One of the best things you can do for your brand is to talk to people. But how do you know if you’re asking the right questions to the right people?
Today on the Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast, host and Food Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva shares a trick she normally reserves for her 1-on-1 clients: the two best questions you can ask when you’re talking to current or potential customers.
How to Get Useful Customer Feedback
“I never start by saying, ‘I have just a few questions for you,’ because it alerts people to the fact that they’ve entered a market research study, and it changes their answers from gut reactions to ‘what should I say?’” Katie says.
Getting good customer feedback is as much an art as it is a science. You need to know when to pause and leave your question out there to give them time to think.
Favorite Question 1: How you would describe <your brand name> to a friend?
When you ask this question, what do they talk about first? The product, the ingredients, the packaging, what it reminds them of—what do they say? Asking how they would describe your product to a friend is a great follow-up to almost anything. Why?
- We are asking a question without leading to a certain answer. People don’t feel like they’re giving you the answer you want to hear.
- It’s open-ended. They can’t just say yes or no, we’re asking them to choose specific words that can tell us more specifically what they’re thinking. You’ll hear things about your features and benefits you never would have realized without doing this research.
- You can ask a what/what/when/where follow-up question. You want to get at their motivations—why they feel the way they do. Tailor your question to what you’re specifically trying to learn about to maximize whatever short time you have with them and make them feel heard.
Favorite Question 2: What is one thing you would change about <insert brand>?
This question makes people stop and think one level deeper about your product, packaging, price, where they can buy, ingredients, tone of voice, or anything that might seem out of alignment. This helps you uncover what might be going on when someone generally likes your product or brand but hesitates to make another purchase.
Through all of this, remember that this is DIRECTIONAL input and not formal, validated quantitative research. Katie is working on creating resources to help you learn more from talking with customers but until those are ready, she recommends the book The Mom Test. It’s a quick read that helps you think about how you ask questions and how you listen to the answers.
Now, let’s go shake up shopping carts!
Quotes:
“I never start by saying, ‘I have just a few questions for you,’ because it alerts people to the fact that they’ve entered a market research study, and changes their answers from gut reactions to ‘what should I say?’” – Katie Mleziva
“I do suggest actually jotting down notes after the conversation when you can. You think you’ll remember but we are all busy people and it’s great to be able to see trends over time so you can connect the dots.” – Katie Mleziva
“With open ended questions you can hear people’s exact words and learn how to relate to your consumers even better.” – Katie Mleziva
In This Episode:
- Why talking to consumers is so valuable for brands.
- How to create space for consumers to develop an honest response.
- Why asking open-ended questions is so important.
- Katie’s 2 favorite informal marketing research questions
- What kind of follow-up questions to ask when speaking with current or potential fans of your brand.
- Why asking consumers what they would change about your product or brand is so valuable.
- How to work with Katie 1-on-1.
- The dates for her final small group program of 2021 through the Food Finance Institute.
Resources:
