The most valuable ongoing activity.
WHY IT MATTERS CONTINUOUSLY
Analytics show what happened; conversation shows why.
WHO TO TALK TO
New customers, about why they came Active customers, about what they do Customers who left, about why People who did not buy
WHY THAT LAST GROUP
They explain the objection nobody who bought will mention.
WHAT TO ASK ABOUT
Their actual work, not your product.
WHY
Describing their process reveals problems they would never think to report.
WHAT QUESTIONS WORK
What were you doing before this? Walk me through the last time you used it What did you expect to happen? What is still awkward?
WHAT QUESTIONS DO NOT
Do you like it? Would you use a feature that did X? How much would you pay?
WHY
They invite polite invention.
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
Workarounds Hesitation Things they do outside the product Requests that recur across several people
WHAT TO TREAT AS SIGNAL
A problem described independently by several customers.
WHAT TO TREAT AS NOISE
A single strong opinion, however forcefully expressed.
WHAT TO RECORD
Notes, searchable, with the customer and date.
