Better Product Managers, and Product Management

I wrote earlier about finding people for your customer development interviews.

Once you’ve found people for your interviews, you’re probably thinking, “Great, I can ask them if they’d use my product!”

Wrong.

OK, you’re thinking, “then what should I ask them?”

A better way to think about it is, what should I be learning from this interview?

It’s really important to understand the philosophy behind the customer development interview, particularly because it runs so counter to entrepreneurial instincts.  Be direct. Act. Get stuff done.  You ask questions, you get “70% good” information, you decide.  But when it comes to identifying a problem and potential solutions, the direct approach doesn’t really work.

Why? Because people are too polite to say ‘no’.  Because people can’t imagine technologies that don’t exist yet.  Because people overestimate how much effort they’re willing to put into something.  Because people think incremental, not disruptive.  Plenty of reasons.  Let’s accept this and move on.

So, what should I be learning from the customer development interview?

• How is your customer currently dealing with this task/problem?  (What solution/process are they using?)
• What do they like about their current solution/process?
• Is there some other solution/process you’ve tried in the past that was better or worse?
• What do they wish they could do that currently isn’t possible or practical?
• If they could do [answer to the above question], how would that make their lives better?
• Who is involved with this solution/process?  How long does it take?
• What is their state of mind when doing this task?  How busy/hurried/stressed/bored/frustrated? [note: learn this by watching their facial expressions and listening to their voice]
• What are they doing immediately before and after their current solution/process?
• How much time or money would they be willing to invest in a solution that made their lives easier?

The important thing about these questions is that they set up an environment where the customer is the “expert”.  They avoid yes/no answers, and give people the opportunity to tell a story – one that may trigger them to think of related problems they’re having, or may trigger more questions from you to ask later.

These questions are applicable for both consumer and enterprise products.  (I’ve used this question list on B2B internal tools, B2B2C consumer-facing apps, and B2C widgets.)

Can you give me an example?

These questions make a lot more sense when applied to a concrete example, so I’ll make one up: an online grocery shopping application. Your hypothesis is that busy households need a better way of making sure they don’t run out of things and don’t have to make a zillion trips to the market.  You’ve found customers to talk to – now you need to understand how they feel/behave when it comes to grocery shopping.

“Tell me about how your household handles grocery shopping…”

Whether they describe a detailed or haphazard process, this is your competition.  This is what you have to be substantially better than, in order to get customers to change their behavior.

“How is that process working for you?”

If you’re lucky, a customer may launch immediately into a rant on how they’re always running out of Cheerios or spending too much because they have to buy milk at the overpriced corner store.  If not, you may gently prompt them with triggers like “Do you generally have the ingredients you need to make dinner?” or “How much time do you spend shopping?”

Validation check: they might not care enough to change their current habits, even if they’re not 10o% optimal.

“Have you tried other approaches, like online grocery delivery or keeping a list on your iPhone?”

Customers who have tried other approaches = a good sign that this is enough of a problem that they’re motivated to fix it.

Validation check: Even if your customer thinks they spend too much time grocery shopping, if they’ve never tried any approach to fix this, then they don’t care enough to try your product. (On the other hand, if they have tried other things, you should try to learn why these other approaches didn’t help or were unsustainable.)

“If you could improve anything about your grocery shopping routine, what would it be?”

If customers don’t immediately have an idea, you could gently prompt with “spend less time, less money, have fresher/healthier foods on hand…?”

This question is going to prompt people to jump to solutions (like “I want a cost comparison tool”), rather than articulating their problems, so you need to immediately follow up with:

“If you had a cost comparison tool, how would that make your life easier?”

(basically, the 5-Whys approach)  You want to discover what’s at the root of this suggestion – is it more important that they pay the lowest prices, or do they want to cut down on trips to several different grocery stores, etc.

Validation check: if they really can’t articulate why this solution would make their lives better, it probably won’t.

“What people in your household buy groceries?”

These are the potential stakeholders of your solution.  This can also open up insights – if your customer says “I do all the shopping, but I wish my teenage kids could pitch in too”, that’s an area ripe for product exploration: how can we help division of labor? how can we shift simple tasks from the time-constrained/expensive resource to a “cheaper” one?

“What do you do immediately before you go grocery shopping?”

This is a great way to find ways to differentiate your product – to most people, grocery shopping starts when you walk through those electronic sliding doors.  But to your customer, it might start with asking your wife and kids what they need, making a list, looking up recipes online, or getting the baby changed and buckled into her carseat.

(Your product probably won’t solve for the baby thing, but it gives you insight into your customers’ state of mind – how busy they are, how stressed, do they only have one free hand to use…?)

“What do you do immediately after you go grocery shopping?”

Again, to your customer, grocery shopping isn’t over until the frozen foods are in the freezer and the cans in the cupboard.  This may reveal new product stakeholders: the 8- and 10-year old who never go to the grocery store, but who unload the car and put things away.

“Would you be willing to spend some money to get a cost comparison tool or other tools that would make your grocery shopping easier?”

If the customer says yes, suggest an amount (“say, $10 a month?”)

Validation check: If the customer says ‘no’, or says ‘yes’ in a hesitant way, they’re not going to use your product.

And finally…

After all these questions, feel free to ask about your specific solution and how interesting the customer finds it.  Give them the opportunity to ask questions of you.  You never know where inspiration will strike!

Talking with your target market is critical to finding product-market fit. (In case anyone thought my earlier post Anybody, As Long As It’s Not You implied otherwise).

But I’ve heard “target market” thrown around far too often around as an excuse for why other people didn’t understand your idea.  (“Well, of course he didn’t understand my online raccoon manicure product – he’s not a raccoon groomer!”)

But in general, ANYBODY SHOULD BE ABLE TO ‘GET’ YOUR IDEA.   If they don’t, it’s either a bad idea or you’re expressing it badly, and the sooner you realize that, the better.

Don’t ask “would you use it?”, ask “do you get it?”

As SOON as you have an idea or a very early mockup, show it to people.  Doesn’t matter who.  If they ‘get it’, THEN invest the time in building out more of an MVP, and at that point, definitely call in your target market.

Recently I was talking with some other entrepreneurs about a company that prints out physical wall calendars already-marked with all the birthdays from your Facebook account.  We all said, “I probably wouldn’t buy it” but we all UNDERSTOOD WHAT IT WAS, and that there was an audience (my teenage niece) who would probably find it a lot cooler than we did.

Start Fast and Cheap, then Target

Finding target market people takes time.  I can find a fellow product manager/startup person to give me feedback within hours.

It might take a day to find a targeted person – for a new entrepreneur who doesn’t have a big network yet, it might take a week.  That’s too long to wait for this very early feedback.

Asking target market people for their feedback burns some social capital.   I can easily ask a favor from a fellow product manager/startup person because I know they could probably use my help at some point in the near future.  I also know they’ll be both patient and merciless if I do a bad job explaining my idea.

If I have a target market person who is NOT my friend, and ask them for feedback, it’s a lot harder to ask again later.  If I do a bad job explaining my idea, they may incorrectly conclude that it doesn’t meet their needs.  Or it may just not trigger the feedback you need — most people are not able to articulate their needs straight-out.  It’s only when they hear an idea or see a sketch that they get in the right mindset to talk about their problems (you know, those things that you are trying to solve.)

So once your idea has gotten some rudimentary validation, target away!   Just don’t let targeting stand in the way of getting feedback EARLY EARLY EARLY.  Let dumb/impractical/incomprehensible/poorly articulated product ideas die a quick and painless death!

“OK,” you say, “I’m convinced – I need to talk with potential customers to make sure my startup/product/service idea has potential.  But how do I find those people?”

Finding People

AdWords / Facebook Ads / Tweets.

Summarize your idea, invest some money in getting it in front of people who have expressed intent by searching for that term, clicking your ad, clicking a link.  (Read the original SEM on $5/day post for details.)

I haven’t used Twitter for this much yet, but my theory is that it may be a more effective way of reaching people (I am much more likely to click on links that appear in my hashtag saved searches than I am to click on an AdWords or Facebook ad.)

Twitter Search.

Look for people who have already discussed a similar product, problem, or solution and address a tweet directly to them:

@username Would love yr feedback on [product/problem/solution] – shd only take 2mins [URL] thanks!

Some people will ignore this, but many more will feel a bit flattered that they’re being asked.  Use this judiciously – more than one or two of these tweets per day and you’ll look like a spammer.

Google Alerts.

Set up Google Alerts for your product/problem/solution (you should have done this already anyways) – and when it finds relevant blog posts or comments, email those people and ask for their feedback:

I read your [post/comment] about [product/problem/solution].  I’m currently trying to validate a related idea and I think your opinion would be very valuable to me – could you take 2 minutes and check out [URL]?  Thank you – I’d be happy to return the favor any time.

Ask for introductions.

People are generally happy to make introductions for you, provided you do 3 things:

• Provide the exact text that they can copy and paste into a tweet or email (They’re doing you a favor! Make it as easy as possible for them.)
• Tell them exactly how you are going to communicate with their contacts (They’re risking a bit of social capital for you – if you are a jerk to their contacts, that will reflect badly on them.  Be very clear that you won’t spam or annoy people.)
• Tell them your goals (What do you think you’ll get/learn if they make this intro for you? People want to know that they’re contributing to a bigger picture!)

Email Request Template

I have a quick favor to ask.

I’ve got a product idea that I’m trying to validate with [type of customer]. My goal is for them to visit my splash page at [URL] and indicate their interest (or lack thereof).  I will only contact them if they explicitly give me permission to do so.

Could you send this message along to people you know who fit this target?  (Feel free to change it a bit if you like):

[Message - be sure to include the goal, the URL, and your contact information]

Twitter Request Template

I have a quick favor to ask.

I’ve got a product idea that I’m trying to validate with [type of customer]. My goal is for them to visit my splash page at [URL] and indicate their interest (or lack thereof).  I will only contact them if they explicitly give me permission to do so.

Since you have a number of followers who are the type of customer I’m trying to reach, could you tweet this for me? (Feel free to change a bit if you like):

[Message - include the URL, the topic, and keep it under 115 chars so it can be easily retweeted]

Asking for the Interview

You may be wondering, “so what is this URL I’m sending people to?  Can’t I just have people email me?”

You have three main goals with your splash page:

1. Communicate your idea in 10 seconds or less (seriously, that’s about how much time you have to grab someone’s attention)
2. Offer something interesting to the people who visit
3. Get contact information so you can ask for the interview

#1 is up to you (there’s a whole other blog post I could write about that…).

#2… when I say “offer something”, people generally think that means a tangible incentive.  You can, but you probably don’t need to – people like being asked for their expert opinion, they like the feeling that they’re contributing to something, and they like being part of a select group who gets a sneak preview at something.

You can cover #2 and #3 with a well-written survey template.  You can see the one we’ve used for the Survey.io beta, or here’s a partial screenshot:

FYI – I’ve used surveys with these 2 questions for multiple products, and so far, overall less than 20% of ALL respondents to this survey leave these blank – the vast majority choose at least one way in which they’d like to give feedback, AND give an email address.

Coming next week:  I’ve got email addresses – now what?