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Customer Interview Guide

A 30-minute customer discovery interview script with timed sections on past events, workarounds and buying, plus hypotheses, a notes table and a summary.

Updated
  • customer discovery
  • user interviews
  • product market fit
  • interview script
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About this document

A customer interview guide is a script for a short conversation with a potential customer about how they deal with a problem today. The customer interview guide asks about specific past events, what people have tried and what the problem costs them, rather than whether they like your idea.

Use the customer interview guide for early discovery calls booked with the customer discovery outreach email. When a customer is ready to shape and pay for the product, move to a design partnership proposal. Compliments and promises to buy are not evidence. Time and money already spent on the problem are.

How to fill it in

  1. Write your hypotheses first. List two or three things you believe and want to test, such as how much time the problem takes or who decides what to buy. Each note you take should support or weaken one.
  2. Fill in the call details. Add the interviewer, the person's name, role and company, and the date. Write the problem in their words, so the questions sound natural when you ask them.
  3. Run the call by the clock. Follow the timed sections and spend most of the call on the last time the problem happened. Ask before recording, because some states require everyone on a call to agree.
  4. Write it up within an hour. Fill in the notes table with their words and what each tells you, then complete the summary with the biggest surprise, the current cost, the workaround and the next step.
Customer Interview Guide

Customer Interview Guide

[Company or project] · Interviewer: [name] · Interviewee: [name, role, company] · Date: [date]

The goal is to learn what they actually do today, not whether they like your idea. Ask about specific past events, listen far more than you talk, and do not pitch until the last few minutes, if at all.

What we want to learn

  1. [Hypothesis 1. For example: practice managers spend more than five hours a week on denied claims.]

  2. [Hypothesis 2. For example: they have already tried a tool or an outside service for it.]

  3. [Hypothesis 3. For example: the office manager, not the dentist, decides what to buy.]

Opening (2 minutes)

"Thanks for making the time. I'm trying to understand how [their role] handle [the problem]. There are no right answers, and I'm not here to sell you anything. Is it all right if I take notes?"

Their work (5 minutes)

  • Tell me about your role. What does a typical week look like?

  • Where does [the problem area] fit into that?

The last time it happened (10 minutes)

  • Tell me about the last time you had to deal with [the problem]. What happened?

  • What was the hardest part of that?

  • Why was it hard?

  • How much time or money did it cost? How do you know?

  • How often does that happen?

What they have tried (8 minutes)

  • What do you do about it today?

  • What else have you tried? Why did you stop?

  • What don't you love about how you handle it now?

  • Are you paying for anything to deal with it? How much?

Buying (3 minutes)

  • If you wanted to fix this, who else would be involved in the decision?

  • How did you last buy a tool or service like this?

Close (2 minutes)

  • Is there anything I should have asked but didn't?

  • Who else should I talk to about this?

  • Can I follow up if I have more questions?

Good habits

  • Ask "tell me about the last time" rather than "would you ever"

  • When you hear a feeling ("it's so annoying"), ask for the story behind it

  • Let silences run; people often add the most useful detail after a pause

  • Compliments and "I'd use that" are not evidence. Time and money already spent are.

  • Ask before you record a call. Some states require everyone on the call to agree.

Notes

What they said

What it tells us

[Quote or fact, as close to their words as you can]

[Which hypothesis it supports or weakens]

[ ]

[ ]

Summary

Biggest surprise

[ ]

How much it costs them today

[time, money, or both]

Current workaround

[ ]

Next step agreed

[ ]

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Frequently asked questions

What questions should you ask in a customer discovery interview?

Ask about real past events. "Tell me about the last time this happened" and "What did you do about it?" produce facts. "Would you use a tool that did this?" produces guesses. Follow up on feelings by asking for the story behind them, and ask what the problem costs in time or money.

How many customer interviews should you do?

There is no fixed number. Keep interviewing people in the same role until new conversations stop surprising you and you can predict what the next person will say. If answers keep differing, your target customer may be too broad, so narrow the role or industry and start again.

Should you pitch your product at the end of a customer interview?

Usually not in early discovery. A pitch changes the conversation from their problem to your idea, and people tend to respond with polite encouragement. If they ask what you are building, describe it briefly at the very end and ask whether you can follow up later.

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