A detailed execution plan for building products with customers (part 1)

Finding customers willing to speak to you + Scheduling calls with customers (and alternatives)

Building a product is all about building relationships with the people who are meant to use it. It starts with customer conversations and goes all the way to getting to know them very well. This is usually called “build with” and it’s a principle used by many product teams to make sure you are not only building for them but with them!

“Building with” involves talking to people a lot. Asking them the right questions, letting them tell you about their life. Understanding problems, collecting feedback, testing prototypes, etc. This requires time. Time from you and your team as well as time from your customers. Yet, in a world where everyone is always so busy, how do you get some time from people to build with? And how do you make this a natural part of the process without slowing it down?

This is a two-part series about a detailed plan to execute on the premise of building with customers.

• Part 1: Finding customers willing to speak to you + Scheduling calls with customers (and alternatives) → This article

• Part 2: Talking to customers and collecting feedback + Iterating based on feedback and insights → Read it here

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While there are other ways to go about this, I found this plan particularly helpful for early-stage startups and small product teams starting out. With a single PM and a designer, our product team at Clustermarket needs smart and fast execution. We cannot afford the time and the resources to spend months doing research. We have to align fast on the problem, make sure it aligns with the business, and test solutions quickly.

Below, I lay out the strategy we use to get people’s time for interviews and prototype testing sessions, ensuring we build with them. This works for us and our customer base, you may have to adjust it for yours. You can find Part 2 here.

1) Finding customers willing to speak to you

No one seems to talk about this but how exactly do you get people excited and available to talk to you? Those customer interview calls on your calendar don’t appear there magically. You have to go get them.

To do this, I found useful to start with a quick in-app survey. I use a non-intrusive speech bubble (using Userflow) with a simple Yes/No question about a problem I suspect people may have.

Non-intrusive speech bubble for an in-app survey.

Then, if they answer “Yes”, I ask them a few more questions to help us design and build that feature better. One question I always like to include is “Why?”. I ask it whether they answer “Yes” or “No”. The “Why” is very helpful to understand their answer but also to detect false “Yeses” from people just wanting to get done with it. It also helps to determine how motivated people were about replying to the survey in the first place. This informs us about the relevance of each answer.

Overall, with 4 questions, this in-app survey gets people thinking about the problem and about how a potential solution may look like. Here is when you can and should grab them! They are already thinking about it, why not ask them if they would be willing to talk to you?

At the end of the survey, I grab the customer at the right time and ask her if we can reach out soon to test some prototypes together.

Some numbers that speak about the efficiency of this strategy:

• Out of the 2,174 people exposed to this non-intrusive survey, 363 replied to the first Yes/No question (17% response rate). Remember: it’s non-intrusive on purpose.

• Out of the 363 people who started the survey, 177 finished it (49% completion rate).

• Out of the 177 who finished it, 133 responded “Yes” to the question “Can we reach out to you soon to test some prototypes?”. That’s a 75% positive response rate! I now have 133 people interested in talking to us, testing prototypes, and giving us their feedback and suggestions!

Finding customers willing to speak to you: ✅

2) Scheduling calls with customers (and alternatives)

Ok, we now have 100+ people to reach out to and schedule calls with. They all have shown availability to talk to us but will we actually be able to speak to all of them?

My next step to execute on this is to email all 133 people my calendar link and prompt them to schedule 15min with me. And, of course, I use the fact they have responded “Yes” to my request to motivate them to reply and schedule a call. And no, I don’t send out 133 individual emails manually, I use an email automation tool I’m already familiar with from my days working in Sales.

Yet, I already know I won’t get 133 calls scheduled for the next 2 weeks. That’s unrealistic. So, I give people alternatives! I tell them I’m also happy to chat over email, send the prototype links, and get their feedback in writing. (I know our customers very well so I could predict some people would prefer email over a call. Know your audience folks, it helps a lot!)

Also remember, you want to talk to people. You want their feedback. It doesn’t need to be over a call. In this case, I understand not everyone is used to jumping on calls like I am. Not everyone has the time to. Not everyone feels comfortable doing it. Let people choose their favorite way to express themselves and you will find yourself talking to a lot more people.

Example email to a user who responded positively about us reaching out to test prototypes together.

After this email goes out, I know one of 3 things will happen:

1. Some people will schedule a call with me (great)

2. Some people will reply mentioning they prefer to do it over email (good)

3. Some people will do nothing and you’ll have to follow up (bad)

If they do 1, that’s awesome. Our Product Designer and I prepare the call and jump on it on the scheduled day and time (more on this in Part 2). We have been doing these calls together as we are both involved in determining the way the product should work.

If they do 2, I reply with some guidance and the prototype links. We use Figma where you can create beautiful interactive prototypes, so I also share a few tips in the email to help them interact with it.

And, I add a last cheeky request: I ask them to record a quick Loom when interacting with the prototype. I love using Loom. And it makes my day when I manage to get a customer using it to send me feedback. Looms are the best of both worlds in this scenario. People who don’t want to jump on a call don’t have to but we still get to see their live interactions with the prototypes and hear their reactions and feedback.

Email response example if a customer prefers to give feedback over email.

Knowing our user base very well, I know asking them to record a Loom stands a chance. The people we are building with are very curious and some do put the effort into creating a Loom account and recording their interactions. I love them, I must admit it! But I’m sure your customers would do the same for you if you ask nicely.

My favorite customer of the day who was kind enough to reply and send me his opinion in a loom.

And finally, if they do 3, I keep following up politely. One thing I have learned from my time in sales is that there are always people who simply forget about the first email (we all do, to be honest). But they are actually eager to reply and still participate in the conversation. Life just got in the way somehow on that day. So, sometimes it takes a second email, a third even (or a fourth). Don’t spam people but neither give up too easily!

Ok, let’s wrap Part 1 up and see what the numbers tell us for the 3 scenarios (4 with the looms) after one round of emails.

Out of the 133 people contacted: 

• 94 did not reply (71%)

• 19 scheduled a call (14%)

• 17 wanted to do it via email (13%)

• 3 replied by sending looms (2%)

This is the end of Part 1. In Part 2, I cover Talking to customers and collecting feedback + Iterating based on feedback/insights.