they do, just keep them focused.
Yes or No questions
Use some Yes or No questions to get the conversation rolling and build momentum. These kinds of questions don’t work well later in the conversation when you’ll want to get more in-depth responses so ask as many as you can early in the conversation.
Don’t recap the obvious
Save your time and credibility by avoiding irrelevant questions or ones you should know the answer to. For example, if you are a B2B company don’t ask where they work. You contacted them on the corporate email address.
Customers with an agenda
You will eventually run into a customer who agreed to talk to you because they have feature requests, complaints, no other way to provide feedback, or legitimate grievances. These conversations will be apparent almost immediately. When it’s clear that is where things are heading, just hear them out—remember you’re here to listen. Take notes and do your best to understand their input, but don’t try to force the rest of the conversation. If there are opportunities to connect their agenda to your questions do so, but when they’ve said their piece commit to giving the feedback to the appropriate person in your organization move to the Wrap It Up phase.
Go Deeper
Your Goals
Keep them talking.
Bring it back to your Specific Focus.
Push past simple answers.
Duration: Aim for 15 minutes.
Even if you are a B2B company or your specific focus is in a business context, people make decisions for personal and emotional reasons. This portion of your conversation is looking those reasons.
Question anything you’d see on a LinkedIn profile.
If someone tells you they made a decision “in order to make more money”, “to make a difference”, or “get a better job” that isn’t helpful; everyone wants that. Go deeper than that. Outcomes like a “a better job” are distinct from the motivation to make a change.
Don’t ask Why. Say “tell me more about…”
Thinking about The Five Whys is useful way to remember you need to get to the root cause, but never ask your customer “why?” directly. The response you get is almost guaranteed to be post-rationalization. Instead say “Tell me more about…”
No: “Why did you want to apply for a management role?”
Yes: “Tell me more about realizing you’d like to be in management.“
No: “Why did you chose our Medium Plan?”
Yes: “Tell me about deciding which plan was right for you.”
No: “Why did you have trouble completing step 3?”
Yes: “Tell me about the problems with step 3.”
Don’t change the subject. Say “you mentioned…”
Keeping the customer talking doesn’t mean letting them ramble. Politely keep them on your specific focus. If someone gets off topic, steer them back.
Abrupt interruptions can disturb the flow of the conversation, but it only takes a little bit of conversational judo to redirect your customer’s focus. Try connecting to an earlier point—or pretending to. You only need a little subtlety here:
“Wow. So when you said…”
“That reminds me of something you said earlier…”
“I’m curious about…“
“I also wanted to ask you about…
Wrap It Up.
Your Goals
Show gratitude.
Restate one thing you learned from them.
Reiterate their gift is on the way, if it hasn’t already been delivered.
Get permission to follow up by email.
Show gratitude.
Duration: Aim for 5 minutes.
Conclude politely like you would any conversation, but remember that your customer did you a massive favor by sharing their time and opinion. Repeat how much you value the opportunity.
Restating something you learned.
Pick one thing that the customer said during your conversation and tell them how helpful it was. This demonstrates that you were listening and value their input. It doesn’t have to be something unique, novel, or brilliant.
For example: “This has been very helpful. Your perspective on the signup form is really valuable. Thank you!”
Ask for permission to follow up. Always.
I doesn’t matter if you think in the moment that you will have followup questions, always ask for permission to follow up by email if you “think of other questions”. It demonstrates your interest in their opinion, but it is also common to have new questions later after conducting conversations other customers or reviewing transcripts.
Always follow up.
Send everyone you talked to a thank you email (from your own email account—use a template if you want but don’t half-ass this).
Include something from your notes that you found interesting or meaningful in your conversation with them—even if it wasn’t unique or novel. This is about expressing gratitude for their time.
If you had one or two followup questions that can be answered by email in less than 5 minutes it is okay to ask them as long as the customer gave you permission to do so.
Follow up with No-Shows too!
Send everyone who agreed to talk but no-showed a message offering them an opportunity to connect at another time, linking back to your scheduling app. Tell them you’re “holding the gift” for them if they still want to participate.
Either way, send the message no later than the following morning (customer time).
Now what?
You’ve conducted 10 customer conversations…what next?
Review your notes.
Have all your recordings transcribed. Then go through each conversation one-by-one using the transcriptions and your notes. Highlighting passages in printed transcripts works well.
Here are some things to look for:
Anything related to your specific focus
Any uncommon words or phrases that appear repeatedly
Strong emotional statements
Ways they describe their pain points
Specific product or service feedback
Questions they asked
Then copy these onto note cards (or post-its) and write the interviewee’s name on the back.
Consolidate your feedback.
Once you review your notes and transcripts you should have big stack of note cards full of insights from your customer conversations. Nice job!
The next thing you want to do is look for commonalities among your conversations. Lay out all your cards and group ones together that are related, even if they are contradictory.
For example: one customer loves your emails and another hates them. Group those cards together.
Once all your cards are sorted—and its okay for some cards to be lonely, without any related cards—check each group to see if there are multiple cards for one customer (you wrote the names on the back of the cards). Eliminate duplicates from a single customer.
Categorize your feedback.
You now have piles of cards or groups of post-its that, by nature of their size, tell you what customers are thinking about. It’s not a scientific survey, but you have sure learned a lot already.
There are lots of ways to categorize your feedback, here are 3 to consider. Pick the best for your situation:
Emotional Charge
Arrange the piles on a table from Negative Customer Emotion on the left to Positive Customer Emotion on the right with Indifferent in the middle.Emotional Strength
Arrange the piles on a table from Weakest Customer Emotion on the left to Strongest Customer Emotion on the right with Indifferent in the middle.Emotional Weight
Arrange the piles on a table from That Was Too Challenging on the left to I Really Want to Do That on the right with That’s Busy Work in the middle.
From there it’s up to you.
You’ve now done more to understand your customers than 80% of businesses in the world. That’s worth celebration and recognition. Cross the 90% threshold by applying what you learned. I can’t tell you how to do that in our business, but if you start by taking the biggest pile from both ends of your Categorized Feedback and figure out how to address them for your customer, you’re well on your way.
Let’s Connect
Was this easy? Impossible? Let’s talk about how it went. I’m always willing to have a conversation.