Notes
- In early days: community research - community members first, then customers/users
- Start with group discussions
- See who shows up - good info for you.
- Keep the discussion topics high-level, open, conversational, inclusive
- Give people an opportunity to see that they’re in good company (they’re not the only one participating)
- Plus, begin building a sense of belonging from the get-go
- Offers a value proposition to members — the chance to connect, relate to, and learn from other people doing the same kind of work (or some other facet of relatability) - maybe even find some support from others (eg, in dealing with / navigating the challenging aspects of their work).
- Create an environment where people can build off one another’s input, feedback, etc.
- sometimes people aren’t sure what to say or how to contribute…until they see/hear how other people contribute and find a spark of inspiration to share their own/new/different ideas and/or build upon/add to what someone else shared.
- As you start to better understand the specifics of what you want to learn from people, move toward 1:1 meetings/interviews/conversations
- Get their unique perspectives, unbiased by others
- Practice asking questions, iterate toward the most important questions
- Make sure they talk more than you talk
- Talk to whoever is willing
- Start to narrow down the target segment - get more specific with who you invite to these conversations, based on their relevance to your product/service — ie, who will find your business/solution interesting; who experiences the problem the most and feels most strongly (emotionally) about their need for a solution.
- Where/how to find people:
- Website form - collect names, email, other info you need to “qualify” them (eg, social profiles?)
- Friends and family and colleagues / connections / followers
- Widget on website asking for specific info
- Referrals from everyone you interview — who else should we be talking to? Will you make an intro?
- Who to include from your team:
- CEO/founder / co-founder(s)
- Help establish the importance of it (people appreciate meeting founders; helps ensure them that their time is well spent and they’re part of something special)
- Designers?
- Others?
- eg, Community lead — facilitator, note-taker, communicator
- Making use of the research
- Share internally
- Recordings (if convos are online), notes, names and companies of people you’re talking to
- Disseminate the information and learnings to all team members
- Help everyone in the company feel like they’re part of the process, too
- They might have different interpretations, pick up on something you missed, and/or have ideas for new questions to ask (informed by their unique role and insight into the company, product/service)
- Helpful resource:
- The Mom Test (book)