Customer interview script: questions and a notes page (PDF)
A printable script for talking to customers before you launch or change something: invitation, rules, eight questions with note lines, after-call checklist.
This is a short printable guide for conversations with real customers before you launch or change a product or service. It is for owners of small businesses and freelancers who do their own research and have no time for a formal study. It holds an invitation text, the rules of the conversation, eight questions with lines for notes and a checklist for the minutes right after the call. Use it when you are about to put money or weeks into an idea and want to hear first how people deal with the problem today.
What is inside
- Who to invite and how to tell that a first round is enough
- A short invitation text you can adapt
- Six rules of the conversation
- Eight questions with lines for notes
- A table: weak question and better question
- Closing questions, an after-call checklist and a note on personal data
How to use it
- Print one copy for each conversation, so every person’s answers stay on their own sheets.
- Before you invite anyone, write down the one decision you have to make. It determines who to call and what to ask.
- Adapt the invitation to your business and send it to people who met the problem recently.
- During the conversation follow the questions, but let the person tell the whole story. Write key phrases word for word.
- On the same day, go through the after-call checklist while you still remember the wording.
- After several conversations, lay the sheets side by side, look for what repeats and choose one change.
What interviews are good for and what they cannot prove
A conversation with a customer shows you the problem from the inside: what set it off, what the person did, what it cost and where they gave up. It also gives you their words. The phrases people use to describe the problem belong on your page, in your ad and in your offer, because those are the phrases they already use.
What a few conversations cannot show is how many people will buy, or at what price. Ten friendly people are not a sample, and “yes, I would buy that” costs the speaker nothing. Questions about volume and price are tested where a person commits something: a pre-order, a deposit, a paid pilot, a reply to a real offer.
| What you want to know | Can an interview answer it? | What to use |
|---|---|---|
| How people deal with the problem today | Yes | This script |
| Which words they use for it | Yes | Exact quotes from your notes |
| Who takes part in the decision | Yes | Question 6 in the script |
| How many people will buy | No | A pre-order, a waiting list with a deposit, a paid pilot |
| Which price they will accept | Only what they pay today | A real offer with a price |
Who to invite and when a first round is enough
The best person to talk to ran into the problem recently and remembers the details. Someone who never had it can only guess, and people close to you soften their answers. Former customers deserve a separate invitation: they can tell you at what point the service stopped fitting.
There is no fixed number of conversations. Plan a handful and watch what happens: when the stories and the wording start repeating, the first round has done its work. If every conversation sounds like a different world, you are probably talking to several kinds of customers at once. Pick one group and continue with it.
- Your own customer list and old enquiries.
- People who left for a competitor or stopped buying.
- Local or professional communities where the problem is discussed.
- Introductions from the people you have already talked to.
How to read your notes afterwards
Lay the sheets from all conversations side by side and read the facts first: what people did, what they paid, what they gave up on. Opinions and wishes come second. A wish you hear once is an anecdote. An action that several people describe in the same way is a pattern you can build on.
Then decide one change: in the offer, in the wording, or in who you talk to next. If the notes point in no clear direction, that is also a result. The question was too broad or the group too mixed, and the next round should be narrower.
Questions
How many customer interviews do I need?
There is no fixed number. Plan a handful for a first round and stop when the stories and the wording start repeating. If the answers keep differing, narrow the group to one kind of customer and continue with that group.
Can I interview friends and family?
Only if they met the problem themselves, and only about what they did. People close to you tend to be kind about your idea, so do not describe it to them until the end of the conversation.
Should I record the conversation?
Handwritten notes are enough. A recording helps you quote accurately, but ask permission first, say what it is for and delete it once your notes are done.
Will interviews show whether my product will sell?
No. They show whether the problem exists, how people handle it and in what words they describe it. Whether people will pay is tested by asking them to commit: a pre-order, a deposit or a paid pilot.