In 2018, during the clarify event at WeWork, this was the most frequently asked question from participants. And my answer was simply "Let's meet... and talk." To be honest, at the time, I was so nervous about sharing the things I had been thinking about for years in front of a crowd that I didn't really think about 'why' people had come. I also didn't know how to express my long-time experience of interviews. So, I'm sharing the answer I didn't get to give back then through this article.

Why interview? The most practical guideline and feedback for corporate activities.

Whether it's a big or small business, anyone who has done it knows that advice from someone who has succeeded is likely to only be theoretical in the face of a business owner's reality. The situation of each company and the value of the products/services they offer are all different, and the meaning of consumption is always changing depending on the relevant market and the situation of key customers. So, the reality is that everyone, always, faces new uncertainty and spends their days dealing with it.

In such situations, what is needed to identify current problems and improve them to increase sales is feedback from customers who are currently buying the products/services. And many people know the importance of this feedback, but they also feel uncertainty and fear about how to actually meet with customers and have conversations.

Check first. Looking at customers from a different perspective

A new 'customer' may be an unknown entity, like a pronoun, but a customer who has already paid their money for a company's product or service is no longer an abstract target. If you change your perspective, they become someone who has something to say about their purchase and who has an interest in it, like a colleague. The products/services they buy are connected to the customer's personal story, and they tend to want to share their consumption with someone.

When I went around interviewing 25-40 year old female customers for a shampoo brand, many of the interviewees had a common reaction at the end of the interview. "It's fun to talk about using shampoo in my daily life. I usually don't have these kinds of conversations. Let me know if you have another opportunity like this."

The questions asked at the time were about experiences using shampoo, feelings about shampoo in general, how to express the appearance of the bathroom, and taking pictures, etc. These were not special, very ordinary things that wouldn't be used as topics of conversation. However, when they were asked questions from the outside and expressed them in words, they felt new, and above all, when they talked with friends or strangers they met for the first time, this verbal expression of their daily routine through storytelling seemed to have another meaning. Three women, using the topic of shampoo, looked at the chemical ingredients on the back of the bottle, shared rumors about shampoo that were inaccurate but somehow relatable, and the unvarnished look of the bathroom they wanted to look clean, and their expressions, all of it was an interesting experience for the interviewees.

Customers want to talk. But only if they are provided with a situation where they can express themselves without any calculations.

Break. Role-playing as a social being

We are social beings. In phenomenology, it is understood that humans are irrational beings and make choices according to the relationships and situations they are in within the society they belong to. Because I conduct projects based on this philosophical perspective, it reveals an important point in customer interviews as well.

In a situation where someone belonging to a company interviews customers, the customer will distinguish between what they should and should not say about their consumption when they go into the interview. In addition, the person in charge of the brand will prepare a list of questions biased towards the company, and they tend to see the customer in front of them not as one person, but as a target for sales. The customer senses this immediately, and as the conversation progresses, they become more faithful to their social role. As a result, the company's survey is full of questions about product usage experiences, and the customer chooses mechanical answers that are detached from their own situation, and the essence of the conversation disappears.

A few years ago, a liquor brand conducted a satisfaction survey after tasting four different flavors of related products to customers who had never seen them before, even though the brand's recognition in Korea was only about 15%. Even if they offered a variety of flavors to customers who were unfamiliar with the taste and meaning of the product itself, this kind of data is unlikely to be helpful in the brand's future activities.

To summarize, in the stage of recruiting customers for an interview, and in the situation of meeting face to face,**The first thing to secure is the communication of the neutral intention and attitude of the person requesting the interview.**The clearer you are about "sharing the company's concerns and seeking answers to them", the more honest information you will get from customers. And just by showing this attitude,**Customers realize that they are now beings who are being respected and helped through their consumption.**It's a great opportunity to develop your business as it helps you gain trust with potential clients.

But remember, the goal of the interview is not to secure well-organized answers.**The goal is to make the interview a process for deepening emotional exchange with customers.**If you express interest in the 'daily life' related to the customer's consumption, even though it's the first time you've met them, the customer will experience it as a pleasant conversation. And creating a time where the company's representative's concerns become the customer's concerns, sharing genuine opinions based on personal experiences, that is the real goal of the interview and the only way to get feedback that is truly helpful.

Sometimes I see people misunderstand that interviews are about asking and answering professional, sharp questions and getting clean answers. Interviews are not performances.**The real meaning lies in the process and strengthening of relationships after the interview.**To do this, it is essential to change the attitude and perspective of the person in charge of dealing with customers.

Always. The focus of the question is the customer

You can read the rest of the article at the link below due to the character limit.

https://durumis.com/ko/@ryan8bc470fe/customer-interview-report-2-vle1lvv5