What are the two most important questions when interviewing for customer market fit?
How satisfied are you?
What is your priority to change?
That’s it. That’s the magic. But let’s break it down so you don’t mess it up.
Focus on the Job, Not the Product
The biggest rookie mistake in customer interviews? Talking about the product. Don’t do it. Focus on the job to be done.
You’ve heard it before:
People don’t buy drills.
They buy holes.
If you’ve just designed the sexiest, most revolutionary drill known to mankind, and you ask people, Do you like drills?—congrats, you just introduced bias into your research.
The right question is about the job the drill performs. Are you satisfied with your current method of creating holes in wood?
If they say “fine”… well, now what? What does fine mean? Fine like meh, I don’t care, or fine like I would rather fight a pack of rabid raccoons than deal with this again?
A Real-Life Example (a.k.a. My Personal Accounting Hell)
Look, I use QuickBooks. I hate it. It’s clunky, has a dumpster-fire UI, is ridiculously expensive, and generally makes me question my life choices.
So, let’s say you’ve got a beautifully designed, cost-effective QuickBooks alternative. If you ask me, How satisfied are you with your accounting system? you’re almost there. But if I say, okay—what the hell does that mean? And what do you do with that?
Add a Scale—Because Numbers Are Useful
Here’s how you make it better:
On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is ‘I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns’ and 5 is ‘I want to marry it,’ how satisfied are you?
If I say 2, that’s a clue. I have pain. But don’t pop the champagne and start coding just yet, because there’s a second question:
On a 5-point scale, how much of a priority is improving your accounting system?
I’d probably say 2 again. Which means… you’ve got a problem. Because even though I hate QuickBooks, I’m still not switching.
Why? Because change is a pain in the ass. I’m picturing all the integrations, re-entering data, and a parade of inevitable errors. No thanks.
The Real Insight—What Would Change My Priority?
Now we’re getting somewhere. The real gold is in why my satisfaction is low, but my priority to change is also low.
If you asked, What’s stopping you from switching? I’d tell you:
- I don’t have the time.
- I don’t want to deal with the hassle of errors and re-entering data.
- I don’t want to learn an entirely new system that’s probably just as bad in different ways.
But here’s the kicker:
If you could press one button and instantly transfer all my data and integrations to a new system that was cheaper and easier to use—would that change my priority?
Hell yes, it would.
And boom. Now you’ve got something actionable. You learned what’s actually important to me. Now go make that one-button migration a reality. Design an interface so intuitive that even a monkey could use it. Then, and only then, this monkey will buy.
I only wrote this because I want someone to build a replacement for my crappy accounting system. So go forth, tech geniuses. Do the divine work.
