Customer interview questions that get real answers
When to use this
Before you build, or when you are not sure who the product is for. A discovery interview is about the customer's life, not your product. If you mention your product in the first five minutes, you are pitching, not interviewing.
The questions
- Tell me about the last time you dealt with this. Past behaviour is the only thing people report accurately.
- What did you do about it? The workaround is the competitor.
- How long did that take, and what did it cost you? Time and money make the pain concrete.
- What have you tried before? Why did you stop? Abandoned tools tell you what does not work.
- Who else was involved? Reveals the real buyer and the people who can block a purchase.
- What happened after? The consequence is what they would pay to avoid.
- If you could wave a wand, what changes? Wishes are weak evidence, but they show what they think the problem is.
- How are you handling it right now, today? If the answer is "we live with it," that is a signal too.
- What would have to be true for you to switch from what you do now? Switching costs kill products that solve the problem.
- Is there anything I should have asked and didn't? The best answer often comes here.
What not to ask
- "Would you use a product that does X?" People say yes to be kind.
- "Would you pay for it?" Same. Ask what they pay today for the workaround instead.
- "Do you like it?" Nothing actionable comes back.
Run this interview
Ten Interviews can ask these for you. Send one link to ten customers; each has a ten-minute conversation with an AI interviewer that follows up on what they say; you get the transcripts and a synthesis. The first three are free.