I called Inner Workout’s first round of customer discovery interviews The Oracle.
Even after the public launch of the brand, I returned to the notes from those initial interviews whenever I wasn’t sure what to do next.
That’s how the Instead Deck came to be. I noticed more people complaining about spending too much time on social media, and I remembered a key insight from The Oracle: almost every woman I interviewed didn’t feel like she had enough time for self-care. So I built a deck to help people siphon some of their social media time into self-care time. Those customer insights were the gift that kept on giving.
In a world where many folks don’t even like to talk on the phone, conducting customer discovery interviews can feel intimidating and tedious.
I’m still tempted to skip them myself, but they’re just too valuable to pass over if you’re serious about bringing something resonant into the world.
Customer discovery is the process of getting to know your potential customers deeply, who they are, what they like and dislike, how they talk about the problem you’re trying to solve, and, eventually, what they think about the offering you’ve built.
To prepare for the Inner Workout brand refresh, I spent about five hours this past week in customer discovery conversations. It was incredibly clarifying, and I haven’t even synthesized all the information yet!
These interviews will inform everything from the updated website copy, to marketing channels, to the positioning of our products.
If you want to breathe new life into your project or business, talk to your stakeholders through a round of customer discovery.
Here’s the process I used for this most recent round:
1. Reach out to people for an interview.
I reached out to coaching clients, people who’ve attended workshops in the past year, people who’ve recently sent a note to us about the podcast or book, and some people in my networks who haven’t purchased from Inner Workout but have purchased something similar to the offering I’m building.
The goal is to talk to people who have either been your customer before or seem like they could possibly be a customer in the future. Don’t overthink your invites. Worst case, you’ll get a better idea of who isn’t your target custommer.
State the purpose of the conversation and ask if they’d be willing to spend 20 - 30 minutes sharing their thoughts. Some of my past purpose statements:
I’m building a self-care company, and I want to get a better idea of how people practice self-care.
I’m working on a project, and I’m looking for people willing to talk about their relationship to social media.
I normally offer a little gift in exchange for their time. When in doubt, it’s hard to go wrong with a Starbucks gift card.
2. Schedule the interviews.
I’ve found it easiest to use a scheduling link to minimize back and forth.
3. Prep customer discovery questions.
One of my favorite non-profits, Future Founders, has an amazing, free customer discovery guide. (Side note: If you’re 18 - 30ish and interested in any of their programming, let me know! )
I had two goals for this most recent round of customer discovery interviews:
Understand the demographics and psychographics of my customer
Get feedback on the offering I’m working on
I joked with interviewees that the first half of the conversation would feel a little like a first date. I asked a lot of getting to know you questions that helped me understand how they spend their days, what their motivations and pain points are, and where personal development fits into their lives.
The second half was much more open-ended. I prepared a few slides and ask them to share what resonated, what didn’t resonate, and what was confusing.
3. Conduct the interviews.
At the beginning of each interview, I ask for permission to record. This allows me to be more present in the conversation and to capture what people say verbatim without putting my own biased spin on their words. I record in Zoom and use Otter.Ai to transcribe.
I tell interviewees throughout the interview that they will not offend me. Their honest, unfiltered feedback is welcome.
And I’m reminding myself throughout the interview to talk less and to be more curious. The best interviews are the ones where someone will make an offhand statement and we’re able to get to the why behind that statement.
4. Synthesize.
I jot down observations after each session. Once all the interviews are complete, I’ll review responses to each question and look for trends.
These trends will eventually turn into the traits of my 1-3 customer avatars. Your customer avatars are your ideal customers fleshed out as if they were characters in a book or TV show. Having a multidimensional picture of your target customer makes it infinitely easier to connect with, sell to, and nurture potential customers.
Please, please, please don’t skip over customer discovery. I know it’s not the sexiest, and it’s more fun in the short term to try to go viral on TikTok. But this work is worth it, if only to get you into the habit of talking to your stakeholders as much as possible.