Ask Teresa: What Are the Best Customer Interview Questions?

Teresa Torres argues that teams should separate their research questions (what they want to learn) from their interview questions (what they actually ask), because people answer direct questions unreliably due to cognitive bias. Instead, interviewers should ask for a specific recent story and mine it for answers to the research questions. The scope of that story should be set by the team's outcome, so a new-market goal and a mobile-team goal call for different opening prompts. Interviewers should also accept that participants won't always share the story they want, and respect what the participant cares about most. Because continuous interviewing means another interview is always coming, a weak session is easy to move past.

01Key takeaways

• Separate the research questions you want answered from the interview questions you actually ask.
• Replace direct questions with prompts asking for a specific recent story about past behavior.
• Let your product outcome determine the scope of your opening interview question.
• Dig deeper into the parts of a story most relevant to your current opportunity.
• Respect what participants care most about rather than forcing them into your script.
• Interview continuously so that a disappointing session doesn't feel like a major loss.

02Key sections

Research questions vs. interview questions

Teams often confuse what they want to learn with what they ask. Direct questions produce fast but unreliable answers shaped by bias.

Story-based prompts

Ask customers to recount a specific past instance, then listen for answers to the underlying research questions within that story.

Scoping questions to the outcome

The outcome a team is pursuing determines how broad or narrow the opening prompt should be, and where to dig deeper.

Handling uncooperative participants

Some participants won't share a relevant story. Capture what they offer without forcing it, and respect their priorities.

Continuous interviewing mindset

Frequent interviews mean a poor session is easily forgotten, and collecting reliable stories is a skill that takes practice.

03From the post

“We recently launched the Ask Teresa series on Product Talk, where I tackle common questions and challenges that I hear from people as they begin to adopt continuous discovery. Find all the posts in this series here. If you’re serious about continuous discovery, one of the most important steps”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.