Skip to content

Anshumani Ruddra

Understated Hyperbole

Menu
  • About Me
  • Videos and Talks
  • Story Stack
  • Fiction
  • Courses
  • Playbooks
Menu

Speaking to Customers

Posted on January 15, 2023January 15, 2023 by Anshumani Ruddra

Kapi Pe Charcha #003 – Venture Highway

“Would I need to speak to people/ users/ customers?”

In our last two posts, we have discussed ways of coming up with new ideas and then creating a shortlist out of them:

1. https://lnkd.in/gXHstMvM
2. https://lnkd.in/gngtAunA

A skill that will help you throughout your entrepreneurial journey is user research. It’s a specialized field, with a bunch of qualitative and quantitative methods attached to it. It can feel intimidating – but it is the fastest way to validate your ideas with real users and customers. ne of the best methods of conducting user research is interviews. 

And yes – it involves speaking to people. 

An interview is an in-depth, one-on-one conversation/ discussion between a researcher (you) and a participant (existing user/ potential user) on a fixed topic(s). 

Each part of the definition above is critical. 

A few things to keep in mind:

  • Interviews work with both potential users and existing users
  • You have to try and collect facts not opinions; so while the conversation can start from broad generalities, you have to get to the specifics. Example: Opinion of a parent: kids should love maths and science; Fact: I will pay money to make sure my kid scores higher in her math test
  • Have an agenda/ list of questions at hand – but let the conversation be free-wheeling
  • Ask users to describe critical incidents. Example: you are interested in finding out if a car owner has ever had to change their car’s battery. Instead, ask them for details of the incident when their car didn’t start. Were they at home or outside? Who did they call for help? How long did it take to get a new battery? How did they figure out the problem? 

You get better at conducting interviews over time. It requires deliberate practice. But as a user research method – it is unbeatable in its ability to validate ideas and come up with insights. 

Share your experience of conducting a user interview with us in the comments. 


Original LinkedIn post.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Recent Posts

  • A Personal AI Manifesto
  • Father of Man
  • A Year of Quizzing – 2024 Retrospective

Recent Comments

  • A Personal AI Manifesto - Anshumani Ruddra on Career Choices in the Wisdom Economy
  • Venkata Subba Raju on Rethinking the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
  • Shortlisting Ideas - Anshumani Ruddra on Generating Ideas

Archives

  • April 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • October 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • November 2022
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • January 2016
  • July 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
©2025 Anshumani Ruddra | Built using WordPress and Responsive Blogily theme by Superb