It’s time to get talking

Hi there 👋,

When was the last time you talked to your customers?

I don’t mean a survey. I don’t mean customer care.

I’m talking about the last time you called your customers to learn more from them?

When did you last take the opportunity to ask non-leading and unbiased questions?

I’m hoping that it was within the last month or two, but I’m dreading that it’s been much longer than that.

If so, this newsletter is for you.

One of the most common reasons for a growth slowdown is a lack of customer research.

You lose touch with what they want and start going off what you think they want and need.

You’re assuming rather than knowing.

Is this an issue for you?

If you’re running numerous growth experiments but seeing no effect, it’s likely that you’re not looking in the right places.

Gut feeling will only get you so far; it’s time to schedule a chat with your customers. 

A great way to do this is to add an email to one of your customer flows where you ask for customer feedback interviews.

This will ensure a steady stream of customer interviews.

When I was the Head of Growth at Heights, we had a standard email inviting customers to talk in exchange for a reward.

We had a Calendly link to book the call, which made it a minimal effort for the customer and for us. 

We took turns taking those calls and each time it was someone’s turn, they’d end up raving to the whole team about everything they learned.

How do you get customers to sign up?

It can be something as simple as the following email in plain text format.

For example, you might include it 2-3 months into your post-purchase email flow.

Hi [Customer Name],

Thank you so much for being a customer of [Company]. My name is [Name] and I’m part of the [XYZ Team]. 

Each month, we speak to customers to discover ways to improve your experience. If you’d be up for a 20-30 minute call on [Call tool], please feel free to schedule one in here.

In return for your time, we’d love to offer you [Reward].

I look forward to hearing from you,

[Name]

What should you ask them?

In all honesty, I don’t have a set template of what I ask in these interviews. It varies per interview and individual.

I use these interviews to explore assumptions and de-risk potential bigger opportunities.

If your growth has stalled, use this time to explore the potential reasons:

• Is your retention low? Who does or doesn’t retain? Understand how the reasons and experiences differ per customer.

• Are none of your channels excelling? Understand which channels they’re on and not on, which touchpoints they remember having, and what moment / why they tried your product.

If I have nothing specific to discuss, I fall back on my Jobs to be Done questions which are also very insightful.

One final tip: You might want to vary which customers you talk to depending on the issues present 

For example, if you’re experiencing retention issues, I would also recommend talking to churned customers as well.

They’re harder to get interested, but their knowledge is far more valuable in this case.

Recommendation

In every edition of Growth Waves, I also share a related book, individual or newsletter to check out related to the week's topic.

You need to ensure that you’re not asking leading questions during these interviews, as otherwise, the information isn’t valuable or honest.

Bad questions lead to bad insights. 

So I’d definitely recommend reading ‘The Mom Test’ by Rob Fitzpatrick.’ 

Rob focuses on the benefits of user interviews, and how to get information you need rather than just what you want to hear.

Often what we don’t want to hear is what we need the most to be successful. 

 It’s a quick read, brimming with great tips for asking better questions.

If you are nervous about conducting user interviews I have a whole section on them as part of my Message-Market Fit Programme:

The whole programme is £595, but if you just want that section, hit reply and I’m happy to arrange that for £145 instead. 

Please, please get out there and talk to your customers. Get past that first interview and you’ll see how easy and fun it is! 

You’ll be left full of energy and ideas that will help you drive more impactful experiments and get your growth back on track. 

I’m inspired to go and book more interviews now, so time to make a big cup of coffee and start chatting☕️.

Daphne