Customer Research & Voice of Customer
Overview
Every marketing decision is a bet on what your customer cares about. This skill turns raw customer signal into structured insight that every downstream marketing skill consumes. At $1M-5M ARR, you have 50-500 customers — enough for patterns, few enough to talk to them.
When to Use
- Starting a new marketing function from scratch
- Existing marketing lacks customer evidence
- Entering a new market segment
- ICP needs validation or refresh
- Messaging doesn't resonate (low conversion, poor sales feedback)
- Churn patterns are unclear
- Preparing to build any downstream marketing skill
Don't use when: You have recent (<6 months) validated research and no market changes.
Quick Reference
| Phase | Duration | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Audit existing signal | Day 1 | Customer Signal Audit |
| Design primary research | Day 2-3 | Research Plan + Interview Guide |
| Conduct & synthesize | Week 1-3 | Customer Research Synthesis |
| Build artifacts | Day 1 post-synthesis | Voice Library, JTBD Map, Journey Map |
Core Deliverables
- Customer Voice Library — 50+ categorized quotes by pain, aspiration, objection, value
- JTBD Map — Primary, related, emotional, and social jobs
- Buying Journey Map — Trigger → Research → Evaluation → Decision → Onboarding
- Churn & Expansion Signal Map — Why customers leave/expand, early warnings
Common Mistakes
- Surveying instead of interviewing (surveys give data, interviews give understanding)
- Only talking to happy customers (churned/lost deals have the real insight)
- Letting AI replace interviews (AI synthesizes; humans conduct conversations)
- Treating this as one-time (build continuous cadence: 2-3 interviews/month)
- Skipping language capture (exact customer words > any messaging framework)
Integration
Feeds into: defining-icp-segmentation, building-positioning-messaging, gathering-competitive-intel, running-content-engine, growing-nrr
Refresh: Full cycle every 6 months. Ongoing interviews 2-3/month. Voice library update monthly.
See workflow.md for detailed phase-by-phase execution, interview templates, AI-assisted synthesis workflows, and integration point diagrams.