Most customer interviews produce compliments because the questions ask for them. Six question shapes do the damage: asking about the future, naming your product, loaded words, a "right?" on the end, two questions in one, and telling them what others said. This guide gives you the better version of each, a 15-question script by stage, how to record consent, and what to write down afterwards.
The six rules, with better versions
The idea behind all six is the same, and Rob Fitzpatrick's book The Mom Test made it popular: ask about the other person's specific past, never about your idea's hypothetical future. People are accurate about what they did last month and useless about what they would do next year.
1. Do not ask about the future
"Would you use a tool that chased invoices for you?" invites a polite yes. Nobody knows what they would do, and everybody wants to be encouraging.
Better: "Tell me about the last time an invoice was paid late. What did you do?" Now you learn whether the problem happened, how often, and what the workaround cost.
2. Do not name your product
"I'm building Tallyhop, which sends pay links. Does that sound useful?" Once the product is in the room, every answer bends toward it. You hear about your idea instead of their life.
Better: Keep the product out until the end. "How do you get paid today, step by step?" If you describe the idea at all, do it last and ask for a commitment, not an opinion.
3. Do not use loaded words
"Isn't it frustrating to chase clients for money?" tells them how to feel. They agree, because disagreeing is rude, and you write down "frustration confirmed".
Better: "What happens when a client pays late?" Let them pick the word. If they say "annoying" rather than "frustrating", that is data.
4. Do not end with "right?"
"You'd want that on your phone, right?" is a statement with a question mark. The only comfortable answer is yes.
Better: "Where were you the last time you dealt with an invoice? What device were you on?"
5. Do not ask two questions in one
"How do you invoice, and what would make it easier?" They answer the second half, which is the speculative one, and skip the first, which held the facts.
Better: Split it. "Walk me through how you invoice a client." Then, after they finish: "Which step takes longest?"
6. Do not tell them what others said
"Most designers I've talked to say chasing invoices is their biggest headache. Is that true for you?" Now they are agreeing with a group, not telling you their own experience.
Better: "What's the most annoying part of running your business right now?" If invoices come up unprompted, that counts for more than any agreement.
One more habit that is not a question shape: talking. If you spoke more than they did, you ran a pitch, not an interview. Count it afterwards.
A 15-question script by stage
Prepare fifteen. Ask five to eight. Spend the rest of the call on follow-ups to one good answer. The example topic is invoicing for freelancers; swap in your own problem.
Before: who they are and what they do today (questions 1 to 5)
- What does your week look like? Where does the admin fit?
- Walk me through how you invoice a client, step by step.
- What tools are involved? What do you pay for them?
- Who else touches this? A bookkeeper, a partner, the client's finance person?
- When did you last change how you do this? What made you change?
These establish the current workaround and what it costs. A tool they name is evidence of what they use today, even if they never say a price.
During: the specific past (questions 6 to 11)
- Tell me about the last time an invoice was paid late.
- What did you do about it? How long did that take?
- What did it cost you, in money or in time or in the relationship?
- How often does that happen? Roughly how many times this year?
- Have you tried anything to fix it? What happened?
- If you did nothing about it for a year, what would happen?
Question 6 is the one that matters. Everything after it is a follow-up. Stay here as long as they have detail. A specific story, told unprompted, is the evidence you came for.
After: the commitment (questions 12 to 15)
- Of everything we talked about, which one would you pay to make go away?
- If someone solved that, what would it be worth to you a month? (Only if they raised money first.)
- Who else do you know who deals with this? Would you introduce me?
- Can I come back in two weeks and show you something? (Describe the idea now, briefly, if you have not.)
These ask for something: a number they volunteer, an intro, time. A yes to 14 or 15 moves a belief. A yes to "would you use it" moves nothing. The evidence ladder explains why.
How to record consent
Record the call. The exact words matter more than your memory, and a transcript lets you check later whether you prompted a quote. But ask first, and keep the asking.
- Ask at the start, in plain words: "Is it OK if I record this, and use what you say to improve the product? I won't share your name." Wait for a yes.
- Write down that they agreed, with the date, beside the transcript. If a tool stores transcripts, it should keep the consent line with the file.
- If they say no, take notes. Notes are your words about their words. They count for less and you should treat them that way.
- Say how long you keep the raw recording. Ninety days is a reasonable default; quotes you pulled can stay longer.
- Keep names out of anything you share with a team, an agent or a document. The quote carries its weight without the author.
What to write down
Not a summary. Summaries are your words. Write down these five things, each with the timestamp in the recording.
- Exact quotes about a past event. "Last month I spent a Sunday chasing three invoices." Mark whether you prompted it. An answer to your leading question counts as praise, not pain.
- The current workaround and its cost. Tools, hours, money, who else is involved.
- Any number they volunteered. A price, a frequency, a count. Never a number you suggested and they repeated back.
- Commitments. An intro offered, a second call agreed, a request for access. With the date.
- What surprised you. The thing you did not expect, because that is where your belief is wrong.
Then link each quote to the belief it speaks to. A quote with no belief is a new belief waiting to be written down.
Reading the call afterwards
Three checks, five minutes, right after the call while it is fresh.
Who talked more? If you did, you pitched. Note it and ask less next time.
When did you first name the product, describe it or say a price? Everything after that moment is coloured. Quotes before it count more than quotes after.
Which questions led? Go back through the six rules. For each question that broke one, write the better version for next time. Scripts improve one call at a time.
Then file the quotes. A quote about a specific past pain, unprompted, moves a belief to Past pain. A request for access moves it further. A compliment stays where it is.
Related guides: The evidence ladder · The product-market fit survey · Vibe coding without building the wrong thing
Do this in MindBacklog
The checks run before the call and after it. MindBacklog checks your interview questions before the call, how the call went after it, and prices from what customers actually said. Each flagged question comes with a better one about the past. Keep your interview questions as call guides, and pick one when you log a call.
Drop a transcript and record consent. Mind pulls their exact words, leaves out yours, and marks what you prompted. Met someone new? Add them while you save the call: they're in People, with the conversation, in one step. Raw transcripts are removed at the retention day you set: 90 days by default.
Questions, conversations and tests · People: who paid, who wrote in, who talked with you
