
Ask HN: How to get feedback from customers when validating an idea? - sharmi
Hi,<p>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.<p>Some areas I would like to learn about are<p>* How do I ask the right questions to entice the users to respond?<p>* How do I elicit their experiences and not be confined to an Yes&#x2F;No?<p>* How do I tailor the structure to the medium of interaction? (In my case, email and twitter)<p>What are some good books&#x2F;resources, case studies, discussions to learn about this? Is there a dedicated forum where such experiences are shared?
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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](http://momtestbook.com)

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sharmi
Thanks s1mon, Have you used this concept in practice?

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s1mon
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.

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sharmi
Thanks s1mon!

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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/](http://www.black.design/) might help you organize a
session.

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foopod
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.

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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).

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sharmi
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"

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

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

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mgav
Check out [https://customerdevlabs.com/](https://customerdevlabs.com/)

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

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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.

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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.

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technics256
I work in sales, and highly recommend this book:

[https://www.talkingtohumans.com/download](https://www.talkingtohumans.com/download)

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DEADBEEFC0FFEE
Thanks, that looks like the sort of book I could use.

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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

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badbug
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.

