Customer Interview Synthesis

Question bank and synthesis templates for product discovery interviews.

Interview Question Bank

Problem Discovery

• "Walk me through the last time you [did X]..."
• "What's the hardest part about [doing X]?"
• "Why is that hard?" (ask 3x - dig deeper)
• "What have you tried to solve this?"
• "What happened when you tried that?"

Current Solution Analysis

• "How do you handle [X] today?"
• "How often do you do this?"
• "What would happen if you couldn't do this?"
• "How much time/money does this cost you?"

Switching Signals

• "Have you looked for other solutions?"
• "What would make you switch?"
• "What's stopping you from switching now?"

Value Discovery

• "If you could wave a magic wand, what would change?"
• "What would that be worth to you?"
• "Who else cares about this problem?"

Interview Synthesis Template

Interview: [Customer Name/Segment]

Date: YYYY-MM-DD | Duration: X min | Role: [Title]

Problem Quotes (verbatim)

"[Exact quote about the problem]" "[Another revealing quote]"

Current Behavior

• Does [X] using [current solution]
• Frequency: [daily/weekly/monthly]
• Time spent: [X hours/month]

Pain Intensity: [1-5]

• 1: Mild annoyance
• 3: Significant friction
• 5: "Hair on fire" problem

Willingness to Pay Signal

• Actively searching for solutions
• Has budget allocated
• Named a specific price point: $___
• Would switch immediately if solved

Key Insight

[One sentence capturing the non-obvious learning]

Interview Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern Why It Fails Instead Do

Leading questions Confirms bias Ask open-ended, follow "why"

Hypothetical pricing People lie about future Ask about current spending

Feature requests Solutions, not problems Dig for underlying need

Small sample Anecdotes ≠ patterns Require 5+ signals minimum

Output

After interviews, synthesize patterns across multiple conversations to identify:

• Common pain points (frequency + intensity)

• Willingness to pay signals

• Current solutions being "fired"