Hi there -
Here is this week’s “1 principle, 2 strategies, and 3 actionable tactics” for running lean…
1 Universal Principle
“Talking to customers is the fastest way to learn.”
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When researching a new product or feature idea, reaching for a survey or landing page over talking to customers is tempting for speed and efficiency. But while surveys and landing pages are more scalable than talking to customers, they are not necessarily faster or better at getting to actionable insights.
In today’s issue, I’ll explore why and share what to do instead.
2 Underlying Strategies at Play
I. The problem with surveys.
Surveys assume you know the right questions to ask, but at the early stages of an idea, you often don't know what you don't know.
Surveys are best for validation, not discovery.
When you couple that with the fact that what people say seldom matches up with what they do, surveys either
- end up confirming surface-level insights that were already obvious -- leading to no new learning or breakthrough, or worse,
- result in false-positive insights that take you down the wrong path, wasting needless time, money, and effort.
II. The problem with landing pages.
The first challenge with landing pages is driving enough traffic to them. Assuming you manage to do that, the next challenge is deciphering why people aren't doing what you expect, e.g., buying your product, signing up, etc.
Adding analytics on your pages only tells you what you already know (that no one is buying), but not why.
Metrics can only tell you what happened, not why.
You could try A/B testing several changes, but each test splits your traffic in half, and unless you have a ton of traffic, reaching conclusive statistically significant results can take several weeks, and you're still guessing.
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When there's high uncertainty, the best and fastest way to learn from customers is through 1:1 customer conversations (or interviews).
But how do you get your customers to want to talk to you?
3 Actionable Tactics
I. Lead with value.
Getting customers to talk to you doesn’t start with asking for feedback but leading with value. The first is about you, and the second is about them.
If you are trying to talk to future customers (prospects), share a valuable insight or a promise of better (unique value proposition) that earns their attention. Better yet, give them something valuable that earns their trust before asking for the conversation.
Give before you get.
The same principle applies when trying to talk to your existing customers. Start building a relationship around value delivery from your first touchpoint (like a welcome email).
II. Segment your customers.
Not all customers are created equal. You stand to learn the most from your recent, best and lost (churned) customers. Segment and tag your customers accordingly.
III. Build a continuous feedback loop.
Once you get going, talking to customers is inherently rewarding and addictive. The trick is getting started. Lean on automation to help.
Here’s how I do it:
- Identify 3 product touchpoints that map to recent, best, and churned customers.
- Trigger a 2-3 email sequence to request a conversation with your calendar link.
- Send it to everyone that matches initially and adjust from there.
That's all for today. See you next week.
Ash
Author of Running Lean and creator of Lean Canvas
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P.S. Make talking to your customers a keystone habit with the Customer Forces AI copilot.