What questions should I ask potential customers about my app idea?

Ask someone whether they plan to go to the gym every week next year and almost everyone says yes. January tells a different story.

Customer conversations work the same way. Ask people about the future, and they'll tell you what they hope they'll do, or what they think you want to hear. Ask about the past, and they'll tell you what actually happened. That's the whole trick, and it changes which questions you ask.

Questions to ask

These are all about what's already happened:

1. When did this problem last happen?
2. What did you do about it?
3. What did that cost you, in time, money or hassle?
4. How often does it happen?
5. What have you already tried to fix it? Why didn't it work?
6. Who else is involved when it happens?
7. Who decides whether to spend money on fixing it?
8. What do you use for this today, and what do you pay for it?
9. What would have to be true for you to switch from what you do now?
10. Can you show me how you do it today?

The last one is especially useful. Watching someone work through their spreadsheet or their stack of emails shows you things they'd never think to mention.

Questions to avoid, or take with a pinch of salt

• "Would you use this?" Nearly everyone says yes, because it costs nothing to say.
• "How much would you pay for it?" People are bad at predicting this, and tend to guess low or say what sounds reasonable.
• "Do you think this is a good idea?" You'll get politeness, and not much more.
• "Would this feature be useful?" Almost any feature sounds useful in the abstract.

If one of these slips out, treat the answer as a weak signal and look for something they've actually done that backs it up.

Judge people by what they do

What people do in and after the conversation tells you far more than what they say in it. A practice manager saying "great idea" is barely evidence. Giving up half an hour to talk is better. Sending you their own numbers afterwards is better again. Letting you try something with their team is strong. Paying shows they're willing to commit, and coming back when the need comes round again shows it has a real place in their work.

So end the conversation by asking for something small that costs them a little: an introduction to a colleague, a look at their real data, or time for a follow-up when you have something to show. Whether they agree tells you how much they care.

Keep your idea out of it, at first

Describe your idea too early and the conversation becomes about your idea. People start reacting to it and trying to be encouraging, and you stop learning about their world. Spend most of the time on their problem. If you pitch at all, do it at the end.

Rob Fitzpatrick's book The Mom Test is the best guide to this. It's short, practical and named after the idea that a good question is one even your mum can't lie to you about.

After the conversation

Write down what they did and said, in their words, straight away. Then compare it with your guesses. Did they describe the problem without prompting? Did it cost them something real? Is the person with the problem the one who'd buy? Those answers tell you which guesses to keep and which to change. There's more on that in how to test an app idea.