How volunteering upped my customer discovery game
By: Cheyenne Kuckein
Tags: Volunteering, Philanthropy, Product Management, Technology, Customer Discovery

This month, I challenged myself to talk to one customer every single day.

My goal? To better understand the customer shopping experience around specific categories of energy efficient products. (Can I get a “WUT WUT” for all my other green marketers in the house?)

What sparked this new cadence of customer discovery in my work day? You guessed it. Our good old friend, COVID-19. Not that we needed a pandemic as an excuse to be more in-tune with our customers…

As the ‘new-normal’ era drastically impacts the retail landscape, I especially wanted to know how my customer’s shopping experience has changed, and how I can best adapt my program strategy to fit these changing needs, emerging anxieties, top-of-mind information gaps, and barriers to adoption.

More than half-way through the process, here’s the most important thing I learned this week… *drumroll please*

The power of sound boarding.

For me, this is the art of repeating what you heard back to your respondent as concisely as possible in your own words without injecting your own opinion. Sound boarding is more than just a summary — it’s active listening, validation and support.

Although the art of sound boarding was by no means a new concept, my full grasp of its power and application was. Like most things in life, I achieved this understanding through good ol’ practice.

For me, regular practice took place during a powerful volunteer side-gig with Looking Glass BC as a Personal Recovery Space Volunteer Mentor. Here, I help all types of humans with disordered eating in the ups and downs of their recovery with 24/7 online support in a forum-based environment.

(Shameless plug for a great cause: if you’re looking for a remote, meaningful way to hone in on this skill and give back to a population that really needs our help right now, I recommend you go check ‘em out.)

Ok, techies. Definition aside, here’s how consistently summarizing and clarifying your understanding of what your interviewee is saying throughout the interview boasts several benefits:

Grooms you to spend more time actively listening

Break the habit of focusing on what you’re going to ask next, and be present in the current response and topic.

2. Gives you the opportunity to slow and/or steer the conversation

Don’t let long-winded tangents bring you down (as a fellow customer-interviewer, I know you know what I’m talking about here). Don’t get me wrong. Detours often lead to unexpected treasure; however, when you feel a dead end is near, kindly interject with your own summary to help pause an idea (and steer if needed).

3. Helps you confirm your understanding (or just as often, misunderstanding) of important topics

The art of repeating back an important customer idea ideas gives your interviewee the opportunity a second chance to fine-tune your interpretation of a specific topic. Make sure you’re doing this where it matters. Often, you’ll notice your summary of a customer idea actually missed the mark a little bit— no sweat. This gives the person you’re talking to the chance to re-word appropriately so you can advocate for them effectively in your product strategy.

4. Gives the interviewee the opportunity to add depth to key ideas

Unsure of what to ask next? Sound boarding allows you to gain deeper, more granular insights into important topics, often without even having to come up with any additional follow up questions (high five for efficiency).

5. Builds better relationships with your interviewees

This tip alone helped me leave each customer interview feeling closer than ever to my most important stakeholder by showing my care through understanding. At the end of the day, everyone just wants to be heard. Be that person for them.

6. Encourages more streamlined note taking

One of the biggest hardships, IMO, with qualitative research is the post-research summarization. Do yourself a favor by cutting out some extra work within the interview itself with self summarizing checkpoints.

For me, volunteering with Looking Glass BC, beyond its fantastic energizing, philanthropic rewards, was a catalyst for several important business learnings in the discovery interview space. I highly encourage my community to challenge their current discovery process in this unique and rewarding way.

Thanks for listening to my first ever Medium article on my continuous learning journey within the product community. Help me continue my exploration of the topic through your thoughts in the comments below.

@cheyproductguy

cheyennekuckein.com