How many times have you heard this line from potential customers and users?
You and the team worked hard on the products/features requested by potential users in the interview. You think you know what they want after listening to their feedback.

After launch, it is time for those same potential customers to front up. We hear crickets chirping.

I have fallen for this many times. And you can’t get mad at those people you interview. Your interview technique is likely wrong, that needs to change drastically, or painful time/ wasted precious engineering resources will occur.

Let’s break it down. You ask people questions on the spot. They would say it for the sake of answering questions without knowing what they want. Potential users can hide what they want, but they can’t hide what they need. It is not easy to extract what people want when they say these things. It’s our job to decipher why they are saying that, what were they trying to do in the first place.

One of the mistakes I made is asking this hypothetical question “Would you pay for this product”. When people say yes, I would get super excited. In reality, a hard-hitting lesson is those YES are not even worth $0.01. Why you might ask ?. Because those yes cost your potential users nothing. They can say YES and walk away with absolutely nothing lost. It is a deadly trap. It seriously gave me a wake-up call.

The experience brings me back to my previous sales job. QUALIFYING leads is a MUST. We only have a limited amount of time/resources.

1: Not serious/cold leads don’t pay the bills. You can’t put weight on what these people say. At least not yet.
2: Warm/hot leads pay the bills. Pay attention and invest your valuable time into these customers.

Translate this knowledge to build a good product that people want to pay. And be serious about it. We must ask qualifying questions and make sure potential users have some skin in the game. Joining a mailing list/waitlist is not a substantial commitment. Good validation can be “Can I put down a 10 per cent deposit” or “Do you have an early adopter discount”. It shows commitment.

Qualifying questions can be:

1: “What are you currently doing to solve this problem”. Nothing means it’s likely not that painful and needs urgent solving.
2: “How much are you paying for this solution”. If not, why?
3: “How often do you pay for the benefit”.
4: “When was the last time you paid for something like this”.

A why follow up gives you direction to better understand users motivation, values and other factors driving their actions.

The answers to these questions give us a good gauge of how likely are they willing to pay for this product instead of hypothetical questions. They paint the users’ journey and behaviour in reality, not imagination. Action speaks louder than words

The last question I would ask “I would love to build this product for you. Let’s make it happen with a first initial payment to get things started for you”. People who are serious about the solution will grab it at a discount.

Of course, this is a broad statement. It is only natural some people would not feel comfortable paying for it right away for various reasons. It is a part of life. We can follow up with another why question to get a better understanding.

That’s all for today.