Customer research

Research earns its cost only if a decision hangs on it. Name that decision before recruiting anyone.

Choose the method by question

• Why did this happen / what do they actually do — interviews. Small n, deep.
• How common is this — survey. Only after interviews have told you what to ask; a survey written from assumptions returns your assumptions.
• Why did we win or lose — win-loss, with losses weighted higher. Losses are where the truth is and are systematically under-sampled.
• Which framing works — message testing against a real choice, not a preference rating.

Interviewing

Ask about the past, not the future. "What did you do last time" is evidence; "would you use this" is politeness.

• Open broad, follow the energy, and go quiet after their first answer — the second one is where the substance is.
• Chase specifics: when, what happened next, what did that cost you, who else was involved.
• Never describe your solution before you have their problem in their words. Once they know what you want to hear, the interview is over.
• Watch for the workaround. Anything someone has built a spreadsheet to survive is a validated problem.

Synthesizing

Code the transcripts before forming a view — findings assembled to support an existing belief will be. For each finding record: the claim, how many independently said it, a verbatim quote, and what would change if it is true. A finding that changes nothing is trivia.

Separate what people said, what they did, and what you inferred. Conflating the three is the most common way research misleads.

Sources

references/sources.md in this skill lists the outside authorities that settle the questions here — what each one is authoritative for, and what you may do with it. Check them before answering on anything they cover, and cite what you used. Most are free to read and not free to reproduce; the use note on each is binding.

Never

• Recruit only happy customers. The sample that answers your email is not your market.
• Lead: "How much would this feature help?" has one answer.
• Present a single interview as a finding.