I had just joined a new team as the sole product marketer, and my first priority was refining our positioning and messaging. But I was only 30 days into the job! I needed a starting point, so I created a 3-step plan to quickly understand the market, the customer, and the competition.

I created this interview guide to ask the right questions to our most valued customers. I validated it by asking these questions to internal stakeholders, from sales to customer success to the executive leadership team.

Preparing for a messaging or positioning shift is a lengthy process. You want to establish clear timelines and goals. If you expect to complete a customer persona interview project during the course of a quarter, for example, it's important to get leadership buy-in well in advance of launch.

Because of the iterative nature of a messaging/positioning revamp project like this, you will want to emphasize that it's not a one-and-done thing - leadership may be investing in this process for 6-9 months before outcomes are visible.

I didn’t have the breadth and depth of knowledge that is needed for me to conduct a positioning and messaging exercise. Getting up to speed on the industry and company with analyst reports and internal data points could only get me so far; I needed to establish some context with customers to understand how they intersect with our company's role.


This is where it’s important not just to know where the market’s going and what our customer needs are, but also to understand where the competition is headed in an ever-changing market. Is their industry disrupted by external forces like the Covid-19 pandemic or in the process of disruption? Are there other global events or seasonal issues impacting their industry? Competition and market intelligence are key to getting the right pulse and temperature check.

This isn't to say I used this customer data to turn around and mimic what another company is doing. It's to help differentiate and identify our unique value proposition when speaking to potential customers.

This is where you can gain a lot of insights from different personas. When I used this in a set of interviews for LiRA, a technology company with a mission of helping voiceless people communicate, I asked these questions of a caregiver, a medical practitioner, and a direct user. Their different viewpoints on our work and services were vast and informative. Don't be afraid to add variety to your pool of potential interviewees!


After you've taken your data and crafted your unique differentiation, the plan for rollout should include: updating sales pitch decks and customer presentations, updating your website messaging and testing, engaging any industry analysts to gauge their feedback, launching a PR campaign to catch media buzz about the new direction, and most importantly, establishing a trusted customer advisory council.

Having a select group of loyal customers can help you gain valuable insights into how you can improve and speak more directly to common customer pain points is an invaluable resource. In fact, when I interviewed my first customer with this questionnaire, the customer asked me if they could share it with their husband, who works in sales - that wasn't a profession I ever considered this being useful!

Div Manickam

This interview template is aimed at customers to learn company and competition strengths and weaknesses. Using this, I was able to glean insights into customer pain points and the greater marketplace to begin a messaging/positioning shift.

Persona Interview: Customer Differentiation & Positioning

How long have you worked in [Industry]? What’s your favorite experience in [Industry]? why?

Is there anything you’d like to know from me before we get started?

Just to check, are you ok if I record this conversation for note taking?

What is your role within the company? And can you talk me through some of your responsibilities?

What are your business’ goals and how does [Company/Product] support your objectives?

What are some of your industry’s unique issues?

A day in your life (Customer pain points)

Can you describe a typical day or week in your role?

Before using [Company/Product], how were you supporting [area of focus]? If [Company/Product] didn’t exist, what did, or would you use as an alternative?

What’s the hardest part of your job? What keeps you up at night?

What are your top three to five internal or external barriers?

When looking at [Company/Product], what were the top 3 things that caught your attention? What was the moment you thought “yes, I need to buy this product”?

What was your main buying criteria? Were there any deal breakers for the acceptance or rejection of purchasing our product?

How will you measure the success of your investment in [Company/Product] technology?


What are the main use cases you rely on [Company/Product] for?

Do you have any metrics you can share in terms of how our product has helped support your KPIs?

Is there anything you use our product for that you hadn’t initially planned on?

Which part(s) of our product do you find most valuable?

What areas of our product, if any, do you struggle with most? Or see the least value in?

Is there anything you think our product should have or do that it doesn’t already?

What are your future plans for our product? Are there any market trends you are seeing?

Persona Interview for Differentiation and Positioning from Div Manickam

Persona Interview: Customer Differentiation & Positioning

Name:

Introduction

Setting the context

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