Ask HN: How to get feedback from customers when validating an idea?

[sharmi]

Hi,

I have a preliminary idea that I would like to present to users and get feedback. I would like to know how severe a pain point it is and what would be the best solution from their vantage point. I would also like to know if they will be willing to pay for this. I am also interested in learning about other pain points that they might have.

Some areas I would like to learn about are

* How do I ask the right questions to entice the users to respond?

* How do I elicit their experiences and not be confined to an Yes/No?

* How do I tailor the structure to the medium of interaction? (In my case, email and twitter)

What are some good books/resources, case studies, discussions to learn about this? Is there a dedicated forum where such experiences are shared?

[s1mon]

The Mom Test is a quick read, and will answer all these questions. The name comes from the idea that asking your mom what she thinks of your brilliant product concept is generally the opposite of what you should be doing. http://momtestbook.com

[sharmi → s1mon]

Thanks s1mon, Have you used this concept in practice?

[s1mon → sharmi]

I’ve worked in design and with/in startups for 25 years including 4 at IDEO. I’ve used techniques like the book explains, but before reading the book. The book is one of the better ones at introducing the right techniques (especially for SW products). So many startups and big companies ask the wrong questions, the wrong way and get useless answers. If you’re dealing with physical products, services or other things where the interaction with real spaces/things is important, this book might get you started, but others might be better.

[sharmi → s1mon]

Thanks s1mon!

[d0m → sharmi]

Not OP but I did, it's very helpful with a lot of practical advices.

[tlb]

Do it in person. It's far more effective, especially when you're first learning how to do it.

The user observation tool at http://www.black.design/ might help you organize a session.

[foopod → tlb]

Absolutely agree here. Something like 80% of how we communicate is not in spoken word, it is tone of voice, facial expressions and body movement.

Make sure to ask broad questions and ask why a lot. If you get awkward silence you are normally on the right track. Be patient and wait out the silence, people love talking about themselves.

Pro tip, keep asking why until you get to emotional needs. Let's say you strike on a pain point, don't stop there, so what if it means that it takes twice as long to enter an order. Why does it matter that it takes so long? What would they rather be doing? Why? Does it mean that they can't go home early and pick the kids up from school? Does it mean that the boss will think that they are slow? Does it mean that as a business owner they can't spend their time on more important things?

The more you understand and build empathy with your people, the more you understand the problems they have and the more likely you are to come up with the best solution.

[sharmi → tlb]

Thanks tlb.

[contingencies]

Have you ever been in a situation where ...

How many times has this happened?

Tell me about the first time ...

Tell me about the other times ...

How did you solve it each time?

How could you have improved that resolution, and how would you solve it again?

How big a problem do you think this is ...

If someone could solve it, what would that be worth to you?

Email is better than twitter as it's nominally private, people tend to open up more that way (less angst about third party impressions).

[sharmi → contingencies]

Most insightful questions. Also kinda like a cheatsheet.

I went on to read The Mom Test after pondering over your message. It reflects the learnings from "The Mom Test"

[maxverse]

Definitely check out Indiehackers[0] for a HN-like community specifically around for side-projects and validating ideas.

[0]https://www.indiehackers.com

[mgav]

Check out https://customerdevlabs.com/

and "How to Run a User Interview" (Twitch's Emmett Shear) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAws7eXItMk

[DEADBEEFC0FFEE]

Have a look at some of the tools from IDEO, or search for "human centred design" or "design thinking".

From the exposure I have had, you'll want to ask open questions "how might we...",. "what if..."

Workshops can be a group adding painpoints on post-it notes and then distilling them by grouping or allocating vote points.

Solutions can involve lofi prototyping (paper), produced by the users.

There's a lot of interesting tools.

It takes longer and the premise is you'll spend less time reworking designs and have more stakeholder buyin, because you will use empathy.

[Bjartr]

I've found that carefully asking why something is needed is just as important as finding out what is needed. Don't forget to ask why, even after you get your other answers.

[technics256]

I work in sales, and highly recommend this book:

https://www.talkingtohumans.com/download

[DEADBEEFC0FFEE → technics256]

Thanks, that looks like the sort of book I could use.

[sharmi]

OP here.

I suppose what I really want to know is

* How to ask the right questions?

* How to convince your users that you really want to help and you are capable of helpin

* How to truly listen to the users

[badbug → sharmi]

Ask open ended questions that get them talking. Avoid leading questions. Avoid yes/no questions. Don't ask if they would buy it (they will lie to be nice). The book mentioned in other posts may help.

You don't need to convince users that you want to help them and this is a useless task. If a user won't talk to you, find someone else to talk to. If you can't find anyone, offer incentives (free lunch meeting, etc).

To listen better, dig deeper into why they are asking for something. Example: I read of a company that kept getting requests for ftp integration. The founders recognized that what the users really wanted was more file based features. The users wanted ftp because that is what they knew. The new features became a big selling point.