{"id":4217,"date":"2020-06-16T12:39:22","date_gmt":"2020-06-16T10:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodpecker.co\/blog\/?p=4217"},"modified":"2025-05-21T20:53:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T19:53:04","slug":"65-customer-interviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodpecker.co\/blog\/65-customer-interviews\/","title":{"rendered":"SaaS customer interviews: How to carry them out & what you can learn"},"content":{"rendered":"

When was the last time you actually talked to your customers? I don’t mean a sales<\/span> call or a demo. I mean actually talking about their business<\/span>, your business<\/span>, and how the two virtually affect each other.<\/p>\n

Our Outbound Sales team has just finalized their 3.5-month long project of customer interviews. Last week, they presented the results to the whole Woodpecker team.\u00a0That inspired me to write about how you can do it as well at your SaaS<\/span> company.<\/span><\/p>\n

So here it goes! See how to carry out customer interviews and what you can learn from talking to your clients.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why am I writing about it in the first place?<\/h2>\n

This was a very interesting project that brought us, as a SaaS<\/span> company, a\u00a0huge load of information about our best customers. I warmly recommend you running a similar series of interviews at your own company. It seems like an easy enough process: you pick the best clients, you invite them for interviews, you analyze the results, right?<\/p>\n

Well,\u00a0in fact, we’ve learned that the process was much more complicated than we’d initially expected. There are many\u00a0hurdles on the way and it’s easy to get tripped up. This blog post is supposed to give you an idea on how to structure your own customer interview process and avoid some mistakes that we’ve made ourselves.<\/p>\n

What are customer interviews?<\/h2>\n

Customer interviews are a great way to test your ideas and hear your customers\u2019 thoughts at any stage of your company\u2019s development.<\/span><\/p>\n

They may help you to learn:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. If your core business<\/span> idea is valid (and that should be done before you build a market-ready app or service);<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Who your ideal customers really are;<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. If the new features you\u2019ve just rolled out\/design changes you made are as cool as you deem them to be;<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. What features your customer would like to get next;<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. The language your customers use (comes in handy when writing copy);<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. How do they REALLY use your app (as opposed to how you THINK they are using it).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Although there are different scenarios for customer interviews, the good thing is that you don\u2019t need to reinvent the wheel: it looks pretty much the same each time, no matter what you\u2019re asking about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    I\u2019ve written down all the steps it took us to conduct our customer interviews – feel free to use them as guidelines and create a process of your own.<\/span><\/p>\n

    How to conduct customer interviews?<\/h2>\n

    STEP #1: set your goal – what exactly do you want to know?<\/span><\/h3>\n

    Since you\u2019re reading this, I think it\u2019s safe to assume you already have an idea that needs testing. But if you\u2019d like to see what else customer interviews can help you with, just go back to the section above for other ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If you\u2019re testing your core business<\/span> idea, it\u2019s important to set a number that\u2019ll mark when your idea actually makes sense. Is it when 70% of the interviewees say they\u2019d pay for your app? Or maybe just over 50% is enough? It\u2019s good to think of this metric before you start talking to people.<\/span><\/p>\n

    STEP #2:\u00a0contact people – who to ask and how to approach them?<\/span><\/h3>\n

    This depends on what you\u2019re going to ask them about. In most cases it\u2019s really easy – you pick them from your customer base.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Usually it\u2019s a good idea to choose the customers who\u2019ve been with you for some time and who use your app or service pretty often – they\u2019ll be able to give you the best feedback, whether it\u2019s about future features or what they use your app for.<\/span><\/p>\n

    We found that in our case a smaller base of customers who know our app best would be better than a larger one, consisting both of old and new Woodpecker clients.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If you\u2019re trying to decide if your core idea holds ground, you obviously can\u2019t ask your customers – since you don\u2019t have them yet. Ask people that you think could benefit from your solution. (I’d strongly encourage you, though, to look outside of your friends and family circle – their opinions might be biased since they want you to succeed).<\/span><\/p>\n

    How to pick the right prospects?<\/span><\/p>\n

    First, go to places on the web where you can find them. While browsing through those sites, try finding useful bits of information that you can then use as custom fields in your email<\/span> copy.<\/span><\/p>\n

    (It may also be useful to note down what language they use – the exact words and expressions that you might then put in your email<\/span>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

    Then, get their email<\/span> addresses and prepare an email<\/span> copy. It will be faster if you use an email<\/span> automation tool. If you use the information you’ve collected beforehand, you\u2019ll be able to draw their attention better and maintain a good deliverability rate.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Be straightforward about why you\u2019re reaching out to them. Be careful not to sound like a machine: your email<\/span> should sound as if, you know, a human wrote it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Just say you\u2019re interested in hearing about their experience with your app or that you’re thinking about developing a new service for professionals such as themselves and would love to hear an expert\u2019s take on the idea.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Now, from here you may take two routes: either conduct the interviews via email<\/span>, or schedule a phone call.<\/span><\/p>\n

    For some SaaS<\/span> businesses and some prospect groups it makes more sense to hop on a call, but for others email<\/span> interviews are the way to go.
    \n\n