Understand

your audience
Customer Interview Guide
 Why is it Knowing your customer is essential
important for any business venture. Successful
to business owners understand what
their customers want and how to
understand
make their product or service
your available in the most effective way.
audience? The breadth of knowledge is also
important; knowing more than their
names, ages, and incomes is
Companies that required. Knowing your customers'
understand what their
customers want and
hobbies, tastes, and interests, as
expect can work on well as what they watch, listen to,
designing the customer
experience for increased and read, can give you a
loyalty and repeat
business. The more often competitive advantage.
your customer engages
with you, the more
chances you'll have to Understanding your customers'
create a positive
experience and a strong purchasing habits is also critical. As
relationship.
a business owner, you must
Listen to your customers'
feedback and offer sound
understand who is most likely to
advice, even if you have require or desire the product or
to refer them to another
source on occasion. service you offer.

What about us
 Conduct Surveys Speak with your
Surveys conducted online, sales and customer
through social media, by email,
or even in person, provide service teams.
valuable insights. However, you
should focus on creating a Regularly communicating with
survey strategy that has the respective teams helps you
identify and understand your
Tools to
defined objectives - paying
close attention to what your consumers' pain points,
business needs input or complaints, sales objections, as

better feedback on.

Combining quantitative data
well as your brand's attributes.

understand responses and qualitative

customer feedback will give
Test the customer
experience
your
you the best insights.

customer Use Social By following your customers'

touchpoints, interactions and
Listening transactions, you will gain
insight into the routes they take
Identify your followers and and identify ways to simplify
who they follow, as well as their lives and delight them.
where they live. Keep an eye
on their interests to find out
what kind of brands they like
Customer review
and what keeps them Customers' reviews not only
engaged. provide insight into where you
You can use social media can improve to stay current
analytics tools to gain key with trends, but they also
insights into your customers, function as a starting point for
such as understanding the a genuine conversation.
impact of your messaging and
what interests, engages, and With a live chat, for example,
inspires your audience. you can make it easy for
people to share their opinions.
Sentiment analysis
Based on the emotions
detected in voice and text
data, sentiment analysis uses
artificial intelligence to improve
customer understanding. As a
result, businesses can easily
identify customers' opinions
about their brand, services or
products.
Customer
Interview
Guide
Before you begin, it is important to provide
some background information and outline
Few
the purpose of the conversation, as well as things to
acknowledge and address any privacy
concerns that people may have.
remember
Select people with different Do less than 50% of the Pay attention to body
roles and views target based talking. language and tone of voice.
on your persona. Select both
existing and potential Understand the interviewee Record the interview in
customers. Mix loyal, new state of mind by looking for a addition to taking notes.
and former customers if "Quote of the day" with each
feasible. interview. Be sensitive to privacy
concerns. If customers are
Do the interview face-to- Validate the customer uncomfortable answering
face if possible. problem you are trying to some of your questions -
solve, not the product or simply make a note and
Make interviews at least 30- service you are trying to sell. move on.
45 minutes, but not much
longer. Focus on understanding your Document all your interviews
customer. Use different and send a follow-up thank
Design your interview forums to discuss your ideas you note.
questions in advance and and solutions.
use simple language. We have put together sample
Do not ask hypothetical Customer Interview questions in
Create a good environment: questions and do not make the following pages.
comfortable and relaxed. guesses.
Make sure to adapt it, so you
Start the conversation with a Keep the questions as open can collect the information
little small talk, it will help as possible relevant to your business and
everyone feel more audiences.
comfortable.
Customer Interview
Guide
This document is a collection of questions you
might want to ask your customer to learn
more about them and their buying behavior.

Note that not all questions might fit your

business or the purpose of your customer
interview. Feel free to remove or add
questions as you see fit.
 Demographics
QUESTIONS ANSWERS

Age Ranges: 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70+

Gender Identity Use your judgement on whether to ask this one - politely ask if necessary

Location Country, State, City, etc. if not already known

Education Bachelor's degree, etc.

Income Ranges: < 30k, 30-50k, 50-100k, >100k

Family Status Single, Married, Divorced etc.

Job/Role Entrepreneur, Founder, Manager, Director, etc.

Company Name, Size, Location, Website, B2B, B2C, Industry, etc.

What about us
 Information & Technology
QUESTIONS ANSWERS

What device do you use most and for what purpose?

What social media platforms do you use?

Where do you mostly search for information?

Are you the type of person that eagerly awaits and

updates to the latest technology as soon as it comes out or
someone that waits?

What publications, blogs or social media networks do you

pay attention to?

Do you belong to any social, professional or networking

groups?

Do you attend any industry events, conferences or trade

shows?

What information formats do you engage with the most

(mobile, online, print, etc.)?

How do you do your research on new products and/or

services for you or your business (internet, word-of-mouth,
etc.)?

How did you find out about our company/product/service?

What about us
 Lifestyle & Influencers
QUESTIONS ANSWERS

What matters most to you outside work?

What do you most enjoy doing to relax?

Who are the people who most inspire you?

When you plan to make an important decision who do you

seek advice from?

What are your favorite brands? What brands have you

been loyal to over the years?

What about us
 Industry & Business
QUESTIONS ANSWERS

What is your business's industry?

How large is your company (revenue, employees, etc.)?

In your industry, what are the most common challenges?

What are the most common objections to your service or

product?

How many customers does your company have?

Is your company business-to-business or business-to-

consumer?

Does your company offer products, services, or both?

How old is your company?

Who are your biggest competitors?

What are your company’s competitive strengths and

weaknesses?

What about us
 Role & Authority
QUESTIONS ANSWERS

What is your position title?

Which responsibilities do you have?

How does your typical workday look?

Can you tell me how many years of experience you have?

What is your professional background (prior positions, other

industries you've worked in, etc.)?

In what ways do you measure success in your position?

In your position, what specialized skills or tools are needed?

What is your reporting line? What's your reporting structure

if you're a supervisor?

Is there anything about your job that frustrates you?

What do you enjoy most about your work?

Are you the decision maker?

If not, who is the decision maker?

Is there anyone else in your company you’d like or need to

include in these discussions?

Do you anticipate any pushback?

Who first decided to explore the idea of purchasing our

product / services?

Who is involved in the buying process for products/services

like ours?

Who do you consult with and trust for advice and

information?

What special skills do you have?

What tools do you use to do your job?

What about us
 Financial & Budget
QUESTIONS ANSWERS

What level of annual budget do you typically dedicate to

this range of product/services?

Is your company planning to increase or decrease

investment in this product/service category in the coming
years?

When are the budgets set for the coming year?

What about us
 Goals & Objectives
QUESTIONS ANSWERS

What are the primary and secondary goals your company

is trying to achieve?

Why are these goals important? What’s at stake?

What steps are you taking to achieve these goals?

What about us
 Challenges & Expectations
QUESTIONS ANSWERS

What are the biggest challenges that prevent you from

achieving these goals? Why is it a problem for you?

Can you tell me about the last time that problem

happened?

What have you done in the past to conquer these

challenges? Did it work?

If it didn’t, what would you try differently next time?

What are your biggest complaints about our product or

service?

What must happen for you to overcome these complaints?

What isn’t ideal about current solutions?

What company/brand has delivered the best service to

you?

What made that experience most delightful?

How do you prefer interacting with a company/brand like

us? - when looking to buy

How do you prefer interacting with a company/brand like

us? - after you have purchased a product/service?

What about us
 Timeline
QUESTIONS ANSWERS

What’s prompting you to do something about this

challenge/opportunity now?

How urgent is the issue?

What is your timeline for making a decision?

What is your timeline for seeing results?

How long have you been facing this problem/dealing with

these pain points?

How soon would you be open to

install/onboarding/delivery?

What about us
 Closing & Follow-Up
QUESTIONS ANSWERS

What’s the best way to communicate with you moving

forward?

Do you have any concerns I can address at this time?

What about us
 Ready to
start implementing
Service Excellence
Best practices?
We educate and
accompany your teams
through the process.

Get Personalized
Advice