Continuous interviewing: how it helps in product management

Are you looking for the best ways to engage customers to gain feedback and new insights? If so, continuous interviewing may be the key to improving your product management strategy.

Whether the concept of continuous interviewing is brand new to you or you’ve been trying to incorporate this strategy into your workflow for some time, this article will explain what continuous interviewing means, the different types, the potential drawbacks to be aware of, and tips for getting the most out of the process.

Continuous interviewing is an ongoing process in which product managers engage with customers to gain an understanding of their needs and preferences.

Consistency is key to this process. While many businesses conduct occasional feedback sessions and one-time surveys, continuous interviewing ensures a steady stream of qualitative and quantitative data. This data will inform the decisions a manager makes about their products.

Continuous interviewing often involves different methods, such as:

• In-person interviews

• Video calls

• Asynchronous communication via email or messaging platforms

Depending on your company and products, you may find that some interview options work better than others.

Continuous interviewing offers many benefits. Here are some of them:

Enhanced customer understanding

Regular interactions with customers give you a deeper understanding of their behaviors and needs. This continuous flow of information helps product managers create more customer-centric products by addressing real-world issues and enhancing user satisfaction. Ultimately, it allows you to have open lines of communication with customers.

Detecting issues early

Continuous feedback also helps you identify potential issues and pain points sooner. For example, if multiple users report difficulties with a new feature shortly after its release, the product team can quickly address the problem before it affects the larger user base. Importantly, you’ll show you’re proactive in addressing issues head-on.

Data-driven decisions

With continuous interviewing, product managers can make more informed decisions based on consistent, real-time customer insights. This approach reduces reliance on assumptions and intuition, allowing for evidence-based strategies. In other words, you take the guesswork out of product management.

Building customer relationships

Regularly engaging with customers helps strengthen the relationship between them and your company. It establishes loyalty and trust. Customers who feel heard and valued are more likely to remain loyal and advocate for the product.

While continuous interviewing offers amazing benefits for many businesses, you may find the process has a few drawbacks. It’s always important to weigh the pros and cons.

Consider the following potential downsides and prepare strategies to avoid them:

Continuous interviewing is resource-intensive

Maintaining a regular interviewing schedule requires significant time and effort from both product managers and customers. Coordinating schedules, preparing for interviews, and analyzing feedback can be labor- and time-intensive. Consider whether you have enough staff to manage this process. If you do, do they have enough time?

There’s a risk of potential bias

It’s crucial that you find new customers to provide feedback over time. Repeatedly interviewing the same customers can lead to biased feedback, as these customers may develop a closer relationship with the company and provide less objective insights. It’s important to balance repeat interviews with new participants to maintain a broader perspective.

There’s no single approach to continuous interviewing. In fact, you may find that trying different types of programs is the best way to learn more about your products and customers.

Scheduled interviews

Regularly scheduled interviews, such as weekly or bi-weekly sessions, provide a consistent stream of feedback. This method ensures ongoing insights, but bear in mind that it requires careful planning and resource allocation.

Triggered interviews

Interviews triggered by specific events or changes, such as a new feature release or a significant customer complaint, allow for timely and relevant feedback. This approach can be more flexible and responsive to the product’s lifecycle. You’ll receive regular feedback without needing to use resources every one or two weeks.

Thematic interviews

Thematic interviews focus on specific themes or topics relevant to current product development stages. For example, during the design phase, interviews might focus on user experience and design preferences, while post-launch interviews could focus on performance and satisfaction.

Are you still unsure about how to run a continuous interview program for your business? Here are some of the ways you might incorporate these interviews into the process as a product manager:

Recruit a group of customers

First, you need to identify and recruit a diverse group of customers who are willing to provide ongoing feedback. This group should represent different user personas to ensure varied perspectives.

For example, you’ll need to find customers from different age groups or industries. Use methods such as outreach through newsletters, social media, and customer support channels to find willing participants.

Come prepared for each interview

Prepare a set of questions or topics in advance to ensure the interview is focused and productive. Tailor your questions based on the current stage of product development and the specific insights you seek. For instance, if you’re exploring a new feature, focus on its usability and potential impact.

Determine if you need qualitative or quantitative feedback

Next, decide whether you need detailed qualitative insights or broader quantitative data. This will guide the types of questions you ask and the tools you use for data collection.

Qualitative feedback can provide rich, detailed insights, while quantitative data can highlight trends and patterns.

Document your findings

Record the feedback from each interview accurately to identify patterns and trends. Use a consistent format for documentation to facilitate analysis. Tools like CRM systems, spreadsheets, or dedicated customer feedback software can help organize and analyze data efficiently.

Use a tool to add a quantitative element to your interviews

Incorporate tools like surveys or rating scales within your interviews to gather quantitative data that you can analyze alongside qualitative feedback. Tools such as SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, and in-app survey features can be useful.

The customers you speak to will define the feedback you receive. You may wonder if you should interview different customers each time you interview or keep with the same panel. Each option offers benefits, but you’ll probably find that a balanced approach is best.

Benefits of talking to the same customers

Talking to the same customers repeatedly helps you track changes in their perceptions and experiences over time. It allows you to build deeper relationships and gain nuanced insights from more candid feedback.

This method is particularly helpful for long-term projects, as you can assess changes and measure progress over time.

Benefits of speaking to different customers

On the other hand, speaking to different customers each time ensures diverse perspectives and prevents bias from over-familiarity. This method provides a broad range of insights, which helps you identify common issues and trends that might not be apparent when repeatedly engaging the same customers. This is because new customers can provide fresh insights and highlight issues that long-term users might overlook.

This approach is useful in the early stages of product development when wide-ranging feedback is crucial. It will also help you understand different segments of your customer base.

A balanced approach

So, which method is best for your organization? Well, that depends on your goals and the product you’re developing. A balanced approach, combining both strategies, is often the most effective.

By scheduling regular check-ins with your core group and allocating time for new customer interviews, you can gather a comprehensive overview of customer needs and experiences. Documenting and comparing insights from both sets of interviews will enable you to make informed decisions and iterate on your product or service effectively.

Finding customers to provide consistent feedback periodically can be difficult due to the time and effort involved from both parties—especially if you aim to interview them each week. Fortunately, you can access helpful resources that can help you find great leads.

Leverage your existing customer base

Use your existing customer base to identify participants for continuous interviews. Reach out through newsletters, support channels, or user communities.

Be sure to tell them how participating could benefit them. For example, you might highlight how they can influence product development and receive exclusive updates.

Offer incentives

Provide incentives such as discounts, gift cards, or exclusive previews of new features to encourage participation. Offering value in exchange for their time can motivate customers to engage.

Use customer data

Some of your customers will be more likely to provide continuous feedback than others. Analyze customer data to identify your most active and engaged users.

Look for customers who frequently interact with the product, regularly provide feedback, or have high usage rates.

1. Listen actively: focus on truly understanding the customer’s perspective without interrupting or leading their responses. Active listening builds rapport and ensures you capture genuine insights.

2. Be neutral: avoid leading questions and remain neutral to ensure unbiased feedback. For example, instead of asking, “Do you like the new feature?” ask, “How do you feel about the new feature?” or “What did you notice about the product this week?”.

3. Follow up: be sure to clarify anything you think is unclear and dive deeper into interesting points to gather detailed insights. Use follow-up questions to explore specific feedback areas further.

4. Respect your customer’s time: keep interviews concise—customers lead busy lives, so you should always respect their time. Aim for a balanced interview duration, typically between 30 and 60 minutes, depending on the depth of your discussion.

You’ll get the most from continuous interviews if you have a solid goal. Know what kind of interview you’re interested in before you start gathering data.

Exploratory interviews

These interviews are used to gather broad insights and understand the customer’s overall experience and needs. They are ideal at the beginning of product development to inform initial design and strategy.

Usability testing

Usability testing interviews focus on how customers interact with a specific product or feature. The aim is to identify usability issues.

This type of interview often involves observing the customer using the product and noting any difficulties or confusion they experience.

Feedback sessions

With feedback sessions, your company can gather customer feedback on specific features and updates. You can also use them to gain an understanding of your customers’ overall satisfaction.

Follow-up interviews

Follow-up interviews—conducted after initial feedback sessions to track changes and validate improvements—are crucial. These interviews help your team measure the effectiveness of any changes they have made based on prior feedback.

1. “How do you find using our product on a day-to-day basis?” This is a general experience question that helps you understand overall satisfaction and any recurring issues.

2. “Are there any specific issues or frustrations you encounter?” Identifying pain points allows for targeted improvements.

3. “Are there any features you wish the product had?” By asking this question, you can uncover feature requests from your customers. These are any potential enhancements that customers would value.

4. “How easy is it to use our product for your needs?” Understanding usability helps improve the user experience.

5. “How satisfied are you with the product overall?” Gauging overall satisfaction provides a high-level view of customer happiness.