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How to build a mental map of your customer’s environment
4 steps you must take before talking with your customers
The best way to uncover pain in your market is to talk to the people in that market. The benefits of observing and talking to customers are enumerable.
Whether you are just starting out or you have an existing product you are looking to grow, understanding the challenges of your customers is paramount. This can be challenging.
Humans are complex. There are endless combination of psychographics, demographics and behavior patterns. Guessing who you think these people are and what is true about them is your first step.
If you want to amplify the value you get from talking to people in your market, start by building a problem hypotheses.
A problem hypothesis is simply a statement of what you believe a customer is struggling with and why. Knowing your customers why will help you to create better solutions because you will be solving for root causes and not just symptoms.
We tend to think of customer problems in isolation. We look only at what their immediate experience is. Good problem solvers expand their map of relevance beyond just the customer themselves.
Your customers do not live in isolation. They are part of and impacted by an ecosystem…
