The participants of customer interviews

When conducting customer interviews, it's important to focus on the right group of people, which will depend on your product and its target audience.

Who to interview in customer interviews:

• Subscription products (e.g. Spotify, Adobe Creative Cloud): Interview both active and inactive customers, as well as those who recently canceled their subscriptions. This helps capture insights from users at various stages of the customer lifecycle.
• B2B products (e.g. Salesforce, Slack): Interview both decision-makers (customers) and end-users. For small teams, it's important to cover both groups, while larger companies might split responsibilities between teams that focus on each.
• B2B2C products (e.g. Shopify, UberEats): Interview a mix of business customers (e.g., restaurant owners or store owners), business users (e.g., staff using the platform), and end-consumers (e.g., shoppers or food delivery customers). As companies grow, teams may specialize in these different user groups.
• Two-sided marketplaces (e.g. Airbnb, eBay): Interview both sides, such as buyers and sellers or hosts and guests, to understand the needs and challenges of each group. Over time, different teams may specialize in one side of the marketplace.
• Early-stage startups: Interview potential prospects who match your ideal customer profile if you don’t have customers yet.