Customer Development for startups or what can be understood from a conversation with 500 customers

Remember how in military films military leaders had a “red” telephone? In an extreme case, when the situation gets out of control and nothing remains, how to order: “connect me with the commander in chief!”

Something similar exists for the founders of startups, when the main indicators of revenue and conversions diverge from your plans like ships at sea. What to do, where to run, what to grab? You can “drill” in the metrics, analyze the places of “leakage across the funnel,” from leads to regular customers. You can consult with experts, to test the headers, lead-form, buttons and other conversion elements on the site.
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And you can grab the "red" phone. Only instead of the president - your customers. So did the founder of the SaaS-company Groove Alex Turnbull. To optimize the product, he decided to just talk to customers of the service. Because no analytics with tons of numbers will help to understand the user experience better than the users themselves will tell about it.

Alex spent more than 100 hours communicating with subscribers. And that's what he learned.


500 conversations with customers in 4 weeks

First, Alex sent a letter to each Groove user:



He begins with customer care: “Thoughts on how to improve a product for you keep me awake at night.”

Problem: "The ideas of developers often do not coincide with what users really need."

Proposal: “For the next few months, my goal is to talk to each of the more than 2,000 Groove customers by phone or Skype, including you. I want to hear about your experience with the service: what you like and what you hate; What would you like to see in the service, but do not dare to write about it.
If you give me 10-15 minutes of your time, it will help us to make Groove the best solution as far as possible. "

The response to the letter is crazy. According to Alex, he expected a couple of hundreds of subscribers to respond, but his mail “exploded” from the messages:



What was done:

For fixing the results - a template in Google Docs ( it can be adapted and used ). Auxiliary tools - Doodle (event planner), phone, skype, pen and paper.

Alex personally spent more than 100 hours of Skype sessions in 4 weeks, since Customer Development is "the same prerogative of the startup founder as a development strategy or meeting with investors."

Why is live chatting chosen? Compared with reading answers on e-mail, it allows you to “feel customers and get a clearer understanding of what and how you need to finish in the product.”
And the use of standard options in online surveys forces customers to respond within strictly defined limits. They only say what you ask. As a result, some of the problems (developers may not even guess about their existence) remain “overboard”.

What it brought: 7 insights for a startup

The main “victory” is an understanding of how users perceive and use the product in fact, what specific problems are solved with its help. For Groove, the results of Alex Turnbull’s 100-hour Skype Calls became the road map of subsequent decisions in terms of service and functionality.

Here are all 7 insights:

1) Improved onboarding (user support at the beginning of work with the product)

Many Groove customers complained about problems associated with the lack of specific functionality (for example, integration with CRM). At the time, as these features are already in service. The reaction of users: "Wow, but I did not know!" This is a sign that it is necessary to improve the training program for new subscribers. Users should be aware of all the features and benefits of the service.

The solution is onboarding-mailing (a series of letters with a demonstration of how the main features work and what it gives to the user) + a manual embedded in the application.

2) Restoration of relations with dissatisfied customers

Each service has users who haven’t figured out something, haven’t received help from technical support, or complain about the functionality they think is insufficient.

Here it is necessary to deal with the true cause of discontent. One thing is the lack of information. As a solution, we show how this or that feature works.

It is much more difficult to remove irritation from unrealized expectations. In no case do not try to prove to the user that his “Wishlist” is nothing. Or that the unfinished part of the product works as it should.

Find out why it is important for him, what tasks he needs to solve. Listen carefully to the client, share plans in the spirit of “We collect wishes, in the near future we will realize this and that, but for now you can use these tools to solve your problem”. Simple human involvement is already eliminating the lion’s share of irritation.

3) Expansion of the target audience

Of course, Groove had a presentation for whom they work. At the same time, as the company grows, this view may differ from reality - new users come with new needs. For example, Alex was surprised to learn about schools that use the service for informational support for students. This greatly expanded his view of the potential sales market. Product developers may not even suspect that someone outside their “world view” is looking for a similar solution.

4) Increase user loyalty

Even loyal fans of the service were pleasantly surprised by the offer of Alex Turnbull, not to mention the "heavy customers." No one has ever been so interested in their opinion. 99.9% of positive reactions + many of the “risk zones” changed anger to mercy and renewed a subscription. Loyalty = profit. Notice - with minimal funds.

5) Fast solution of minor problems with functionality.

Small bugs in the product can greatly undermine the trust of users (compatibility of the service with certain domains, for example). Usually they are silent, but they interfere like a speck in the eye. The feedback allowed developers to quickly eliminate them. Alex calls it Customer WOW:



“It was so fast :) Thank you, Alex, your guys are awesome!”

6) Improving the effectiveness of content on the site

Groove marketers didn’t just collect feedback. They used customer expressions in describing the benefits of the service on the new site. The result is an increase in conversion by 2 times (!). Read more in the previous article .

7) Exhaustive Feedback

Feedback was also given by those who could not communicate in Skype. They just answered the email. For example, a wish to finalize the mobile version:



How to apply feedback from users for product development

Firstly, Alex grouped feedback by problem type (functionality, support, prices, etc.) and frequency of mention. This helped to qualify all tasks as “last minute”, important and less important. What is needed is an urgent “finish”, what can wait, and where it is enough to explain how to use this or that feature.

Secondly, they adjusted the marketing plan for the new groups of Central Asia, which they had not previously guessed. How to work with them + ideas who else might be useful product.

Yes, Groove now offers a 10-minute Skype call to each new user (in a letter of welcome). The first results say that it prevents a bunch of potential problems and issues. Well, and greatly increases the loyalty of subscribers, of course. Because so no one does and ... customers "with a bang" are perceived when they are treated as people, not "wallets."

According to the founder of Groove, this idea greatly changed the product and thinking of the team. “It’s not necessary to talk absolutely with every client. Communicate at least with a small part. It will change your business. ”

Commentary founder Alexander Yagla.ru Alimov

As you can see, Customer Development does not always follow the ideal scenario. Already in the process of work, 100% of unintended packs will appear both in the product and in the user experience. It's not scary if you see and fix them in time. We look closely at the experience of Groove, to what extent it can be adapted to our realities. It is believed that in RuNet this approach will not work.

Share in the comments what you think about it.