Mini Rant:
Every week I watch founders run customer interviews that could be replaced by a Magic 8-Ball.
“Would you use this feature?” “Is this something you need?” “Would you pay for X?”
People are terrible at predicting their own behavior. They’ll say yes to almost anything in hypotheticals. Then never actually use it.
If Henry Ford asked people what they wanted, they’d have said “faster horses.”
The Problem:
You think you’re gathering insights, but you’re actually collecting lies.
Humans are polite. They want to help. They’ll tell you your baby is beautiful even if it looks like a gremlin.
What theysayand what theydoexist in different universes.
💎 Ask These Instead
- **“What’s the most frustrating part of your current workflow?”**Pain reveals opportunity
- **“Walk me through the last time you tried to…”**Behavior trumps opinion
- **“What are you using/paying for right now?”**Money talks, hypotheticals walk
- **“What would make you quit your current solution immediately?”**Urgency reveals true priorities
Users know what frustrates them. They know what slows them down. They know what they hate.
That’s your gold mine. Not their feature suggestions.
Execution Plan:
Stop asking users to design your product. Instead, ask them to describe their problems in detail, then watch how they currently solve them.
The gap between their current pain and an ideal state is where your next feature lives.
Want better customer insights?
I’ll show you how to extract actionable data, not polite lies. 🔍Book a teardown