This link provide great detail into the customer discovery process better than I could write here.
Feeling lazy
Future Founders
www.futurefounders.com
Customer Discovery in 4 Steps
Step One: Define a Hypothesis
The first step is to form a hypothesis that defines both the problem and the solution you are proposing. A simple way to frame this is to fill in the following sentence:
My idea solves
[insert problem] by
[insert solution].
A word of warning: pay very close attention to your assessment of your problem. Be as specific as possible. A good hypothesis addresses a single problem with a single solution. For example: Instead of saying, “My idea solves
people’s need to do laundry by
offering a laundry delivery service,” a better idea hypothesis might be, “My idea solves
the inconvenience and large time commitment of maintaining clean laundry by
offering a 24-hour convenient laundry delivery service.” The first addresses a vague problem that does not match the solution (a laundry service doesn’t solve the need for clean laundry), while the second directly addresses the heart of the issue and matches it with a corresponding solution.
Different kinds of hypotheses reflect different stages of your Customer Discovery journey. Breaking down your Customer Discovery journey to focus on one specific hypothesis will make your results more articulated and insightful. Here are four of the most common hypotheses you see in the Customer Discovery journey:
- Problem Hypothesis: A hypothesis that addresses the problem you’re looking to solve. Is it an actual problem people have? What’s the scope of the problem? Why does the problem exist?
- Solution Hypothesis: A hypothesis that addresses the proposed solution to a problem you’ve identified. Does your solution actually solve the problem in the customer’s eyes?
- Price Hypothesis: A hypothesis that addresses the feasibility of your solution? Can it generate revenue? Are customers willing to purchase at your price to alleviate their pain?
- Go-to-Market Hypothesis: A hypothesis that addresses how you will get your solution in the hands of the customer. Is your MVP (minimum viable product) able to be distributed? How will they find your product? How will they purchase your product?
Whichever hypothesis you write will be tested in the next steps.
Step Two: Define Your Assumptions
When detailing your hypothesis, you will be forced to make some assumptions about your idea. These will include assumptions that:
- The problem you addressed is actually a problem
- The solution you propose will actually solve the problem
- The market you plan to target has this problem
- The market you plan to target will be willing to pay for your solution
A good way to lay out a number of these assumptions is to create a hypothetical customer persona (that is, a profile of who you think is the ideal customer for your business). Be specific–give this person a name, an age, a career, hobbies, interests, perspectives, and even quotes regarding your industry. See a good example of a customer persona below.
Source: xtensio.com
Step Three: Ask (Good) Questions
The next step is to “get out of the building” and ask some questions. You’re going to start by targeting people who you believe could be potential customers. If you’re running a college laundry business, you should not be asking your parents or professors questions. They are not going to be your customers. Ask the people that you anticipate asking to buy your product in the future. They hold the answers.
[Check out our Customer Discovery Worksheet, complete with sample questions!]
Next, you’re going to ask “detective” questions. This isn’t just “asking around” for people’s thoughts on your idea, though. In fact, you really shouldn’t mention your idea at all. This is because Customer Discovery allows you to let your customers
build your product for you. That’s right. You thought you were in the driver’s seat, but you actually get to sit back and relax while your product gets built before your eyes (so to speak).
This is because Customer Discovery questions are open-ended and nonspecific about your idea. By letting the customer lead the conversation, you will end up letting
them tell you about their ideal solution (instead of the other way around). Example questions might include:
- Tell me how you currently do _____________________.
- How is that process working for you?
- If you could do anything to improve your experience with ___________________, what would it be?
- What’s the hardest part about ______________?
- What do you like/dislike about ______________?
In asking these questions, you allow the customer to tell you their exact opinions (or lack of opinion) about your topic of interest. If they feel extremely strongly about the problem, you’ll see pretty quickly by their body language and tone of voice. If they don’t see much of a problem, they may seem confused or complacent. Or, there might be some completely different problem that you hadn’t realized is more pressing than the one you originally wanted to solve. In either case, as you get more and more responses from potential customers, your product will start to either make more sense or less sense. Now is the time to check your bias at the door–because it could very well prevent you from uncovering the real potential behind your idea.
Step Four: Evaluate and Refine
If you perform the Customer Discovery process correctly, chances are you’ll discover some things that you had not originally considered. At this point, you have the opportunity to return to the drawing board (Step One), incorporate what you’ve learned, and repeat the process. Once your customers’ responses match your hypothesis, then you can move on confidently, knowing that you are about to build something that your customers will actually want.
It may seem frustrating to have to go back and revise your original idea, but think about this: it is far better (and cheaper) to revise your idea now–at the beginning–than after you have already spent significant time and money building a product or service around false (or partially false) assumptions.
This gives you a distinct advantage over everyone else in the market. Someone else may be building the fastest product, but you will end up building the
best product.
[Be sure to download our 4-step Customer Discovery infographic to use a quick reference guides on these steps]
What Customer Discovery Approach is Right For You?
Now that you know the in-and-outs of the Customer Discovery process, it’s important you choose a format and distribution strategy that best fits your goal. Today, virtual versions of Customer Discovery are as common as traditional in-person methods. Even over a computer screen, face-to-face Customer Discovery can still be done, so make sure you consider all options when thinking about who you want to talk to. Here are some of the most effective Customer Discovery methods you can perform both in-person and online.
In-Person Forms of Customer Discovery
Interviews:
- The deepest insights found through your Customer Discovery journey will always come from face-to face interviews.
- With the right questions, you will receive the most candid and thought-provoking answers from your potential customers.
- Pay special attention to body language and tone during interviews, as they can indicate a level of comfort, truthfulness, or uncertainty in their answers.
- The main drawback of conducting interviews in person is the coordination, money, and time needed to make the interview possible.
Focus Groups:
- With a focus group, you can write discussion-based questions that will provide unique insights from either like-minded or disagreeing customers.
- While focus groups require even more money, time, and coordination than interviews, they can lead you to a more populated understanding of your assumptions.
Observation/Ethnographic Research:
- Making assumptions about what you expect to see when observing customers in their natural habitat is another form of Customer Discovery.
- Instead of asking customers the questions, write questions that you will answer yourself based on what you observe.
- This approach will push you to be unbiased and attentive, leaving you with a unique third-person point of view on your hypothesis and assumptions.
Virtual Forms of Customer Discovery
Surveys:
- Using an online survey for Customer Discovery has always been one of the most common practices for collecting data
- Advantages: Organized, data-driven, low cost, easy to distribute, contact collection
- Disadvantages: Limited in responses, not-personalized, need incentives
- Platforms: Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Formstack, etc.
Virtual Interviews:
- With the entire world Zooming, virtual interviews are possible. Connecting with people via webcam can still provide you with deeper insights and feedback.
- Advantages: Personalized, (limited) body language, tone, follow-up questions
- Disadvantages: Coordination requires an interviewer, time, limited in sample size
- Platforms: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, Phone, etc.
Virtual Focus Groups:
- Using virtual meetings, you can also mimic an in-person focus group. Getting creative is required here, as you’re only limited to the abilities of your software.
- Advantages: Discussion, larger numbers, adaptability
- Disadvantages: Costly, tech issues, physical restraint, overpowering voices
- Platforms: Zoom, Google Meet, Discuss, Remesh, etc.
Video Surveys:
- A unique take on the survey approach is providing customers with a list of questions or prompts and asking for their responses via unedited video.
- Advantages: Detailed answers, train of thought apparent, body language, tone
- Disadvantages: File sharing issues, re-takes, incentive needed
- Platforms: Email, Text, WeTransfer, YouTube, Dropbox, etc.
Online Observation:
- Customer Discovery can be done by just reading what customers are saying or doing online. By making assumptions beforehand, you can prove or disprove your hypothesis by just reading the answers that already exist on the internet.
- Advantages: Endless information, free of cost, timely
- Disadvantages: Can be unverified, exaggerated, not personalized, hard to be unbiased
- Platforms: Online forums (such as Reddit), comment sections, social media pages, etc.
No matter what resources you have available to you, Customer Discovery is possible. There are many more options than just your traditional interview or survey, so get creative with your journey! Many startups will utilize different approaches for different assumptions based on the sample size needed to prove if their hypothesis is true or false. Remember, the Customer Discovery process isn’t just a one time thing. You should always be questioning your assumptions, even if you already have an operating business making profit.
Always Question Your Assumptions
The core of Customer Discovery – questioning your assumptions – is actually a practice that can and should follow throughout every stage of your business’s growth. Remember – you are a scientist trying to uncover evidence. Any scientist that assumes something is true without first proving it is a pretty bad scientist. Similarly, any entrepreneur that assumes certain traits about a problem or market segment without proof is asking for trouble.
It may be hard to restrain yourself from jumping right into the process of building your idea, but remember–laying a proper foundation upfront will make sure your idea lasts for years to come.
Glossier, one of the hottest brands in cosmetics, spent years operating as a blog before releasing their first product. This allowed them to build a community and conduct ongoing Customer Discovery to better understand the needs and behaviors of their potential customers before crafting their first products built specifically for them.
Dropbox, the billion dollar file sharing company, basically let their target customers build their platform through their Customer Discovery journey by feeding code to their early adopters.
Same thing goes for startups like
Nerdy Nuts, which has built a robust Facebook group that allows them to conduct Customer Discovery daily, and
YOURS, which uses an ongoing series of content to engage with potential customers and learn about their preferences, problems, and interests in the non-alcoholic wine space. For a more in-depth example of an early-stage Customer Discovery journey, check out
this blog about
Hangio founder Ayodele Aigbe’s Customer Discovery process.
By taking the time to understand their customers first through the power of Customer Discovery, these companies are creating vastly more efficient pathways to building something that their audience truly wants.
When Are You Done With Customer Discovery?
Technically, never. But at any stage of your startup journey, if you’re able to support your hypothesis with a sufficient amount of proof, you can consider that Customer Discovery experiment a success. Before you’re able to recognize patterns or themes that support your hypothesis, it’s important you repeat the process until you can.
There comes a point in the Customer Discovery journey where instead of making assumptions and hoping to prove them right or wrong – the patterns will clearly reveal themselves. Discovering these patterns is how you’ll be able to create an entire target market of people with a shared problem that your solution addresses. Sometimes, you’ll recognize a pattern or theme that wasn’t even the purpose of your experiment. Don’t ignore this discovery, embrace it! Many historic inventions, like
Coca Cola or the pacemaker, came from an accidental discovery in a scientific experiment. Customer Discovery is no different.
With the right hypotheses, assumptions, and questions, your Customer Discovery journey is sure to lead you to creating a great product or service that serves the needs of your customers.
