Lesson 1 of 1 · 4 min read
Look for evidence, not encouragement
When you ask someone, “Would you buy this?”, they may say yes because they like you, want to be helpful or do not want to disappoint your team. That answer feels positive, but it is not strong evidence.
Stronger research asks customers about their opinions, values and what they have done before. Instead of asking, “Would you buy our reusable bottle?”, ask, “Tell me about the last time you bought, lost or replaced a bottle.” This gives your team a real example to learn from.
AI can help you spot leading questions, rewrite them and suggest follow-up questions. Your team should still check every question before using it. If the question pushes people to answer in a certain way, rewrite it.
What do you need to find out?
Questions about a customer’s life and past behaviour are a strong starting point because they help your team avoid polite guesses. However, they are not the only questions you need. Before writing a survey or interview guide, decide what your team is trying to learn. Different research goals need different types of questions.
For example, your team might need to find out:
-
who has the problem you’re trying to solve
-
when and where the problem happens
-
what customers already use instead
-
what matters most to customers when choosing between options
-
which features, prices or messages customers respond to best
Once you know what you need to learn, choose the question type that fits:
What customers currently do
Past behaviour questions
Tell me about the last time you bought, borrowed, repaired or replaced something like this.
How often the problem happens
Frequency questions
How many times in the last month has this been a problem for you?
What matters most
Priority or ranking questions
Which is most important to you: price, design, convenience, sustainability or durability?
What customers compare you with
Alternative questions
What do you use now instead, and what do you like or dislike about it?
What might stop someone buying
Barrier questions
What would make this idea too expensive, inconvenient or difficult to use?
What needs improving
Feedback questions
If we changed one thing about this idea, what should it be?
You can ask AI to help you turn one weak question into several stronger questions for different purposes. For example, instead of only asking “Would you buy our idea?”, you could ask AI to suggest one question about past behaviour, one about priorities, one about alternatives and one about barriers. Your team should then choose the questions that will give you the evidence you need to improve the idea.