Guidelines for Interviewing Customers

Interviewing customers can be a very good source of content, but it can also be challenging getting the unscripted quote you’re looking for and getting them to approve its usage.  When approaching customer interviews, it is often easier to work backwards from:

• What are you trying to produce?
• How much time do you have with the customer?

Generally speaking, here’s what you can expect if the customer is comfortable on camera and the shoot goes well:

If you have up to 5 mins of their time, you can likely produce:

• A few quotes that can be used to support other communications
• A quick highlight reel that you might be able to use in a blog post

If you have 5 to 15 mins of the their time, you can likely produce:

• All of the above, plus…
• Up to a 2 minute Customer Testimonial with a focused storyline that
• can be used on the website or in some sales follow-up scenarios

If you have more than 15 mins of their time

• All of the above, plus…
• A deeper case study that can be used to educate prospects and to differentiate against competitors.  This is likely to address multiple benefits and cover notable portions of your offering
• Video clips useful to other stakeholders in the business (e.g. Favorite Service/Feature, Feedback on Offering, Project Lessons Learned, Competitive Differentiators, etc.)

APPROACH FOR THE INTERVIEW

In order to capture great inventory, here is a process to consider:

1. Make a wish list
   • Identify the topic areas and quotes that you would love to get
   • Test list against the key benefits, differentiators, common questions, and buying anxieties associated with your offering
2. Prepare open-ended questions to elicit wish list responses
   • Start by reviewing the questions on the next page and re-word as necessary
   • Craft additional questions to get at specific elements of the wish list
3. Have a preparation call with customer
   • Discuss general topics, but don’t tell them the questions as this can impact authenticity
   • Identify any items they need to research or prepare (e.g. success metrics)
   • Assess their experience level with being on video
4. Consider doing a dry run
   • I f you have not used the equipment before, then do a test and confirm that the output is good.
   • If you have not filmed in that location before, consider doing a scouting trip
   • If the customer has not been on video before, then consider a webcam interview or similar
5. Use best practices during the interview
   • Ask the customer to re-phrase each question into their answers.  E.g. “The key benefit from using XYZ was…”
   • If the customer provides a long or unclear answer, let them finish and them ask them if they could restate the answer to that question in one sentence.
   • There are others, but fundamentally it takes practice to hone interviewing skills

QUESTIONS TO ASK

Ideally you want to ask open-ended questions that elicit authentic and focused answers.  The following set of questions is a starting point that should be customized for your inventory goals…