It’s every brand manager’s job to understand the market, and when we’re lucky we get to do primary research with our customers. This checklist of open-ended customer insight questions keeps the focus on feelings, experiences and values, while getting the necessary intel about competition and product performance.
20 (+3) QUESTIONS BRAND MANAGERS MUST ASK THEIR CONSUMERS
- How has your life changed as a result of your condition?
- What are the day-to-day challenges you experience?
- What is one goal you’d like to achieve this year?
- Where do you get your health-related information?
- What problem are you trying to solve by purchasing a product like ours?
- Why do you need to solve this problem?
- What would be your ideal way to solve your problem?
- When you think about companies that offer products similar to ours, what names come to mind?
- What frustrates you about the products that are available?
- What’s the first word that comes to mind when you hear the word ___ [insert name of your product]?
- How did you find out about us?
- What was your first impression of the product?
- What can you do today that you couldn’t do before you used our product?
- Why are you still our customer?
- What do we do well?
- What could we do better?
- Would you recommend us to a friend or family member with a similar problem to yours? Why or why not?
- Is there someone else who could benefit from our product that we may not have thought of?
- How would you manage your problem without our product?
- If you could design the perfect product to help with your condition, what would it be like?
These last three questions were inspired by our post What 4-year-olds can teach us about consumer insights. In it we advocate for thinking like a kid and adding three extra questions to your list — questions that show you’re truly curious about your consumer, and ones you don’t already know the answer to. Here are three suggestions:
- If you had the power to fix any one of the world’s problems, which one would you choose?
- What’s your dream job?
- What are you most proud of?
We cover important topics like this every month in our Making Medicine Matter live video series. Anyone can call in and you don’t have to talk unless you want to. Promise.
