EuPMA - European Product Management Association
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European
Product
Management
Association
Product Management Action Card
Conduct Exploratory Interviews
We drive the future of Product Management in Europe
Why
Exploratory interviews reduce the risk of making assumptions about customers. They help reveal real needs, expectations, motivations, frustrations and opportunities that customers may not express directly.
What
A structured but open conversation with customers or users, focused on their actual experiences, behaviours, goals, difficulties and decision criteria rather than on proposed solutions.
How
- Select customers or users with direct experience of the relevant situation.
- Ask open-ended questions about real events and past behaviours.
- Explore goals, problems, workarounds, emotions and desired outcomes.
- Ask for specific examples and probe for underlying reasons.
- Avoid suggesting solutions or asking customers to design the product.
- Capture the customer’s own words and compare interviews to identify recurring patterns.
- A useful rule for deciding when to stop interviewing is to continue until new interviews no longer generate relevant insights beyond those already collected. In practice, this point is often reached after approximately ten interviews.
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