10 Great Questions Product Managers Should ask Customers [Mind the Product]

You can get a lot of helpful insight from the perspective of a customer, just simply by asking the right questions. Customers are usually quite willing to provide you with their feedback, especially if they’ve had a particularly positive or negative experience. You can learn quickly about what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong, in your customer’s eyes. When engaging with potential, current and past customers, here are 10 questions you may want to ask, in order to help to direct the way you’re doing business and product planning.

Why?

It’s not enough to just hear from a customer that they are happy or unhappy. You want to know the “why” behind their feelings. You’re looking for a more in-depth response to their experience, that way you can make improvements where necessary and build on what made them happy. If they have expressed that they would not order your product again, you need to find out why. It could be something that’s out of your control, such as the shipping time or costs. But it may be something that you can improve on, like a more accurate description of the product so they aren’t surprised by what they receive.

How do you do That Today?

If customers have requested specific product features to be added, you’ll want to determine how they are currently accomplishing that task. If they have requested an easier-to-clean vacuum cleaner canister, ask them how they are currently cleaning out their vacuum canister, so you can see where the problem exists with the current design.

How do you Know you’ve had a Successful (Year, Month, day)?

If you’re in the business of selling products that help other businesses reach their goals, you want to know how they define their success. If you find out how are they measuring their success over a period of time can help you design more valuable products for them.

How do you Feel About (the Current Solution)?

There could be opportunities for you to differentiate yourself from your competitors that you can learn about simply by asking this question. If your customers say they would drink more coffee, but they are worried about the impact that disposable coffee pods are having on the environment, you may have the opportunity to tell them that your coffee pods are made from recycled materials or are 100% recyclable themselves, so they have less of an environmental impact.

What is the Most Frustrating Thing About (the Current Solution, feature, Your day…)?

Open up a dialogue with this question, by helping to uncover any number of issues customers are having. When you learn about the frustrations customers are experiencing, you can work towards alleviating those frustrations.

What do you Wish you Could do With (a Product, a Task) That you Can’t do Today?

Essentially, this is a “wish list” for your customers. Some answers will be easier to implement than others, while some “wishes” will be impossible. Try to be as specific as possible with features of a product or specific uses, otherwise you may get generalized and unhelpful answers.

How Would Your (day, job, Task) be Different if you had This?

Let your customers imagine your product in their daily lives by asking this question. Some may not find that it provides them with much of a solution, while others may see great value in what you’re offering.

Can you Give me an Example?

If your customers are giving you answers that you want more detail on, this is a great question to ask, so you can get specific evidence for a product or feature.

If This Were Available Today, Would you buy/use it?

Although this question can yield false positives, there are ways to get more accurate and helpful responses. Respondents may feel obligated to answer yes to this question, because they don’t want to offend you. After asking this question, you should patiently listen to the full response and always follow up with the question “Would you walk me through the purchase process?” You can get a lot of insight into the value a customer places on your product by simply listening to their decision process.

Why Would you Recommend our Solution to Others?

Recommending your product to others they know is the ultimate in compliments. It means they are so highly satisfied that they feel their friends and family could also benefit from your product. But asking why they would recommend it can give you a look at how it most benefits them or solves a problem for them and what they value most about it.

Get the most helpful insights your customers are able to provide you with, simply by asking the right questions. Whether they are happy or unhappy, you will want to know how you can improve on what you’re doing and do things even better. When you’re adding or developing new products and features, insight from your customers can help you target the things that matter most to them and what they value the most.

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