Customer research
Customer research learns from what buyers did and paid, never from their predictions.
Outcome
| Part | This Process |
|---|---|
| Outcome | Each new Customer’s reason for buying is graded Evidence, and each requester hears when their request ships. |
| Reads | Customer, Issue |
| Leaves | Interview, Evidence, Message |
| Runs in | Each Startup |
Accountable
Workflows
| Workflow | Runs | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Signal interview | on Offer.accepted | Product Team |
| Close the loop | on Change.merged | Product Team |
Who does each step
| Workflow | Step | Role | Calls | Approval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Signal interview | 1. Ask one question about what the Customer did and paid before. | Researcher | Interview.create | None |
| Signal interview | 2. Grade the answer as behavior, commitment, or opinion. | Researcher | ||
| Signal interview | 3. Record it as Evidence in the ranked feedback list, with its origin. | Researcher | Evidence.create | None |
| Close the loop | 1. Find the Issues the merged Change resolves and the Problems they address. | Researcher | Issue.list | None |
| Close the loop | 2. Message each outside Customer whose Evidence sits on those Problems, in their existing Thread. | Researcher | Message.create | None |
| Close the loop | 3. After 14 days, record whether each one called the new or changed Verb, as Behavior-grade Evidence. | Researcher | Evidence.create | None |
| Close the loop | 4. Lower the Problem’s rank when most requesters did not use it. | Researcher | Problem.rank | None |
Events
| Direction | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| In | On Offer.accepted | Starts Signal interview |
| In | On Change.merged | Starts Close the loop |
| Out | Interview.created | Raised by step 1 of Signal interview |
| Out | Evidence.created | Raised by step 3 of Signal interview |
| Out | Message.created | Raised by step 2 of Close the loop |
| Out | Problem.ranked | Raised by step 4 of Close the loop |
Plays
No Play names this Process.
Controls
No Control names this Process or a Workflow of it.
Settings
| Setting | Type | Default | Say | Set with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
research.followUpDays | integer | 14 | Check two weeks later whether customers used what shipped | Setting.update |
Failure
A failed step retries; when retries run out, the Action goes to the Product Lead.
Loop
| Step | Value |
|---|---|
| Hypothesis | Asking about the last time the Problem hit yields more Commitment-graded Evidence per Interview than asking about the future. |
| Measure | Committed ICP members over 14d, at least 10 observations |
| Learn | The learn step reads the Readout, records Evidence and a Decision, and drafts the next Variant. |
Code
Turn on customer researchEnable
On by default for every Product Template. Process.pause stops new Actions; Actions in progress finish.
Check two weeks later whether customers used what shippedExample
A home inspector accepts the $15 listing Offer. Signal interview asks what she paid before, and her answer, $300 a month for bought leads, is recorded as behavior Evidence. Forty such answers set the next Price test, never a survey.