The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you
von Rob Fitzpatrick
The Mom Test: Talk about their life instead of your idea Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future Talk less and listen more Getting back on track (avoiding bad data): Deflect compliments Anchor fluff Dig beneath opinions, ideas, requests, and emotions Mistakes and symptoms: Fishing for compliments. “I’m thinking of starting a business... so, do you think it will work?” “I had an awesome idea for an app — do you like it?” Exposing your ego (aka The Pathos Problem). “So here’s that top-secret project I quit my job for... what do you think?” “I can take it — be honest and tell me what you really think!” Being pitchy. “No no, I don’t think you get it...” “Yes, but it also does this!” Being too formal. “So, first off, thanks for agreeing to this interview. I just have a few questions for you and then I’ll let you get back to your day…” “On a scale of 1 to 5, how much would you say you…” “Let’s set up a meeting.” Being a learning bottleneck. “You just worry about the product. I’ll handle the [[customer]]s.” “Because the [[customer]]s told me so!” “I don’t have time to talk to people — I need to get back to coding!” Collecting compliments instead of facts and commitments. “We’re getting a lot of positive feedback.” “Everybody I’ve talked to loves the idea.” **If you’re facing a generic or varied set of [[customer]] segments, you can use [[customer]] Slicing to pick a concrete starting point.** Start with any segment and then keep slicing off better and better sub-sets of it until you’ve got a tangible sense of who you can go talk to and where you can find them. Start with a broad segment and ask: Within this group, which type of person would want it most? Would everyone within this group buy/use it, or only some? Why does that sub-set want it? (e.g. what is their specific problem) Does everyone in the group have that motivation or only some? What additional motivations are there? Which other types of people have these motivations? You’ll have two sets of answers: the first is a collection of demographic groups and the second is a set of goals/motivations. Some will still be fairly generic. Go back through the generic ones and keep slicing. Just repeat the questions above. Within that sub-group, who wants it most? Repeat.
When you hear a request, it’s your job to understand the motivations which led to it.^^ You do that by digging around the question to find the root cause. Why do they bother doing it this way? Why do they want the feature? How are they currently coping without the feature? Dig.
Questions to dig into feature requests: **“Why do you want that?” “What would that let you do?” “How are you coping without it?” “Do you think we should push back the launch to add that feature, or is it something we could add later?” “How would that fit into your day?” **
If it sounds weird to unexpectedly interview people, then that’s only because you’re thinking of them as interviews instead of conversations. The only thing people love talking about more than themselves is their problems
If you just avoid mentioning your idea, you automatically start asking better questions. Doing this is the easiest (and biggest) improvement you can make to your customer conversations.
It boils down to this: you aren’t allowed to tell them what their problem is, and in return, they aren’t allowed to tell you what to build. They own the problem, you own the solution.
"The Mom Test: Talk about their life instead of your idea Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future Talk less and listen more Getting back on track (avoiding bad data): Deflect compliments Anchor fluff Dig beneath opinions, ideas, requests, and emotions Mistakes and symptoms: Fishing for compliments. “I’m thinking of starting a business... so, do you think it will work?” “I had an awesome idea for an app — do you like it?” Exposing your ego (aka The Pathos Problem). “So here’s that top-secret project I quit my job for... what do you think?” “I can take it — be honest and tell me what you really think!” Being pitchy. “No no, I don’t think you get it...” “Yes, but it also does this!” Being too formal. “So, first off, thanks for agreeing to this interview. I just have a few questions for you and then I’ll let you get back to your day…” “On a scale of 1 to 5, how much would you say you…” “Let’s set up a meeting.” Being a learning bottleneck. “You just worry about the product. I’ll handle the [[customer]]s.” “Because the [[customer]]s told me so!” “I don’t have time to talk to people — I need to get back to coding!” Collecting compliments instead of facts and commitments. “We’re getting a lot of positive feedback.” “Everybody I’ve talked to loves the idea.”"
"**If you’re facing a generic or varied set of [[customer]] segments, you can use [[customer]] Slicing to pick a concrete starting point.** Start with any segment and then keep slicing off better and better sub-sets of it until you’ve got a tangible sense of who you can go talk to and where you can find them. Start with a broad segment and ask: Within this group, which type of person would want it most? Would everyone within this group buy/use it, or only some? Why does that sub-set want it? (e.g. what is their specific problem) Does everyone in the group have that motivation or only some? What additional motivations are there? Which other types of people have these motivations? You’ll have two sets of answers: the first is a collection of demographic groups and the second is a set of goals/motivations. Some will still be fairly generic. Go back through the generic ones and keep slicing. Just repeat the questions above. Within that sub-group, who wants it most? Repeat."
"When it’s not clear whether a problem is a **must-solve-right-now (e.g. you’re selling a painkiller) or a nice-to-have (you’re selling a vitamin), you can get some clarity by asking cost/value questions like the following. “Does-this-problem-matter” questions: “How seriously do you take your blog?” “Do you make money from it?” “Have you tried making more money from it?” “How much time do you spend on it each week?” “Do you have any major aspirations for your blog?” “Which tools and services do you use for it?” “What are you already doing to improve this?” “What are the 3 big things you’re trying to fix or improve right now?”"
"When you hear a request, it’s your job to understand the motivations which led to it.^^ You do that by digging around the question to find the root cause. Why do they bother doing it this way? Why do they want the feature? How are they currently coping without the feature? Dig."
"Questions to dig into feature requests: **“Why do you want that?” “What would that let you do?” “How are you coping without it?” “Do you think we should push back the launch to add that feature, or is it something we could add later?” “How would that fit into your day?” **"
"If it sounds weird to unexpectedly interview people, then that’s only because you’re thinking of them as interviews instead of conversations. The only thing people love talking about more than themselves is their problems"
"If you just avoid mentioning your idea, you automatically start asking better questions. Doing this is the easiest (and biggest) improvement you can make to your customer conversations."
- →When you hear a request, it’s your job to understand the motivations which led to it.^^ You do that by digging around the question to find the root cause. Why do they bother doing it this way? Why do they want the feature? How are they currently coping without the feature? Dig.
- →Questions to dig into feature requests: **“Why do you want that?” “What would that let you do?” “How are you coping without it?” “Do you think we should push back the launch to add that feature, or is it something we could add later?” “How would that fit into your day?” **
- →If it sounds weird to unexpectedly interview people, then that’s only because you’re thinking of them as interviews instead of conversations. The only thing people love talking about more than themselves is their problems
- →If you just avoid mentioning your idea, you automatically start asking better questions. Doing this is the easiest (and biggest) improvement you can make to your customer conversations.
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